Jesus is My God-Relationship

Scripture: You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’ Mark 10:19

Observation: Jesus is about to drop a bombshell on the rich young man, that to receive eternal life he must leave all his possessions and follow him. However, he begins his answer to the question by reinforcing six of the ten commandments. Of the ten commandments, four are specific to our interaction with God, and six deal with our personal, earthly interactions. It is these six Jesus calls out.

While there are several explanations why Jesus limits his list to these six, I think the true reason is clear. The other four commandments - behaviors that are about our relationship with God - are about to be summarized in Jesus' next instruction. By leaving behind earthly things and following Jesus, we are aligning ourselves to God. Following Jesus wholeheartedly means God is our Lord ... that we have no other Gods, that we worship no other thing, that we respect and honor his name, and that we trust him with our time and very lives.

Choosing to follow Jesus IS our choosing of a right relationship with God. Choosing a right relationship with others is our choosing to obey Jesus.

Application: In this structure, I see how the commandments 'pivot'. They are even written this way ... the first four commandments have explanations and details, yet the next six are bullet points. On a PowerPoint slide, the slide title would be "Do Not:" followed by six words.

Jesus came to "fulfill the law". He did this by directly becoming the means by which we can achieve a relationship with God, and providing us with the sacrifice we need to be right with God when we struggle with the behaviors of our earthly lives. Jesus is my relationship with God. My real task is to better align my life to his instructions.

Prayer: Lord, again today I see that my relationship with others is something you care about. May I continue to improve in this as I interact with all people, from friends, to Christian brothers and sisters, to colleagues, to strangers. May my relationship with you improve my relating to others. Amen.