How do we follow God? How does God want us to live?
During our life, with age, we often get thoughts about how to live right, to act properly, where to look for happiness and the true meaning of life. We do not find satisfaction either in expensive purchases or in our achievements ...
We've heard about Jesus saving our lives. Is that enough or we actually need to do anything ourselves?
Bible describes a journey of individual people and nations from the beginning of times and allows to form a pretty good picture of who God is, why He created us and what is expected from us. But let’s start at the beginning.
Let's take a look at the 10 commandments from Old testament delivered to us from God by Moses. The 10 commandments were given to people thousands of years ago, they are short and simple and serve as a great start to those who want to know what God wants from us.
- You shall have no other gods before me.
- Do not bow down to an image of anything...
- You hall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.
- Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
- Honor your father and mother.
- You shall not murder.
- You shall not commit adultery.
- You shall not steal.
- You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
- You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Before we get to the details of each of the commandments, let's look at a more recent writing to get a word about these commandments from Jesus Christ, the only Son of True God.
「先生﹐律法上哪一條誡命最大呀？」 耶穌對他說：「要用你完全的心﹑完全的性命﹑完全的精神【或譯：理性】﹑愛主你的上帝。 這是最大的﹐又是第一要緊的誡命。 其次的也跟這個相彷彿：要愛你的鄰舍如同你自己。 這兩條誡命﹑就是全律法和神言人的教訓所依據【希臘文：懸掛】的。」( 馬太福音 22:36-40 )
As per Jesus, the basis for all of these commandments that we are going to review is love & care for others.
1. You shall have no other gods before me. Or, You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.
Throughout the history, people were creating gods from silver, gold, wood, clay and worshiping them with sophisticated rituals, sacrificing innocent animals and people, often newborns… In modern age the most common gods or idols are wealth and power. To serve these idols, we only think of how to get more money or power despite having enough already. We turn away from helping others, lose compassion towards our friends, neighbors, people in need. Instead, we need to put the God first. Love first.
愛父親或母親過於愛我的﹐配不起我；愛兒子或女兒過於愛我的﹐配不起我； 不拿著自己的十字架來跟從我的﹐也配不起我。 獲得性命的﹐乃失掉性命；為了我的緣故失掉性命的﹐乃獲得性命。( 馬太福音 10:37-39 )
What does it mean to love God and put him first? If we do not see God in our daily lives, do not hear him, how can we love him? Where can we find God?
It's probably more difficult to understand our God from Old Testament, where His care for us was often perceived as a meaningless set of strict rules and restrictions. But Jesus came down to Earth to show us the true image of our Father, our God.
你們若認識了我﹐也就認識我的父。從現在起﹐你們已認識他﹐並且已經看見了他。」( 約翰福音 14:7 )
Therefore, to understand who God is, we need to learn more about Jesus Christ, his story and his story in the New Testament.
What does it mean to love God?
「你們若愛我﹐就必謹守我的誡命。( 約翰福音 14:15 )
And the same thing Jesus did himself. To show the world that he loves the Father, he died on the cross, for Father had asked him to do so.
但這是要叫世人知道我愛父﹐並且父怎樣囑咐我﹐我就怎樣行。起來﹐我們就走吧。( 約翰福音 14:31 )
Let's show our love to Jesus who came down to represent God on Earth. Let's study his works to understand the true meaning of love. And the result of such love would be obeying his commandments.
親愛的﹐我們要彼此相愛﹐因為愛是出於上帝的。凡愛人的﹑都是由上帝而生的﹐並且認識上帝。( 約翰壹書 4:7 )
2. Do not bow down to an image of anything
「不可為你自己做雕像﹐也不可造上天﹑下地﹑及地底下水中任何物件的形像。 不可敬拜它們﹐也不可事奉它們﹐因為我永恆主你的上帝是忌邪的上帝；恨我的﹑我必察罰他們的罪愆﹑從父親到兒子﹑到三四代。 愛我守我誡命的﹑我必堅心愛他們﹑直到千代。( 出埃及記 20:4-6 )
It's very hard to resist the temptation to worship something we see with our own eyes. Apart from making images of idols, we like to bow before the pictures of saints, kiss a painting of Jesus Christ and his mother Maria. And that leads us to a false view of who God is… Our God is not that picture in the church that can get burned or stolen. God is not a Bible, or Torah, or Quran or any other book or a scripture.
