Yesterday we looked at the World of the Text of the first commandment as found in Exodus 20: 1-3.

Then God spoke all these words: 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.

Today we are going to look at the Word in Front of the Text.  In other words, what does this text mean to us today?

One of the underpinnings of this passage is this foundation, God saying, I have freed you.  I have bought you from slavery.  Your freedom is because of Me.  Because of that, you owe me your loyalty.  You shall have NO other gods because of what I have done for you.  I am the Lord your God.  I think that is a good foundational place for us to start in our lives.  Especially if we are Christians.

If we are Christian, our freedom has been purchased.  We are not our own.  We are not free agents.  Our lives are not for us to live as we would like.  We are to have no other God’s before the Lord our God. For us today, the largest god that may have wrestle control away from is ourselves. What do I mean by that?  We want to be in charge of our lives. We want to do what we want when we want, how we want.  We want to be in charge.

God is clear in this text – no. That is not the way that it will work.  He has freed us. As Paul says, we have been bought with a price.    God demands primacy in our lives.

So, today in our reflection, the question is this, does God have primacy in all our lives?  In our hearts?  In our schedule?  In our finances?  In time?  In our relationships?  In our family?  In our jobs and vocations?  In our social media?  In all that we are?  Does God have the primary place of honor and loyalty in all that we are?

So while it may not seem like the temptation to worship other gods is there for us, we find that it is.  It just looks different.

Today may we follow that First Commandment.  May there be no other gods in our life.

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