10 Cs: No Other gods

We’re going to be looking at the 10 Commandments. You might grumble and think, "Oh, come on. I’ve been told this a million times." And maybe you have. But we’re going to look deeper – to see what you can do to apply each commandment to your life.

Commandment #1: No other gods. "I will put God first in my life. No matter how much I love my family, my dog, and my best friend, God’s the boss of my life. I want to listen to Him, let Him control my life, and live for Him. There’s just no other way."

Open your bible…to Exodus 20:3. You shall have no other gods before me. Some translations say "besides me". It means the same thing. God doesn’t want to confuse you. In this verse, he lays it out pretty simple. No other gods. Period. No little statue to rub for good luck. No ancestor that needs pure respect and obedience from you. While you should respect older people, don’t let them be your gods. They’re just people. Important people, maybe, but they’re still just people. Not gods. There is only one God, we know, and that’s our Lord. He’s the biggest, and the only one. There aren’t any less-cool gods below him that handle that little things. No. It’s just Him.

Whose your god? Before you say, "God, D-U-H!", I want you to really think about this. Who’s the person you most admire? Your mom? Your dad? A singer? The president? Billy Graham? I bet you love them. You look up to them. You want to be just like them. Well, you’re not them. It’s the hard truth. You are you. And those people you admire? They’re not God. They’re just people who have done good things. Sure, you might be a Christian, but would you sacrifice your family and your life to go to some dirt-poor country who’d probably want you dead? Whoa – hold up. I’m not saying you have to do that to be a Christian. I’m just asking, Would you? Which is more important to you: family or God?
Who is your god?

Two’s a crowd. You can’t worship 2 gods if you’re a Christian, even if one of them is the real deal. Nope, the foundation of Christian faith is that there is only ONE God, and that’s our Lord. One. One. One. There’s only that one voice that’s telling you that what you’re doing isn’t right. Face it: if you’re following two gods, you’d better rethink whether or not you're part of the family of Christ. God tells us that if we're not worshipping God, we're worshipping Satan (the devil). Worshipping Satan is a pretty dumb idea, and it'll get you into a lot of trouble.