The First Commandment
I’ve been thinking of writing a
series of blogs on the Ten Commandments for about a month now partly because of
a series of sermons I heard on the radio while back in Texas this winter. I’ve
always had an interest in them because they are, I believe, misunderstood. Their purpose is to
create in us true fulfillment, not to keep us from having fun. So, let me try to discuss them.
My plan is one a week, so you’ll
have to come the next nine weeks to get all ten.
The First Commandment is this:
“I am the Lord you God, who
brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.”
This commandment is teaching us
to understand where our loyalties must lie. Jesus in Matthew 22 said it was the
first and greatest commandment (to love the Lord, your God, with all your
heart, soul, and mind). Is our loyalty
with God or with something else?
Anything that stands in the way
of our commitment to God causes us to break the first and greatest
commandment. It is not that God just
wants all the attention and is angry if he doesn’t get it. This commandment, and all the others, was
intended to show us how to live a fulfilled and happy life.
In the early days of mankind, the
period of the Old Testament, man was tied to nature. Flood, drought, wildfires, earthquakes, and
storms could devastate a community and there was no backup with a federal
government that could step in and repair the damage. Early man worshipped the sun, asking for
sunshine for his crops. He prayed to
rain gods, so they would give sufficient rain and not too much. In Egypt, they prayed to the river, that it
would rise at the right time and flood their farmland.
God told the Israelites to forget
the worship of the sun, moon, stars, rain, and the Nile River. They were all his creation. Immediately before the exodus, God proved
that He is in control of nature. God
wanted His people to depend on Him, who created and controls nature, instead of
worshipping His creation.
Even today there are people who
make nature their god. Any time anyone
is talking about global warming or climate change, my grandma responds with,
“as long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and
winter, day and night will never cease.”
An over emphasis on nature and caring for the earth has become a god to
many people. God will provide
sunshine. God will provide rain. God will provide winter and summer. There are thousands of years of proof that He
has done it in the past and will continue to do it in the future.
Many people make possessions
their god. In Matthew 19, Jesus encounters a young man who said he followed all
the commandments. Jesus knew that his
loyalties were elsewhere, so he confronted him saying, “If you want to be
perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have
treasure in heaven.” The man left sad,
because his loyalty was to the things he owned.
I have shocked many people in the
last few years when I told them I was moving to Bolivia. “How can you move to a third world country
that doesn’t have the luxuries of home?”
Even more people, including family, have wondered what is wrong with me
when I tell them I don’t have a TV! I am
not doing without. I have plenty. I know missionaries that live on a lot less
than I do, and coming to Bolivia, I see that there are millions who live on
less than me. I am rich to many. God doesn’t want us tied
to our possessions. A hurricane or
tornado could take them away in a moment.
The last is a little difficult to
talk about, because it will step on a lot of toes, but the scripture indicates
we are to love God even if that means losing our families. In Luke 14:26 it says, “If anyone comes to me
and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers
and sisters – yes, even his own life – he cannot be my disciple.” We often ignore that passage, but it is there
and that is what Jesus told us.
I once read a story in a book by
Brother Andrew. I can’t find the book
now. It told about a pastor in the
Soviet Union who had to make a horrible decision. He and his family were taken to a frozen
river and were told to renounce Christ.
They would not. The woman and
children were placed naked on the frozen river.
The pastor was told to renounce Christ or his wife and children would be
killed. The wife spoke up and told her
husband not to renounce Christ under any circumstances. She and their children died as martyrs to
Christ.
Would you be willing to watch
your family die for your faith in Christ?
How do we, in our busy world, put
God first? What are some things we can
do? John says, in 1 John 2:3, “We have
come to know him if we obey his commands.”
As we learn more about the Ten Commandments and what God wanted from us,
we start to put God first in our lives.
David shows us in the Psalms, that worship and meditation on who God is,
helps us to acknowledge him and put him first in our lives. “Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his
goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!” Psalm 107:8.
Throughout the Bible, the payback for putting God first is evident.
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things
will be given to you as well.” Matthew
6:33. He gives more than we could imagine when we put Him first.
Place your primary loyalty to
God. Trust him. Praise him.
Obey him. And watch how he will
bless you.
Great reminder for all of us.
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