Don’t Do That
The Ten Commandments – Exodus 20:
1 – You shall have no other gods before Me.
2 – You shall not make for yourself a carved image.
3 – You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
4 – Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5 – Honor your father and your mother.
6 – You shall not murder.
7 – You shall not commit adultery.
8 – You shall not steal.
9 – You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10 – You shall not covet.
A Silver Valley, North Carolina home, has been destroyed by fire. It is tragic whenever that occurs even if there is no loss of life, and no one lost their life this time. Officials report that the fire was avoidable. Why was the fire avoidable? Because the man who started the fire did something that you shouldn’t do. He blew his nose while he was smoking and the tissue he was blowing into caught fire. The burning tissue caught other things on fire and while the man tried to stomp out the fire he was unsuccessful. The blowing nose incident occurred at 3:00 a.m. the fire department responded and the fire was out by 5:00 a.m. although the house was destroyed. Thankfully, no one was injured. I wonder if a firefighter may have told the man who tried to blow his nose while he was smoking something like this: “Don’t do that!” (WGHP FOX8 06.02.14)
There are some things that you just shouldn’t do as detailed in the lyrics of “Don’t Mess Around with Jim” by Jim Croce:
You don’t tug on Superman’s cape
You don’t spit into the wind
You don’t pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger
You don’t mess around with Big Jim Walker
And, now we can add to the list: Don’t blow your nose while you are smoking!
We can learn from the lives of those mentioned in the Bible other things that you don’t want to do. Take the example given to us by Adam and Eve, God told them just one thing they were not to do: “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat…(Genesis 2:17a).” What did Adam and Eve do? They ate the fruit of that tree and there were consequences. God made them leave the Garden of Eden and all of creation was corrupted. That was the very first object lesson to all of mankind. When God tells you not to do something, don’t do that!
The Ten Commandments in the minds of many have very negative connotations and it looks just like a list of dos and don’ts and they don’t like being told what to do, and what not to do. The Ten Commandments, also known as The Law; are, even though it is hard for some to believe, for our benefit. It is a matter of faith, since we believe God is the Creator of everything, He knows what is good and what is bad for us. Makers of electrical and electronic equipment will tell you water and electricity do not usually mix well. In fact, you can be severely harmed by getting into a bathtub with a toaster that is plugged in! Who would do such a thing? Not anyone in their right mind! God is the Father who tells the child not to touch a hot stove, why? Because it will hurt! Don’t do that! The Ten Commandments are given by a loving Father to His children so that we don’t get burned.
(When God tells us not to do something or to do something it is for our benefit.)