November 7 - Commandments #7 "Fatal Attractions"

Fatal Attractions

 “You shall not commit adultery.” (Exodus 20:14)

There is an old cartoon where Moses is coming down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments when he is talking to the people.  He said, “I have good news and bad news.” “The good news is I was able to talk God down from 21 commandments to just 10 commandments…the bad news is He won’t budge on Number 7.” Ah, yes, that blasted adultery one. 

Chuck Colson, who passed away a couple years ago, commented accurately, “The church … is not a democracy. It can never be subject to majority rule. Its authority comes not from the consent of the governed, but from Christ its Head, who rules through Scripture and the Holy Spirit.” He says, “A church run by the whims of transient majorities is a sorry sight” and quotes Joseph Sobran, “It can be exalting to belong to a church that is five hundred years behind the times and sublimely indifferent to fashion; it is mortifying to belong to a church that is five minutes behind the times, huffing and puffing to catch up.”  This is why the Ten Commandments are so key to God’s heart for us.

The topic of adultery is an issue that pertains to everyone as we have seen it become so rampant in our culture.  It's not just a sin against your spouse or your children; it's a sin against God. Adultery, in some ways, is the Grand Mother of commandments because it is the one commandment when broken that breaks every other commandment.

Adultery is putting a god above God.  It mitigates God’s authority to our own.

Adultery is stealing. It steals the love from another. It steals someone's spouse away. It is taking love that does not belong to you. Adultery destroys trust ands jeopardizes the family. You said: "I will always be faithful to you." Adultery is a living lie. It is done without the knowledge of the spouse. Adultery is coveting someone who does not belong to you. Adultery is the supreme example of selfishness. I need this for me. My spouse does not meet my needs. Marriage is all about giving, but adultery is all about taking. Adults dishonors God, creates idols, vanity, Sabbath, parents, and so much more

Choose adultery and you choose a great deal of pain.  Sadly, our culture can make it seem like it’s no big deal. 

And here in this seventh commandment, the commandment where God says “You shall not commit adultery” is a clear call for God’s people in every generation to maintain sexual purity. While the statistics can be less than encouraging, I was encouraged by one recent statistic. It was that fact that 80% of Americans believe adultery is wrong and that only physical abuse does more harm to a marriage. The truth is- only the majority practiced what it preaches.  Because although 80% say it’s wrong, studies conclude that more than one-third of the men and one-quarter of the women in America have cheated on their spouse at least once. While that contradiction between words and deeds is somewhat mind blowing, I think I know why some people commit adultery. They do it because they’ve fallen for the myth about adultery that’s circulating. It is the idea that “the grass is greener on the other side.”  However, as one person said, it’s greener on the other side because the “grass isn’t being watered on our side.”

I found a letter to Dear Abby, that makes its point loud and clear when it
comes to today’s commandment. The letter goes like this:  “How about a letter from a "winner?" My married lover left his wife for me. I was told that I wasn’t breaking up anything; his marriage was dead long before he met me; his wife had gotten fat. I was married too, but I assured him that my marriage was also over; my husband had gotten dull and boring. So I divorced my boring husband and he divorced his chubby wife. We both had children, but we explained that we were both in love and when they were older they would understand.  .Our marriage was a dream come true. No more lying and sneaking around.   At long last we were legally husband and wife for all the world to see. Our apartment was filled with modern furniture, old-fashioned guilt, and plenty of doubt and mistrust. Two years later he was meeting someone new. I told him he was a liar and a cheat. He said it took one to know one. And by the way, he had gotten a little dull and boring, and I had put on a little weight. Signed:  A Winner.” 

Just as we mentioned with murder in yesterday’s article, Jesus pushes the issue deeper than the act and all the way down to the heart.  Matthew 5 27 says, “You know the next commandment pretty well, too: ‘Don’t go to bed with another’s spouse.’ But don’t think you’ve preserved your virtue simply by staying out of bed. Your heart can be corrupted by lust even quicker than your body. Those leering looks you think nobody notices—they also corrupt.” 

