The First Commandment

“Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3) Torah

 

 Christ was asked which of the laws of the book of Moses was the greatest.  Christ responded with the command emphasizing the supreme importance of our personal relationship with God: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:35-38; see also Deuteronomy 6:5). The Word of God tells us that he is our creator and deserves our full worship.  All that we are, and everything we have, ultimately comes from one source—God. 

The Word of God affirms that our Maker is both living and real—the one and only true God. "But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King . . ." (Jeremiah 10:10).

He wants us to understand that we must never direct our worship toward anything that He has created or regard it as the source of our life and blessings. Only the Creator—never the creation—is to receive that honor.  "The great idolatrous cultures of Egypt and Mesopotamia closely reflected their physical environment. Their religion, like that of their neighbours the Hittites and Canaanites, focused on nature. They had no real concept of a single, all-powerful Creator-God. And so they accounted for the vagaries of climate, agricultural events and the geography of the world around them by means of a whole array of gods" "The great idolatrous cultures of Egypt and Mesopotamia closely reflected their physical environment. Their religion, like that of their neighbours the Hittites and Canaanites, focused on nature. They had no real concept of a single, all-powerful Creator-God. And so they accounted for the vagaries of climate, agricultural events and the geography of the world around them by means of a whole array of gods"   


Exalting the creation is the cornerstone of today's materialistic, secular view of the universe. The theory that life evolved from inert matter is an attempt to explain the creation—our amazing universe—without the intelligence of a Creator.


The First Commandment warns us not to accept a religion or philosophy that teaches that our life and well-being originate with or depend on anything other than the one true God. There is no pantheon of deities. There is no other source of life or blessings but God. There is no other power that rules over the heavens and the earth. "Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God, also the earth with all that is in it" (Deuteronomy 10:14). He alone created and sustains the universe in which we exist.

 We are to worship and serve our Creator—the miracle-working God who led ancient Israel out of Egyptian bondage—and to credit our existence and blessings to no other source. We are to love, respect and honor Him—to have a genuine, personal relationship with Him.

Christ tells us that our highest priority in this life is to "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness" (Matthew 6:33).   He alone is God and God all by himself. We should allow nothing to prevent us from serving and obeying Him. Not your spouse, not your children your possessions  nothing on the earth or under the earth or in heaven should we worship or place before the Lord our God.

Christ later boldly tells us in  the  book of  Mark   You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. (Mark 12:30)


Are you honoring that commandment in your life daily?
Is God first  in your life? No I don't mean when trouble comes your way, but in the good times.  Do you raise daily to fall down on your knees in thanks giving to him?
Do you bow down each night before you lay your head down and give him thanksgiving and the honor that is his. Do you daily lift the name of God high and honor him with your lives?