These Commandments

Still thinking about these Ten Commandments. Someone once said if we could keep the ten commandments we wouldn't need any of the laws written today.  That's just it, even in the old testament, no one except Christ was able to keep the ten commandments. The law was our school master to bring us to Christ. To bring us to a place where we realized we couldn't live it, we needed God. When I look back at the way I was raised, were taught that Jesus is coming back after a perfect Church, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. I was discouraged and thought this Christianity is for others because I am failing at it. I believe that is where God tries to get every one of us, we can't live it. We fail measurably at keeping the ten commandments.  God wants our hearts, he wants to write his law on a tablet of flesh, our hearts. We try to keep the Sabbath day by going to church and not working on that day.  Even in the Bible they struggled with this. If you see your ox in a ditch on the Sabbath day do you get him out? The religious leaders in Bible days argued about it. I have heard modern day Jews do not handle money, do not drive on the Sabbath. Christians get into the same arguments, do we worship God on Saturday or Sunday? I remember hearing about people mowing the lawn on Sunday, and others saying they cannot be a christian or they would know better. We are to worship God everyday. Yes there is a principle God is trying to teach us with the fourth commandment. Not everyday is a Sabbath. We are not to relax and party everyday of the week. God is teaching us to labor those six days and then find rest.  Yes, take a day to relax. Follow God's example of working for six days and then resting on the seventh. But remember he wants to write his commandments on our hearts. He wants us to follow his example. We seem to get it twisted. There have been times in my life when I worked everyday, sometimes 28 days in a row. We have people on welfare that do not do any work, yet we support them. In biblical days the welfare system was leaving grain stalks in the edges, or corners of the field and the poor were allowed to harvest that for themselves. They didn't own the land of the equipment needed to harvest, but were allowed to gather that grain. They still had to labor. We have a society that expects help to be handed to them for doing nothing. We have a government that wants to take from those that have a work ethic and give it to those that want to party their life away. That is not God's plan. That plan has failed, taking from the rich and giving to the poor has been tried and it fails. Soon there is nothing left to give. When you take away the incentive from those that have a work ethic and give it to those that do not. there is no point to making that money, it will just be taken away and given to others that do not want to work. I believe their needs to be a balance. Yes, we need to help those less fortunate. But why should I work hard all my life to have to give it away to someone who does not want to work at all? Before minimum wage, many youngsters would find ways to make money. There was a time I worked as a child for $2 a day. When minimum wage came into being you could not get youngsters to do the work we did even for minimum wage. We have a generation coming up that wants everything handed to them. We racked  lawns, shoveled snow off sidewalks, delivered newspapers, cleaned manure out of barns. Pick rocks out of fields, fixed fences. We did not make minimum wage, but learned a work ethic that helped us keep a job as we got older. Six days we are to labor and then earn a rest. Every day should not be a day of rest. Yes work, inglorious work is a part of the rhythm of life. It is nice to have a job that we love, to feel like we have accomplished something at the end of the day.  But sometimes even if we like to cook, the pots, pans and dishes still need to be washed. The house needs to be cleaned. I loved my job I had one time as a mock-up mechanic. I loved to see the finished part. But sometimes I had to sand and shave and shape parts and make a mess to make that part I was proud of. I still had to clean up the mess I made in the process. Sometimes I would get very dirty cleaning up the mess, but I loved seeing what I had created. I loved completing a job.  Sometimes things happened that the boss didn't see, and I got reprimanded for something I had no control over. But I stuck it out for that paycheck. I had kids to feed and clothe and put a shelter over their heads. Not every job was pleasant, but over all it was good. I never felt to good to pick up trash or mow a lawn even though I eventually signed drawings as an engineer or a checker or a drafter. When I was an engineer, I used to mow the church lawn just to give back something. I think some church people that didn't really know me and what I did for a living thought I was a landscaper or just a laborer. They see me caring for the church grounds and want to hire me for their yard needs. When in the factory and a machine was broke down, waiting to get fixed, I'd grab a broom and sweep the floor. One boss told me I gave 110%  at my review. I am proud of that and remember it to this day. Once as a general utility worker, I clean up the line and set up supplies. If a box of product  fell off the line and needed to be cleaned up, it was my job to do it. I had a different supervisor that didn't know me and showed me all this stuff he wanted me to do. The next day before I did anything else, I cleaned up all those spots I knew he would tell me to do and when he found me, he couldn't find any thing left  for me to do. I'd done them all before he found me. he walked away and said I'll get to you later, and walked up to the office.  In the office he told the other supervisors, what a good worker I was. One of the other supervisors came down to tell me what he said. I remember that incident and am proud of that.  Once a supervisor wanted to put me in for a raise, she was a new supervisor and was worried how hard it would be for her to get me that raise. She came back and told me, your reputation precedes you and it was a slam dunk. they knew you and she had no trouble at all getting me that raise. Our Children and Grandchildren need to learn that work ethic, but more than anything they need to know the Lord of the Sabbath. The one that will write his laws on the heart of man.  I need to relearn somethings as I go through the ten commandments. God has certainly been good to me.  God bless, LVZ.