| Whatsoever
Things are True
by Dan Coburn Pastor, Emmanuel Baptist Church Do you suppose the God of order randomly gave us the Commandments or could it be that they were prioritized? He says “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” A few things are obvious here that get over-looked most of the time. First, “thou” is you. Not some folks, but you. Second, is that the word “gods” is not capitalized. You will see that when the Bible talks about our God, the word God or Lord is always capitalized (if your Bible doesn’t do this, get another Bible immediately). Conversely, when talking about an earthly ruler (lord) or false god, these will Not be capitalized. Extra credit: in 2nd Cor 4, Satan is called the “god” of this world. Also, in reference to Jesus in John chapter 1, the word “Word” is capitalized. See the pattern? This is all consistent withe the First Commandment. You see Jealousy, we are taught, is a negative emotion. But for God, it is not as in Deut. chapter 5 where He tells us “I, the Lord thy God am a jealous God”. In Hosea, God called the nation Israel (when they chassed after other gods) an “unchaste wife”. Are you starting to see this relationship through His eyes? When the nation Israel wanted to kill Mosses and Aaron, and elect a king, God was going to destroy them all – but Mosses interceded and reasoned with God about how cute and cuddly the people were? No. He said “Lord, if you destroy the people now, all the rest of the inhabitants of the land will say you were to weak to deliver the promised land unto your people”. Then, God repented of His decision to destroy the people. You see, God is very serious about His reputation. In Isaiah, God says over and over that He alone is God, there has never been nor will ever be another. If this is true, why is He so insistent, that we have “no other”. Why would He save us. Why pay such a price as to sacrifice His Son for someone like me. Is it cause we deserve it? Are we that cute? Sorry, but no. “I, even I , am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” - Isaiah 43:25. Once again, He does it for Him. Because He promised, and is bound by that. Next time we visit, we’ll turn the Spiritual switch, and see how this applies to us. Bottom line is this. It cannot be overstated that God cares about his reputation, and you, if you are a professing Christian, you represent Him to a lost and dying world. Who’s number 1? |
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