If we put our love, faith and hope into an image of something, with that image gone our hope will die. We forget that nobody has ever seen God. Nobody knows what Jesus Christ looked like. If the physical appearance of Jesus is that important, wouldn't God deliver a detailed description of him in the Bible?...
In real life Jesus unlikely looked like anything we've seen on any images of him. For his appearance was of nothing remarkable… Jesus is not meant to be recognized and remembered for his external appearance. Here is the description of the coming Messiah from the prophet Isaiah.
他在永恆主面前長起來像幼樹秧﹐像根出於乾旱之地；他沒有佳形威儀讓我們瞻仰他﹐也沒有美容使我們羨慕他。( 以賽亞書 53:2 )
God does not want us to worship any images of anything. Instead, he wants us to know that God is love, and God can abide within us. We do not need any things to have or images to see in order to talk to him and to be with him. Poor and rich, healthy and disabled people - all have equal access to God.
不愛人的﹑不認識上帝；因為上帝就是愛。( 約翰壹書 4:8 )
上帝在我們身上所施【希臘文：有】的愛﹑我們就知道﹐也相信了。上帝就是愛；住在愛裡面的﹑就是住在上帝裡面﹐上帝也住在他裡面。( 約翰壹書 4:16 )
We invite God to be with us forever, and nothing can separate us from him.
3. Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God
「不可妄稱永恆主你的上帝的名﹐因為妄稱永恆主名的﹑永恆主必不以他為無罪。( 出埃及記 20:7 )
The "name" in this context means the image and reputation. It's very easy to misinterpret and misunderstand the Lord our God. If we keep hearing "I swear by God…" or "Oh my God, this is…", "God did this with me…", "God is a lie from a fairy tales" or misusing God's name ourselves, even just saying without meaning it, we lose the meaning of sacred and powerful God. And with that we'll lose the hopes of finding Him.
不可指著我的名起假誓﹑而褻瀆你的上帝的名：我永恆主耶和華。( 利未記 19:12 )
永恆主發神諭說：我必使這書卷出去﹐進入偷竊之人的家﹑和奉我名起假誓之人的家；這書卷必留他家中去消滅它﹐連木料帶石頭都滅盡。」( 撒迦利亞書 5:4 )
4. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy
What do we know about Sabbath in the bible?
並且我也將我的安息日賜給他們﹐做個我與他們之間的憑證﹐好使他們知道是我永恆主使他們成聖別的。( 以西結書 20:12 )
也不可在安息之日從你們家中挑出擔子；甚麼工都不可作﹐只要以安息之日為聖日﹐照我所吩咐你們列祖的。』 然而他們卻不聽從﹐不傾耳以聽﹐逕硬著脖子不聽﹐不接受管教。 「但你們若留心聽從我---永恆主發神諭說---不在安息之日挑甚麼擔子進入這城的門﹐只以安息之日為聖日﹐在那日不作甚麼工﹐( 耶利米書 17:22-24 )
And this.
「你若從安息日掉轉你的腳步﹐在我的聖日不作你自己喜歡作的事﹐只稱安息日為有樂樂﹐稱永恆主之聖日為可尊重﹐而你若尊重它【或譯：他】﹐不行你自己的路﹐不尋求你自己喜歡作的事﹐不說你的廢話﹐( 以賽亞書 58:13 )
Sabbath was given to us to have a rest from our daily routine, to not worry about things or work to do, and to free up our head from the burden of this world… However, we’ve been certainly misusing the Sabbath for thousands of years… The commandment that supposed to help us unload our burdens from our minds and clear up the pathway to God was used by people as a way to punish others.
經學士和法利賽人窺探著耶穌在安息日要不要治病﹐意思是要尋得把柄來控告他。( 路加福音 6:7 )
As mentioned above, this is not a day on which we are looking for benefits for ourselves or our business. And what to do when someone needs our help on a day when you can't work?
耶穌對他們說：「我問你們﹐在安息日行善或行惡﹐救命或滅命﹐哪一樣是可行的？」( 路加福音 6:9 )
就周圍看著他們眾人﹐對那人說：「伸出手來。」他一照作﹐他的手就復了原。( 路加福音 6:10 )
Let us keep Saturdays a day in which we will not work or seek any benefit for ourselves. But even on Saturday we will not shy away from work if it helps someone else.
