The First Commandment and Setting Goals for the Coming Year:
GOD’S COMMANDMENTS ARE MADE FOR OUR BENEFIT
Christ made a major revelation to his critics regarding the purpose for the Law. Christ said the Law was made for man not man for the Sabbath. See Mark 2:27. This concept no, doubt, applies to all Ten Commandments when understood deeply. They are the laws of love and liberty. The wise Solomon was inspired to write that the most important thing in all our life was the keeping of the Commandments. See Eccl 12:13. Romans 13:10 explains that love is the fulfillment of the Law. The First Commandment tell us the most important thing in regard to showing love for God. Loving God is vital to our growth and development. We must learn to love, honor and respect God to develop as happy mature people. In the same manner, a child who does not learn to respect his/her parents is headed for a trouble filled life so too, people who do not learn to love and respect God.
THE FIRST COMMANDMENT IS ABOUT LOYALTY TO GOD
Learning loyalty is so essential for being with God for all eternity. Lucifer was given the opportunity and he failed utterly. See Ex 20:2-3. When a society is not loyal to the Great God it hurts them. Jeremiah told the decadent Israelites that their worship of the feminine goddess Ishtar, consort to all the Baal’s was driving them to confusion and shame. They were harming themselves. See Jer 7:18-19. Who gets hurt when we turn away from God? We do. It is like a plant turning away from water and sunlight.
Loyalty has two sides. God is loyal to us and we need to believe in and trust God. However God needs to know that he can also trust us. Romans 8:28-37 proves we can trust God. Nothing will keep him from loving us. As we practice and keep the First Commandment we are learning how to be faithful and loyal to God. Then God will know that throughout all eternity he can trust us. People who are loyal to the Supreme Being and respect his authority will make better and also more loyal spouses, workers and comrades in any situations. Those who do not fear and respect the Supreme Authority will have trouble both worshipping vain things and with authority and rules in general. This lack of respect will make them more treacherous and they and others will suffer accordingly.
WE NEED TO SET GOALS FOR THE NEXT SPIRITUAL YEAR TO HELP US GROW IN LOYALTY
We need to set goals of commission and omission. We need to determine to sin less and repent faster as needed and to demonstrate our love for God in doing more Godly endeavors than last year. James says we must show our love for God and our faith by what we actual do, our actions speak louder than words. See James 1:22-26. Each person should write down some actions and behaviors that we wish to improve. Christ told all of us on the last night before his sacrifice for us that if we loved him we would ‘Keep the Commandments ‘! See John 14:15, 15:10. Christ is very close to the Father and we need to obey the First Commandment so we can follow his good example and grow closer to the Father for our own good. Our false god’s in this age are more likely to be worldliness. This includes rampant materialism, the love of money or popularity. We will be under pressure to accept the false images of Christ to fit into society. We must not put anything or activity before a deep worship of the true Messiah and God the Father. See Matt 10:37. Things we can do include better attendance (Feasts, Sabbaths) and encouraging and helping more brethren. Giving more to God is the goal. Keeping God number one in our lives will be aided by our goal setting. Setting small attainable goals at first might be helpful and encouraging.