What areas can we make sure to be mindful:

1)  Heart affairs and lust:  Pornography, lustful thoughts, matters of the heart are equivalent to an affair in Jesus’ eyes.

2)  Emotional affairs:  Office and neighborhood flirting can set a dangerous trap.

3)  Physical affairs:  The pain the follows is severe and leads to consequences

While the enemy, the world and the flesh are quick to cast a shiny lure, God is able to flee the fatality of adultery while filling us with the Spirit’s power to avoid the hook.  You’ll be glad you did.

Terry Risser

Reflections:

1)   Why are affairs of the heart or body so enticing?

2)   Can you recall a time that you narrowly escaped the hook?

Consider reading the Word today:

 

Copyright 2014- Terry Risser

November 6 - Commandments #6- “To Kill Or Not To Kill”

Commandments #6- “To Kill Or Not To Kill”

“You shall not murder.” Exodus 20:13

There is something about the Ten Commandments that creates a natural evaluation or litmus test about how I am doing in my relationship with God.
There are some commandments that we feel we might violate at various levels (though we too often give ourselves the benefit of the doubt).  Some we violate frequently such as putting god’s before God and coveting.  Others we violate occasionally through using the wrong language, stealing or lying.  But the Sixth Commandment on Murder is one that most of us can feel a little pious or pompous…because of course, if there is one I have kept, it is that one.
After all, I’m not serving  a 10 years to life sentence and have pretty much averted it.  However, before we break our arms patting ourselves on the back,
we want to look a little closer because all of us are more vulnerable than
we think in this area.  There is something within our human nature, though most will never commit murder, to become conditioned to murder and killing. 

But you may not realize how much violence has been programmed into
you.   Did you know that by the time the average child reaches the 6th
grade, he has already witnessed over 8,000 murders on television and
movies? We begin to see people and lives as dispensable.  He has watched over 100,000 acts of violence on TV. In America every 22 minutes someone is shot, stabbed, beaten or strangled to death. The evening news televises murder on almost a nightly basis including school massacres where students shoot fellow students.  High-rated television shows such as CSI and others are in abundance.  The cultural statistics are staggering.  We have the highest homicide rate in the world.  More children die from violence than they do from sickness.  At the same time, video games have an inordinate amount of death.  It is not uncommon that families or loved ones we know have faced it.  In fact, today, most violent crimes and most murders occur between family members.

We experience it so much that we can become desensitized to it.  At best, we are neutral to it.  Clarence Darrow, the famous attorney, once joked, "Everyone is a potential murderer. I have not killed anyone – but I frequently get satisfaction out of obituary notices." Only when we become passionate about life will we begin to sense God’s heart about this.  Suicide, abortion, homicide and more, all fall into this category. 

While Exodus 20:13 talks about murder, Jesus takes it up a notch in the New Testament.  He tells us rather than waiting for the bad fruit to occur, you better start looking at the root of the problem.  Murder almost never happens as a spontaneous act.  Most people usually have allowed something in their hearts that have led up to it.  It always involves “unchecked anger” in our hearts which
continues to grow.  Jesus was saying, “There is the letter of the law and the spirit
of the law…” You can easily fulfill the letter of the law while violating the spirit of it continually.  We have all been guilty of this.  In Matthew 5:21-22, Jesus says,  “I’m telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder (Matt. 5:21-22)  He reminds us that words kill. Jesus, in this passage, equates anger with murder.  While most thought they were innocent of Commandment #6, Jesus simply tries us, indicts us, and convicts us all. 

Now there is such a thing as righteous indignation which we can experience, but Jesus is talking about something different. He is talking about anger that gets the best of us.  It is anger that begins to “singe our very souls” and creates a spiritual cancer that leads us down a wrong path.  We need to recognize the root of the problem.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian wrote in his classic
book, The Cost Of Discipleship,  “The angry word is a blow struck at our brother, a stab at his heart: it seeks to hit, to hurt and to destroy.”

