On the Tenth Day of Christmas...

Here’s a brief blog series on each of the 12 days of Christmas, with Christian meanings.
 

On the tenth day of Christmas, my True Love [God] gave to me:

Ten lords a-leaping

Ten Good Commandments
 
Recently my wife and I played a board game we got for Christmas.  The instructions were sparse and didn’t explain what the spaces on the board meant, among other things.  We made it up as we went and muddled through, but weren’t sure the game was fair or that we were getting all we could out of it.
 
This is how people live without God’s instructions.  It is a greater misery than we realize, going through life not really sure what it’s about or if we’re getting it.  Arguing about what’s fair.  God’s commands are a gift to the people He made.  Most see them as too restrictive.  We want to just do what we want.
 
Stick with the game instruction theme a minute.  Or assembling something from IKEA.  Half the world throws out the directions, sure they can figure it out themselves.  The other half reads the directions carefully.  There are pros and cons to both.
 
The direction-rejecter knows there is a greater purpose to life than rules.  That’s good.  But their over-confidence that they can figure that purpose out is their undoing.  Our knowledge of ourselves is not enough – we need our Creator’s input to figure life out.
 
The rule-follower knows they need help figuring out life.  But they can put all the focus on the rules and forget the bigger picture, as legalists do.
 
I encourage you to see God’s commandments as a good gift from a kind Father seeking your good.

Re-read them today in Exodus 20:1-17 or Deuteronomy 5:6-21.