The Missed Commandment

Yesterday, during the morning church service, when Pastor V was reading the Ten Commandments, he deliberately omitted one of them. When he had finished, he put out a challenge to the children – which commandment had he missed? No children volunteered an answer, so the question was asked of the young people – still no replies. The challenge was escalated to the adults and still silence reigned. “This is not good” said Pastor V, to which, I’m sure, the entire congregation silently agreed. There was one guess, incorrect, unfortunately. Finally, someone had the correct answer, They had been following along in their Bible, which may make it more obvious if a verse or two was skipped, and probably easier to keep your mind from wandering. I don’t know if this was the only couple in the church who knew the answer, perhaps others preferred not to volunteer. Regardless, I think many people likely had to admit that they did not know which commandment had been omitted.

I must admit that I am one of those, I did not know which commandment had been missed. It was the 3rd commandment - “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain”. And, regrettably, I don’t think yesterday was a rare occurrence for me – Pastor V didn’t just happen to choose the one Sunday when I wasn’t paying attention. I think the couple who open their Bible to follow along the reading of the law have a good idea – that I just may have to adopt myself, as I think it will help me keep my mind from wandering.

I remember when I first started going to the Rob’s former church in W. and our current church now, I appreciated how the pastor would often introduce the reading of the law, with a different introduction each week. This helped me to pay attention, but alas, seems to have long since lost its effect.

I think it was a great idea of Pastor V to give this test – I only hope I learn my lesson! For the law is a gift from God – to show us our great sin and to point us to our even greater Saviour – who came, not to abolish the law, but to fulfill the law!