“And God spoke these words, “I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have NO other God before me.” Exodus 20:1-3
The first of the Ten Commandments, along with the next three, tells of our
duty to God. While the remaining 6, speak to our relationship with our neighbor. It is correct that this commandment be first as we had a Maker to love, before we had a neighbor to love.
He is Jehovah God. He is the singular object of our worship. The worship of any other god animate or inanimate is forbidden.
“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites this: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven: Do not make any gods to be alongside Me; do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold.” Exodus 20:22-23 I believe that this is the commandment that most will ignore, disregard, overlook, and disrespect. We live in a world where many gods exists and are honored and revered. The honor and reverence of the One True God is falling out of fashion.
Many religions professing to be Christian pay little heed to God Almighty…
“In the Mormon faith, the belief is that God was once a man, but “progressed to godhead.” He had a physical body, as does his wife (heavenly mother). Worthy member of the Mormon faith may one day become “exalted” to godhood themselves.
The Seventh Day Adventist faith believes that God is comprised of a unity of three coeternal persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit who are one in motive and purpose, but not substance. God the Father is generally understood to possess a physical body.
In the Christian Science faith, God is impersonal Principle of life, truth, love, intelligence, and spirit.
And then there are the New Agers that believe that everything and everyone is God. God is an impersonal force or principle, not a person.
While those who follow Wicca believe that the supreme being is the goddess or God, or goddess and horned god.
And don’t forget the Scientologists that do not define God or a supreme being, but also reject the biblical description of God.”[1]
But I digress…
The First Commandment tells the biblical Christian that there is one God. Period. Yes, He is a Triune God and of the Trinity, God is the first person. He is God the Father; He is a spiritual being without a physical body. He created the universe out of nothing. He is omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent. He is eternal, changeless, holy, loving, compassionate, faithful, gracious, sovereign, just, merciful, forgiving, and perfect. He is Truth and He is Love.
He is our All-In-All. We will have NO other god’s before HIM.
Or do we?
Because of who God is—our living God, the true God—because God is unequaled, incomparable, unrivaled, He is the very first place in our lives. He is before our career, before our government, before our family, before our church, before even life itself. It is only when we place God in that first place will we be successful and life becomes meaningful, only then will we be the spouse and parent our family requires us to be, only then will we desire to serve our church in love, and only then will we be able to live life as it was meant to be lived – in joy and peace and purpose.
While we might not bow down and worship any other god – any material possession that is more important to us than the LORD God Almighty is an idol. Perhaps it’s the big beautiful house filled with a dozen rooms of impeccably designed magazine quality furnishings. Perhaps it’s the much acclaimed vacation home or that shiny automobile, RV, motorcycle, truck, 4-wheeler, boat, whatever.
Or perhaps it’s something less tangible – perhaps it’s a collection of “do-dads” – expensive “do-dads” – that are so treasured they are rarely taken out or used, yet so treasured… sometimes more than relationships.. When we place all of this above God, our priorities are wrong.
Perhaps it is an exorbitant amount of time that is spent wrapped up in reading, forwarding and commenting newspapers, websites, magazines, radio, podcasts, videos – hours spent digesting and assimilating news and commentary from the talking heads. When we spend more time in all of this than in the Word of God, our priorities are wrong.
When we place such passionate value on the cultural “idols” of our “kardashian-esque”, “I am god of my own universe” society to the detriment of a real and true relationship with our Creator, we have demoted God to be lesser than our sports idols, Hollywood idols, movie idols, news idols… when we allow the secular news media, and the “movers and shaker’s” in Hollywood to define our opinions, our priorities are wrong.
Others of us have come to know the true God, but we’ve placed him in the wrong place in our lives. We’ve tried to add God into an already full life of competing priorities, and somehow God always ends up on the back burner. We’ve drifted away from our most important priority of keeping God first and foremost, we’ve tried to serve more than one master.
The Word of God admonished us in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [money, possessions, fame, status, or whatever is valued more than the Lord].” AMP
Answer this for yourself… if a flood, fire, earthquake, tsunami, hurricane, volcanic eruption, famine, typhoon, avalanche or cyclone… a total destruction and devastation came your way. And with it, the total and complete annihilation of all that you own, all that you have held as your value and worth. You are alone and destitute… everything that you’ve chosen to define who you… every tangible thing you “worship” is gone…
Then what……….
Answer it for yourself.
Answer for yourself who you serve?
Who are your god’s?
What god’s do you worship?
Perhaps you are reading this and are wondering – is this all there is? You’ve been chasing after the gods of success, society, pleasure, self or a long list of other false gods – to no avail. Your life is still the same. You don’t see any worth to it. You can’t find the answer to the hole in your heart that nothing – no possession, no position can seem to fill.
Today… this very minute… God wants a relationship with you. He is waiting for you to let Him, and Him alone, become your God because He’s the true God, the living God. Through Jesus Christ, God came down and revealed Himself. He wants to be your God, and He wants you to love Him with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. (Luke 10:27)
Psalms 37:4-9 gives us a clear command, “Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil. For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.”
Now is the time to re-evaluate your relationship with God the Father. Now is the time to ask yourself WHO IS MY GOD? Have I placed other gods before Him?
Perhaps you have never had a relationship with God. Now is the time. Now is the time to commit your life to God. Now is the time to find love and peace and joy and contentment and acceptance. To find out how to have a relationship with God, through His Son Jesus, go to: https://titus345.com/do-you-know-Jesus/
Saved Because of His Mercy 