First Four Commandments

• 1). Study the first four commandments in Exodus 20, noting that these relate to a Christian believer's worship of and day-to-day acknowledgment of God in his or her life. The first four commandments are a ban on multiple gods, idol worship, cursing and working on the sabbath.
  
  
• 2). Reject all other gods or idols in your life -- literally but also metaphorically. Although you may not worship statuettes on your mantle, you may have other things that dominate your life. This can range from sports to an all-consuming job. Put these before God, as a Christian, and you have violated the first two commandments.
  
  
• 3). Watch your speech. Violating the Third Commandment by taking the Lord's Name in vain, or blasphemy, is commonplace today. You also blaspheme His name by claiming to be a Christian and openly sinning. This would cause people to associate your sinfulness with God.
  
  
• 4). Attend church regularly. The Fourth Commandment requires you to keep the sabbath holy. Hebrews 10:25 reminds you again. Some Christians worship the sabbath on Saturday, though most do on Sunday. Some faiths also command that you literally do nothing -- including housework or shopping -- other than contemplate God on this day.
  
  

The Other Commandments

• 1). Read the rest of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20. Note that these all concern treating your fellow man with decency. They act as a basic guide for life in society. As Jesus' "Sermon on the Mount" later shows in the Book of Matthew they also go beyond what Christians ought not do to what they also ought not think.
  
  
• 2). Honor your parents. To keep this commandment, you must always do exactly what they ask.
  
  
• 3). Filter the next two commands -- against murder and adultery -- through the "Sermon on the Mount." This foundational sermon of the Christian faith is in chapters five through seven of the Book of Matthew. In it, Jesus discusses how Christians ought to apply the Ten Commandments in their daily lives, and he focuses on murder and adultery. Jesus explains it is not enough for good people to avoid these physical acts but also that they not consider them in their heart. A surge of anger or a lustful thought, he says, are as much a violation of the Ten Commandments as committing murder or adultery.
  
  
• 4). Steal nothing, and don't think that the passage of time is any excuse. Stealing as a 9-year-old remains a sin into your adulthood, if you consider yourself a Christian, until you make amends. Again, for Christians, it's not just the act of stealing but its presence in your thoughts and memories that make it a sin.
  
  
• 5). Reject lying or coveting someone's relationships or possessions. These are the final two commandments and pose a particular challenge in modern society. According to a recent survey, nearly one-third of adults said they may have told a lie in the past week. Also, capitalism is driven by profit motive and the strong desire to accumulate material things. Still, the Christian taskmaster -- the Ten Commandments -- requires a rejection of these behaviors in a civil, Godly society.
  
  

Conclusion

• 1). Adhere to all of the Ten Commandments at all times -- to the best of your ability. In the New Testament, James 2:10 says "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all." The Christian faith acknowledges everyone fails in the pursuit of perfection, but also that the "taskmaster" -- the Ten Commandments -- is ever present.
  
  
• 2). Compare Christianity with other world religions. Christianity is the primary world religion that likens its laws to a taskmaster, albeit one that is constantly disappointed. Believers typically fail to meet the Ten Commandments, and they seek their God's mercy, grace and undeserved favor.
  
  
• 3). Acknowledge that if you are a Christian, you have like all others failed in trying to keep the law completely. Once you have done this, God's Moral Law has performed its function. The Christian God calls upon His believers, if they are to reach heaven, to both repent of the sins enumerated in the Ten Commandments and believe in Jesus as the son of God.