5. Honor your father and mother
As we grow older, parent’s role and share in our life gets smaller. Now that we've grown older, we better understand now that our parents were actually right when they taught us something, yet it takes us years of age difference between them and us to understand that. And now as they get older, it’s get harder for them to walk, sleep, and even breathe, and the laughter of their kids that they loved to hear, moved away from their house alone with the kids. And we are still years behind to understand their sorrow.
God loves us, but he also loves our parents, and wants them to do well. So let us help him, and give a little love to those who generously gave us their love, and help them at least a little brighten up their old age, which we will soon meet ourselves.
人若不為自己的人籌謀﹐尤萁不為自己一家的人籌謀﹐便是背棄了信仰﹐比不信的人還壞。( 提摩太前書 5:8 )
6. You shall not murder
There is not much we can add to this, except that we should not murder not just physically, but spiritually as well. Instead, we need to love our neighbors, as well as our enemies, encourage them and help them succeed.
7. You shall not commit adultery
Here we quote Jesus himself.
「你們聽見有話說：『不可姦淫』。 但是我告訴你們﹐凡看婦女﹑而動慾念的﹐這人心裡已經和她犯了姦淫了。 若是你的右眼使你絆跌﹐你要把它剜出來﹐丟掉它；因為你肢體中的一肢失掉了﹐而你的全身不丟在地獄【希臘文：欣嫩子谷】裡﹐這對於你倒還好。 若是你的右手使你絆跌﹐你要把它砍下來﹐丟掉它；因為你肢體中的一肢失掉了﹐而你的全身不往地獄【希臘文：欣嫩子谷】去﹐這對於你倒還好。( 馬太福音 5:27-30 )
And from apostle Paul.
上帝的旨意是要你們聖化：他要你們禁戒淫亂﹐ 要你們各人曉得以聖化和自尊﹑擁有自己的妻子【或譯：控制自己的身體。『妻子』或『身體』一詞希臘文作『器皿』】。 不用私慾的邪情﹑像那些不認識上帝的外國人那樣。 他要你們各人在這事上不越分﹑而佔他弟兄的便宜；因為關於這一切事﹑主是處罰者；這也是我們先前對你說過﹑而鄭重證明的。( 帖撒羅尼迦前書 4:3-6 )
8. You shall not steal
Do not steal any things. Do not steal a boyfriend or a girlfriend. Do not steal any right for freedom, for the place under the sky…
Do not delay payment to the one you hired.
「不可欺壓你的鄰舍﹐也不可搶奪他的東西；雇工人的工錢不可在你那裡過夜到早晨。( 利未記 19:13 )
And remember.
邪惡之財寶毫無益處；惟有仁義的賙濟能援救人免致早死。( 箴言 10:2 )
是偷竊的﹑或貪婪的﹑醉酒的﹑辱罵人的﹑勒索人的﹑都不能承受上帝的國。( 哥林多前書 6:10 )
9. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor
Or, in short, do not lie… It may happen when we think that someone obviously did something wrong, and we add to our words more than we have actually seen or heard, ruining someone's life. God warns us about that.
作假見證陷害鄰舍的人﹑是大槌【傳統：擊散】﹑是利刀﹑是快箭。( 箴言 25:18 )
假見證必難免於受罰；噴吐謊言的必滅亡。( 箴言 19:9 )
所以你們要脫去虛謊﹐各人同鄰舍說實話﹐因為我們是互相為肢體的。( 以弗所書 4:25 )
「不可散佈虛謊的傳聞﹐也不可跟惡人連手去作強暖暴事的見證。( 出埃及記 23:1 )
10. You shall love your neighbor as yourself
From old testament we see a simplistic view of this commandment.
「不可貪愛你鄰舍的家【或譯：房屋】﹐不可貪愛你鄰舍的妻子﹑奴僕﹑使女﹑牛﹑驢﹑和你鄰舍的任何東西。」( 出埃及記 20:17 )
不可報仇﹐也不可懷恨你本國的子民﹐要愛你的鄰舍如同你自己：我是永恆主。( 利未記 19:18 )
Yet, as we already know from Jesus, this commandment is the foundation of the law, which is also reminded by Paul.
