The Big 10: Moses

Moses said: Choose life.  Jesus said: Choose love. Different sides of the same coin.

Life without love isn’t life at all. And love that doesn’t give life isn’t really love.

​It’s that simple.

 It’s funny how the Holy Spirit moves. As I was looking for an opening to this message, I came across an old Far Side comic.
 
In what looks like a record store, a few old Jewish rabbis are flipping through bins of stone tablets marked 1 thru 10. The place is called the Commandment Store. And on the window, it reads, pick and choose the one’s you want.
 
Not that long ago in the Texas statehouse, lawmakers gathered to vote on a bill that would put the Ten Commandments in every Texas classroom.

One representative, a Christian minster, who opposed the bill, stood up and asked his colleagues, “What the fourth commandment?” He paused for a moment before asking: “And what day is today?”

Needless to say, the irony wasn’t lost on those in attendance that they had gathered there on Sunday, breaking a commandment they were trying to enshrine.

​There’s a reason our country was founded on the separation of church and state. But that hasn’t stopped many from trying to use God’s law as a political prop.
 
Yet, out of the 600+ commandment, there isn’t one where God is asking for monuments or mandates. What God desires is faithfulness. Living life shaped by love. As we begin a series on these “Big Ten” commandments, we start with Moses, who stands before his people and tells it like it is:

“See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not hear but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall certainly perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.  I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him, for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”                                                                                                                                                                                                 Deuteronomy 30:15–20

Love
By the time we meet Moses here, he’s an old man. Tired and worn down by forty years of shepherding God’s people through a difficult wilderness journey. He has led Israel out of Egypt.  And now stands just outside the Promised Land delivering his final message:  Choose life.
 
This isn’t a slogan. Or propaganda to get a vote. But it is a choice everyone must make. Life, he says, will be blessed when it’s lived by God’s words. That includes the Big Ten. But they’re not the end-all, be-all.

These commandments are building blocks for us to construct communities of love in the space between. Communities where devotion isn’t proven by hanging plaques on a wall. But how we love God, love others, and serve both.
 
Over the next few weeks we’ll look at each commandment individually but today let’s start with a quick overview to see where we’re heading.
 
The first one states Have No Other Gods Before Me. Every ancient culture had its gods—war gods, fertility gods, weather gods. Israel’s God, Yahweh, was different. Yahweh was the god of all things. A god who doesn’t take or demand, but gives and makes sure everyone is cared for. 
 
The first commandment isn’t about blind obedience to some set of rules—it’s about trusting God who says, “You are mine, I’ve got you.” Trust is how love takes root in us.
 
The second command is: Make No Idols. Ancient idols, simply put, were just carved images people made to contain or hold a god. But this commandment reminds Israel, Yahweh can’t be pinned down, controlled, or contained. Yahweh is too big for that. Too big even for any religion to own.
 
Today, our idols aren’t golden calves. They’re politics that presumes God’s rubber stamp. Churches that act as if they own the copyright on truth. It’s anything or anyone who pretends to have all the answers.
 
The invitation here is humility. Let God be God—and let love be the only thing that shapes and contains us.
 
The next commandment is Don’t Take God’s Name In Vain. Is it safe to assume you were told this is about cussing when you stub your toe? But as most scholars agree… it’s about slapping God’s name on things that aren’t love.
 
History is filled with people using God’s name to bless slavery, defend segregation, and start wars. To misuse God’s name is to weaponize love. To honor God’s name is to live so love becomes the bridge between hurt and healing.
 
And what’s the fourth commandment? Remember the Sabbath. This command mattered deeply to God’s people because in Pharaoh’s Egypt there were no weekends, no time off—just endless bricks, endless quotas, endless grind. But out in the wilderness, God flips that script. No longer is our worth measured by what we produce, but how we love.
 
Sabbath is the space where love breathes and delights. And finds rest in God’s heart.
 
The fifth commandment seems pretty straight forward: Honor Your Father and Mother. This is more than just doing what your parents say. It’s about protecting the most vulnerable in our tribe, our society—the aging, the fragile, the forgotten. It’s a reminder that we all belong to a chain of life larger than ourselves.
 
