Thou shalt have no other gods before Me (Exo. 20:3).God said it. And it was pretty high on His list of important things to tell His people, apparently. Oh, look! Number One! What does it mean? If you read it loosely, God is simply saying "I must be Number One in your worship of gods." You know, "You can have other gods -- they just can't come before Me." But that's not what He meant. The Hebrew word is "face". Quite literally God is saying, "You shall have no other gods in My face." Some rabbis have translated it to mean "while I have being." The Septuagint version simply says, "besides Me." It's all the same. "I am present everywhere and I am eternal. Where I am for as long as I am, you shall have no other gods."
Most Christians likely think, "I've got this one licked. No problem." Then I roll into church angry because my spouse made us late or my kid defied my authority or ... and you have to ask, who is god at this point? You think you have no other gods but can't live without that new TV or that better job or that special someone ... and you have to ask, who is god at this point? You are worrying about money or worrying about health or worrying about your mortgage. Who is god at this point? Idolaters. That's what we are. At our rotten cores we want to worship, but we want most to worship anything or anyone but God. We live by the creed, "other gods."
We who are in Christ are new creations. We have the option to change that. Today, try it without them. It's really an interesting place to be, where God is actually the only god you have. It's much more difficult than you imagine, but it's also much more rewarding than you thought it could be. Maybe today, in church, listening to His voice, focusing on Him -- maybe that would be a good place to start.
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