因為在「愛鄰舍如同你自己」這一句話裏﹑全律法就都行盡了。( 加拉太書 5:14 )
It's hard to overestimate this commandment. And at the same time it's hard to fulfill it. Let's be mindful to those around us. Do not turn away from those who need help. It's a blessing to be able to help others in need.
It's natural to us to look at the riches of this world. The news of this world are focused on successful, rich people, stocks & markets… Following them brings us anxiety, envy, impatience, and dries us out. And it's not where our neighbors are. Our neighbors are not in the news. They are often the poor ones who are truly grateful for the food they get, for they do not get a lot of it. They thank God for an extra day of life for their dying child. They praise God for a new friend they get, for people often avoid them. They get happy from a single word of encouragement, for they do not get much of them in prison where some of them are. For our God is with these people, as well as those who care about those around them.
恩待窮困的﹑是借給永恆主；他所行的善事﹑永恆主必償還。( 箴言 19:17 )
Helping our neighbors in need is what fills the emptiness inside of us. And that is what makes us closer to God.
Let's look around. We'll see co-workers, family members, our neighbors, poor people on streets. If we help these people around us, we help God.
因為我餓了﹐你們給我喫；我渴了﹐你們給我喝；我做旅客﹐你們款接我； 我赤著身子﹐你們給我穿；我病了﹐你們看望我；我在監裡﹐你們來看我。』 那時義人必回答他說：『主阿﹐我們甚麼時候見你餓了供養你？或渴了給你喝？ 甚麼時候見你做旅客款接你？或赤著身子給你穿？ 又甚麼時候見你病了或在監裡來看你呢？』 王必回答他們說：『我實在告訴你們﹐這些事你們既作在我這些弟兄中最小之一個的身上﹐就是作在我身上了。』( 馬太福音 25:35-40 )
所以無論如何﹐你們願意人怎樣待你們﹐你們也要怎樣待人：這就是律法和神言人道理的總綱。( 馬太福音 7:12 )
「對你們一般聽的人﹑我也說：要愛你們的仇敵﹐好待那恨惡你們的；( 路加福音 6:27 )
These are the 10 commandments, the ten simple instructions that God gave us long time ago. They are given to us from the one who loves and cares for us. The 10 commandments is a good start for us to start following now and to get a deeper understanding of who Christ is, who showed us the true meaning of the law and the sinless life.
We highly recommend reading the Gospel from Bible covering the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and his Earthly life.
And below there are some quotes from both Old and New testaments that can help us tune up our lives further.
凡過於前進﹑不持守著基督教訓的﹑是沒有得著上帝的；凡持守著這教訓的﹑這人不但得著了父﹐也得著了子。( 約翰貳書 1:9 )
作為聽從的兒女﹐你們可不要和先前無知時的私慾同形狀阿。 卻要按召你們者的聖潔樣子﹑在一切起居為人上也成了聖潔；( 彼得前書 1:14-15 )
要懷著大志做安靜人﹐辦自己的事﹐親手作工﹐照我們所囑咐你們的﹐ 使你們行事為人讓外界看為端端正正有體面﹐不需要人賙濟。( 帖撒羅尼迦前書 4:11-12 )
One of the most difficult things to do is to understand what our wealth is really for…
看哪﹐萬族之民只為了給火焚燒而勞碌﹐列國之民只為了虛空而疲乏﹐不都是出於萬軍之永恆主麼？ 因為人對永恆主的榮耀之認識必充滿了大地﹐如同水瀰漫著洋海一般。( 哈巴谷書 2:13-14 )
我們沒有帶著甚麼進世間來；我們也不能把甚麼帶出去； 只要有養生和遮身之物﹐就該以此為足。 但那些定意要致富的人就陷落試誘和網羅﹑跟許多無知而有害的私慾﹑令人沉沒於敗壞和滅亡中的私慾。 因為貪財即是萬惡之根；有人一心要貪財﹐就受迷離背了信仰﹐拿許多傷痛刺透了自己。( 提摩太前書 6:7-10 )
Be humble and don't think highly of yourself.
