One of the most well-known passages in all of Scripture is the Ten Commandments. Not only have they been taught often at church and in Sunday School, but they have also been displayed in classrooms, courthouses, capitol buildings, and on monuments all across America. Though we may not have all ten commandments memorized, we generally know what they command, and we probably think we’re pretty good at obeying them. After all, when’s the last time you murdered someone or made a little wooden idol to bow down to? It’s fairly easy to not curse or steal, and we, of course, always put God first in our lives (right?).

But, as Jesus reveals to us in His Sermon on the Mount, these commandments have a far deeper meaning and intention than we might originally think (Matthew 5), and this is exactly what Jen Wilkin focuses on in her book Ten Words to Live By.