Different Life: 1st CommandmentSýnishorn

It’s smart to diversify. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. It’s true in finances. It’s true in life. So it can seem smart to hedge your bets with the powers of the universe and the afterlife too. Find wisdom, strength, and security in all kinds of things. Diversify. Don’t put all your hope in just one entity.

The 1st commandment asks us to do life differently. It tells us to put all our eggs in one basket–God’s, radically risking everything, to trust he will deliver. The Bible calls it “faith.” It asks us to sacrifice the security of divine diversification (polytheism) and move from transactional relationships with whatever seems to bring some benefit to a single commitment to the one true living God.

In his Large Catechism, Martin Luther will explain it like this: “What does it mean to have a god? Or, what is God? …. Now, I say that whatever you set your heart on and put your trust in is truly your god.” I like this line from the Catechism of the Catholic Church too: “The first commandment summons man to believe in God, to hope in him, and to love him above all else” (para. 2134).

God wants us to love him above all things and put him first. It’s only with him that we’ll really find lasting hope.

If this plan helped you learn about the 1st commandment, and fear and love God a bit more, we encourage you to walk through all 10 commandments. Subscribe to the next plan: “Different Life: 2nd Commandment.”