Jason is dead serious about his studies. He’s striving to gain an overseas scholarship that will allow him to pursue a doctorate degree in mathematics. So he makes sure that he does well in all his required classes. He’s also gone beyond the basics to take higher-level classes. He eats, drinks, and sleeps math!
Has education become his god? It’s hard to tell. Any responsible student should put in the due diligence. Yet, on the other hand, it’s easy for career, family, hobbies, and other everyday concerns to be elevated to godlike status. We can begin to give them our total devotion.
God said to His people: “You must not have any other god but me” (Exodus 20:3). For to have another god before the only God is to provoke Him to holy jealousy. John Calvin explained, “This is like a shameless woman who brings in an adulterer before her husband’s very eyes only to vex his mind the more.”
But can we obey this commandment? The answer is both “no” and “yes.” No, because the Law reveals our sinful inclination toward other gods. Yes, because of what Christ has accomplished on the cross for us. Now, with the Holy Spirit’s help, we can keep this command—as Philip Ryken puts it, “not as a way of getting right with God, but as a way of pleasing the God who has made us right with Him.”
May our heart’s prayer reflect these words from hymn writer Robert Robinson: “O to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be! Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love; here’s my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above.”
NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: James 3:1-12
More:
Read Isaiah 44:6-24 for God’s view of other gods and why it’s foolish to have them.
Next:
What person, hobby, or thing has been elevated to godlike status in your life? What will you do about it today?
judithanne on December 21, 2013 at 9:03 am
OH! how easy it is to have some ‘person, place or thing’ move into the place of prominence in my life – the place that rightfully belongs to God. Yes, even long after I have turned myself and my life over to His care. This happens in my life at the times when I am over-stressed, over-tired and even over-joyed. Whatever is causing me stress or tiredness or joy can become a god to me………..money, ministry, family, church involvement, friends, success, etc. can easily begin to take control and become the proverbial ‘tail wagging the dog’. These times can be signals for me to once again put God in His rightful place and surrender that ‘person, place or thing’ to Him……….thanking Him for His care and reaffirming once again that HE is God and I am not. As for today, I will be reminded to ‘have no other god’ before my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ!
mike wittmer on December 21, 2013 at 6:25 pm
This is convicting. I think Calvin picked up on the idea that Israel was worshiping idols on the day God was making his covenant with them. So it would be just like someone having an affair on their wedding night. Who would ever do such a thing? The answer is sobering, as you point out, Poh.
winn collier on December 24, 2013 at 10:14 am
my idols are many, but love is stronger. May love pull us all deeper into God.