This guest post is by Barbara Bassett:

One day, as I studied the scripture known as the Ten Commandments, I was so stunned with its harsh rigidity that I had to reread it, again-and-again-and-again, looking for the caring and protective Father I thought I knew. Where was He?

         Then as I reread—aloud—this moral code for Israel and for all who would become His, the words I heard lost their firm harshness as I realized how deeply He too suffers from our rejection of His protective guidance as well.

                        A DEVOTIONAL PLEA FROM OUR FATHER

If we honor other gods before Our Father,

We commit spiritual adultery and we knowingly violate Him.

If we make an idol of anyone else’s likeness and we worship it,

We cheapen His glory and sabotage our allegiance due to Him alone.

If we use His holy Name in vile utterances,

We flaunt our ignorant scorn of its splendid power.

If we commit murder,

We challenge His wisdom as our supreme Creator and Judge of all life.

If we commit adultery,

We violate His Holy Spirit, residing in the temples of our bodies.

If we steal,

We encroach upon His stewardship over the fate of all humans.

If we bear false witness against our neighbor,

We damage a defenseless member of His earthly family.

If we covet anything belonging to a neighbor,

We reject His promise to give to us the desires of our hearts.

In surrendering to His loving leadership, we find that:

As we choose to honor our parents, though they may fail us,

We still respect His right of stewardship over our lives.

As we remember and keep holy the Sabbath,

We accept His invitation to be in harmonious fellowships with Him.

As we confess our sins to be truly against Him,

He is faithful to forgive and to forget them.

As we repent,

He joyfully celebrates with all of heaven.

As we love Him and keep His commandments,

He warmly draws us unto Himself.

As we humbly choose to be His bondservants,

Our Father strengthens us to take up the Cross of His Son.

~~~

Barbara Bassett lives in Rancho Santa Margarita, California, where her long and storied life includes being part of both a Vineyard fellowship and a writers group. A loving mother and grandmother, at 93-years-young she confidently claims, “After more than eight decades of receiving My Father’s loving words of wisdom, I find his guidance to be new every day.”