{"id":501,"date":"2018-06-25T20:58:05","date_gmt":"2018-06-26T00:58:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/?p=501"},"modified":"2019-04-09T02:03:33","modified_gmt":"2019-04-09T06:03:33","slug":"i-am-the-lord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/i-am-the-lord\/","title":{"rendered":"I Am The Lord"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201c\u2018Do not steal.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Do not lie.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Do not deceive one another.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201c\u2018Do not swear falsely\u00a0by my name\u00a0and so profane\u00a0the name of your God. I am the\u00a0<\/em>Lord<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201c\u2018Do not defraud or rob\u00a0your neighbor.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Do not hold back the wages of a hired worker\u00a0overnight.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201c\u2018Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God.\u00a0I am the\u00a0<\/em>Lord<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201c\u2018Do not pervert justice;\u00a0do not show partiality\u00a0to the poor or favoritism to the great,\u00a0but judge your neighbor fairly.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201c\u2018Do not go about spreading slander\u00a0among your people.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor\u2019s life.\u00a0I am the\u00a0<\/em>Lord<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201c\u2018Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart.\u00a0Rebuke your neighbor frankly\u00a0so you will not share in their guilt.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201c\u2018Do not seek revenge\u00a0or bear a grudge\u00a0against anyone among your people,\u00a0but love your neighbor\u00a0as yourself.\u00a0I am the\u00a0<\/em>Lord<\/em>.\u201d\u201d<\/em> \u2013 Leviticus 19:11-18 NIV<\/p>\n

Have you ever noticed that in Leviticus, as God teaches Israelites how they are to conduct themselves before the elders, parents, neighbors, the earth, and even how they treat the animals, He repeats the same phrase: \u201cI am the Lord\u201d?<\/p>\n

It took me a while to finally understand that He was not just reminding the people of His sovereignty and Who they choose to follow as He taught them laws and decrees.<\/p>\n

He was teaching them the key to successful relationships: love.<\/p>\n

When we love God, it also changes how we see and care for others \u2013 and ultimately, how we conduct ourselves with others. Loving God leads to loving others. That is why Yeshua, in response to a Pharisee\u2019s question about the greatest commandment, said:\u00a0 \u201c\u2018Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.\u2019 This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: \u2018Love your neighbor as yourself.\u2019\u201d<\/em> He did not end it there. Yeshua further adds: \u201cAll the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.\u201d<\/em> (Matthew 22:34-40).<\/p>\n

All the laws that God commanded to be obeyed \u2013 not to steal, not to kill, not to covet (for all we do comes from the heart. Read Proverbs 4:23) to honor parents\u2026for most of us, it seems pretty obvious that this type of conduct is an honorable way to live.<\/p>\n

However, back in the ancient times, it was not seen that way. People believed in the old adage, \u201ceye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.\u201d If someone took out an eye of one person, it was believed that in revenge, in order to compensate for the lost eye, TWO must be taken. That cycle of violence and bloodshed needed to be curtailed somehow.<\/p>\n

This exceeding wickedness of the human heart is why God began by placing limitations on the violent human behavior. All that rage, malice, desire for revenge, the cycle of bloodshed and violence … through the laws and prophets \u2013 God established how far they can go (Jeremiah 17:9; Deuteronomy 4-34). God did not just eliminate revenge. He knew there needs to be compensation for the wrong \u2013 a price to be paid.<\/p>\n

This ultimate price of our sins was paid by God through Yeshua on the cross thousands of years later (Hebrews 12; Colossians 2:6-15).<\/p>\n

God did so much more. In addition to setting boundaries (keep in mind that these are not God\u2019s ideal standards for us. Rather, these laws were preparing us, the entire human race, for the perfect ideal, which was shown through Yeshua), He taught people how to love others. Love leads to respect. Respect leads to breaking the cycle of bloodshed and violence. Indeed, through Abraham, all nations are blessed (Genesis 18:18; Genesis 22:18).<\/p>\n

This teaching of love begins and ends with the Lord.<\/p>\n

Remember, He is the Lord.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201c\u2018Do not steal. \u201c\u2018Do not lie. \u201c\u2018Do not deceive one another. \u00a0\u201c\u2018Do not swear falsely\u00a0by my name\u00a0and so profane\u00a0the name of your God. I am the\u00a0Lord. \u00a0\u201c\u2018Do not defraud or rob\u00a0your neighbor. \u201c\u2018Do not hold back the wages of a hired worker\u00a0overnight. \u00a0\u201c\u2018Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of … Continue reading I Am The Lord<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":502,"href":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501\/revisions\/502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}