Leonardo Da Vinci once had a terrible falling out with a fellow artist just before he began work on the "Last Supper." He determined to paint his enemy as Judas. It was a perfect likeness.  But last of all, he set to work painting the likeness of Jesus.  No matter how he tried, nothing seemed to please him. Finally, he realized that he could not paint the portrait of Jesus as long as his enemy had been painted into Judas’s place. Once that was corrected, then the face of Jesus came easily. Neither can we paint the face of Jesus in our lives as long as we hold bitterness in our hearts. Anger indeed!

Whether out of control anger, vehement hatred, killing people’s reputation, passive pleasure at someone else’s pain, or actual murder, we are all vulnerable and guilty as charged.  Maybe most importantly, we forget how absolutely passionate God is against things that bring death and just as passionate about things that bring life.  Whether or not you will ever commit actual murder or not isn’t so much the issue as much as God wants us to understand that we become life givers in every way.   He is the “Way, the Truth, and the Life.”  He has given us life and we are to be light givers in a dark world.  He wants us to be life-giving agents through our words, heart meditations and actions.   When we do, we represent the heart of God.  

Terry Risser

Reflections:

1)   Have you ever committed murder in your heart?

2)   How does God want to cleanse this area in your life?

Consider reading the Word:

Copyright 2014- Terry Risser

November 5 - Commandment #5- The Gift of Honor

Commandment #5- The Gift of Honor

“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” Exodus 20:12

God has given us our parents. We all have biological fathers and mothers. Parents or step-parents. Others of us have someone who has stood in as a real father or mother and did the “dad” or “mommy” things with us.  Now, most did not have the option of the family they came into.  Simply put, it may not have been the best.  If asked, we even have to put a bit of a positive spin on our family tree. Like the two high school boys who tried to honor their dad on Father’s Day by putting together for him a book on their family history. The problem was that their Uncle George had been executed some years before. The oldest boy said, no problem, and here’s what he wrote in the book: “Uncle George was selected to occupy the Chair of Applied Electronics” at an important government institution. He was attached to his position by the strongest of ties. His death came as a real shock”! Whatever our situation, honor needs to be part of our lives. The same is true with honoring others.  We may not like the President of the United States but we should honor and respect the office of the president.

The first four commandments were about our relationship with God while the next six are about our relationships with others...and mom and dad come first. Honor is defined as “to respect greatly, regard highly; treat with deference and courtesy.” The Hebrew word used here for honor means literally, “to make heavy.” In other words, don’t take your parents lightly. Give them the respect and reverence they deserve. You may say, “But you don’t know my parents. You don’t know what they did to me.”  Whatever the case, while experiences vary, we can still have respect and honor even if things weren’t perfect.

So when God challenged the Israelites with the Ten Commandments, He gave them instruction on how we are to treat our parents. He said, “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” (Exodus 20:12) We are told to honor our parents. This is important as we are reminded that we honor God by honoring our parents. This should inspire us to think differently than we have at times. We may have the tendency to be critical if our parents failed us in some way. At the same time, we need to remember that that we have not been the perfect son or daughter. So whatever the mistakes of the past, whether they are ours or our parents’, we are to honor them.

The reason God put such an emphasis on obedience is in the same way the marriage relationship typifies Christ and the church, the relationship between children and parents typifies the relationship between Christ and the Father, and even the church and God the Father.

Indiana Jones has remained popular for many years and became noted as a famous trilogy. One highlight from the second movie was when ‘Short Round’, the young boy, says to adult Indiana, “You listen to me you live longer!” The Bible says it’s the other way around, but the promise is still there!  When we honor the role of parents, we find God’s blessing on our lives. Paul goes on to share in Ephesians 6 that if we do “honor our parents,”  blessings will follow.

