What The Checklist Never Could
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Matthew 22:37-40 (ESV) And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."
What it is speaking to me:
If you didn't keep up with this series of devotionals on the Ten Commandments, it seemed fitting to summarize the overarching point in this devotional.
As I said, growing up I treated the Ten Commandments like a checklist. Murder, Adultery, Idols, Cursing, Stealing? Nope. Check, check, check. I was sitting at about five and a half out of ten, and I was pretty sure the Sabbath, parent honoring and coveting were being graded on a curve. Pretty good.
After a few decades of living and further examination though, things didn't look so rosy for me.
Idolatry wasn't Zeus or Baal. It was whatever gets my time, my energy, and my focus. Taking God's name in vain wasn't about "no-no" words. It was attaching His name to something false, careless, or selfish. The Sabbath turned out to also be the one I could skip because I would secretly think my world needs ME to hold it together. Honoring my parents doesn't expire when I stop taking orders. Murder came with an ox that had a track record, and negligence played its part. Adultery was a thousand tiny steps, not one big one. Stealing showed also as time on the clock and credit that wasn't mine. False witness was also standing at the bottom of the stairs, facing a dress. And the tenth simply asked: what do you want?
Notice the pattern. Every time, I thought I had that one handled, and every time it moved from my external actions to my heart and mind.
The reality is Jesus reframed ten things to check, into two things to love. The first four are loving God. The last six are loving our neighbor. Every one of the ten is one of those two loves being worked out in our lives. It's no accident the first commandment and the tenth ask the same question from opposite ends: what has our hearts?
And if we really think about it, not a single one of them is a "don't." Worship Him alone. Honor His name. Rest, because He did. Honor your parents. Protect and promote life. Stay faithful. Guard what belongs to someone else. Speak truth that builds up. Be glad for what your neighbor has.
I can't check all ten boxes. Neither can you. Only Jesus ever did, heart and all. So we don't try harder to earn it. We look at Him, and let love do what the checklist never could.
What is it saying to you?
Which of the ten have you been quietly grading on a curve?
Which one made you the most uncomfortable over the last few weeks? Is that the one God is pointing at?
Which love do you let slide more easily, loving God or loving your neighbor? How can you tell?
How can love change your response to one of the commandments?
What are we going to do about it?
Go back and reread the devotional that stung the most. Think how love can be applied to address that area in your life. Then do it.
