1 God in the First PlaceНамуна

YOU SHALL HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME

"You shall have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:3).

Different biblical evidences invite us to put God first; however, this time, I will address the issue based on the first commandment (cf. Ex. 20:3).

I want to begin by saying that there are several reasons why God presents this commandment as the first:

The first has to do with the context of the audience that received the message. It was a nation that came from being slaves for more than 400 years in Egypt, and already the generations of the first parents had died; So for that reason, most of the people had been accustomed to seeing the Egyptian gods, and in some way, even worshipping these gods.

The second has to do with the feats that the God of Israel had performed through Moses to bring him out of Egypt and the experiences that they experienced directly.

The third and no less important is precisely the fact of making them understand that God should occupy the first place in their lives. God wanted to teach them that despite all the gods they saw in Egypt, none of them could be in God's place.

With this in mind, God's first command for the people of Israel now makes sense. The text can be divided into two important parts: The first: "You shall have no other gods." Notice that God is giving a singular command: "Thou shalt have not," indicating that each individual, in a particular way, must keep it for himself. The second: "In front of me." Literally, "before my face," as it can be presented in the idiomatic of the original Hebrew, can be translated as "besides me," "in addition me," "in opposition to me," "instead of me," etc, (Adventist Bible Commentary volume 1 page 613).

God wants us to give Him first place above all else. Let there be no other god to take his place.

In the world we live in, we have many gods, not perhaps like the ones the Israelites had seen in Egypt, but yes, the god of technology; For many, their god is social networks, their god is studied, their boyfriend or girlfriend, their job, their house, their car, etc. Anything that has the first place in your life is your god.

God desires that we can identify the benefits of putting it first. Jesus Himself exhorted the crowd to "seek the things of God first, and the rest will be added" (Matt. 6:33). Putting God first makes all the additions meaningful. And I would like to illustrate this with a mathematical principle that I know most of you have heard; is the beginning of zero (0) on the left. Leading zeros have no value if they do not have an integer at the start. In the same way, everything that we put before Godiszeros (0) on the left is our family, our house, our studies, our talents, our resources, everything material, etc. Put better, I want you to see this picture. (0000001 vs 1000000) Changing the one (1) position, putting it in front, not at the end, makes all zeros acquire value. Similarly, placing the one (1) in our lives first that represents God makes all the zeros we possess (material things) acquire value. The problem is not the zeros, the problem is in the position we place them. And if that position comes before the one (God), it will be nothing but zeros to the left.

When we put God first, our family takes value, our children, our businesses, our studies, everything we possess is multiplied by his mercy. If any application could be given to the base text, it is that God invites us not to have zeros (0) in front of Him.

What gods are you putting before God? Which zeros are taking God's place? What is taking the first place in your life? "Man is forbidden to give to any other object the first place in his affections or his service. Anything that attracts us and tends to diminish our love for God, or that prevents us from rendering due service to Him, is a god to us." – Ellen G. White

Today I invite you to put aside the things that prevent you from fulfilling the first commandment, that you can change your position and put God first, and that you have no zero before God.

- Neftalí Rosario has a degree in accounting and is a zonal leader in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.