This promise that Paul talks about in Eph.6 relates to long life, and inheritance. On the spiritual level, what we have been guaranteed in becoming children of God, is eternal life, and an inheritance in Him. “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.” (Romans 8:16, 17)

There is the confirmation…long life and an inheritance. So when Christian children are obedient to their parents, and honor them, they are a picture of Christ’s unfailing obedience to the Father in all things, and they are a picture of the church as those adopted into the family, and therefore destined to an inheritance, rich beyond imagination.

Our days will be long for honoring our parents. Not just in number but in joy, in contentment, in family, and in heaven. The kind of people who honor their parents are the type of people who will honor God with their presence throughout eternity.  Now that’s a life worth living.

Terry Risser

Reflections:

1)   What was your experience growing up with your parents?

2)   How can we honor them even if we did not have a positive relationship?

Consider reading the Word today:

Copyright 2014- Terry Risser

November 4 - Commandment #4- God-Given Rest So That You Will Be Blessed

Commandment #4- God-Given Rest So That You Will Be Blessed

“Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Work six days and do everything you need to do. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to God, your God.” (Exodus 20:8-10a)

We live in a rushed, stressed, and anxious world.  Our lives are pushed and pulled in every direction and show little sign of slowing down.  While things seem to have increased in the past few decades, this has been a universal problem throughout history.  Is it any wonder that God told the Israelites early on that they need to take a break from life’s active pace?

Someone said that we are so addicted to speed that even our language
reflects this constant preoccupation.  “So our language, in our day, is marked by phrases like time crunch, fast food, rush hour, frequent flyer, rapid transit.
We send packages by Federal Express, use a long-distance company called Sprint, pay our bills with Quicken, schedule our appointments with a Day Runner, diet with Slim Fast in swimming trunks made by Speedo.”

Our pocket calendars are stuffed with appointments. Our meals eaten in the car.  Evening after evening, we spend time away from home. Our weekends are busier than weekdays. We have trouble sleeping and trouble waking up. We are feeling less peaceful and feeling more stressed. In the 1991, The Overworked American, economist Juliet Schor reported that work hours and stress are up, and sleep and family time are down for all classes of employed Americans. Wives working outside the home return to find a “second shift” of housework awaiting them. Husbands add overtime or second jobs to their schedules. Single parents stretch in so many directions that they sometimes feel they can’t manage. Simultaneously, everyone is bombarded by messages that urge them to spend more (and so, ultimately, work more), to keep their homes cleaner (standards keep rising), and to improve themselves as investors, parents, and athletes.  Supposedly to make all this possible, grocery stores stay open all night long, and entertainment options are available around the clock.

We are a rushed people indeed.  But God’s message rings true whether thousands of years ago or to our current age.  He says, “Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Work six days and do everything you need to do. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to God, your God.” (Exodus 20:8-10a)  To "remember" or “observe”  in Hebrew means to "commemorate," much like we remember our wedding anniversary by buying a gift, or we remember a child’s birthday by throwing a party. The idea is time separated with loved ones to honor God for all that He has done through worship and restoration. This commemoration of the Sabbath is for the purpose of keeping the Sabbath holy, that is, for it to be set apart to God. Here we learn that God wants us to work, that work isn’t bad or evil. Since we bear God’s image, our labor is a noble, godly part of our existence. God wants us to work, to labor, to use our energies and our creativity to supply our needs. But on the seventh day—-which is Saturday—-God commands Israel to stop working. In fact, the word "Sabbath" comes from the word for "stop" or "cease.”. The idea here is an interruption of the work being done the other six days.

Significant figures in history have certainly felt that keeping the Sabbath had great significance.  Voltaire said, "I can never hope to destroy Christianity until I first destroy the Christian Sabbath."  Gladstone said, "Tell me what the young men of England are doing on Sunday, and I will tell what the future of England will be." We can very easily fall into the trap of becoming indifferent or apathetic to the Sabbath, if not careful.  Making sure that we not only rest but set aside time to honor God in a weekly manner will ultimately make or break our spiritual growth.

