Loving God With All Your HeartSample

The Lord God wants to be the only one in our lives

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before [or: besides] Me.” (Exodus 20:2-3)

A man and woman who are married to each other have a unique relationship. Within their marriage, there is no room for a third party. If either of them were to cheat, the other has every right to be angry and sad. Husband and wife belong exclusively to each other, and therefore it is right for husband and wife to be “jealous” in this respect. He does not want to share his wife with another. She wants her husband only for herself.

So it is also with the Lord God. He compares His relationship with us humans to a marriage. In this relationship there is no place for other gods. For, we read in Exodus 20:5, “I the Lord your God am a jealous God.” The EASY English translation puts it this way, “I am the Lord your God and I want you to belong to Me alone.”

God has every right to claim us for Himself. He is our Creator. The people of Israel had an extra reason to be faithful to the Lord, even more than other nations: He had rescued them from Egypt and given them a land of their own. But we too have good reason to serve only the Lord God: He wants to rescue us from the power of evil and give us eternal life on a new earth. How ungrateful it would be then to “cheat” with other gods!

Is the Lord God the only god in your life?