Your Daily Devotional for August 1, 2007

 

August 1,  2007

 

 

God's Commandments

by Dr. Paul Chappell

 

 

"And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me."

 

 

Exodus 20:1-3

 

 

Someone once said, "The god you worship will shape the values you hold." As we approach the end of the summer, it would do us all well to stop and reevaluate the god we are worshipping. Summer is a time of relaxation, vacations, and a slower schedule for some. While this is a great time to bond with family, it is also a time for Satan to attack.

 

Many Christians find it easy to forsake time with God and skip church. As we end summer and approach a new school year, however, we must take time to place God above everything else in our lives. During this month, we will take time to go through God's Ten Commandments and focus on God's desire for our lives. Today we see God's command to keep Him first in our lives. 

 

We see in our verses today that God's first commandment to us is to have no other gods before Him. As strange as it sounds, one of the greatest challenges for many of us is to give God His rightful place in our lives. Colossians 1:18 says, "And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence." God desires to be the head of our lives, and He takes time in the first four commandments to reveal this to us.

 

The decline in keeping God first is affecting the values of cultures and countries worldwide. The Ten Commandments reflect the character of God. In fact, these are His very words written for Moses at Mt. Sinai. The reason many people in our culture today fight the Ten Commandments is because the commandments are tied to the God of the Bible. When we recognize the Ten Commandments as God's law for us, we must realize our responsibility to place Him first in our lives.

 

The devil is subtle in placing little things that come between us and God in our lives. He tempted Eve in Genesis 3:4-5, "And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."  When the devil encouraged Eve to become greater than God by eating the fruit, he tempted her in the area of pride.

 

Sometimes pride can come into our lives, and we can fail to keep God first. We can think we deserve better than what God has given us. We can complain and question God's working in our lives. Friend, God has given us more than we ever deserve and when we place Him first in our lives, we will see how good He has been to us.

 

It is easy for all of us to become prideful. Our world tells us we deserve better than what we have and encourages us to seek to promote ourselves. But God desires that we would place Him first in our lives and seek to please Him. We must be careful to keep God first in our lives.

 

Who or what is first in your life? Is it a hobby, a certain person, or even your own well-being? The first commandment God gives us is to place Him above anything else in our lives. Spend time with God right now. Make sure He is number one in your life as you seek to glorify Him in all you do today.

 

Daily Bible Reading

Psalm 57-59 • Romans 4

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