“And God spoke all these words, saying, ‘I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me’”. (Exodus 20:1-3)
It has been months since our trip through the Ten Commandments began. I have been sidetracked with two jobs and going to school full-time, along with raising three great kids, serving several roles in my church, and a fount of other busy body activities. I would like to formally apologize to my three regular readers who undoubtedly have been waiting on the edge of their chairs for the final chapter in this discourse on God’s Moral Law. That being said, in all sincerity, we begin.
First, what does “You shall have no other gods before me” mean to you? I have given this a lot of thought the last six months working with you through the Decalogue. We have been blasted by a barrage of laws that we, at surface level, think we have pretty much obeyed. Then as we have dug a little deeper into each, we both realize that we have actually broken all nine of the previously mentioned Commandments. Recall Jesus’ clarification of God’s Moral Law in Matthew 5. Looking with lust is equal to adultery and anger is equal to murder are two nice examples. We both established that we are actually zero for nine in our ability to obey God’s Law. Surely we can find one of the ten we can obey. (Read my blog www.uturnrequired.blogspot.com or call the paper for back issues for a recap.) Maybe the First Commandment has some promise for us.
“You shall have no other gods before me.” Well, I don’t believe in Buddha, Zeus, or the flying spaghetti monster, the current false god of choice to militant God haters. Therefore I pass, right? Hardly. At the risk of blaspheming God’s holy name, I would like to rephrase this Commandment for clarification, in modern vernacular. Is God precious to you? Is God your main thing? If someone was to summarize your life in a single phrase, would it be “God was his/her life”? Do you wake thinking of Christ’s sacrifice as a punishment for your sins? Do you thank God for every breath of air we are allowed to borrow from Him? Luke 14:25-7 (ESV) explains the extent, in hyperbole, to which we should love God saying “Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, ‘If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.’” I have been so lazy the last few months, I have put my before mentioned laundry list of activities ahead of finishing this series of columns. Does this expose yet another Commandment I have broken? Clearly and sadly yes. Even my diet has been a competition for God’s primary affection in my life.
Can you relate? Perfectly good things in your life, by themselves are not the least bit sinful, become your “big deal”. Have you missed worship to golf? Do you stay up so late working to support your family that you are too tired to take them to church? Is church activity so important to you that you fail to worship when you do devoutly attend? OR...do you even give God a thought during the week? Have you ever stolen, coveted, lied, committed adultery, blasphemed, committed idolatry, failed to honor your parents, or other sins? If so, they bear witness to the fact that, like your formerly morbidly obese writer, you really haven’t made God number one in your life.
This point relates perfectly with my diet. As a matter of update, I celebrated my
one year anniversary on the diet. I have lost 138 pounds, 14 inches off my waist, and even lost 2 inches on the lengths of my sleeves...figure out that one?!?! I have had people speak of the “transformation” of my life because of this diet. What they are not aware of is that it has, at times, competed for first place in my life, and has been a source of breaking the First Commandment. While I do look dramatically different, minus the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the sins I have committed, I am nothing more than a “whitewashed tomb” as Jesus called the Pharisees in Matthew 23. I look clean and skinnier on the outside, but perish the thought of what’s inside! God did a much bigger work on my heart than any diet has done for the outside! See, God didn’t give us these Commandments thinking we could follow them and earn our way to Heaven. He gave us these laws to show us that we can’t. In the end, Jesus Christ gets all the Glory for the Cross for saving us not because of what WE did, but IN SPITE OF IT. What a wonderful, merciful, and Holy God we serve!
I am so thankful for the opportunity to write this column. I am also thankful for all of you that read it. Promise me you will consider yourself in light of the Ten Commandments written in Exodus 20. I badly want to see Stockton, Missouri populating heaven when I get there. Thanks for your prayers for my diet. They made a substantial difference and they mean more to me than you know! As we finish off 2008, let us hold each other accountable if we see each other letting God slip below His rightful place...number one.
Final weight update: 200lbs...and holding since October. God is Good, all the time!
