Daily Devotional
Hear and Do
The word of God is not given for ornament, but for obedience. Moses calls Israel to hear, learn, keep, and do; and Acts shows what comes when men wish to appear devout while keeping back part for themselves. The sin of Ananias and Sapphira was not that they possessed goods, but that they lied before God, desiring the honor of sacrifice without the truth of it. So the commandment is not light speech for the lips only, but a straight heart. As Clement says, “For you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes His name in vain. Exodus 20:7” To bear God’s name falsely in oath, worship, or offering is a grave thing.
Deuteronomy also forbids us to tamper with the command. The church does not improve God’s word by softening it, nor by adding pious inventions to excuse disobedience. We must keep it, “neither adding to them nor taking away from them.” This touches the tongue, the hand, and the hidden desires. Covetousness begins in secret, then teaches the hand to grasp and the mouth to deceive.
Yet Psalm 88 teaches us another kind of speech before God: not falsehood, but persevering lament. Better to cry truthfully from the pit than to stand proudly in the assembly with a divided heart. And when rulers beat the apostles, they did not grow silent. Fear of men did not cancel the command of God. Therefore let your worship be clean, your repentance plain, your prayer steadfast in darkness, and your obedience whole.
“For you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes His name in vain. Exodus 20:7”
— Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus)
“neither adding to them nor taking away from them.”
— Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions
For Reflection & Discussion
What false appearance before God or the church must you confess today—especially in money, speech, or a promise made in His name?
What command of Christ or Scripture have you softened, delayed, or explained away, and what concrete act of obedience will you do today without adding to it or taking from it?
Will you set aside a fixed time today to pray Psalm-like truth before God in your trouble, and then endure one costly duty without yielding to fear of men?
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