不要在王面前妄自尊大；不要在大人物的位子上站著； 寧可有人對你說：「請上這兒來！」也不可在權貴面前被退下。你的眼看見甚麼﹐( 箴言 25:6-7 )
喫蜜過多很不好；和盤托出自己的光榮﹑並不是真光榮。( 箴言 25:27 )
「人子阿﹐葡萄樹比別樣樹有甚麼強處呢？森林樹木中的葡萄枝比別的樹枝有甚麼好處呢？ 那上頭有木料可以取來作工具麼？或者人可以從那上頭取橛子來掛甚麼器皿麼？ 看哪﹐已拋給火燒燬﹐火既燒燬了兩頭﹐中間也給燒焦了﹐要作工具還有用處麼？ 看哪﹐它完整時﹑尚且不能用作工具﹐何況火燒燬了它﹐並且給燒焦了﹐還能用作工具麼？( 以西結書 15:2-5 )
不﹐他還賜更大的恩呢；故此經上說：「上帝敵擋狂傲的人﹐賜恩給謙卑的人」。 所以你們要順服上帝﹐抵擋魔鬼﹐魔鬼就逃避你們。 你們親近上帝﹐上帝就親近你們。罪人哪﹐潔淨你們的手吧；心懷二意的人哪﹐使你們的心清潔吧。( 雅各書 4:6-8 )
弟兄們﹐我們勸你們﹑對游手好閒的人要勸戒﹐對灰心的人要撫慰﹐對軟弱的人要扶持﹐對眾人要恆忍。 你們要小心﹐誰都不可以惡報惡﹐卻要在彼此相待和待眾人上時常追求良善。 凡事感謝；這就是上帝在基督耶穌裡對於你們的旨意。( 帖撒羅尼迦前書 5:14,15,18 )
你們呢﹑弟兄們﹐你們在正當行為上卻不可喪志。( 帖撒羅尼迦後書 3:13 )
永恆主所恨的有六樣；連他心所厭惡的實有七樣：就是 高傲的眼﹑虛假的舌頭﹑流無辜人之血的手﹑ 圖謀惡計的心﹑急速跑壞事的腳﹑ 噴吐謊言的假見證﹑在弟兄中散布紛爭的人。( 箴言 6:16-19 )
「眼睛是身體的燈。你眼睛若大量【或譯：純全】﹐你全身就光明；( 馬太福音 6:22 )
因為時候必到﹐人必不容忍健全的教義﹐反而耳朵發癢﹐順著自己的私慾給自己堆積許多教師來﹐( 提摩太後書 4:3 )
至於愚拙的辯論和族譜之空談跟紛爭﹑以及律法上的爭論﹑你總要遠避著；因為那是無益而徒勞的。( 提多書 3:9 )
別和今世同形狀了﹐乃要以心思之更新而變了形質﹐使你們能察驗甚麼是上帝的旨意﹐甚麼是那美善的﹑可喜歡的﹑純全的事【或譯：甚麼是上帝美善的﹑可喜歡的﹑純全的旨意】。( 羅馬書 12:2 )
正因為這個緣故﹑你們這方面也要供出十二分的熱切來：要在你們的信心上加以供應美德﹐在美德上加以供應知識﹐ 在知識上加以供應節制﹐在節制上加以供應堅忍﹐在堅忍上加以供應虔敬﹐ 在虔敬上加以供應弟兄們之相愛﹐在弟兄們之相愛上加以供應愛全人類的心。( 彼得後書 1:5-7 )
別愛世界﹑或世界上的事物了。人若愛世界﹐愛父的心就不在他裡面了。 因為世界上的事物﹑肉體的私慾﹑眼目的私慾﹑和人生的矜誇﹑都不是出於父﹐而是出於世界。 並且世界和世界的私慾﹑是正在過去；惟獨實行上帝旨意的﹑永遠長存。( 約翰壹書 2:15-17 )
And remember, whatever you do, do it with God in your hearts.
若不是永恆主建造房屋﹐建造的人就枉然勞碌；若不是永恆主看守城池﹐看守的人就枉然儆醒。 你們早早就起來﹐晚晚纔歇息﹐喫勸勞得來的飯﹐盡是枉然；因為【傳統：這樣】主在所愛的人睡覺時﹐已賜給他了【或譯：主將甜睡賜給他所愛的人】。( 詩篇 127:1-2 )