Command #1…

Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.”

I’m taking a survey of the Old Testament class and as a part of that class, I’m reading through the Old Testament in chronological order.  I can’t get over this statement today.  For those that know me, you know I love God with my whole heart.  I am passionately sold out to Jesus and will spend the rest of my days worshiping and honoring and serving Him – the one who saved my soul from destruction.  But I am mesmerized by Ex 20:3 today.

Do we ever not put some other “god” before God?

When I examine my own life, at any given moment, I usually have something there – in that place of honor – that shouldn’t be.  I’m not talking about allah, or budda, or some other named “god” that other faiths are based on. I’m talkin about the little things…. those little attention grabbers that snap my attention from this to that… from here to there… those volitional choices I make to do one thing over another; the decisions to put off doing the “best” thing to do something “good”; the time wasters that eat up my day and get me off onto some tangent course and keep me distracted until – before I know it – its bedtime and I’ve gotten no time with the very one I am starving for.

Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.”

This is the first commandment.  God has just performed the greatest miracles known to man to date in freeing the Israelites from the bondages of Egypt.  Plagues of flies, grasshoppers, fleas, darkness, blood, death;  the parting of the Red Sea; the total annihilation of the Egyptian army; the pillar of fire by night; the pillar of cloud by day; water from the rock; the list goes on and on…

And God’s first words that He wrote in the stone?  “You shall have no other gods before me.”

God knows we are forgetful people.  All through the Old Testament memorials are built to remember great moves of God.  God wants us to remember.  At the last supper, Jesus wanted them to remember him every time they got together and ate, every time they took a drink of something… “As often as you do this… (eat or drink) Remember me,”  “You shall have no other gods before me.”  We are a forgetful people.

So what’s at the root of our forgetfulness?  Why is it so stinkin’ easy to put things in the God chair that don’t belong there?

Ultimately?  For me?  My guess is that it’s my own pride.  It is my nemesis.  It’s the reason I have to remind myself of Gal 2:20 every day.

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

It is my life verse and for me, I end up here often.

I choose to remember.  I shall have no other gods before You.  Amen.

Running After Papa…