Worshipping Only the Lord God

Readings:
II Kings 17
John 19:31-42

Focus:
II Kings17:35b-37:"Do not pay homage to other gods or bow down to them or serve them or sacrifice to them, but pay homage to the Lord who brought you up from Egypt with great power and with outstretched arm; to him alone you are to bow down, to him alone you are to offer sacrifice. You must faithfully keep the statutes, the judgments, the law, and the commandments which he wrote for you; you must not pay homage to other gods."

I am going to concentrate on the Old Testament passage because this is, to me, such a key part of what God is communicating throughout the Bible. I have recently thought that the main message of the Bible can be summed up in this way: "I love you, I will save you, obey me, and don't have any other gods but me." And this last part--"don't have any other gods but me"--is very important. God emphasizes it throughout the Bible.

In our day we don't usually think about worshipping idols instead of God, but we might be tempted to worship things that might replace God in our lives. We might put reputation, or success, or family relationships, or money, or any number of things ahead of God in our lives. When we do, we are worshipping another god instead of the Lord God.

We need to put God first. We need to make even little decisions with God in mind. Maybe we need to stop before we make an angry answer to something. Maybe we need to swallow our pride and forgive instead of getting even. (If we do, we may find richer rewards than what we expected.) There are all kinds of ways that we can put God first, and when we do, we will be eager to do it more. And this is God's great desire for us. In my life, I have found it to be actually exciting, and I bet it will be true for anyone.