The Ten CommandmentsBy Melissa C. Pointer

Did you know?Did you know that the 10 commandments are God’s law and to gain salvation you must keep them? Did you know that in order to keep the 10 commandments you have to read the entire bible. That is right all 81 books that is in the bible, which includes the books in the apocrypha as well.

Each book is importantEach book teaches us important lessons that will help us keep each commandment. A few months ago we were reading in Genesis. In that book we learned about Abraham. !We also learned that most people did not serve God during Abraham’s time. Instead they worshipped idols!

These people were breaking the first commandment!

That’s not all!

They were also breaking the 2nd commandment by worshiping statues.

Do you remember?

That God blessed Abraham because he obeyed him and did not worship idols

This teaches us that God gives you an award for being obedient

Question time

What happens when you do not obey God?

Remember the story of Noah?

What did God do to people who disobeyed him?

He flooded the earth

Nothing survived on the earth except those safe in

the Ark

The book of Genesis

Teaches us why we must keep the 1st and 2nd commandment just from those 2 examples

There are many other examples in Genesis about keeping the other commandments too!

Important lessonsAre found in each book of the bible

How about ExodusRemember when the Egyptians killed the baby boys

They were breaking the 6th commandment

When they made Israel into slaves

They did not pay them for the work they did

They broke the 8th commandment

They also worshipped idols

Statues, snakes, bugs and many other things!

That is why!God punished the Egyptians

They broke his commandments

Each bible teaches us about his law also known as the ten commandments

They also have stories about who kept them and who did not keep them

Lets start with the 10th commandment

Thou shall not covet. Covet means to want something wrongfully or have a wrongful desire.

So what does that mean? It means you want something so bad you are willing to disobey God to get it.

Another word for this is lust.

The word CovetCovet also means you want something that does not belong to you. People call this envy. People covet all the time and believe it is a good thing. They want the best shoes, clothes, computer, car, house, husband, wife, children and neighborhood.They are also willing to break God’s law to get what they believe to be the best.

For example if you really wanted a new game app for your iPad. You asked your parents and they said no. You still want the app. In fact all you can think about is the new game app. You thought about it at school, during dinner at home and at church. You thought about it and decided to use your mom’s password to the new app. You want this game so bad you are willing to sin. You are coveting.

Coveting

When people covet they are often willing to do mean things to others. What are those mean things? They are will to say mean things, fight, steal, lie and even hurt someone. They do this because they want to be able to have the item they are coveting.

How to not covet!Nothing and no one can be more important than God Remember Abraham! He put God First.

!We have to put God first just like Abraham. We can prove this by doing what God says. We also should sing songs to him, pray to him and read our bibles. It is also important to go to church on the seventh day because that is also a commandment of God. If you remember to share and to love God more than anything else it will be easy for you to keep the the 10th commandment.