Tonight I simply want to reflect on the first commandment. It is found in Exodus 20:2-3, and reads, “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.”

There are several truths that God reveals before issuing the first commandment. He identifies Himself as “the LORD your God”. This identification indicates that God is personal, present, and eternal. God continues by reminding the Israelites that He alone is the reason that they are out of Egypt, and out of slavery. They did not escape the Egyptians by their own merit, meaning that none of them were smart, good, or attractive enough to save them from slavery. In order to escape they needed a savior. This can be applied to our relationships with God today. It is only because of what He has done that we have escaped the slavery of sin.

The command is then issued: You shall have no other gods before Me.

Yet, all of us have gods.  Some gods include possessions, social status, careers, money, hobbies, homes, friends, family, self reliance, philosophy, education, intellect, food, alcohol, drugs, sex, and other pleasures.

Each person was created with a need to worship something. This was made evident to me when I was reading a study. The study said that if a complete person were a 10, then most of us were created at about a 7 or 8. Alcoholics attempt to fill this void with alcohol. Each time an individual drinks he feel satisfied, yet once the alcohol wore off he would incur more dissatisfaction than before. This increased the need to drink even more alcohol to become satisfied. Drug users often use stronger drugs, or at least use more frequently to find their “fix”.  The ways people attempt to fill this void are not always bad things. There are many who try to create the perfect home life, or try to earn their salvation through good works. Pharisies and other religious leaders were some of Jesus’ staunchest opponents. In high school and college I often made church activities and ministry into gods. I made myself so busy that I began to have great difficulty carving out time to just be with God and develop a personal relationship. However, if we attempt to fill the void with anything besides God, we will come up short.

I believe that if we would apply the first commandment to our lives we would save ourselves a lot of time and wasted effort. We were created to worship the One True God. He is the one that rescued us from slavery and as such our lives should be lived as a sacrifice before Him. We need to come to a realization of who God truly is and what He has done for us.

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