Run - The Time Is Short

The Ten Commandments Project continues to be a very fruitful, fun, and encouraging youth and children’s discipleship project. Each year we have had the privilege of connecting with more and more youth and children who love the Lord Jesus Christ, and desire to serve Him faithfully.

The Ten Commandments Project Speech Challenge in particular has been uniquely encouraging as we encounter very gifted young people who are living for Christ.

This year, our participants had the opportunity to share a speech based on the first commandment “You shall have no other gods before me.” (See Exodus 20:1–17)

This commandment lets us know - “Always put God first in your life!”

The following speech is one of the many speeches that was shared as part of this project. This is the speech shared by a seventeen-year-old named Joeli Segraves.

You shall have no other gods before Me.

At 11 years old, I stood by my window in Southeast Asia, where my family lived at the time. Suddenly, I felt heavy in my heart. I felt God impress me with a deep sense of urgency for His purposes. I sensed a need to “Run… the time is short.”

God’s first command, “You shall have no other gods before Me,” confronts our culture, absorbed with worship of self. We hear phrases like, “you do you,” and “follow your heart” – these drive me crazy because it’s not about us; it’s about lining ourselves up to God and His ways and His purposes for the world.

I am reminded of a young woman from India that my family knew. Preeti met Jesus at the age of 14. At the age of 19, her family found a man for her to marry, but he was a Hindu. She refused to marry him because he worshipped many gods. Because of her refusal, she was stabbed to death. Preeti saw Jesus at the age of 19 because she had no other gods before Jesus Christ in her life.

How can we also live with no other gods but Jesus Christ? From Preeti I learned, I must love Jesus with my whole heart. I also learned that Jesus is to be my “Audience of One.”

First, I must love Jesus with my whole heart. None of us want our parents to love us half-way, or our future spouse to love us some of the time. Jesus doesn’t want that either! Jesus is to be the priority of our hearts all the time.

Growing up, my mom often said, “Remember whose you are.”

I am God’s daughter.

I was created in God’s image.

Once the religious leaders asked Jesus whether they should pay taxes to Caesar or not. Jesus told them to give him a coin. “Whose image is this and whose inscription?” When they answered “Caesar,” he stated, “Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” Jesus powerfully communicated how to live with no other gods in this response. Because WE are stamped in the image of God, that’s WHOSE we are. Therefore, our entire lives belong to him. God is to be our priority.

As a high school student, grades and athletics mean a lot to me. But my identity rests in whose I am. Because I am God’s, Jesus is my priority!

Secondly, Jesus is to my Audience of One. As a teenager, it’s so easy to want to fit in, to belong, to be like others. But God has called us to be different – to stand up and stand out for his purposes. Growing up, I heard my mom say often to me, “Remember who you are.”

I am an ambassador of Jesus on earth. I am to represent His kingdom on earth. This should influence how I talk, dress, and act. Though cheating and gossiping and saying bad words and taking the Lord’s name in vain may be common among teenagers, these violate God’s character and standards.

If he’s my Audience, I want to live for His purposes on earth which is for “all the nations to know Him.”

My goal is for Jesus to clap when He watches my life as he sees my deliberate choices to represent His kingdom.

I admit – loving Jesus with my whole heart – that’s hard. It goes against my selfish human nature, my desire to fit in, my tendency to take the path of least resistance.

But loving Jesus first and living for Him as my Audience can help me and others obey the first commandment to have no other god before Jesus Christ.

Soon after I felt the urgency for the gospel in Southeast Asia, I had a gospel tract in my hand, written in the language of where we lived. I felt the Lord wanted me to take it to the traffic guard on our street. I got my younger brother, and we raced down the street laughing. I looked at the man and said, “It’s a gift for you! Merry Christmas!” He received the small paper, smiled, and said, “Kap khun Khrap!” which means “thank you.” My brother and I raced back down the street. I turned back and saw the sweet man reading it.

Three days later, this guard died in a motorcycle accident. God wants us to put him first because the world needs the Good News. Run… the time is short.

----------------

Praise the Lord Joeli!

Great message!