In the movie, Chariots of Fire, Eric Liddell, the "Flying Scot" who was expected to run in and win the 100-meter dash in the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris, refused to run because the heats for the 100-meter dash were on Sunday afternoon. His sister - they were children of missionaries to China, and they planned to return there - didn't want him to run at all.  But he said to her, "I believe God made me for a purpose; he also made me fast."  And so he ran in and won the 400-meter run later in the games.  Liddell might be accused simply of living by a rigid set of rules and laws because he would not run on the Sabbath, but more than that he had a relationship with the living Christ. In Hm he had discovered a purpose for his life, as the film suggests, for at the end of the movie a postscript told how he went to China as a missionary and died there at the end of World War II, and "All Scotland mourned for him." I’m not here to argue whether some occupation might require attention on Sunday.  Some of the great sports heroes of our day would be out of work with games on Sunday and many have jobs that can occasionally pull us.  But we need to mention we need to honor God with a day or possibly increments as well to strengthen our spiritual life.

In Deuteronomy 5:12-15 says, "Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you.  Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day" (NIV).  Notice the essence of the commandment is the same, but the reason for observing the commandment is different here. Instead of connecting Israel’s obedience to God’s creation rest in Genesis as in Exodus 20:8-10, here we find their obedience connected to God’s deliverance from Egypt. This isn’t meant to contradict what God said in Exodus, but to build on it.  Now when God gave Israel their Sabbath laws this included far more than the weekly Sabbath.

The weekly observance of the Sabbath was the foundation, where they stopped working and spent time worshipping God together one day a week. It moved beyond stopping working it moves to starting Worship . Both of these are true in our day…we need to stop work and we need to start worshipping.  While it changed to Sunday for Christians due to Resurrection Sunday, a day of honor remains important.

So this week, take time to “remember.”  Pascal wrote, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”  However, just as true, the “unexamined faith is not worth delaying.”  David wrote in Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.”  Take time to rest…and watch how your life will be blessed.

Terry Risser

Reflections:

1)  What has been your Sabbath pattern?

2)   How can it make a difference in your spiritual, emotional, relational and emotional well-being?

Consider reading the Word today:

Copyright 2014- Terry Risser

November 3 - Commandment#3 - “O.M.G.- It Must Not Be”

Commandment#3 -  “O.M.G.- It Must Not Be”

“No using the name of God, your God, in curses or silly banter; God won’t put up with the irreverent use of his name.”  (Exodus 20:7) 

We live in a day where people are very trite about the use of God’s name.  Television shows and movies are inundated with “God‘s Name” being used as an expression of anger or superficiality.  I’ve always been perplexed why when angry, a person doesn’t use a bad person’s name.  For instance, in a moment of rage, it’s more logical to yell “Hitler” or “Stalin” but “God” is the go-to-phrase as it elicits a more potent response.  Even in the Instant Messaging and Texting World, “O.M.G.” (“Oh My God”) has become as prevalent as rocking chairs at a retirement home.

Some names are so well-known that they’ve become synonymous with a product. For instance, most of us don’t reach for a “tissue,” we reach for a “Kleenex.” “Band-Aids” and “Scotch Tape” are example of this as well. Companies know the importance of their name, even putting trademarks on it so no one can use it wrongly. I saw a coffee shop in Bethlehem with the name “Stars and Bucks.” No one would touch that one in Palestine but in the U.S., you would have more attorneys on that than Lady Gaga has outfits.  Companies enforce copyrights and trademarks because they don’t want anyone infringing on their names. They want their names guarded and so does God.

We are His representative and our words really do matter.  When Salvation Army founder William Booth was dying, there were some legal matters to tend to. His lawyer said to Mrs. Booth, “If you can get him to sign these papers, matters will be executed much more smoothly.” The problem was that he was drifting in and out of consciousness, and often delirious. They were finally able to wake him long enough and he grabbed a pen and started singing the papers. After he died, they discovered that he hadn’t signed his name. Instead on every paper he had signed the name “Jesus.”  That was the last name on His mind and the One that he held so dearly.

