«You shall have no other gods before Me» (Exodus 20:3).
IN HIS ARTICLE «Does Idolatry Make Sense?» Randall L. Roberts tells a funny story that happened in Kansas City. He says a woman entered an ice cream shop and, after ordering, she realized that the famous actor Paul Newman was next to her. Upon seeing him, the woman was paralyzed. And when Newman smiled at her and said «Hello,» she felt her legs shaking.
As she could, the woman paid for her ice cream and left. But, once outside, she realized she didn’t have the ice cream, so she went back inside. As she entered the ice cream shop, she ran into Paul Newman again.
«Are you looking for your ice cream?» the actor asked her. Unable to respond, the woman barely nodded.
«Well, you put it in your purse, along with your change,» Newman told her.
Unbelievable!
«Is there anyone in our lives,» Roberts asks, «that can make us put our ice cream in our purse (or in our pocket)?»
Roberts’s question makes sense, though it may seem exaggerated. What he’s asking, basically, is: What or who occupies the first place in my life? More specifically, who or what is competing with God for the first place in my heart? But before we answer these questions, we must answer this other question: What does it mean that God is number one?
I really like the way Loron Wade responds, «Putting God first in our lives means setting aside any idea, interest, or thought that competes with Him or diminishes His sovereignty in our lives. » It means, in the words of Steps to Christ, that God possesses our hearts, that our best thoughts revolve around Him, and that to Him belong «our warmest affections and our best energies. «—ch. 7, p. 58. So what «small gods» are there in my life, right now, that compete with the Sovereign God for first place? A practical way to know is to ask yourself the following three questions: What or who do I think about the most? What do I talk about the most? What do I dedicate my best efforts to?
If you answered these questions right now, what or who would be number one in your life?
‘In giving ourselves to God, we must necessarily give up all that would separate us from Him. . . We cannot be half the Lord’s and half the world’s. We are not God’s children unless we are such entirely.»—Steps to Christ, ch. 5, p. 44.
Holy Spirit, please anoint my eyes today so that I can see which idols compete to be number one in my life. Above all, please enable me to dethrone these «small gods» to make the Lord Jesus the Ruler of my heart.
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Taken from: Devotional Readings for Adults 2022
“GREAT IS OUR GOD!”
From: FERNANDO ZABALA
Collaborators: Xiomara Perdomo & Angelica Cuate
