My first post on how I make sense of all the various commands, instructions, and principles in Scripture focused firstly on following the commands of Christ to the disciples and multitudes interpreted in the light of the Torah. This was discovered through 3 key realizations.

First, our hope of salvation is built upon Y’shua (Jesus) the Christ and His resurrection, so it makes sense to me that we should focus on His commands first as the framework for living our lives.

Second, in Matthew 28:19-20 the Christ told His disciples to teach all nations all the things He had commanded them. We are the result of their evangelistic efforts.

Third, in Matthew 5:17 Y’shua (Jesus) said that He came to fulfill the law. This is a challenging verse to exegete, but I think most would agree that during His life the Christ had to obey and teach according to the Torah; otherwise, He would not have fulfilled it.

However, as we start to follow the Christ’s commands, how should we apply them in our lives and are they all on the same importance level?

Here is where the second aspect of my Scriptural command paradigm comes into play:

1. Try to do something with every command. Don’t try to follow exactly what the command is saying or worry about whether you are doing it correctly. For example, suppose you read the command in Matthew 28:19 to “Go and teach all nations…”. Instead of worrying about where you should go, what you should be teaching, and how much time you should spend doing this, just think of one way to do something with this command. You could start a Bible Study at your school or church, go to the mall occasionally and pass out gospel tracts, or pray for a lost person every week.
2. Pick 1-3 commands to really focus on, study, and try to follow every aspect of them. Let’s say you choose to focus on honoring your parents. Then, study all the commands and instructions in the Bible relating to that topic. Make that very high on your list of priorities. Have a conversation with them to get feedback on how best to do that. Include them as a major part of your prayers. Keep thinking about other ways you could honor them. Be willing to alter some of your lifestyle choices to keep this command. Try to always speak positively about them and look for the good character qualities they exemplify.
3. Change your focus when you feel it is time for a new one. Don’t choose one commandment and then just camp on it. Keep shuffling your attention between different commandments based on what you feel would be the most meaningful for your life at this point or what you feel the spirit is possibly prompting you to do.
4. Keep recycling through the other commands that are not part of your focus. Change the way you apply them periodically. Don’t always think about the command in the exact same way.

With this paradigm, you can expect your lifestyle choices to be different from other Christians around you. This is not because they are better or worse than you, but simply because you each have a different focus at this time.

Utilizing this paradigm can allow a tremendous amount of understanding and communication between Christians without them compromising convictions or beliefs. Without adopting this paradigm, you are forced to judge someone who lives differently than you do as ‘not following Scripture correctly.’ Or, you feel convicted when you are around this person, because you are not doing all that they are with a particular concept.

Now, you can enjoy interacting with people who believe and practice their faith differently than you and try understanding those differences without judging them or feeling convicted.