I was just reading an article on the three uses of the Law and the author made a point about the Ten Commandments being good - but they are written in the negative. He gave one example.

QUESTION: How would you write the Ten Commandments in the positive?

Here they are, for memory's sake (in red), with my "positives" in between:

"You shall have no other gods before me."

Put God first in your life and you won't go wrong. Worship the Lord you God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind. Make no room for other gods...

"You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Keep your mind's eye and your heart focused on God. Be aware of anything that could become something that is worshipped.

"You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

Respect the Lord's Name - He is your Creator, your Healer, your Life! There is nothing (NOTHING) that you deserve and even your very breath comes from the Lord. Respect the Lord's Name.

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep 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, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Rejoice in Christ! He is your Sabbath rest! If you are in Christ, you have entered into the rest that is in Him - no longer bound to the works of the Law, you may look forward to the final rest, beyond the grave.

"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

This one is a "positive" and it bears saying again. Confront their sin - Biblically, gently, and with honor.

"You shall not murder.

Respect human life. Love the people you have contact with. Love is patient and kind; love is humble and polite. Love is more concerned with what is right, not with who is right. Love holds short accounts and lets grudges go. Love mourns at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

You shall not commit adultery.

Be faithful - in the big things and in the small things.

"You shall not steal.

Get what you need honestly. Work hard.

"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Be honest in all things. Even if what you say doesn't agree with others, if you are faithful to your own beliefs, you will be honored.

"You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's."

Be content with what God has given you. "Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me."