The one that is hard to obey depends on the person. We all have our challenges in life and some of they affect us differently. I have my strengths and weaknesses and so does everyone else. So it really depends on what we are the weakest in.
In addition, the ten commandments were direct laws that the Israelites were expected to follow, but there were over 200 additional laws and principles that they were also expected to adhere to.
Some might say the law about being covetous is the hardest because it is one that no one except God might know that you have coveted someone because there is no physical or tangible evidence to prove a person covets another, but that is why I would not say it's the hardest, because we all at times may look at a cute couple and if I am the man looking may for a brief moment wish I had a woman I see another man with, but taking it to another level by trying to get the woman even using schemes to do so is down right blatant. Whereas, stealing might be something that one might just enjoy doing because one is greedy and has to always feel that whatever they desire they should always get at any cost.
It really depends on the condition of the heart. The ten commandments does not speak against smoking, watching pornography, but there are other principles to justify why these things are wrong but why some find it difficult to do.
Jesus gave two basic commandments that we all should follow and covers the entire ten commandments but using the principles of the commandments to help us. These two commandments are found at John 13:34,35.
Christian obedience is motivated and empowered by the Holy Spirit. The Bible makes a clear distinction between false obedience or legalism, and Spirit empowered obedience. The former is man's effort to keep the law and get right with God. This is impossible since man owes an infinite legal debt to God and does not have the resources to pay that debt. In Psalms 49:7,8. the Psalmist says, "Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice."
In contrast, an obedience that is empowered by the Holy Spirit is based on the finished worked of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who have been set free from the law of sin and death, are given a new power to obey. They are filled with the Holy Spirit and new obedience. Obedience is the work of the Holy Spirit. The more we are saturated with His Word, the more we are filled with His Holy Spirit (Eph. 5:18 and Col. 3:16).
When the fullness of the Spirit indwells the believer, He frees us from legalism and empowers us to full obedience.
One might think that the ten commandments are very hard to obey since we do encounter many challenges every day from the time we wake up from our bed and go back to sleep. But here is a thing, if you keep your faith strong and trust in the words (the ten commandments) of the Lord, you won't have a problem in obeying any of the commandments
They are all hard to follow. There are over 600 sins listed in the bible, not just the 10 commandments, but these commandments are given to us to show us what God's standards are. There has only been one person that has ever lived up to God's standards completely and that person was Jesus Christ. Our mission is to strive for His Christ worthy perfection. Although, we will never meet this goal, it is still what we are all called to do.
So, Which of the 10 Commandments is hard to obey?
I believe this question is dependent upon the individual. So, this answer is not a blanket answer for everyone, but based of of an article from mentalfloss.com (http://mentalfloss.com/article/30609/60-people-cant-go-10-minutes-without-lying) 60% of people can't go longer than 10 minutes without telling a lie. 86% of people lie to their parents regularly, 75% to their friends, 73% to their siblings, and 69% to their spouses. Now, for the sake of argument, most lies told are harmless, little "white lies" but according to the Bible, a lie is a lie.
So, based off of statistics, it seems, Commandment number 9: Thou shalt not bare false witnesses or Thou shalt not lie, is statistically the hardest of the commandments to obey.
In short, as a people, we all lie. At some point in our lives we have lied. Whether it was a lie about drinking with our friend or if we told our wives that outfit look nice, when in reality it made her look like an old hag. We are all guilty of this. White lies are still lies, whether we think they are or not.
They are all hard to obey. However, I would say that “do not covet” is the most difficult, especially in this day and age. The internet, from social media platforms to sneaky ads, makes it very easy to envy the things and the lifestyles that other people have. In a way, coveting the lives of people we do not know (such as prominent figures on social media) can be harder to get over than coveting the lives of people we actually interact with. This is because people can easily hide the difficult and non-glamorous aspects of their lives from the prodding eyes of social media users and can therefore seem “perfect” and enviable to these users. I think it has always been a natural tendency for people to covet what they cannot have, but I do believe “do not covet” becomes a more difficult commandment to follow as technology continues to play a larger and more varied role in our daily lives.
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