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do not coax

Exodus 20:16-18
"16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
18 And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off."

When GOD first gave the Ten Commandments the people backed away. They retreated. Granted, there was thunder and lightning! Also, a loud trumpet and smoke billowing. Without a doubt a fearsome situation. It was an exclamation point on the importance of this moment and the GIFT of the Ten Commandments. 

Today, people still retreat from these Laws. We don't like to study them because we break them on a regular basis. BUT! We don't want to do that. We need to know the Commandments and we want to KEEP the Commandments! The day before yesterday we studied the First Table. Which instructs us on our relationship with God. Yesterday, we read some from the Second Table, which informs us on our relationship with other people. On the surface we can read them and say; "I don't KILL people." While that is good it's not all of it. GOD expects more of us. Not only should we not harm others, we need to HELP others in every way we can. And, when reading this, we need to ask ourselves; "Do I always do this?" 

In today's verses we read the remaining Commandments;

THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT:
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. We should fear and love God, so that we DO NOT LIE about, betray or slander our neighbor, but excuse him, speak well of him, and put the best construction on everything. Do I always do this?

THE NINTH COMMANDMENT:
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. We should fear and love God, so that we do not craftily SEEK to GAIN our neighbor’s inheritance or home, nor get it by a show of right, but help and serve him in keeping it. Do I always do this?

THE TENTH COMMANDMENT:
You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his cattle, nor anything that is his. We should fear and love God, so that we DO NOT TEMPT, FORCE or COAX away from our neighbor his wife or his workers, but urge them to stay and do their duty. Do I always do this?

For more on the Ten Commandments (& more) follow this link: https://catechism.cph.org/en/10-commandments.html
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