CD - The Ninth & Tenth Commandments - Philippians 4:11; 1 Timothy 6:6

The Ninth and Tenth Commandments remind us of our need to be content. What does it mean to be content? It means to rejoice with what you have, rejoice with other because of what they have, and not begrudge anyone of anything. To be content is to be happy knowing that God has given you everything that you need. Unfortunately, contentment is one of those things that alludes many people in our world today. One of the reasons we struggle with contentment is because we have a hard time distinguishing between needs and wants.

But, we want to focus on the positive so let us get to the point of what these two commandments say we get to do. In the words of Dr. Martin Luther, we are reminded in the Ninth Commandment that we get to “help and be of service to [our neighbor] in keeping [his inheritance or house].” This means that we get to rejoice with our neighbor when he gets a new house, when he adds on to his house, when he makes improvements on his house. We get to stop keeping up with the Jones’s and rejoice in their good fortunes.

In the Tenth Commandment we are reminded, again by the words of Dr. Martin Luther, that we get to, “urge [our neighbors wife, workers or animals] to stay and do their duty.” We may not relate to the understanding of urging our neighbor’s wife, workers or animals to stay and do their duty, but we do understand this idea in the business world. There are times when any one company may wish to have the services of an employee from another company. We are reminded that it is our privilege and duty to urge that person to stay with their company and do the best work that they can for them. A difficult task to say the least.

We might say that the Ninth and Tenth Commandments urge us to “take the high road” of life. Instead of looking for ways to entice others away from their own work and jobs where they are doing a good job for others, we are to urge them to continue to do good work for their company, even at the expense of our own. Again, a rather difficult task. Here would be good place to remind ourselves that this is not something we can do by ourselves. This, “taking the high road,” is something we can do only with the help of the Holy Spirit working through the Word and the Sacraments. Remember, we love because God first loved us and sent His only Son to die for us.

We might also keep in mind that these commandments are for others as well as for us. Meaning that if we are able to urge others to stay and do their duty, others are to urge our family members and workers to stay and do their duty. This is true contentment.

Heavenly Father, Giver of all good things, forgive me when I fail to see all the good gifts and blessing that You do give to me. Help me, seeing my blessings, to turn to others and encourage them to see their blessings as well as encourage other to stay and do their duty in whatever their station in life. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.