230 likes | 242 Views
Explore the importance of choosing a spiritual path that prioritizes the exclusive relationship with God. Understand the claims established by this relationship and the impact it has on our lives. Discover the unchanging character and faithfulness of God, and the fulfillment that comes from living for Him.
E N D
“Today one can choose different types of spirituality.One doesn’t even have to have a god in order to be spiritual. So, God isn’t the only option. God might think about the choices that people have and try to respect that.”
Exodus 20:1-3 (ESV) 1 And God spoke all these words, saying, 2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
No other God died for us and redeemed us? What other God made us into a people with purpose? What other God brings us hope? Before we ever thought about choosing God – He chose us!
Because of that relationship, there are certain claims established. God is our God and we are his people. God knows that there are choices. Once you choose God, it’s exclusive. Anyone can come to God. God can deliver anyone. But once you enter into the relationship – it’s you and God. It’s us and God. The relationship is established.
This is why the first word in the Ten Words is so important. You have to get the first one right or the others won’t follow. The other nine words don’t have the same effect when they are out of alignment without the first word.
First, Israel’s history demonstrates their tendency toward false worship. Second, to have other gods is always to forsake God.Third, having other gods is evidence of one’s lack of faith in God.
Exodus 3:13-15 (ESV) Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.
Exodus 6:2-5 (ESV) God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the LORD. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant.
The name means "I am that I am" or "I will be that I will be. " It announces God's unchanging character and faithfulness to his word. He is the one who is always the same. He is what he has always been, and he always will be just that!
He is not a fickle God; he is a stable, permanent, self-sufficient, and promise-keeping God. To the Hebrews, the name Yahweh came to be a one word summary of all heaven's dealings with them.
The fundamental decision that each of us must make in life can be put into words this way: What is going to be the most important thing in my life?
Live for pleasure and carnal satisfaction, and you will burn out and self-destruct! Galatians 6:8 (ESV) For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
Live for selfish ambition, and you will hurt those closest to you and wind up living in miserable isolation.
Live for God, and your life will take on the special qualities of peace and fulfillment that can be experienced only by those close to deity. Romans 12:2 (ESV) Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon," said the Lord Jesus (Matthew 6:24).
"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well" (Matthew 6:33). These two statements from Jesus are simply alternate ways of putting the first commandment into human language.
When pleasure becomes your god, work and duty become burdensome. When possessions become your god, money rules your thoughts and ambitions.When position becomes your god, you begin taking yourself too seriously.
"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh [i.e., the Pleasure God] and the lust of the eyes [i.e., the Possession God] and the pride of life [i.e., the Position God], is not of the Father but is of the world.
And the world passes away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides for ever" (I John 2:15-17)