"NO OTHER gods BEFORE ME"

Little children, guard yourselves from idols (1 John 5:21)

            Of the "Ten Commandments" the first two communicate a "jealous God," one likened to a jealous lover by James, a God who "yearns jealously for the Spirit that He has made to dwell in us" (James 4:5). "No other gods before Me" (commandment one), "no idols" (commandment two): these are images of a God who will not tolerate competition for first place, a God who wants you to be satisfied in Him and in Him alone!

            Explore the first two commandments and you will likely come up with a resolution similar in force to the one that moved both Jesus and Paul: "I will not be mastered by anything." "No one can serve two masters," says Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount; "for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth" (Matt. 6:24 NASB). "I will not be mastered by anything and neither should you."

            The apostle Paul became a most dynamic spokesman for this principle of faith. Romans 6 would be a great chapter in the New Testament for you to memorize. It is all about the slave and master relationship. Let's be certain about it: you will be slave to something; the only question remains: will it be the Lord or Satan, sin and death or righteousness? "Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts" (Rom. 6:12). "Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of doctrine to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness" (Rom. 6:16-18). "I will not be mastered by anything"—of course we know what Jesus and Paul are driving at here: I will not be mastered by anything of this world...not mastered by any other god! To be sure, everything in the world belongs to the Lord and thus to His people; so we have an amazing amount of freedom in life, but listen to Paul through the Holy Spirit: "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything!" (1 Cor. 6:12, emphasis mine). Paul will maintain the high ground throughout his life. Near the end he looks back and still has given up nothing to Satan, still feels the fresh joy of salvation, the invigorating enjoyment of His Lord: "For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslavedto various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another, but when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us...so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life" (Titus 3:3-7).    

            Perhaps the apostle Peter says it with as much poignancy as you will find in Scripture. In context of false teachers that long since had given up the authority of God for their own evil, selfish dreams, they had become slaves to just about any dark thing, utterly hopeless and joyless, "for people are slaves to whatever masters them" (2 Peter 2:19). What are you going to do with your idols?

                                                                                                                    Eric C. Whelchel