Ponder the Path

The command to repent is given to every gospel dispensation, but it seems as though there has been a great deal of confusion about what repentance is. We often don’t internalize that repentance is a commandment, a process, and a critical ongoing action that is necessary to be free of sin. Israel was continually commanded to repent. The Mosaic Law included rituals for individual repentance as well as repentance for the whole congregation of Israel. Isaiah described personal repentance this way: “Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment… Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” — Isaiah 1:16-18 Before Christ, “John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.” (Mark 1:4) During His earthly ministry, the Savior compare...

How do you take Christ’s name upon you? Well, do you call yourself Christian? Have you been baptized? Then you have taken his name upon yourself. When we do this we must be very careful not to take His name in vain. When we come unto Christ our first act is to come into a covenant with God through the ordinance of Baptism. As we come out of the waters of baptism we “walk in newness of life” and take upon us the name of Christ, becoming Christians. As Christians we must not take this act in vain but we must strive with all our hearts might mind and strength to love God and serve him, and “henceforth we should not serve sin.” “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” — Romans 6:4-6 “Except a man be born of water and ...

What comes to our minds when we hear the 3rd commandment “Take not the name of God in vain”? If you are like most believers you think of the use of the name of God as a profanity, an exclamation in passing speech, or a careless or irreverent speech of God’s sacred name as taking the name of God in vain. This is not untrue, it is one important way we break this commandment, but there is another much more harmful way we sin against this commandment and it has to do with what we do with the name of the Lord after we take it upon ourselves. How do we take his name upon ourselves? Well, do you call yourself Christian? If you do, then you have taken his name upon yourself. When we do this we must be very careful not to take this name in vain. Vain: producing no result; useless. Having no meaning or likelihood of fulfillment. The meaning of vain in the context of this commandment is to take his name with no meaning, as a useless gesture, with no result or likelihood of fulfillment of the purp...

Before I move on to the third commandment this coming week, there is a very important commandment related to the first two commandments to worship no gods except the one true and living God, and that is the commandment to pay tithing. Why is the commandment of tithing in this category? Tithing is a spiritual law related to the sacrifice of temporal treasures in faith and service to the Lord God. God has commanded us to tithe 10% of our worldly increase to the works of God in this world. The earliest scriptural record we have of the tithe is when Abraham brought his tenth to the high priest Melchizedek to square himself with the Lord before receiving the blessings he sought. We know this commandment of the tithe continued among the Israelites. “And that we should bring the firstfruits of our dough, and our offerings, and the fruit of all manner of trees, of wine and of oil, unto the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and the tithes of our ground… and the Levites shall bri...

This week we will focus on the first two of the ten commandments. Thou shalt have no Gods but Me Before No Idols Bow thy Knee During the time that the ten commandments were given the religions of the ancient world were entirely made up of false gods and idol worship of those gods. The first two commandments in the law seem to be directly related to the practice of idol worship, so are these commandments relevant to us in a modern time when idol worship is far less common? Yes. We have just as many, maybe more, false gods in our days and the same wicked impulses tempt us to worship them. To examine these commandments are their relevance in our times, let’s think of them as representing matters of the heart and our behaviors. Thou shalt have no Gods but me – A matter of heart, desire, and thought Before No Idols Bow they Knee – A matter of action The natural man tendencies that so easily beset us cause incongruence between our thoughts and our actions. We are just as capable as people in...

After covering the greatest commandments in the law, the first to love God and the second to love our neighbors, I am going to explore the study of the laws of God through categories based on the ten commandments. It is of interest that the ten commandments can be understood best by thinking of them as subcategories of the two greatest commandments to love God and our neighbor. When Jesus was asked, “Master, which is the great commandment in the law?” He answered, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” He then said that “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” The ten commandments hang upon these first two greatest commandments. The first five relate to the first commandment to love God and the second five are connected to the second commandment to love our neighbors; though it is essential ...