Moses Receives the Tablets of the Law (painting by João Zeferino da Costa, 1868)
God created each one of us as a person meant to be responsible for his or her own eternal fate. He gave us that responsibility when He gave us the commandments, along with our free will with which we alone choose whether or not to carry out those commandments. No one else can assume this innate responsibility for us, no one else can carry out God’s commands for us. The buck stops at our door.
We show this responsibility in how we carry out our daily tasks, through the virtues we personally exhibit and the vices that we personally fight. But many of us have a somebody do it for me attitude. Or maybe our attitude is a political one: I don’t like the commandment so I don’t have to follow it.
If we have those attitudes, we ought to take heed. God also promises consequences for our disobedience. We will be held accountable for our personal actions on Earth.
But when he (John the Baptist) saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.–Matthew 3: 7-12
Chaff is the dry, scaly protective casings of the seeds of cereal grain, or similar fine, dry, scaly plant material such as scaly parts of flowers, or finely chopped straw. It is a waste material ploughed into the soil or burnt. Chaff is indigestible by humans, just as sin is indigestible by our perfect God.
The truth is we should not waste our lives here on what is abhorrent to God.
Well, you say God is merciful, and He most definitely is! But we should remember that God is also just. It’s been said before: The Ten Commandments are not ten suggestions. They are the roadmap given to us by our Creator so that we can live a joyful and happy life here on Earth, and ultimately an unbelievably beautiful, eternal life with Him.
Translating a World on the Edge 