The name of Jesus is a big deal. Acts 4:12 says, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” Romans 10:13 adds “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Philippians 2:9-11 states, “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

In the Message version of the third commandment, we read, “No using the name of God, your God, in curses or silly banter; God won’t put up with the irreverent use of his name.”  (Exodus 20:7)  The King James Version references the idea of it being used “in vain.”  The word “vain” means “empty and useless, nothingness, wasted, with a worthless purpose.” We take God’s name in vain when we use it in a casual and careless way. It’s tantamount to saying, “Your name is worth nothing in my estimation.” Or to give a more literal translation, “You shall not lift up the name of the Lord your God for nothingness.”

Let me just say that while this shows the reverence for God that is due His name, we are invited throughout the Bible to call Him by name. God does not forbid the use of His name but its misuse.  The writers of the Scriptures would even wash after writing the name of God.  Even the beautiful blessing found in Numbers 6:22-27 involved God putting His name on His people: “‘[Yahweh] bless you and keep you; [Yahweh] make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; [Yahweh] turn his face toward you and give you peace.’ So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

I remember reading about a soldier in the army of Alexander the Great who deserted his post in battle. When asked his name, the soldier stuttered in fear: “Alexander, my Lord.” To which Alexander the Great said: “You have three choices. Fight, get out of the army, or change your name.” I sometimes wonder if God is thinking something like this: “How dare you slap my name on a life like yours?”

It is not as much the sinner that God takes to task for cursing His name as much as it is when His people called by His name misuse it. When we are the ones to use profanity, we profane His name and we don’t revere it through our lives. Too often we have cringed at unbelievers who use God’s name as an expression of cursing, but how much more damaging is it when a believer maligns God’s name by his actions and attitudes!. Remember that these commandments were not given to unbelievers, they were given to God’s people.  If we get so offended by people using God’s name loosely in conversations, maybe we should become very upset when we see ourselves as Christians live or act in such a way as to bring reproach on the name of Christ!

A faithful believer can literally induce a sense of reverence for God’s name in unbelievers if their lives reflect this reverence in word and deed.  What you call God is a big deal to Him because His name reflects His nature and He’s spent eternity building His name. We could say that it's copyright protected. I show respect for Him when I handle His name with care.

Terry Risser

Reflections:

1)   How have you handled God’s name in the last year?

2)   What can you do through your life that will endorse God’s name…through

      worship? Through edification?  Through speaking His name reverently?

Consider reading the Word today:

Copyright 2014- Terry Risser

November 2 - Commandment #2- American Idols

Commandment #2- American Idols

“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…”
Exodus 20:4

G.K. Chesterton said, “When a man refuses to believe in God, instead of believing in nothing, he will believe in anything…” This is what God wants to keep us from at all costs.  In Exodus 20, God defines for Israel and for us the importance of not putting others things in front of Him.  He says, “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…” (Exodus 20:4) The word "idol" or "idolatry" appears over 220 times in the Bible, and unfortunately it has not been banished from the vocabulary in modern times either.  We are just as prone to fall prey to them.  Believe it or not, idols are still very much part of our lives though they sometimes surface in different ways than in the Old Testament.  They were very literal back then but we just as quickly worship idols in America and all over the world.  You have idols all around you.  You can make idols out of anything.

These other gods were problematic for the Israelites because they had just come out of bondage in Egypt where many gods were worshipped and the Israelites would find themselves often surrounded by people who worshipped other Gods. The Second Commandment prohibits God’s own people from making other gods for themselves or making a likeness which becomes a god. It recognizes that there are other gods (small g) but those gods are not worthy of worship. Here is a call from God not only not to worship any other god, but not to worship the true God in the wrong way. This a warning against idolatry. It is a warning repeated many times in the Scriptures.

