"You shall have no other gods before Me....You shall not bow down to them nor serve them." (From Exodus 20:3 & 5)
I don't have to look for subjects for a devotional. I just share some thoughts from my daily reading. Our text is from yesterday's reading in the Pentateuch. Don't ever let anyone deceive you with, "Oh, that's Old Testament." The Lord Jesus cleared up all thinking on that. "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law and the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill." That is your call and my call--- to fulfill "the Law and the Prophets....in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation."
The phrase which stood out to me yesterday is, "nor serve them." Most people today in America do not have carved idols in their houses. But they are there, and they do "serve them." The recent American election revealed just how much we "have other gods" and "serve them." The number one god in America today is the god of, "Somebody please take care of me; somebody please guarantee my security and all my provision; and please, somebody affirm me in my sin!" Oversimplification? President-Elect Obama and the incoming Congress have promised more than any others in our history. America has despised the "Bread from heaven" and demanded "the leeks, the onions, and the garlic" of Egypt. As for the affirmation of sin, in the inaugural parade next Tuesday, the popularly elected president, whom many church-goers voted for, will honor and affirm children of Sodom.
I am reading a book, The Kingdom, The Emerging Rule of Christ Among Men, by George Boardman. He defines the Gospel as "restoring disloyal man to His loyalty," and, "the re-enthronement of God in man." This is the fulfillment of our text, "restoring disloyal man to [God's] loyalty," and "the re-enthronement of God," Our Father, God, His Son Jesus- Our "Great Shepherd of the sheep," and God, Our Holy Spirit------ "in man!" In the words of the Christmas carol, The Blessed Trinity has come to us, He abides with us, "our Lord, Emmanuel." The question today is, "Are we His," have we come to Him, is He the only God before me, the only One Whom I serve? Only a fool would answer in the negative.
Father, in Jesus' Name, I love Your commands, they bless me and comfort me. I just pray that they rule me. Amen.
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"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
Hebrews 12:2
