KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS AND LIVE
Mat 19:17 “And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.”
The latest response to “How are you?” is “I am good”. The scripture above tells us that there is only one that is good; that is, God. However, we are straying from the point.
This young man came to Jesus to ask him what good thing he could do to achieve the perfect life. Jesus clarified for him that what he needed to do was to keep the commandments of God. This would be thought of as a weird answer today. Currently we are told that the commandments are done away with. Imagine that! This means that in essence we are free to have and serve any god we want, we can take the name of the Lord God in vain, we can dishonour the Sabbath, we can dishonour our parents, we can kill, steal, commit adultery and be envious and jealous of our neighbours. The sad part of all of this is that many people have bought into these practices and are behaving recklessly; by doing exactly what they want. They have actually come to believe that the commandments are done away with and so they live their lives as they feel. Why do we then exclaim and lament about the condition of Jamaica and indeed the world? People are only acting out what they are being taught even from the very pulpit of some religious institutions.
The young man above was tired of his life as he had been living it. In Jesus he saw the hope of a better life and so he sought Him out to inquire how it could be done. How he could live a better life. How many of our young men today are seeking an answer to the questions of, “How do I escape my situation and live a better life?” What answer will they get if they ask some ministers? Will they be told to keep God’s commandments and live or will they be told to just do good. You see, our own goodness is not good enough. The young man who came to Jesus realized that and so he asked the question of the One who had the answer.
Today the laws on the books are still against killing, stealing and even adultery. These are a part of the Commandments God wrote with His own fingers and gave to Moses to give to our forefathers. The commandments still apply today. If we would teach the people to keep God’s commandments-all of them, then certainly we would have a better life. Not only in this present world but also in the one to come. In St. Matthew 5:17 Jesus declares, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy but to fulfil.”
Truly the observance of God’s words gives life. The commandments teach us how to honour and love God and also how to honour and love our fellowmen. It teaches us to be unselfish and upright. We would know how to treat each other respectfully.
When we go against the commandments of God we invite the kinds of conditions we have in Jamaica and indeed in our world today. We become selfish and self-cantered and we do only what makes us feel good and what we feel like doing. We do not consider the next person. The consequences for such actions are evident today and we are not comfortable with them.
Proverbs 4:4 “He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live.”