“You shall have no other gods before Me.”
Much has already been written over the centuries about the
first commandment. I would like to offer
some new thoughts and in doing so, I do not want to suggest for a moment that
the commandments have different weights and values. They do not because a) they come as commandments
and b) they come from the Absolute Commander, God Himself.
Humor me for a moment and allow me to draw an analogy
between these commandments and the duties of a job description. In the world of Human Resources that I come
from, we are often asked to write Job Descriptions for the various positions
that our clients have in their organizations.
I also teach the fundamentals of Job Analysis, Documentation and
Evaluation to HR personnel across Canada.
I only tell you this to relate that when writing Job Descriptions, we
follow a recommended approach that assists any job evaluation committee rating
jobs for pay purposes to get a better handle on the meaning and importance of
the various duties and responsibilities.
For example, usually we only cover those duties that take up at least
five percent of an incumbent’s work time unless they are very critical. [An example that comes to mind is that if we
were writing the job description of the American President, we would certainly
include in there his/her responsibility for delivering the annual “State of the
Nation” address to Congress, even though it takes up less than 5% of his annual
hours.]
The rules we follow for identifying duties is that they be
written in one of three ways – in chronological order if that makes sense, in
order of what takes the most amount of time, or (and this is our preferred
approach) in the order of importance.
That is, if we kept eliminating duties from the bottom up and we
eventually ended up with one duty – which one would that be? Now God may not have had our standard ideas
of how to write a job description in mind when He gave us the Ten Commandments,
but as I consider Him to be the Ultimate and Absolute Human Resources expert, He
certainly did not give us the commandments in a arbitrary order.
This is indeed the first commandment. And it is the first one, perhaps for the very
reason I suggest. If God eliminated all other
commandments, then this one, if followed well, would be enough to satisfy Him
in His desire to have a relationship with us.
But God knew everything there was to know about the men and
women He Himself created. He knew we
would want to have other gods. We would
want idols to worship in addition to Him, just in case. So He is very clear with His first commandment. It is in a way, an ultimatum, “No other gods,
period.” A successful relationship with
God and His full blessings do not come if this commandment is not satisfied. We cannot insist on His goodness upon our
daily lives if we court and woo other gods.
Please note that we are not discussing here whether or not God
will save any person from an eternal separation from Him, after death, if he or
she does not obey this or any other commandment. God can, and Scripture teaches us, that He
will provided we are His child. That is
not the issue. We are talking here about
enjoying the full blessing of God in this life.
In fact these commandments were given for that purpose and primarily
that purpose.
So what does “no other gods” mean in the 21st
century. I do not claim to know. But I can tell you some things I think it
means as I sense them in my own life. It
means that I do what I am prodded to do by the Holy Spirit. Some examples for me lately range from going
to corporate worship when I feel like not going; speaking to some one when I
think I do not have time; saying I am sorry when I have erred or sinned against
another person even when I feel they won’t accept it; and raising my hands in
praise to Him while I worship Him in singing, even though it is against my
tradition.
For me it also means that I do not put other things I desire
above God – a vacation, fun, my favorite sports team, my chosen causes that I
support as good as they may be, my possessions (including my electronics), my clients,
my friends, my church, and even my family.
If I have missed anything, please let me know.
These days, for Christian actors it means their careers if
the roles are inappropriate; for Christian politicians it means their support
of a party’s position when it is against how God would have us vote; for young
men and women it means their choice for dates, courtship, engagement, and
marriage if they are outside of what God wants for them. For many, it means choosing God’s way over
our desire to live common-law. And the
list goes on.
No other gods.
Period. What does that mean for
you?
_____________________________________________________________________
[Are you
looking for a speaker at your church, your club, school, or organization? Ken
is available to preach, teach, challenge, and/or motivate. Please contact us.]
Thanks for dropping
by. Sign up to receive free updates. We bring you relevant information from all
sorts of sources. Subscribe for free to this blog or follow us by clicking on
the appropriate link in the right side bar. And please share this blog with
your friends. Ken Godevenos, Church and Management Consultant, Accord Consulting. And while you’re here, why not check out some
more of our recent blogs shown in the right hand column. Ken.
________________________________________________________________________
It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for your comment.