“You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” Exodus 20:3-6
Jealous? Punishing the children? I’m first—no one else. What kind of God is this?
It took me a while to figure this one out.
Video here, and/or read on:
Every decision we make—even in private—ultimately affects everyone else. Our decisions particularly affect those closest to us, and those who have the most to lose if we mess up our lives—our children and our grandchildren.
God knows this. That’s one of the reasons he calls on us to abandon the gods we carved from our own imagination (He knows they can’t save us in our day of trouble), and invite Him into our lives to be what only He can be. God wants to be first not because He has an ego problem, but because He cares deeply about us. He knows we suffer if we depend on our man-made gods to defend us. He doesn’t want that to happen.
Dwight
PS. Starting Saturday 4/27/2019, in Inner Wealth, we’ll be looking at Transformational Prayer Ministry or TPM. We’ll look at what TPM is, how it helps, who it helps, where it comes from, and what you need to know if you want to receive—or provide—TPM ministry.