As Henri Nouwen put it: “we are beloved children, sent to remind others of the same.” When we offer others the same love and grace, we offer ourselves, we begin to live as children of an all-loving God.
 
 For many of us, the next commandment is a no brainer. Do Not Murder. This sounds easy enough for most people. And yet we still have mass shootings every day. In a world addicted to violence, this is God clearly saying, “Stop it. Put down your weapons. Choose life, not death.”
 
Yahweh is a God of life.
 
Jesus takes it further: it’s not just about taking someone’s life, he says stop rejecting, stop hating, stop dehumanizing others because they’re not like you. Love honors life, because every life bears God’s image.
 
Which makes the seventh commandment one we shouldn’t turn a blind eye to: Do Not Commit Adultery
 
More than just keeping your marriage vows sacred this commandment is about fidelity—to God, to each other, to love itself.

If you love you will always show up with integrity and grace. You will always choose to do the right thing, for the good of all people. This is a command to embody the kind of love that holds every life together.
 
The eighth commandment tells us: Do Not Steal. This one isn’t just about shoplifting. It’s about survival. Back then, stealing someone’s goat or tools could mean they starved. Or be forced into debt that would lead to indentured servanthood.
 
Love puts others first. It cares for and protects the poor from exploitation and death. But what about stealing someone’s joy, hope, or dreams?

As Jesus always shows us, love doesn’t take—it embraces, builds up, and asks us to give abundantly so no one is without.
 
While the Texas Legislature blatantly broke the Fourth Commandment, I don’t know of any politician who hasn’t disregarded this next one: Do Not Bear False Witness.
 
Like stealing, lying about someone could cost a person their land—or even their life. But for some reason, our political and religious leaders have no problem spreading false stories about immigrants, the poor, and the LGBTQ community. These lies don’t just fracture our country—they put God’s beloved children in harm's way.
 
God’s commandment is very clear: tell the truth. And spread it with love. Because love speaks in ways that heal, not harm. Love refuses to weaponize words.
 
Lastly, Do Not Covet. This last command sneaks in quietly. It shifts the focus from outward actions to inward desire. It’s less about lusting after your neighbor’s life. And more about living in constant comparison with others…in a zero-sum, winner-takes-all game.
 
Coveting is that it turns everyone into competitors. But love turns envy into gratitude. And neighbors into family. So choose love and you will win every time.
 
Moses tells God’s children, if you live like this, your life will be blessed.

But when we treat the commandments like wall art, I fear they lose their life, their meaning. And we lose sight of our life, our purpose, our call. 
 
I think Jesus knew that. When he was asked, “What’s the greatest commandment?” he doesn’t pick one of the Big Ten.

Instead, he reaches back to an earlier passage in Deuteronomy 6:5: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.’ And then he adds a reminder from Leviticus 19:18: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
 
Jesus shows us that love is the heart of the law, the thread that ties it all together. It’s like the Big Ten are snapshots. But love is the whole movie.

The way I see it, the commandments show us what a blessed life looks like when love is practiced, faithfully and fully.
 
Moses said: Choose life.  Jesus said: Choose love. Different sides of the same coin. Life without love isn’t life at all. And love that doesn’t give life isn’t really love. It’s that simple.
 
We can’t just hang commandments on a wall and call it a day. Our job is to build communities of love that live each one out.

If our leaders really want to put the commandments on display, then perhaps they should first put them on their hearts and display them in their lives.
 
If they want to hang up ‘Do not bear false witness,’ they should stop spreading lies—about elections, about immigrants, about neighbors.
 
If they want to post ‘Do not kill,’ they should pass laws that reduce gun violence. And offer health care to everyone.
 
If they want ‘No other gods before me,’ they should stop bowing at the altars of corporate money and party loyalty.

At the end of the day, the commandments aren’t some moral scorecard. Each one is a mirror showing us how well we love. And love—not plaques, not platitudes—is the truest sign of devotion. 

So let’s choose life. Let’s choose love. And may these words be our blessing—from our God who calls us beloved children and said, "I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts" (Jeremiah 31:33).