You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
Memory Verse: Can two walk together, unless they are agreed? Amos 3:3
In today’s world there are individuals who constantly and outwardly confess their love for God while going about their everyday life indulging in practices contrary to God’s words yet expecting God to play His part in their lives. Many people today, including Christians claim to know God as a Father and at such spend voluminous time attending church activities, doing church work and the likes but confusing attendance and work for relationship. It could more be leaning towards idolatry as we are not justified though works but by faith in Jesus, faith being something we cannot say we have except we have a personal relationship with God, Philippians 3:10.
When the Lord released the ten commandments to Moses, the very first thing that was established is God’s choice of position in the lives of the children of Israel “I am the Lord your God” Exodus 20:1a. He positioned himself as a Father! Seeing this, many may say the announcement of his position was unnecessary because the Israelites had already seen the hands of God move and experienced His power. But God needed to lay emphasis on where He stands because as human beings, we can be really funny. We at times can be fast to forget things and the Israelites may even have queried Moses on those commandments doubting if they were straight from God, hadn’t he affirmation His positon, an act which puts a seal of approval on the commandments.
A question to ask is, having known God’s position, “Where do we position ourselves?” / “Where do you position yourself?”
The very first commandment on the scroll addresses the issue of mixed worship. God cannot walk with us when we walk with other small gods. There is no competition between God and any other thing in our lives so when we begin to create space for idolatry, we upset the spirit of God until He leaves us.
Practicing or involving in idolatry means agreeing with what God disagrees with. We all think and even say out loud that we definitely don’t have anything to do with idolatry until our heart is searched through and we discover that our lips may be close to God but our heart may be far from Him, Matthew 15:18.
The bible reminds us that there is no one capable of serving two masters Mathew 6:24 and therefore there is no reward for mixed worship. God cannot be limited therefore what gives us direct access to His promises is the ability to focus fully on serving God and God alone.
So I encourage us today to position ourself as God’s children, to search more within, be purged in areas where we seem to be indulging or involving in idolatry, focus solely on God and seek him for the grace to build a long lasting relationship with him.
PRAYERS
- Father I thank you for another amazing year just commencing
- Go Ahead of Me Lord, guide me, order my steps, direct me and let this be my year of unprecedented grace.
- Give me Oil, keep me burning and let me never depart from your presence.
- Help me Lord to turn away from idolatry and serve you wholeheartedly
- Forgive me Lord of all my iniquities, bless me abundantly and make me a blessing unto others, in Jesus mighty name I pray, Amen.
