Mutter Your Way....

             These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. (Deuteronomy 6:6-7)

Imagine going through your day muttering commandments as they seem appropriate. I wonder how many times each day we’d say, “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.” Would it be more or less frequent than “Thou shalt not commit adultery”? How about, “Thou shalt not bear false witness”? Or, “Thou shalt not commit murder!”?

Of course, we could include some commandments that weren’t in the “big ten.”

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. (Philippians 4:6)

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent of praiseworthy -- think about such things. (Philippians 4:8)

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. (I Peter 5:7)

But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, (Matthew 5:44)

I’m sure you can come up with a few more. Right now, the one I think I need to mutter from when I get up to when I go to sleep is “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (I Peter 5:7) I’m back to trying to figure out what God wants me to do next year, and worrying about my knee, and wondering how I’m going to do this or that.

Now, as I think about this more, it’s not a good idea if it only involves the rote repetition of a command. It’s sort of like hearing someone announce in an authoritative voice, “Do not look at the snake.” Immediately, everyone’s looking for the snake, looking at the snake, talking about the snake, and focusing all their attention on the snake. If, instead of saying, “Thou shalt not commit murder,” we said, “Love your neighbor as yourself” or “Love your enemies,” we would have something on which we could act.

The problem is that it’s impossible to stop thinking about something by telling yourself to stop thinking about something. You need to replace the thing you don’t want to think about with something you do want to think about. In other words, simply repeating the commands isn’t the goal. The goal is finding ways to think about, talk about, and apply the goals to our lives.