Have No Other 'gods' Before The Lord

Deuteronomy 11:16-17 -  Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut up the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the Lord is giving you. 

God had warned them before to be careful of worshiping other gods. They would encounter many new ones as they took over the land God was giving them.  Baal took the lead role…but like any other earth based religions they had gods for fertility… water… crops… and many more. They kept images of them…even burning live sacrifices to some.

Many religions still believe in the worship of gods other than Christ. But my thoughts this morning began to think about another way believers in Christ have let their guard down and began to  think of other things more important than God himself…for anything that begins to take our time and focus off of God’s power and the faith we need to have in his sacrifice on the cross…is in essence one of those gods Moses was warning us about.

Be it money…or shopping…or drugs…or pornography… or sadness…. or gambling … or alcohol … or work… or video games....or TV.... or any number of other things….we must be careful what role they play in our lives.  Any one of these that consumes our time and focus is well on its way to becoming a god in our heart.  we may refuse to call it that….but the fact remains that if we spend more time doing it...God is not getting the time he wants or we promised him when we accepted him as our savior.

I needed the reminder…as usual …to be careful that everything that I let become a part of me…everything that I use to fill my 24 hour day…be a thing that glorifies and magnifies God the father….Jesus his son….and the Holy Spirit God sent to help us in all our daily needs. Prayer….daily Bible study and fellowship with other believers remain my best defense and checks of all that I let fill my days and nights.  All of my activities need to lead to some service of God to others.

Father…thank you for the reminder that I need to guard against other gods creeping into the relationship I have with you.  Forgive me for the times that I have let the world’s influences draw me even the least bit away from spending time with you…or letting you use me in your service. Help me to claim the first commandment God ever gave us…and have no other gods before him.  Amen.