How To Avoid Committing Sin

Now that you believe, try to avoid sin;
You must learn what to do and not to do;
With God's Ten Commandments, you should begin;
They will guide and teach you all the way through!
Jesus summed them up into only two---
"Love Jehovah with all your heart and soul,
Mind and strength, for He alone is true;
Love other folks as yourself." That's your role!
If you love God as Jesus said you must,
You will keep holy the Lord's Sabbath Day;
If you want other folks to treat you just,
Then you must not steal, lie, covet, or slay!
Obey these, and your life will turn around;
Instead of hell, you will be heaven bound!

"'The most important one,' answered Jesus, 'is this: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love your Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself!'" (Mark 12:29-30)

These are the actual words of Jesus in answering the question, "What commandment is the most important?" You will note that I used "other folks" for "neighbor", because Jesus emphasized that by "neighbor" He meant all other people. The Ten Commandments were engraved in two stone slabs by God's finger and given to Moses on Mount Sinai in the Arabian desert 4000 years ago. The actual words are to be found in Exodus Chapter 20 of the Bible. They were called the "Law" by Israel, and everyone that lives is expected by God to obey them. I left one out of the poem; it is, to honor your father and mother.

Any Christian would do well to memorize them and try hard to obey every one all his life. To violate one is to sin. A person who sins has offended God, but He forgives sin for the sake of Jesus, if asked sincerely by the offender, who then tries even harder not ever to commit it again.

I have taken the liberty of paraphrasing them to assist the modern reader to better grasp the meaning. Here are the Ten Commandments of God for Christians.

1. Jesus Christ is one God; there is no other.
2. Do not make or worship any graven image.
3. Do not use the name of God to curse.
4. Honor God by keeping Sunday holy.
5. Honor your father and mother.
6. Do not murder.
7. Do not commit adultery in mind or body.
8. Do not steal.
9. Do not lie.
10. Do not covet anything or anybody that is another's.