Dave’s Monday Blast – July 11, 2016
Last week we asked the question, “Which God do you serve?” We framed the question in light of living in an idolatrous culture. A recent survey of seminary students revealed that the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before Me” was not considered by these aspiring pastors to be “all that important” compared to “you shall not murder.” The problem is…we cannot commit any sin without first committing the sin of idolatry.
We talked about a fundamental truth about who God is. When He said, “I am the Lord,” He was, in effect, refuting all other belief systems, including pantheism, polytheism, deism, and all other Humanist religious constructions. 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”.
God is not an impersonal force, as pantheism would teach. Nor is He one of many gods, as polytheism claims. God said, ‘I am the Lord your God”. As 1 Timothy 2:5 reminds us, “For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity…the man Christ Jesus”.
In contrast to the teaching of deism, which says that God has no interest in the affairs of men, the first commandment shows us that we have a God who sees and hears and cares. God reminded Israel that He had blessed and protected them up to this point: “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.”
Our God, rightfully so, is a jealous God (Exodus 20:5). By “jealous”, it doesn’t mean that God is one who is controlling and demanding and flies into a rage without the slightest reason or provocation. The jealousy the Bible is speaking of is the jealousy of a loving Father who sees the possibilities and potential of His children and is brokenhearted when those things are not realized, or worse, are wasted and squandered.
Jesus said, “And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your soul?” Is anything worth more than your soul? (Matthew 16:26). Is God number one in your life today my friends? Or, are you allowing other gods to crowd Him out? We must make an INTENTIONAL decision every day to keep Him first!
