Dec 29 – NO OTHER GODS!

“You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3).

The Lord is your God, and He is the one who created the heaven and the earth. Visible and invisible things also came into being through Him. He alone is the one to take utmost care of you. He looks at you with love and says, “You shall have no other gods before me.”

He was compassionate over the Israelites who were under slavery in Egypt. He willed to reveal Himself to them by choosing them as His own people after detaching them from the idol worship. He brought the judgement over the gods of Egypt. He subjected the sorcerers of Egypt to punishments. When He delivered the children of Israel from the hands of Pharaoh, He was sympathetic towards them and willed to do justice to them.

The Israelites slogged as bonded slaves in Egypt for around four hundred years. To compensate for the wages which were never paid to them, they received gold, silver and costly garments from the Egyptians before their departure. God permitted them to plunder the Egyptians (Exodus 12:36). Thus the Israelites had a lot of gold in their possession.

After being chosen and getting redeemed, the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea. There, on their way to the Promised Land of Canaan, they fell in the trap of idol worship. When Moses was receiving the Ten Commandments, the children of Israel melted the gold they had, created a golden calf and began to worship it. God had given them that gold for their benefit, but, they misused it, made an idol and thereby brought harm to themselves (Exodus 32:1-4).

God has given you so many precious things in the world to enjoy happily. They will be a blessing until they are under the purview of the rules and regulations of God. It is God who created gold and money. One can make use of the cash for the ministries. Souls could be gained, for God by spending money. But this gold and silver turn into idols when materialism creeps in. When you give more importance to anything other than Jesus Christ, it becomes an idol.

Food is essential for you. But, when it crosses the limit and shown undue importance, it also becomes an idol. It also becomes a hurdle to fasting and prayer. Dear children of God, do not make idols for you.

To meditate: “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen” (I John 5:21).