The Heart of the Testimony

On day 3, we spent a lot of time on the Ten Commandments. I know we can all recite them by memory, but have you ever sat down and really went over each one and what they mean to you? For some reason, the past several months the Ten Commandments keep popping in my head. Have no idea why, they just do. It might have something to do with when my mom and I went to a women's conference back in the spring, one of the guest speakers was Candace Cameron Bure. She gave a wonderful testimony and the part that really stuck with me was she said she knew she needed to confess her sins to become a Christian, but didn't really know where to start. She pulled out her bible and flipped to the Ten Commandments and went down the list confessing her sins with each Commandment. She said in some way she had broken every Commandment. I sat there stunned because I knew what they all were and I also knew that I hadn't read in the papers where she killed anyone, but she went on to explain how she didn't technically murder someone but her actions towards them might have as well been the same.

Her words replayed in my mind as I studied day 3. I, too, have broken most of those Commandments, maybe not literally but in ways that are just as bad. Beth posed the question "are you obeying all of the Ten Commandments, or just the ones that you find convenient?" I would love to say I obey all them, but I am human and I always seem to fall short. It seems to happen a lot more lately. I would love to say it is all the new hormones I have running in me now, but I have to be honest and just say I'm going through a slump and not being a very good Christian. I pray hard that I will pull out of whatever this funk is that I seem to find myself tramped in. I have gone through the Commandments several times and I am overcome with shame knowing I have to confess everyone of them. There is no way around it. I used to follow the ones that were more convenient and justified my actions with 'at least I haven't killed someone or stole anything' but then again no one Commandment is better than the other.

I want you to think about the Ten Commandments and reflect on them as you may not have normally. Are there ones you struggle with more than others? Or are you like me and deal with each one daily? Do you pick and chose your Commandments? Or are you passing with flying colors? Obviously you don't have to post your thoughts, but I do want you to be honest with yourself and God and spend some time going over the Ten Commandments.

Hearts Beyond the Veil

"God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God's inner sanctuary." Hebrews 6:17-19

• When we make a promise to someone, we sometimes swear to God so that the party we are swearing to knows we are serious in our promise because he is our highest authority. When God makes promises to us, He is the highest authority so he can only swear by himself. Making His promises nothing we should ever doubt. He has followed through on every promise he made in the bible and he will do the same for us.
• The hope we have in God is what anchors us to him. Imagine a rope tied around your waist and the other tied to God. We may get tossed around on our end but God's end will always stay exactly where it is. His position is unchangeable and when we lose sight of that we become hopeless. Beth stated that the hope we have is directly tied to our souls. Notice when someone seems hopeless they also seem to have no soul, no life. They just wander through life with no great joy. But when someone has hope, their soul is alive and they are filled with life. You can immediately see it in their eyes. Always hold strong to the hope you have in God. Your soul depends on it.