Verse of the week: Galatians 2:17-21. Memorize this one...it is worth your time!
It has been months since our trip through the Ten Commandments began. I have been sidetracked with two jobs and going to school full-time, along with raising three great kids, serving several roles in my church, and a fount of other busy body activities. I would like to formally apologize to my three regular readers who undoubtedly have been waiting on the edge of their chairs for the final chapter in this discourse on God’s Moral Law. That being said, in all sincerity, we begin.
First, what does “You shall have no other gods before me” mean to you? I have given this a lot of thought the last six months working with you through the Decalogue. We have been blasted by a barrage of laws that we, at surface level, think we have pretty much obeyed. Then as we have dug a little deeper into each, we both realize that we have actually broken all nine of the previously mentioned Commandments. Recall Jesus’ clarification of God’s Moral Law in Matthew 5. Looking with lust is equal to adultery and anger is equal to murder are two nice examples. We both established that we are actually zero for nine in our ability to obey God’s Law. Surely we can find one of the ten we can obey. (Read my blog www.uturnrequired.blogspot.com or call the paper for back issues for a recap.) Maybe the First Commandment has some promise for us.
“You shall have no other gods before me.” Well, I don’t believe in Buddha, Zeus, or the flying spaghetti monster, the current false god of choice to militant God haters. Therefore I pass, right? Hardly. At the risk of blaspheming God’s holy name, I would like to rephrase this Commandment for clarification, in modern vernacular. Is God precious to you? Is God your main thing? If someone was to summarize your life in a single phrase, would it be “God was his/her life”? Do you wake thinking of Christ’s sacrifice as a punishment for your sins? Do you thank God for every breath of air we are allowed to borrow from Him? Luke 14:25-7 (ESV) explains the extent, in hyperbole, to which we should love God saying “Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, ‘If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.’” I have been so lazy the last few months, I have put my before mentioned laundry list of activities ahead of finishing this series of columns. Does this expose yet another Commandment I have broken? Clearly and sadly yes. Even my diet has been a competition for God’s primary affection in my life.
Can you relate? Perfectly good things in your life, by themselves are not the least bit sinful, become your “big deal”. Have you missed worship to golf? Do you stay up so late working to support your family that you are too tired to take them to church? Is church activity so important to you that you fail to worship when you do devoutly attend? OR...do you even give God a thought during the week? Have you ever stolen, coveted, lied, committed adultery, blasphemed, committed idolatry, failed to honor your parents, or other sins? If so, they bear witness to the fact that, like your formerly morbidly obese writer, you really haven’t made God number one in your life.
This point relates perfectly with my diet. As a matter of update, I celebrated my
one year anniversary on the diet. I have lost 138 pounds, 14 inches off my waist, and even lost 2 inches on the lengths of my sleeves...figure out that one?!?! I have had people speak of the “transformation” of my life because of this diet. What they are not aware of is that it has, at times, competed for first place in my life, and has been a source of breaking the First Commandment. While I do look dramatically different, minus the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the sins I have committed, I am nothing more than a “whitewashed tomb” as Jesus called the Pharisees in Matthew 23. I look clean and skinnier on the outside, but perish the thought of what’s inside! God did a much bigger work on my heart than any diet has done for the outside! See, God didn’t give us these Commandments thinking we could follow them and earn our way to Heaven. He gave us these laws to show us that we can’t. In the end, Jesus Christ gets all the Glory for the Cross for saving us not because of what WE did, but IN SPITE OF IT. What a wonderful, merciful, and Holy God we serve!I am so thankful for the opportunity to write this column. I am also thankful for all of you that read it. Promise me you will consider yourself in light of the Ten Commandments written in Exodus 20. I badly want to see Stockton, Missouri populating heaven when I get there. Thanks for your prayers for my diet. They made a substantial difference and they mean more to me than you know! As we finish off 2008, let us hold each other accountable if we see each other letting God slip below His rightful place...number one.
Final weight update: 200lbs...and holding since October. God is Good, all the time!
Verse of the week: Galatians 2:17-21. Memorize this one...it is worth your time!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment