Put God First

Today we will compare the beginnings of the 10 commandments to the Lord's Prayer.  It is quite a stretch to make any comparison between these two things.  We can say that they both came from the Lord; one through Moses in the Old Testament, the second through Jesus in the NT.

The point of comparison here is in the beginnings of each.  We can note that the first 4 of the 10 commandments (Exodus 20) relate to our treatment of God. The first one is "You shall have no other Gods before Me."  That is followed by You shall not worship any false Gods or idols, then Don't take the name of the Lord God in Vain, and Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.  All four of these have to do with our respect for God.

Now note the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6.  The Lord Jesus was teaching them to pray:
       Our Father in heaven
       hallowed be Your name.
       your kingdom come,
       Your will be done
       On earth as it is in heaven.
       Give us this day our daily bread,
       And forgive us our debts,
       as we forgive our debtors.
       And do not lead us into temptation,
       But deliver us from the evil one.
       For Yours is the kingdom and the
         power and the glory forever.  Amen.
The beginning of this prayer has 4 points, all putting emphasis on God...and our respect for Him.  It recognizes that our Father is in heaven, that His name is to be hallowed, mentions His kingdom, and for His will to be done.  These are all important matters; so important that the example prayer starts with this first.

So the conclusion to all of this is  that it matters to God how we show our respect to Him.  We must put Him and His wishes above all else.  And if we study His Word, we learn what He wants from us.

Thanks for reading again.  Have a great week!