Lion

Exodus 20 v 8. You shall have no other gods before me.

 

The heart of this commandment is the claim that the one and only true God of Heaven and Earth should be set aside consciously in our hearts, as OUR God. He is to have precedence over all things. We know we should not be worshiping idols made of wood or stone. Interestingly enough is that great numbers of people in our world still do that. Many of you consider that unsophisticated, but the truth is having other gods can take many forms.

 

One such form is to seek to syncretize God into other beliefs we may have. That means that we try to fit God into preconceptions we may have had, and feel that in that way we are still honouring Him. But NO! That is simply to mix up the worship of God, with ideas and fantasy’s which we concoct. The truth is your idea of God, or mine, is wrong. The only true ideas of God that we can get is from God Himself, and here in our text He says that He Himself (Yahweh) is the Lord our God. There is none other. Therefore we should throw our own idea of God away and turn to the God of the Bible for our own salvation.

 

But another way in which we erect false gods is by seeking our ultimate significance or fulfilment in something other than God. In this way we make gods of our family, our children, our money, our business, our achievements or our sports. On a more personal level, any attempt to find your ultimate meaning in some other person or activity indicates you are worshiping an idol. Don’t do it!

 

Maybe that is the reason for the unhappiness and depression you experience in your life. You have sought your significance from someone or something that is earthly, human, frail and it has failed you. Depression can sometimes have other causes I know, but sometimes we bring our own sadnesses upon ourselves because we did not acknowledge and worship the One who wired us to worship Him. Is it not time to change?

 

Prayer: O God. It may be true that I have been guilty of idolatry without being aware of it. Please help me to assess myself accurately. Help me to repent and worship only you. Amen.