Keep the Commandments

Today I am so grateful for the commandments.  It becomes more and more evident to me, as I go through my life, how keeping the commandments has been a protection to me.  Keeping the commandments helps me to be free, and happy. They help me to have healthy, loving relationships with everyone around me.  They help me to become better each day.   They are guidelines God has given to us for our good.  They help us, not hinder us.  They move us forward, not hold us back.  

I was just looking up the Ten Commandments in the Bible, and I found all these wonderful scriptures in the Old Testament, that seem to be  the law Jesus taught us to follow in the New Testament.  I think that this Higher Law that Christ taught has always been the law which God has desired men to live by, but Christ gave us a new understanding of these laws with his perfect example. 

 In the following verses, we see most important laws that Christ taught to us in the  New Testament... To love the Lord our God with all our hearts, to not judge, to love our neighbor as ourselves (whether a stranger from a foreign land or someone we know).   Isn't it interesting that it is found here in the oldest books of the Old Testament?   But the people did not understand these laws they were given, and so faltered constantly, worshiping idols, seeking vengence, judging with harsh judgments.  The Lord allowed them to live by what we now call the "Law of Moses", which is "an eye for and eye, and a tooth for a tooth", because they were stubborn and did not want to live by these greater commandments which God had given them.   

But read some of these verses and tell me if it doesn't sound like what Jesus taught us (I italicized parts I thought were especially meaningful and relevant) : 

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:

 5 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

 6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:


 7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

 8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.

 9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.


 12 Then beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

 14 Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you;




16 Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God...

 17 Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee.

 18 And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the Lord: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers,



 24 And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.

 25 And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.

Leviticus 19: 

3 Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I am the Lord your God.

 4 Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the Lord your God.

 5 And if ye offer a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the Lord, ye shall offer it at your own will.

11 Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another.

18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord.

 30 Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.

33 And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him.

 34 But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

35 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure.

And here is what Jesus taught in the New Testament: 

Matthew 22: 

 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

 38 This is the first and great commandment.

 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

So, ALL of the commandments hang on these two great commandments:  To love the Lord, and to love our neighbor.  This is what all the commandments are given to us to help us do.  

In the book of John he tells us, "He who loveth not knoweth not God, for God is Love."

I was actually just meaning to look up the Ten Commandments earlier.  Here they are, as found in the Book of Mormon, when the prophet Abinidi went to teach them to the wicked King Noah.  I love how he says, I will read to you the commandments, "for I perceive they are not written in your hearts."  The commandments become written in our hearts as we learn to live by them.  Then we know them by experience, by the condition of our hearts and souls, by our hearts being full of love and patience and humility.  Then the word of God is written in them.  

11 And now I read unto you the remainder of the commandments of God, for I perceive that they are not written in your hearts; I perceive that ye have studied and taught iniquity the most part of your lives.

 12 And now, ye remember that I said unto you: Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of things which are in heaven above, or which are in the earth beneath, or which are in the water under the earth.

 13 And again: Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them; for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generations of them that hate me;

 14 And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.

 15 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

 16 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

 17 Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work;

 18 But the seventh day, the sabbath of the Lord thy God, thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates;

 19 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is; wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. [I also try to avoid doing business on the Sabbath day as much as possible, to avoid making it a normal work day for myself or other people]. 

 20 Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

 21 Thou shalt not kill.

 22 Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal.

 23 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

 24 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.

So there they are, the Ten Commandments.  

I am reminded of the words of a simple little children's song I sang in primary when I was a kid: 

Keep the commandments,

Keep the commandments,

In this there is safety

In this there is peace. 

He will send blessings,

He will send blessings,

Words of a prophet:

Keep the commandments,

In this there is safety and peace. 

I know from my own experience that there truly is both safety and peace in keeping the commandments of God.   He helps us to draw closer to him through these directions, closer to the truth, and closer to each other in love.  Though it is not always easy, I know that keeping the commandments brings us to a state of being which is greater and happier.   And sometimes keeping the commandments even brings us temporary discomfort, pain, or loneliness. But I know that doing the right thing is ALWAYS the best thing.  And the damage we can do to our own selves and others by not obeying the commandments far outweighs any sacrifices we make in order to keep them.    The blessings of keeping the commandments begin on the inside of our souls, in the very deepest parts of us.  So the benefits are not always immediately apparent.  But as we have faith and press forward in following God's laws, I know we will all see the great benefit and wisdom there is in following them, in time.  

    I am so grateful for a loving God, who cares enough about us to give us specific guidance and direction in our lives.   Thank God for the commandments.