You shall have no other gods before Me.

We have honored others before You: music, media, and entertainment stars, politicians, those we admire, pets, special places, those we love and have loved. We have put these things first: jobs, reputation, leisure pursuits, goals, wealth, status, and causes. We’ve loved the earth and animals so much, that they became our focus. We worshiped the creation more than the Creator.

You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

We have erected beautiful cathedrals and church buildings to admire while leaving adoration of You on the threshold. We’ve admired physical fitness until those with great bodies gained attention and acclaim beyond what we give You. We’ve been more concerned with our safety than with proclaiming Your Name. We’ve named a show American Idol and watched it without flinching. We cheered the immunity idol without a thought. We think if we say we idolize someone or something it’s to our credit.

We’ve purchased buddhas we think are cute and toured religious relics the activity of which we thought made us sophisticated. We have tried to fit in to other cultures by covering our face or bowing our head. We’ve exclaimed over these things made of wood and stone, wax and clay, and left little time and energy for admiration of our actual Creator.

You shall not misuse the Name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His Name.

We’ve carelessly thrown Your Name around like a trinket in speech, or used it in praise without a thought of who You truly are. We barely notice when Your Name is misused. We’ve been more concerned about how the worship team sounds and the songs that we sing than who is being worshiped. We’ve promised to pray and have not prayed. We’ve proclaimed Your power with faithless voices.

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, not your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

We’ve become lazy about honor. We use the Sabbath as a day to catch up on work we didn’t do earlier. We shop. We take in entertainment or sports without acknowledging that a special day requires attention on Your creation, not our desires. We are undisciplined in reading Your Word; In praying and drawing ever closer to the One who loves us beyond description; In fasting to diminish our appetites for anything other than You.

Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

We give honor when it is convenient and does not wear us out. We dismiss old wisdom because it seems out of date. We make many excuses, but are without one that is legitimate.

You shall not murder.

We speak death with our words. We’re harsh with those we don’t like and who we don’t understand. Our criticism tears their spirit and we admit no fault.

We kill infants who aren’t yet formed or who are tiny enough to be at our mercy. We call it abortion and choice, not murder and child sacrifice. We torture those of any age, finally sacrificing them on the alter of satan, himself. We drink the blood and laugh at the sorrow. And if we hear of such horrors, we dismiss them because we don’t want to admit they exist.

You shall not commit adultery.

We watch television and movies that make sexual promiscuity and deviance common and expected. We let it seep into our thinking. We trade one spouse for another and find a way to claim victimhood. We not only approve perversion, but commend it.

You shall not steal.

We take someone else’s ideas, words, or inventions without giving credit, and say they are ours. We seduce the singular affections of another’s friend or family and keep them for our own. We steal from small businesses who have no protection or big businesses because they can’t track it. We accept money from a government who takes it from someone else. In all the slippery ways there are to misuse another’s earnings, we’ve done it. We have taken money and laundered it to increase our own estates. We’ve stolen children from families who are destitute and claimed we would help them. Instead we have sold them over and over for a pervert’s sexual pleasure. We’ve mismanaged money – our own and in our government – and made excuses for both.

You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

We’ve gossiped. We’ve misled others to make ourselves seem better and our sins seem less. We’ve said someone has done or said something they never did or said. We’ve threatened in order to gain confessions to reach our desired legal result. We’ve plotted and planned and written or leaked or lied or spread information that mislead others. We’ve censored information we didn’t want others to read or know.

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

We’ve wanted someone’s success or reputation and allowed it to discolor thankfulness for what we have. We’ve thought about their fortune while dismissing our own, we’ve cared about their lives while missing the goodness around us. We’ve lived lives of ingratitude.

God in Heaven, These and so many more are our sins. We don’t know how you can look on our nation without turning away. And we are laying our sin before You right now. It is filthy. It is despicable. It is stomach-churning. It is tarry and awful. We know we are a hardened wasteland that ingests garbage and doesn’t care. We REPENT. We are so sorry. We want to change.

Please heal. Please pour Your Spirit on us. Purify us from our sin. Purify us inside and out. Our thoughts return to You and You alone can heal us. We ask for Your mercy.