Sometime in the first hundred years or so after the church was born, an early believer wrote a short book of instruction on Christian living and the practices of Christian worship. The Didache (from the Greek word for teaching) is beautifully direct and earnest and gives us a picture of what the Christian life can look like when practiced with unstinting devotion. 
It is in the spirit of the Didache, and with a deep appreciation for the grace that covers all our failures, that we offer this list of moral precepts for the formation of a Christian life. May they be an aid to you on the road to Shalom, the perfect peace of God's right ordering.

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Didache for Today

• Treat animals humanely
  
• Keep the sabbath holy. Don’t treat it like any other day. Go to church.
  
• Take communion as often as you can.
  
• Be suspicious of your heart.
  
• Take every thought captive.
  
• Avoid tv shows, books, video games, and anything else that is impure or might make you impure.
  
• Be a peacemaker. Do not be a troublemaker.
  
• Do not repeat a rumor. Do not even hear a rumor. Give the rumormonger no satisfaction.
  
• Do not treat people differently because of their race. 
  
• In your anger do not sin and do not let the sun set on your anger.
  
• Honor your parents.
  
• Do nothing of a sexual nature with anyone to whom you are not married.
  
• Do not be embarrassed about Jesus
  
• Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, working with your hands and minding your own business.
  
• When employed, do good work. Make those you work with and those you work for delighted to have you.
  
• Parents, do not exasperate your children.
  
• Husbands, devote whatever advantages you have to the benefit of your wives.
  
• When insulted or slandered, do not respond in kind; simply entrust yourself to him who judges justly.
  
• Let no debt remain outstanding, except the debt to love one another.
  
• Honor every commitment, obligation, and vow. Even if it hurts.
  
• Be constantly in prayer.
  
• Speak ill of no one.
  
• Be the same person wherever you go and whomever you’re with.
  
• Treat your body like the temple of the Holy Spirit that it is. 
  
• Always be ready to give a reason for the hope that you have in Christ Jesus.
  
• Do not repay evil for evil, but pray for those who persecute you.
  
• Don’t worry about anything. Who of you, by worrying, can add a single hour to your life?
  
• Do the good deeds that God prepared in advance for you to do.
  
• Do not let your love for Jesus grow cold.
  
• Flee from sexual temptation. Don’t hang out in sin’s floodplain.
  
• Don’t be argumentative or contentious. Live at peace with others to the extent that it’s up to you.
  
• Obey the law. Don’t cheat to get ahead.
  
• Don’t harm anyone, especially if they’re vulnerable. But be prepared to suffer harm for taking up the cause of the vulnerable.
  
• Be wise. Start by asking for wisdom.
  
• Don’t brag about anything but Jesus. In fact, regarding your weaknesses and failures, make no effort to hide them.
  
• Exercise, that you might have health and vigor to devote to God and his kingdom. 
  
• Love deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
  
• Where sins are concerned, refuse to give permission, but insist on giving grace.
  
• Do not give to fear the places in your heart, mind, or imagination that should only belong to God.
  
• Make obedience to God your default setting and have a bias for action.
  
• Be wary of the lust, the flesh, the eyes, and the pride of life.
  
• Make every effort to show up for worship well rested and primed to hear and act on God’s voice. 
  
• Do not be either too proud or too pitiful to share your needs with the family of God. Be a candidate for loving.
  
• Do not resign yourself to slavery or compulsion in any area of your life where Jesus would like to make you free.
  
• Do not eat unwholesome things or keep eating after you’ve been satisfied. 
  
• Do not grow weary of doing good, for in due time you will reap a harvest.
  
• Be meek. You’ll inherit the earth and what has all your anxious grasping ever gotten you anyway?
  
• Make it a pleasure for those who lead you to do so.
  
• Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouth.
  
• Parents tell your children about Jesus. Love him out loud when they might be watching. Tell them how you came to faith.
  
• Children, ask your parents about their faith, because they are shy.
  
• Listen my beloved brothers, let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. For the anger of man does not bring about the righteousness of God.
  
• Practice good hygiene. Keep your clothes clean and wash your hands.
  
• Be wise about money and do not let it corrupt your souls. Give all you can, earn all you can, and save all you can.
  
• Think about your mortality. Number your days that you might get a heart of wisdom.
  
• Do not lie.
  
• Honor those in authority over you and pray for them. Pray for the safety of the city in which you live so that your work in the Lord will not be hindered.
  
• Make a habit of worshiping God even when you don’t feel like it.
  
• Be self-disciplined.
  
• Do not litter or pollute.
  
• Live as free people, but don’t use your freedom as an excuse for evil.
  
• Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
  
• Rejoice in the Lord always. And, in case you didn’t hear me the first time, always make the decision to rejoice. 
  
• You who are older, set an example for the younger believers and take an active interest in their discipleship.
  
• You young people, honor your elders and require that they be honorable.