Lent

March 1, 2021

Scripture Reading:
Exodus 20:1-17

Then God spoke all these words:
I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy….For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it. –Exodus 20:1-8, 11

The first part of the above scripture, we now call the Ten Commandments, deals with our relationship with God. It stresses there is only one God, and anything we put before God is an idol. I notice that I write a lot about idols, particularly greed and lust for power. We may revert to our Hebrew Bible training, where idols were often associated with little and big statues that people could stand before and worship. Today or idols are more abstract and perhaps more dangerous. Our quest for wealth and power is always fulfilled at the expense of others.

That leads us to the next commandment, not making wrongful use of the name of the Lord. As a child, I thought that meant we were not supposed to use God’s name as a swear word, which is still good advice. I was also raised reading the King James Version of the Bible that reads, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. I am not sure I understood what in vain meant. It is apparently a hard Hebrew word to translate. It means* not to use God’s name for a bad purpose. In our world today, God gets credited with many bad purposes that do not relate to God at all. The prosperity Gospel comes to mind.

The commandments about our relationship with God all boil down to maintaining a relationship with God. Taking the time to worship God, pray, meditate, serve others in God’s name, and love like God. The sabbath is a day dedicated to remembering our relationship with God, which continues into every minute of our lives.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we fail to keep our hearts and minds set on you, letting your ways guide our days. Amen.

*https://biblehub.com/hebrew/7723.htm

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.