Exodus 20:3-5
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God.
The first and foundational commandment is to have no other gods before our God. This does not simply mean to not join some other religion. Anything that gets in the way of our relationship to God becomes an idol, for it replaces God in our lives. In that sense, sexual sin is a sin of idolatry. Rather than worshiping God we are fixated on sexual pleasure. When we stare at pornography we are worshiping an idol, for it is replacing God in our lives. And the bad news is that our God is a jealous God (verse 5). But this is also the good news, for He loves us too much to leave us stuck in our sin, but instead will work to destroy our idols and woo us back to Him. But we must not make the mistake of thinking He doesn't care about our sexual infidelities, for it strikes at the very heart of our relationship with Him. We must choose to whom we will give our allegiance.
Lord, in many ways this commandment is simple and in my head I readily agree to it. Yet there is a part of me that struggles with really submitting to it and giving You the proper place in my life. Forgive me when I idolize other things. For You are the one and only God, the Creator and Lord of the universe. Help me to keep You at the center of my world.
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God.
The first and foundational commandment is to have no other gods before our God. This does not simply mean to not join some other religion. Anything that gets in the way of our relationship to God becomes an idol, for it replaces God in our lives. In that sense, sexual sin is a sin of idolatry. Rather than worshiping God we are fixated on sexual pleasure. When we stare at pornography we are worshiping an idol, for it is replacing God in our lives. And the bad news is that our God is a jealous God (verse 5). But this is also the good news, for He loves us too much to leave us stuck in our sin, but instead will work to destroy our idols and woo us back to Him. But we must not make the mistake of thinking He doesn't care about our sexual infidelities, for it strikes at the very heart of our relationship with Him. We must choose to whom we will give our allegiance.
Lord, in many ways this commandment is simple and in my head I readily agree to it. Yet there is a part of me that struggles with really submitting to it and giving You the proper place in my life. Forgive me when I idolize other things. For You are the one and only God, the Creator and Lord of the universe. Help me to keep You at the center of my world.