Tag Archives: One God

Putting God First

Lent

March 1, 2021

Scripture Reading:
Exodus 20:1-17

Then God spoke all these words:
I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy….For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it. –Exodus 20:1-8, 11

The first part of the above scripture, we now call the Ten Commandments, deals with our relationship with God. It stresses there is only one God, and anything we put before God is an idol. I notice that I write a lot about idols, particularly greed and lust for power. We may revert to our Hebrew Bible training, where idols were often associated with little and big statues that people could stand before and worship. Today or idols are more abstract and perhaps more dangerous. Our quest for wealth and power is always fulfilled at the expense of others.

That leads us to the next commandment, not making wrongful use of the name of the Lord. As a child, I thought that meant we were not supposed to use God’s name as a swear word, which is still good advice. I was also raised reading the King James Version of the Bible that reads, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. I am not sure I understood what in vain meant. It is apparently a hard Hebrew word to translate. It means* not to use God’s name for a bad purpose. In our world today, God gets credited with many bad purposes that do not relate to God at all. The prosperity Gospel comes to mind.

The commandments about our relationship with God all boil down to maintaining a relationship with God. Taking the time to worship God, pray, meditate, serve others in God’s name, and love like God. The sabbath is a day dedicated to remembering our relationship with God, which continues into every minute of our lives.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we fail to keep our hearts and minds set on you, letting your ways guide our days. Amen.

*https://biblehub.com/hebrew/7723.htm

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

No Other gods

Epiphany

January 8, 2020

Scripture Reading: Psalm 29

Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,
   ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name;
   worship the Lord in holy splendor.

The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
   the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.
May the Lord give strength to his people!
   May the Lord bless his people with peace! —Psalm 29:1-2, 10-11

I read recently that Christianity is losing followers at a high rate. Many of the people leaving are in search of a spiritual experience. Now, for me that is a contradiction in terms. The Christian faith is Spirit fed. So, what is going on here? I have said before in these devotions that I find it uncomfortable at times to describe myself as a Christian when I see some of the things reported on the news that are being done in the name of Christ. At those times I fall back on the descriptor, Christ follower. It seems to me that one of the greatest temptation that people of all faiths fall into is the trap of creating a lesser god to follow in an image that is more comfortable than the omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient—all-powerful, always present, and all knowing—God described in the above scripture. After all it is hard to love all our neighbors as we love ourselves, to feed the hungry who do not seem to want to take care of themselves, to turn the other cheek when our greatest desire is to hit back at those who hit at us.

I think God in creation had a vision of a world of diverse people working together in harmony. He noted some were having problems with doing that on a continuous basis so God Incarnate came to us in the form of Jesus Christ to teach us and model for us the way that vision can become reality as N. T. Wright describes when heaven and earth become one. God’s will is for people to work together and love one another by choice not for personal gain or profit but for the sheer joy of the synergy that comes from wanting the very best for all people. We get there on rare occasions when responding to disasters, but God wants that for us all the time for all eternity.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we resist your power by trying to define a lesser god to follow that does not hold us to the standard you set forth for us. Forgive us when our example turns others away from you. We thank we for the gifts of the Spirit which enable our following in Christ footsteps. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Disconsolate

Living in the Spirit
November 13, 2018

Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 2:1-10

‘There is no Holy One like the Lord,
   no one besides you;
   there is no Rock like our God.
Talk no more so very proudly,
   let not arrogance come from your mouth;
for the Lord is a God of knowledge,
   and by him actions are weighed.
The bows of the mighty are broken,
   but the feeble gird on strength.
Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,
   but those who were hungry are fat with spoil.
The barren has borne seven,
   but she who has many children is forlorn.
The Lord kills and brings to life;
   he brings down to Sheol and raises up.
The Lord makes poor and makes rich;
   he brings low, he also exalts.
He raises up the poor from the dust;
   he lifts the needy from the ash heap,
to make them sit with princes
   and inherit a seat of honor.
For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s,
   and on them he has set the world. –1 Samuel 2:2-8

This song above from 1 Samuel reflects the reaction of a barren woman made whole, gifted with the child for which she longed. Having children in Hannah’s time went beyond the natural desires to have a child but defined a woman’s self-worth. We may cringe at the spite or revenge it echoes but we cannot question the sincerity of its statement.

Beyond the personal story it tells, it introduces the Israelite journey from being ruled by judges to becoming a great kingdom. The people of Israel felt the same sting that Hannah the barren woman felt. There were unrest and a feeling that they were not where they needed to be. I thought of the old hymn Come, Ye Disconsolate when I read this, and I thought that we in the USA are caught in a similar snare.

Come, ye disconsolate, where’er ye languish;
Come to the mercy-seat, fervently kneel;
Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish,
Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal*.

Disconsolate**: deeply dejected and dispirited:  hopelessly sad:  being beyond consolation

There is a dis-ease among our citizens that results in some feeling that the world has passed them by as they seek meaning. We search often in all the wrong places among many lesser gods for answers to our deepest needs and we find empty even dangerous responses. I love the final sentence in each verse of this old hymn.

Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish,
Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal*.

Prayer: Lord, help us to always remember that
  There is no Holy One like the Lord,
   no one besides you;
   there is no Rock like our God. Amen.

*First verse of Come, Ye Disconsolate by Robert Moore. See at **https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/684

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

One True God

Loving childrenLiving in the Spirit
Light a Candle for Children
September 29, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20

 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. — Exodus 20:2-3

Theologically speaking, we rather take monotheism for granted today. The vast majority of the peoples of the earth, who believe in God at all, at least give lip service to the existence of one God. In my recent travels through Turkey, I visited many ruins and museums that displayed the many gods that were worshipped in that part of the world during the dawning of Christianity. The temple to Artemis at Ephesus was dubbed one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It was there that Paul struggled to introduce the God that Abraham had identified as the only god.

We no longer worship what are called idols, images carved in stone or wood or metal, but we do worship other gods and in some instances, I believe, we let those other gods rise to a level of importance that exceeds the place of the one true God in our lives. I do not believe the measure of our commitment to the one true God is the amount of time we spend in church or prayer or study. The measure of our commitment to the one true God is weighed on the scales of how much we love God and that is directly linked to how much we love one another. When the focus of our love is material wealth or power often at the expense of the other, we have fallen into the trap of idol worship.

Jesus modeled a life of service to others and he particularly showed concern for children. Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.’ (Matthew 19:14) I was truly shocked at the animosity shown recently in regard to the refugee children spilling into the USA from Central America in search of safety. I am pretty sure that broke God’s heart.

Oklahoma Fact: About 1,500 children from Central America were aided at Ft. Sill during the summer of 2014 while arrangements were being made for their care here or return home.*

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we let the world encroach on our love for you and our love for all your children. Remove our fear of others and protect us when real threats are present, but always help us keep our focus on loving all your children. Amen.

*http://okpolicy.org/migrant-children-ft-sill

 

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.