I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Exodus 20:3

Our fourteen-year-old seemed  to spend  a lot  of time questioning rules.  Her two favorite sayings seemed to be, “That’s not fair” and “Let’s change thar rule”. It’s hard to make her  understand or accept the reasons behind the rules we’ve made, but we try. Our goal is for her to see that we set rules for her because we love  her and want only what’s best for her.

God is like that. What a  freeing experience  it is  when we truly understand that God  gives us laws not to bind us, but to free us.  Our verse today is an introduction to God’s laws, the Ten Commandments, but the word picture it expresses is “freedom”.  Imagine all the Israelites-thousands of them-trudging out of Egypt, out of extreme bondage. God gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments not to cramp their style, but to show them how to keep from falling into bondage again.

The  picture is there for all of us to see. We  can choose bondage by breaking God’s laws or freedom by keeping his laws. Praise God, He sent Christ and the Holy Spirit to assist us in keeping his principles. And when we fail but turn to him, he is quick to  forgive us and put us back on the path to freedom.

Thought:  God’s principles point the true way to freedom.