The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17) weren't given to Moses just for God to lay out His supreme authority. God is God whether we choose to acknowledge Him or not. I think that He gave us those commandments to keep us as we give our children rules to keep them safe.
1. "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," and 2. "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image...Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them..." -- The Lord is not made by man's hands, but He is our Creator. He is our loving Father, our Protector and Provider. Putting anything before Him roadblocks that protection and provision--just as I cannot keep my children under my wing unless they allow me to.
3. "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain..." -- Works of vanity ultimately destroy our integrity, which in turn leaves us with an emptiness that we are ever-searching to fill.
4. "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." -- A day of rest God provided for His people, to be renewed both physically and spiritually. Without this our bodies and souls deteriorate quickly.
5. "Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land..." -- Denying the position God gave our parents eventually damages our own hearts and destroys the strength of family in future generations.
6. "Thou shalt not kill," 7. "Thou shalt not commit adultery," 8. "Thou shalt not steal," 9. "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor," and 10. "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet they neighbor's wife..." -- All of these acts emotionally damage us, they create mental torment, they cause us to deny our own self-worth, and they destroy relationships.
His love is so great that He wanted to protect us from all the disastrous "side effects" that sin carries on this earth, not to mention eternally. Yet the greatest commandments of all, by which the others are fulfilled:
"Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." (Matt 22:37-40)
