10C (part 3): First Commandment, part b: No Other Gods

Ashera/wikipedia.com

The 10 Commandments series continues...

Christian tradition considers part of the First Commandment:

You shall have no other gods before me.

Exodus 20:3

No idols. No false gods. 

The mother of all the other commandments.

A good case is made in the video below:

( reference: https://youtu.be/HA1Xgm2rit0 )

As this post is being written, we are in the middle of pandemic--the coronavirus. In response, countries underwent a lock-down.

Many are suffering. Our lives are disrupted. Not only from the virus. But especially from the economic fall out.

Yet, this experience has revealed our many idols, which have been taken from us:

Money - as the stock market crashed, many jobs lost, businesses closed

Celebrities - as theaters and stadiums are closed, gatherings limited, denying our favorite stars a platform

Vanity - as hair salons and other services are closed

Nature - as many parks have been closed or have limited visitation

Education - as schools closed and campuses locked down

...

The list goes on.

So in our day of violence and injustice and lawlessness, our idols have been revealed. And they are impotent--false gods.

Billy Graham preached about such a time, an evil time, from the Scripture text in Habakkuk 1:

Habakkuk’s Complaint:

2-  How long, Lord, must I call for help,

    but you do not listen?

Or cry out to you, “Violence!”

    but you do not save?

3 - Why do you make me look at injustice?

    Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?

Destruction and violence are before me;

    there is strife, and conflict abounds.

4  - Therefore the law is paralyzed,

    and justice never prevails.

The wicked hem in the righteous,

    so that justice is perverted.

The Lord’s Answer:

5 -Look at the nations and watch—

    and be utterly amazed.

For I am going to do something in your days

    that you would not believe,

    even if you were told.

( reference: https://youtu.be/rZ9ek7DBsTU )

“I don’t put my trust in Washington.
I don’t put my trust in the United Nations,
I don’t put my trust in my self.
I don’t put trust in my money.
I put my trust in Jesus Christ.”

This leads us back to the First Commandment:

And there is no God apart from me,

a righteous God and a Savior;

    there is none but me.

Isaiah 45:21

Stay safe. Stay well. And keep looking up.

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Previous post in series:

10C (part 1) - The Ten Commandments  (2019)

10C (part 2) - First Commandment: God and Liberty (2020)

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photo: Ashera/wikipedia.com