Putting God First

The first of the Ten Commandments says: “You shall have no other gods before me.” The “gods” refer to the heathen idols that were then worshiped. God demanded that the Israelites worship Him alone and He did not want their loyalty to be split between Himself and some other false god, or gods.

The first commandment still applies to us today, in a different way. While the majority of us do not bow down and offer sacrifices to idols of wood and stone, we often allow “things” to detract our attention from God. When we allow things to become so important to us that they take precedence over our responsibilities toward God, we are breaking the first commandment.

As we sojourn on this earth, we need to remember that we are not of this world but are traveling to heaven. We should not be concerned with the “things” of this world, but rather, with the things of the Lord. Christ is the head of the church, and we, as the church, should seek to please Him in all our actions. But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. (1 Peter 3:15a). The Lord of our hearts and desires should be Christ; all that we do should honor God and give Him glory. Our desire should be for Christ Himself, that we would know Him better and that we would serve Him.

The language of the Bible refers to the church as the “bride” of Christ. When people are totally absorbed with each other we say they are, “In love.” This is the way that our relationship with God and Christ needs to be. When people are in love they are consumed with their love and desire for each other, so also, when we are in Christ we are one with Him and our love and desire must be directed toward Him and nothing else.

Therefore, God must be first in our lives. If God forbid the Israelites to worship any other gods besides Himself, He also forbids us to place our devotion on any other object as well. I am reminded of the words of a song by the Gaither Vocal Band called, “The Second Fiddle.”

Then the market turned,
And his bank account ran dry.
Betrayed by his money god,
He just hung his head and cried.

This song illustrates that gods aren’t just idols of stone; money and pleasure can be gods as well, and these are far more common in America today, than the former. As Christians we must get our priorities straight, and put God first in our lives. My next post will address the question, “How do we put God first?”

Erik