on the goodness of His Commandments

Am really thankful for the ministering messages spoken by Pastor Charles Price during the church camp. Somehow he managed to condense very profound truths into very basic morsel bites for us, so that we can absorb them into our heads (despite the overstuffed stomachs after meals :p) oh, not all his jokes were new (some I heard before). But you should have been there to see the gusto and zest which which he spoke about the Word of God. Hard to imagine him having suffered a heart attack 8 years before, with the vitality and energy brimming over from this man.

One of the more memorable stories which I actually took home with me is the one which he told about the 10 Commandments. Can't tell it as good as Charles Price, but would attempt nonetheless.

The story goes that a man went to jail and spend sometime there serving time for the misdeeds he done. We do not know what crime he has done but suffice it to say he didn't just spend one or two months inside jail. Over the course of his term, this man came to know about Jesus Christ and accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior. But the man can never get over his niggling sense of guilt over what he has done in the past.

The story then moves on to the day he came out of jail. With no friends and family to receive him, the man was feeling all the more remorseful over his wicked deeds he had done before. Out of sheer desperation, he went into a church cathedral to seek some solace and comfort. Upon entering the sanctuary, the very first things that greeted his eyes are these 2 large stone columns. On them were inscribed, in large bold Gothic lettering, the 10 Commandments of God given to Moses for His people on Mount Sinai. 5 on each stone column, running from the top to the bottom, they cannot help but to emphaiseze to the man  his sinfulness. He told God," Oh God! Why these now? I need Your comfort and love more than anything, and the last thing I want to be reminded now is of the 10 Commandments!"

So the man stood there in front of the stone columns for don't know how long, moping and feeling miserable. We don't know whether it came suddenly or gradually, but the man did looked up after a while, and begin to see the 10 Commandments in a new light. Instead of just "YOU SHALT NOT KILL", the man realise this commandment became a promise of God that he shall not kill, because Jesus Christ in living within him, and that Jesus Christ is not a murderer, so the man can claim that as a promise! Similarly, the man shall no longer steal, because Jesus Christ is not a thief, so that as long as the man lives in Christ, he will not steal! In that line of reasoning, each and every of the 10 Commandments, which used to be so forbidding and forbidden (because of the impossibility of keeping them) became promises to this tortured man. They are God's guarantees to him that he can keep all those laws not on his own strength, but through Jesus. 

This story is better heard than read, and you need a better story-teller than me to bring out the full richness. Nonetheless, I pray that the blessing of His promise is passed on to you as you read it. Don't keep it, pass it on!