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God said, “you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol.”
Do these words sound familiar? I hope they do. They are the first two of the ten commandments God gave the people through Moses (Exodus 20:1-21). While Jesus sums up all of the commandments with the words of Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, I think these two commandments are the foundation allowing us to love God and love our neighbors as we love ourselves like Jesus commands.
Let me put it this way- although popular culture does not have a number of gods like Greek or Roman mythology, we tend to worship things that are not God. One of the easiest ways to determine what you actually worship is to look at your bank account and your calendar. Where is the focus of your money once you have put a roof over your head? Where do you spend the majority of your time?
It can be a hard reality check to realize that much of our time is spent doing anything other than loving God or loving neighbor as we love ourselves. Sometimes, we spend so much time loving ourselves, that we forget to love others and we forget where that love comes from to begin with. Sometimes, we spend so much time focused on one thing, that our worship of God, our ability to love, and our focus on nurturing and growing our families and community in faith, falls by the wayside. Sometimes, we make idols out of things that do not need to be idols- work, school, our children or spouse, hobbies. This is not to say that these things are not important or deserving of our time. But sometimes we let them get in the way of what is most important- our identity as a Child of God.
There are lots of ways to live out the call that God has placed on our lives. But we constantly have to be asking ourselves, “am I worshipping something other than God? Have I made an idol out of the things or people around me?”
There is a reason God put these commandments first, and a reason why Jesus starts his commandments here. When we are following through with these two commandments, the rest faithful living comes naturally. When we are so engrossed with God and the love that God has for us, it is natural for it to flow out of us and therefore, natural to care for and nurture those around us.
So take a moment throughout this week and ask, “Who or what is my God? Who or what is my idol? How do I course correct?”
Comment your thoughts below!
Blessings friends,
Pastor Nicole