Exodus 19:3-7 and 20:1-17

This week we are talking about the Ten Commandments.  So far this year, we have been seeing and learning about all the different promises that God has made to the people of Israel starting from the time of the flood and including the promise to Abraham and Sarah to bless them and their descendants to be a blessing to the world.  So with all these promises it makes sense that God would ask the people of Israel to follow the Ten Commandments.  God is about life affirming promises and allowing people to live to their fullest.  However how often do we see these as a set of rules to ruin our fun.  How much easier it is to steal from one another; to lie to one another; or to hurt one another.  It takes energy and love to think about the person next to you as a person versus just some object.  God wants us to follow the Ten Commandments not because God likes making rules but because God wants us to treat each other with the respect that God treats us with.  Have you ever thought what commandment was actually helping you this week to be a better you?  What do you think you can do differently?  How does this make you feel, and how would your life or relationships be different because you decided to follow the Ten Commandments because of what they encourage us to do instead what they are preventing us from doing?