Duty of Man

Solomon in Ecclesiastes tells us that everything is vanity, that no matter what we do or say, it is all in vain. He gives us his conclusion in 12:13 “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” The whole of man is to fear God and keep His commandments, as this is the only thing that is not vanity. This should be, and has to be, our number one priority as believers. Not, our spouses, children, churches or even our jobs.

Jesus tells us in John 14:15,21 that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments. In first John, John teaches us over and over about keeping His commandments. There are those that will try and tell you that we are under the New Covenant so the commandments (laws) that are part of the Old Covenant do not apply to us. If that is true, then why is it taught to keep them AFTER Christ died and rose? Would it be because we are to still keep them? Now I will say that the Levitical Laws have been fulfilled by Christ’s death so they do not apply to believers.

HOWEVER, the moral laws – that is the 10 Commandments – are still oh so relevant for us today. Thou shalt not kill still applies today as it did in the Old Testament. Yes, I know Jesus gave us two new commandments in Matthew 22:37-40 (KJV) “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Look at verse 40, “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Jesus was saying that all the laws hung on these two, not that He meant for them to be two totally different and new laws. Look at the first one. “Love the Lord thy God with all your heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” Jesus said to love God with everything you have, your whole being, not just a part of you.

Let’s go back to the 10 Commandments. The first 4 commandments hang on the first “new” commandment as they deal with you and God. If you love God, you will – with His help and guidance – not put ANYTHING in front of Him, period. That is, you will not make anything the focus of your attention other than God Himself, and you will place into your memory all these things.

The last 6 commandments hang on the second “new” commandment as they deal with your relationship with your neighbors. Basically, it is just as Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” Plain and simple if you ask me!

This is our duty as believers, obey His commandments because we love Him and we WILL be in a right relationship with Him. When we do this, we will want nothing less than His will for our lives. When this happens, – in the words of 19th century pastor:

Let us pray as Jesus prayed in the garden, not my will, but your will be done. When we can honestly pray this prayer, we will be leaning on Him for everything, and the Holy Spirit will give us a peace that passes all understanding! This is our duty, to put our full and utmost trust in Him, acknowledge Him in everything we do, and He will direct our paths.