A Reasonable Command

“And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” (Ex 20:1-3 AV)

That sounds like a reasonable command to me.  In the context of bringing them out of bondage and giving them liberty, having Jehovah as their one and only God seems to be the fair thing to do.  Of course, I say that without the reverence it deserves.  Regardless of what God may or may not do, He alone deserves to be everyone’s God.  In particular, because there is none other.  It is just that God put this first command in the context of His grace and benevolence which serves to add to the command more force than it otherwise would.  If God brought them out of hard bondage, the least they could do in return is love and worship Him.  This is all He asks of anyone He delivers.  It is particularly true of the N.T. believer.  We are saved from the bondage of sin.  The least we could do is love and worship the God who did that for us.

There was an incident in my life I will never forget.  I was about eight or nine years old.  We were at our father’s property.  We were camping there for about a week.  My older sister and I got the bright idea to go off on our own.  The property was 66 acres of pine trees and thickets.  Had we stayed in the pine trees, we would have been fine.  Following rows of pine trees always led back to the mud road that ended at our camp.  Rather, we went off into the thorn apple and thicket part.  We had fun for a little bit of time, then realized we were completely lost.  For an eight and nine-year-old, that was terrifying.  We panicked.  We started screaming.  We thought a wild animal was going to find us and eat us.  All sorts of scenarios were going through our heads.  If we were not found immediately, we would die on the spot.  More screaming.  Then we heard a familiar voice.  He said to keep yelling and he would find us.  No problem!  We are kids!  Our voices don’t quit.  Yelling and yelling.  We scared away every evidence of wildlife within a mail of our location.  There were deer that relocated to a different state because of us.  There are foxes, skunks, squirrels, and rabbits still on the run fifty years later!  As we yelled and yelled, we began to see a familiar figure emerge through the thickets.  It was my father.  He had found us and now we would live!  That event in my life forever changed my attitude toward him.  From that time forward, I honored my father before others.  About eight years later, as a freshman in High School, I sat on the bus as fellow students trashed my dad.  They were enticing me to join in with them.  I never did.  As far as I was concerned, faults and all, he saved my life and the least I could do was to honor him.

God has done infinitely more for us than our earthly parents ever did.  Through Jesus Christ, He saved us from the bondage of sin.  We are no longer subject to sin, the world, the devil, and the flesh.  If we are entangled, it is only because we choose to be.  What He has made free is free indeed.  No longer do the enemies of God have a foothold in the lives of the saints.  We are no longer under the bondage of the law.  We are free from the law of sin and death.  If we are free, the least we can do is to honor the one who delivered us by loving Him in return.  The least we could do is recognize Him for all that He has and will do.  The least we could do is to dedicate our lives to His service.  The least we could do is to glorify Him in all that we do.  If He made us number one, the least we could do in return is the make Him number one!