Dave’s Monday (Tuesday!) Blast – July 5, 2016
I trust you had a wonderful 4th of July weekend my friends. I am so very grateful to the Lord for His consistent blessings toward America, but let us not forget that His blessings are connected to our obedience. To that end, let this be our enduring prayer from 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
Unfortunately, we are an idolatrous people. I strongly believe that it is our idolatry and the pride that is associated with it that keeps us from crying out to the Lord in humility. The prophet Ezra (author of Chronicles) posed the same question to the Children of Israel that we posed last week, “Which God Do You Serve?” In the New Testament, Jesus told us in no uncertain terms that we are to have “no other Gods before Him” (Mark 12:28). We cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24).
A recent survey revealed that 76% of Americans believed they had been completely faithful to the first commandment. In other words, they might have problems with some of the other commandments, but for them, the first commandment was not a problem. We are reminded of the story in Mark 10:17-27 of the “Rich Young Ruler” who made a similar claim. It was not true in his case and it is not true in ours. You see, everyone has a god. Everyone, including self-proclaimed atheists bow at some altar. We don’t all worship the true God, but we all worship. Everyone has something they believe in, some passion that drives them, something that gives their life meaning and purpose. For some, their god is possessions or money. Others worship their bodies. Still others worship success or pleasure or relationships. But we all worship someone or something.
With the first commandment, God was establishing the fact that He is our God and was showing us His place in our lives: “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. You must not have any other god but me” (Exodus 20:2-3). Pastor Greg Laurie of Harvest Ministries says it this way, “It is amazing how much can be revealed by a simple little pronoun such as “I”. Only one letter long, it conveys a profound and fundamental truth about who God is. Think about it…when He said, “I am the Lord,” He was, in effect refuting all other belief systems, including pantheism, polytheism, deism, and new-age thinking. When God says, “I am”, He is revealing that He is a being, not a mere force of nature. He says, ‘I am…I feel…I think…I care.’”
Next week I want to unpack these other belief systems that Laurie references in light of a Biblical apologetic. But make no mistake about it…our God is the only true God and He alone is worthy of our adoration and worship. Scripture tells us that our God is a “jealous” God (Exodus 20:5). This week….let us be INTENTIONAL about who and what we worship.