There’s a vivid story of this in the 21st Chapter in the book of Numbers. In their wandering through the wilderness, the people of Israel were attacked and tortured by fiery serpents because of their complaining and Moses, on the instruction of God, made a bronze serpent and set it up on a pole. Those who had been bitten looked at the bronze serpent and they were healed. Not much is made of this story as it is found in Numbers, but centuries later we find that bronze serpent making another brief appearance. This time, in 2 Kings, chapter 18, we find King Hezekiah breaking the serpent in pieces because the people had been burning incense to it. What happened? What Moses had used as a reminder of God’s power prevailing over the poison of serpents, little by little, had become a god itself.  This has happened in Christian history with the cross. The cross, meant as a reminder of God’s great love, meant to help worshippers fix their hearts and minds on the One who bled and died for their souls, that cross for many has become regarded with superstitious reverence. The gold or silver cross has itself become a holy thing and it is confused with the reality for which it stands. The problem with symbols as a substitute for God is that symbols are simply not adequate. They cause us to settle for less.

The prophet Jeremiah wrote in Chapter 5: "Like a scarecrow in a melon patch, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good."  Jeremiah was talking about the impotence of idols. The truth of the matter is that they do have power in our lives, a negative power, in which they divert us from the true God Whom we must worship in Spirit and in Truth. The lesson is this: Whenever anyone or anything usurps the place that God should have in our lives, we’re guilty of idolatry. 

Idols are anything that relegate God to less than His rightful place. Good things can be idols just as easily as bad things. Some people worship their family.  Their children or their parents consume so much of their lives that there is no room for God. Strange to say but family has become their god. Now understand this, family is a good thing. It was after all, God’s idea. But family was never meant to become a god. We were never meant to worship at the altar of family. Some people worship work. Their careers consume so much of their time, talent and energy that there is nothing left for God. The company they work for has become their god. Now understand this, work is a good thing. It was after all, God’s idea. But work was never meant to become a god. We were never meant to worship at the altar of our jobs.

Gordon Dahl once wrote, “Most middle-class Americans tend to worship their work, work at their play, and play at their worship.” You can see how easily that can take over. Some people worship themselves. I heard about the guy who said, “I’m tired of talking about me…you talk about me for a while.” They are so self-indulgent that they cheat God by keeping their lives free from God. They are too busy sleeping in on Sunday morning to come to church and worship. They become their own god.  Now understand this, we are a good thing. We are, after all, God’s idea.  But we were never meant to become our own gods.  We were never meant to worship at the altar of “ME”.. Rick Warren said, in The Purpose Driven Life, “It’s not about you…it’s about God.” There are many other gods people create and I’m sure you can think of many. I’ve not even mentioned wealth or sports or hobbies or television or any of a million other things that take the place of the One True God in people’s lives).

Little gods will always accommodate you and provide the easy path…but
it will also provide the most painful path.  The Almighty God requires worship above all others and the results will be life everlasting.   Life is fulfilling when we keep Him in His rightful place.

Terry Risser

Reflections:

1)   What is an idol that you have made in your life?

2)   How can you put God back in His rightful place through repentance and praise?

Consider reading the Word today:

Copyright 2014- Terry Risser

November 1 - Commandment #1- Make Him Your Top Priority

Commandment #1- Make Him Your Top Priority

 “You shall have no others gods before Me.” Exodus 20:3

In his book, The Ten(der) Commandments, Ron Mehl writes it this way. “Imagine you are on a family vacation at Yosemite National Park, and you take the long, winding drive up Glacier Point.  A short walk from the parking lot brings you to the top of a sheer rock cliff, where you can peer over a belt-high railing straight down at the valley about 3,200 feet below,  The car doors fling open and before you can even get your seat belt unlatched, Tommy, your excited three-year-old, leaps out of the car and begins running for the edge as fast as his chubby little legs will carry him.  Is it time to whisper sweetly? Is it time a time to speak quietly and softly? Is it a time for a seminar on “values clarification””
No! As your parent’s heart lurches within your chest, you shout, “Tommy, stop! STOP RIGHT NOW!” 

