What's Your Compass in Life?
Finding your way in the wilderness
Have you had a season of life that was confusing and frustrating?
You’re trying to make the right decisions, but everything feels a little unclear and maybe even overwhelming. And in those moments, there are a lot of voices telling you, “This is the way forward.”
But what if God has already given you something trustworthy to guide you?
Welcome to our new series called 10 Keys To the Universe, an examination of the Ten Commandments and how they relate to our lives today. In this foundational episode, John and Austin will take a fresh look at the Ten Commandments and how they function as a compass for navigating the unpredictable and painful wilderness of life.
They’ll explain how the commandments protect you, bring you real freedom, help move forward what God is doing in the world, and even expose what’s going on in your own heart in a way that leads you back to grace.
And then they’ll land on the most important piece: what Jesus has to do with all of this. Because once you understand how he fulfilled the law, it completely changes how you see the commandments: not as something you have to do, but something you get to do.
Highlights from this Episode
Broadly speaking, when you’re in the wilderness—it’s not fun! You’re lost, tired, overwhelmed; you’re looking for perspective, a next step, a way to get help. For you, maybe navigating the wilderness looks like trying figure out an issue with your kids or your marriage. Maybe it’s mental health issues or chronic illness. Maybe it’s healing from childhood wounds or dealing with a difficult family member.
For as long as there have been people, there have been different “compasses” that promise a way out of the wilderness. Some of the ones available today are:
substances or processes (addictions, basically)
influencers and social media
the health industry
the self-help industry
ChatGPT(!)
In the midst of all of those, God has a “compass” for you as well: the Ten Commandments. He gave the commandments to the Israelites when they were in a literal wilderness. They had been enslaved for 400 years in Egypt. God freed the Israelites from slavery and helped them cross the Red Sea. It was during this time that Moses went up Mt. Sinai and God gave him the Ten Commandments.
Because the Ten Commandments were originally given to the Israelites thousands of years ago, you may not think about them very much. You may even wonder if they have any application to your life today. But the Ten Commandments aren’t something to dismiss, or gloss over, or relegate to your spiritual life on Sunday. Instead, they are meant to saturate and permeate your perspective throughout the entirety of your week!
The Ten Commandments have 5 different purposes, and once you know those purposes, you’ll get a sense of why they’re worth following.
Why the Ten Commandments Still Matter
1. The Ten Commandments offer protection
Imagine that you’re living in a lawless country where the government has been overthrown, and there are multiple roving bands who are pillaging and dominating the countryside, harming others. You’re hoping that someone will establish a stable society with laws set up to defend the weak and powerless and punish the offenders.
This is what the Ten Commandments were to the newly formed nation of Israel. They were foundational and clear markers of what life should look like among the people, and they didn’t bring people down; they offered the Israelites protection. Likewise, the Ten Commandments today offer guidelines that make for a better world, and even non-Christians can recognize that following them benefits society.
2. The Ten Commandments offer freedom
Where is God? When you’re not sure, you look in odd places: the energy surge of a shopping binge, the thrill of drinking or gambling. Of course, God is not found there. What is there is a feeling of the transcendent, a dopamine surge of glory that elevates you beyond your momentary pain. It’s an elusive and fleeting feeling of control. This is your equivalent of a golden calf, but it never brings true fulfillment.
Every healthy relationship requires honesty, and your relationship with God is no different. The Ten Commandments are one of the best facilitators of honesty with God. Why? These commands are like a lamp on a dark path, showing you what loving God and your neighbor looks like and ushering you towards the bright path of love. Without that lamp, you would end up in the woods.
These commands are like a lamp on a dark path, showing you what loving God and your neighbor looks like and ushering you towards the bright path of love. Without that lamp, you would end up in the woods.
3. The Ten Commandments are a blueprint to further God’s mission.
A thread that holds the entirety of the Bible together is the fact that God is on a mission. Genesis 12:1-3 says, “The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.’”
God is on a mission to bless his entire creation, which is needed because sin has infected it. How is God going to do this? Well, as the story unfolds, the Ten Commandments are a foundational and significant means by which God will bless others: bless the Israelites and bless the surrounding pagan nations through the behavior of the Israelites.
For example, look at the 4th commandment: Honor the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Israel was meant to rest because God did the same thing on the seventh day of creation. Imagine you live next door to a family who rests regularly, and how appealing that would be! Seeing the Israelites rest gave the pagan nations a tangible glimpse of what life looks like following God. The hope was to persuade these nations to turn from their idolatry and follow the one true God.
4. The Ten Commandments help restrain sin.
The Ten Commandments serve as a mirror of your heart, revealing how miserably you fail in this endeavor to love others, and how desperately you need the grace of Jesus. Truth be told, you’d never admit this about yourself unless this ego-piercing reflection is placed right before your eyes. You have a great need to cultivate honesty with God and the commandments help you to be honest with God about the state of your heart.
The commandments provide ‘common grace’ (available to all, not just Christians) to keep this sinful world from being as bad as it could be. If you want to respond to God and others with love, they provide a way to be do that. If you want to live in a world characterized by God’s love, you have the commandments as a guide. You will fail to reflect the commandments perfectly, but you will receive God’s grace and mercy over and over again.
5. The Ten Commandments provide a window into God’s character.
Jerram Barrs wrote a book called Delighting in the Law of the Lord where he makes the point that the Ten Commandments are not a burdensome set of rules, but a “window into God’s character” and a guide to the good life.
He says, “Through the 10 commandments, God is shown to be authoritative, holy, deserving of exclusive worship, concerned with the honor of his name, a provider of rest, and a defender of life, marriage, property, and truth.”
Fulfilled by Jesus, Lived by You
Jesus fulfilled the commandments by living a sinless life of perfect obedience, embodying the intent of the law through love, and serving as the perfect, atoning sacrifice. Rather than abolishing the law, he “filled it to the full,” completing its purpose and establishing a new covenant.
In Matthew 5:17-19, Jesus says:
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
You may be wondering if you have to obey the Ten Commandments. You don’t have to, because Jesus fulfilled the law. When God looks at anyone who claims to love and serve and trust in Jesus, he doesn’t see your failures, but he sees Jesus. As he said of Jesus in Luke 3, “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.”
If you’re relieved to hear that you don’t have to follow the Ten Commandments, then you’ve missed it...while you don’t have to, you get to. You want to follow them when you realize how good, faithful, pleasing, and trustworthy they are and how they reveal God’s character and his mission for the world.
Because of Jesus, you’re not trying to earn anything by following God’s commands. You’re invited into a way of living that’s good, freeing, and deeply rooted in God’s character. As you go about your week, don’t just leave this as an idea—start to see the commandments as a guide you actually get to follow that will bring blessing in your life.