First Commandment: You shall have no other gods. What does this mean? We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.
Matthew 4:10--Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,“‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”
Devotion--It sounds so easy, doesn't it? Don't have any other gods in your life. And there's a part of us that cries out, "I don't have any other gods. I only believe in the God that the Bible teaches about." After all, we don't go worship at the sacred places of other religions. When we fill out surveys, the automatic answer for us is to indicate that we are Christians.
From that standpoint, it seems pretty cut and dried that we don't have any other gods. However, if we look deeper at what it means to have other gods, we might start to feel a bit more uncomfortable. Throughout the Bible, we find God defining another god as anything in which we put our trust and hopes. And you and I might find that to be a rather vague definition, one which reinforces that we don't have any other gods.
Until we start to examine what it means to put our trust and hope in something. That's when we start to have our eyes opened. Do we trust that God will provide everything that we need in life, or do we put our hope and trust in our training, in our career, and in our abilities? Do we trust that God will ensure that we are protected from harm and danger, or do we put our trust in the strength of our military? Do we look to God to give justice, or do we rely on the justice system that is currently at work in our country?
These questions start to reveal that we have different parts of our lives which threaten to draw us away from God. Some things start to take on a greater importance than He does. And the thing is, this is going to happen in our lives. Even we who profess to be Christians will find other things drawing our hope and trust, and will call for our time and attention, and will threaten to become false gods.
As you examine your heart and life, what are some potential gods in your life? Are there some things that you put your trust in, and don't see God as being a big part of it? Are there parts of your life that you give more time and dedication to than you do for God? Doing this will reveal where we have potential gods, and reminds us of our need for forgiveness.
What are those potential gods in your life? Are there any ways that you can go about putting these in their proper perspective?
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