Chotard Doll

Dear Friends in Christ,

Probably most people consider the Ten Commandments to be old fashioned, and out of date. But I have always been awed by the fact that God cared enough for his people to show them how to live in peace and harmony, which is the purpose of those laws.

Not that we paid attention, of course.

But Jesus affirmed this standard of a good life. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself. Worshipping God in word and action, including the keeping of the Sabbath, helps us center our lives and our hope on God rather than ourselves. These first four commandments remind us that the soul’s peace comes from putting nothing else in the place of God.

And all those other injunctions?  Murder, adultery, theft, false witness and covetousness—all those actions hurt others, but also do great harm to the one who practices them. They make us hide from God, and separate us from him.

Are there any of us who can say, “Yes, I have kept these all my life?” Surely not. But they remind us of our sinfulness and the gift and generosity of our God who forgives our sins. And they remain as standards toward which we continue to strive as we grow in the life of faith, with God’s help along the way.

Not so old fashioned after all.

Faithfully, 

—Chotard