In teaching the kids the ten commandments I looked for an easy way for them to be memorized. When it came to the 5th commandment, "Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be prolonged ...." We taught it, "Love Mom and Dad, and you'll live longer!" Alana, about 5 years old, recently learned her 5th commandment and while out with Mom saw a 2-4 year old girl in the store throw a temper tantrum. Alana tugs on her mom's sleeve, pointing out the little girl and says, "She isn't going to live very long!"
Find a creative way to teach God's commandments to your children and they will take them everywhere they go.
"Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it" (Proverbs 22:6).
When the horseless carriage was first introduced, there were no traffic signs or speed limits. Why do we have them now? Because of dented fenders and fatal accidents, all of which occurred because people are, by nature, selfish and unloving.
Away from the regimented life of the city, in rural areas, there are many intersections without stop signs. It is legal to go through the intersection without coming to a stop. The "law" that governs such intersections is that the person on the left must yield to the driver on the right.
Out in rural Idaho where I live, I'm amazed at how many people drive these back country gravel roads at 50 mph, going through numerous four way intersections without slowing down or looking. They assume no one is coming. One of these days, it is bound to happen though, and its going to be messy.
Within the first month of my first pastorate in a little town of 550, a County Sheriff pulled me over on downtown Main Street. Why? I had just failed to come to a complete stop at one of a few stop signs in town. I deserved a ticket, but was let off with a warning. Likely the officer knew the resulting scuttlebutt around town would be punishment enough, and it was.
Before the Law was given in writing, sin was in the world. The Law was "added because of transgressions" (Galatians 3:19) with a view to help protect lives and preserve relationships, but it was "weak through the flesh." It made nothing perfect. It is necessary, like stop signs at intersections, but results in our condemnation because it does nothing to change our selfish nature.
At various times in life, all the Christians I know roll through one of God's stop signs on occasion. It would be better to come to a full stop. It would save us some embarrassment. Yet above all, our aim is not the keeping of a written law, but to be abide in Christ and be adorned with the fruit of the Spirit, "against such there is no law" (Galatians 5:22-23).
If everyone lived in the fullness of the love of God, every stop sign and speed limit sign could be removed. What a world that would be!
A pastor and collector of SATURDAY EVENING POST paraphernalia shares the following illustration of the subtleties of violating the eighth commandment, "Thou shalt not steal":
… You may remember the SATURDAY EVENING POST covers that dealt with this particular commandment. The picture I’m referring to shows a woman buying a fresh turkey for Thanksgiving. The bird is lying on the scales and the butcher is standing in back of the counter…apron pulled tight over his fat stomach…pencil tucked behind his ear. The customer, a lady looking to be about 60 years young, stands watching the weighing in of the big bird. In the picture, both the lady and the butcher have pleased looks on their faces…as if each knew a secret joke.
Now, to see the reason for their knowing smiles you have to look closely at their hands. For, the butcher is pushing DOWN on the scales with a big fat thumb and the woman is pushing UP on the other side with a dainty forefinger. Neither is aware of what the other was doing so both apparently think they are getting the best of the other….STEALING without the other even knowing. I don’t remember the caption but I suppose it could be something like: “The case of the butcher’s THUMB and the lady’s FOREFINGER” But, whatever it’s title, it does serve to illustrate our attitude toward the 8th commandment.
*Click here to see a picture of the Leslie Thrasher classic "Tipping the Scales," which adorned the cover of THE SATURDAY EVENING POST, Oct 3, 1936.
He continues:
You see, both the butcher and the lady would resent being called thieves. The lady would never rob a bank or steal a car and if the butcher had a customer to give him a bad check, he would call the police and report a crime. But neither saw anything wrong with a little “finger or thumb deception” that would make a few cents for one or save a few cents for the other. And we are much like these two. We agree that this is a good commandment but we don’t think it really applies to us. After all we are not THIEVES!