Violating God’s laws don’t literally lead to a physical death, though some can, but rather move us a little bit away from God.  The Ten Commandments have a bit of that flavor to them. On the one hand, God is very tender and gracious and our friend with us a times.  Like Christ before his death, “Oh Israel that I would take you as a hen takes her children under His wings.  In Psalm, he’s the good shepherd. In Ruth, he’s the kinsmen redeemer.  In Ephesians, he’s the groom waiting for his bridge. We can’t lose sight of God’s love.  On the other hand, God is our strong parent and the righteous judge who wouldn’t be just if he didn’t lay out the direction we need to go

Back in college, I got a summer job riding in a helicopter for two weeks. One time, we were up about 4,000 feet in the air when my door popped open.  I happen to have my seatbelt on so I wasn’t panicked but I could have said, “These seatbelts are so restricting…I mean I shouldn’t have to wear them….I should be able to jump.” At that moment, I was so thankful for seatbelts because they kept me from a perilous fall that would have ended my life. 

The first commandment God gave was in Exodus 20:3,  It says, “You shall have no others gods before Me.” God wants to be first.. He doesn’t want to be one of many. Neither should He ever be relegated to a secondary role.  But the truth is, just like the Israelites and every other person in history, we have a tendency to drift from God and make other things more important than Him,  But God is very passionate about being FIRST in our lives. He doesn’t like to settle for being second. 

Marriages don’t work like and neither does our relationship with God.  Can you imagine that? That's not the way real love works.  How about if I'd married Stephanie and at our wedding I stood up to take vows and I told her, "I love you and I want to marry you. I'll make you a deal. I'm going to be faithful to you half
the time. Aren't you lucky? I'm going to be faithful to you half the time. But don't get the idea that this marriage is an exclusive relationship because I have every intention of having relationships with dozens of other women." She'd probably decked me. And she ought to. Any good woman will not allow a rival. How about if I'd said to my wife, "I will be faithful to you every Sunday morning. But you give me the rest of the week."  Partial faithfulness is not faithfulness at all. (Unless
you're faithful all the time, you're not being faithful.) Some time ago, a guy cheated on his wife and said, “I submit to any punishment to get you back.” (She had him hold a sign on a busy highway that said, “I cheated on my wife.”)
Even though we’ve cheated on God, he’s not out to humiliate us…he wants us to grow from it.  That's what he's saying here. He's saying God wants my whole heart.  The fact is God has promised over and over in the Bible.   He loves us unconditionally.  He loves us completely. He says I will never leave you, I will never forsake you. He says, I want the same commitment from you. I think that's fair. He says, "I love you unconditionally, and I love you completely, and I will never leave you or forsake you. I want the same thing from you." He wants that commitment.  That doesn’t work in marriage and it doesn’t work with God

Matthew 22:37,38 boils it down to the basics when Jesus says, “Love God and Love People”  In society, the more that I follow God, the more I naturally follow the laws of the law.  Thousands of laws, I follow most of them because I want to be a law abiding citizen.  I don’t think about the laws I just follow them because my moral conscience increases.  Ultimately, God wants me to love Him…and if I love Him…I learn to love His decrees and laws.  They are ultimately a litmus test of my life.  If I hate God’s laws…chances are “I don’t know God.” If I love God’s laws…chances are “I know God.”. Psalm 119, David says 176 times how much he loves God’s love and statutes…because He was a “man after God’s own heart.” We begin to see everything differently.  We begin to see God’s plans differently.  Today, we can put Him first above everything…because He put you above everything.

Terry Risser

Reflections:

1)   Why do we struggle to put God above other things?

2)   Can you name a time you did that?

Consider reading the Word today:

Copyright 2014- Terry Risser