1. How do the first and the tenth Good Words (commandments 1 and 10) show that all of the Ten Words are “heart calibrators, soul diagnostics, and mind-converters”? Why are the Ten Words “new-Creation words” as significant as the creative words of God in Genesis 1-2? How should this realization change the way we see ourselves as embodied spiritual persons called by God’s name?
2. What is meant in rephrasing the Tenth Good Word as the Father’s call to “treasure my house”? What is the difference between what we think of when we hear “house” and what the ancients understood by a “house”? Why is this significant? In what sense, and in what ways, have you spent your life longing for a “house”?
3. What happens to our souls and minds and hearts when we do not treasure the Father’s house? When we covet our neighbor’s house? What is likely to happen to our behavior when our hearts are covetous toward our neighbor’s house, and not desirous to “dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psalm 23)?
4. Can you describe a spiritual breakthrough that you might have had in overcoming covetousness? Is there a moment when you sensed that the Lord was releasing you from envy and into contentment? How did that experience change the way you related to the Lord, and to the people you formerly envied?
5. Reflect on the whole series on the Father’s Ten Good Words. What has changed about your understanding, your affections, and/or your actions since we began our exploration of the Ten Good Words? What is one big takeaway from this series? Was there a particular meditation that stuck out to you? How are you going to follow Jesus more closely in the days ahead?
6. How does Jesus transform “The Ten Commandments” into “The Father’s Ten Good Words”?
7. What is God saying to you? What are you going to do about it? Who is going to help you?