The Ten Commandments

To my daughter, 

               This week we read about the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 which the Lord gave to Moses on Mount Sinai. Though these were given thousands of years ago in a place far from here, they are still relevant and important for us today. Six of these commandments teach us what we should not do: we should not take the Lord’s name in vain, lie, steal, take another’s life, be immoral, or covet. Those are very important and are all applicable to us—I encourage you to strive always to follow these and live a life of honesty, virtue, and kindness. Two other commandments teach us what we should do: honor our parents and keep the Sabbath Day holy. When we seek to follow these we show our humility before God and invite His Spirit into our lives. These eight commandments help us to know how to act and how to treat others, and I hope that you will seek to choose the right by following these commandments of the Lord given to Moses. As you do so you will see the truth of King Benjamin’s promise and understand the “blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God” (Mosiah 2:41).  

The most important of the Ten Commandments, though, are the first two. These teach us about our relationship with God and what should be the focus of our lives. They are these: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments” (Exodus 20 3-6). These instruct us that God should be the most important priority in our lives—nothing should be more important to us than loving and serving Him. We should not love other things like movies, friends, sports, school, or any of our possessions more than God. President Oaks summarized it this way: “We must never dilute our first priority—to have no other gods and to serve no other priorities ahead of God the Father and His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.” We must never let other things of the world become more important to us than following our Father in Heaven’s plan, even if that means that others look down on us because of it. It will take great courage for you in your life to follow Jesus Christ and make His gospel the “ultimate priority in [your] life,” but I know that is the way to peace in this life and eternal life in the world to come. We can do this by reading scriptures each day, praying, going to church, and keeping the commandments. As you make choices each day, remember that what the Lord thinks of your choices is far more important than what anyone else says. Know that God “looketh down upon all the children of men; and he knows all the thoughts and intents of the heart,” and He smiles upon you as seek to keep His commandments and love and serve His children (Alma 18:32).

Love,

Dad