The Most Misunderstood Commandment

Exodus 20:1-3



1 And God spoke all these words:
2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3 "You shall have no other gods before [a] me.



As a child I knew this part of the Ten Commandments, as I'm sure that most of us do. It was only recently that I realized that this was deeper then it first appeared. (For the past week I have been trying to convince myself not to write this post. God wouldn't let me get away from thinking about this verse. Finally, at work, third shift, I couldn't deny it anymore. I didn't have a choice; I have to write this now.) I have come to believe that this is the first commandment because it is the root of all the others. Let's look at this way; God has given us a code of behavior to set us apart from the world. If you codify a law you have to set up a clear explanation of what it is contained beneath. All of the other Commandments below stem from that one Commandment.

What is it about this Commandment that is so difficult to understand? In my personal opinion it is the language of our translation. In the time of the Exodus there was a real golden calf that had taken the attention of the Israelites. This calf, this small statue had replaced God in their hearts after He had led them out of slavery. Back in Moses' time it was more obvious if you weren't worshipping God you were worshipping Bail or Aries or some other god. We do the same thing with our homes, our mortages, our rent and our bills. I'm as guilty of it as the next person. Things get so expensive in the world that our focus shifts just a bit; that's all that the Devil needs. If our attention is diverted then we have made an idol of whatever we are now looking at the moment. Back in the days of Moses people worshipped many different gods. Today all the Devil needs to do is to just distract us long enough for us to decide not to give our tithes. I should look up to see what would happen to people who didn't give their donation to their god back then. I kind of remember from High School that horrible things would happen to those that upset the gods. God wants us to tithe not because He needs anything but because God wants to check our loyalty to Him. What happens is that we make ourselves God and that we put Ourselves above God. By paying our tithes we are submitting to the will of God. We are putting ourselves back in alignment with Jesus Christ, at least for a moment. All sin comes from this one commandment. Even if we are faithful in our tithes and offerings we sin in other areas. Why do we sin? We sin because we decide that we have to do something, even if our conscious, the Holy Spirit, tells us that we are doing the wrong thing. God wants us to admit our sin to Him even though He already knows it, for the same reason. God wants us to come to Him and to submit to His love. He wants what is best for us yet we are disobedient little children who think that we know everything. The hardest thing for us to do is to "let go and let God". I know how hard that can be. I struggle with it myself all the time. Every time that I think that I'm making progress I fall on this point. That is why I'm emphasising this point.



God bless you all