CD - The First Commandment - Proverbs 3:5

The first commandment tells us, in no uncertain terms, that we are to worship one God. We are not to have or worship anyone or anything else above the one true God. One question and one observation come about: The first is the question, how do we know we are worshiping the one true God? The answer to that question I believe we covered under the topic “A Straw House.”

When someone else speaks about God, how then do we know if they are speaking about the same God as we? In other words, when the Buddhist speaks about god, is he speaking about the same God about whom we are speaking? How do we know? I believe there are clues that others give as well as clues we give others. When we speak about God, do we speak about Him in generic terms, God, Lord, Holy One, and so on, or do we use specific terms? The clues we give as well as the clues others give are such things as speaking about God as a triune God, as Jesus, true God and true man and so on. When a person denies that Christ is God, they are speaking of a different god than we. When a person speaks about god as being only just or only loving, they are speaking of a different god than we. As Christians, we would do well to make our conversations and our language reflect what we believe about God. In other words, we would do well to speak about Jesus, as God’s Son, as a human being, as our Savior, as the one who delivers forgiveness, as one with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and so on. In our speaking we give evidence of our faith in the one true God.

The second observation that I would like to make is that we often talk about what we do not get to do according to the commandments, but we do not spend a lot of time talking about what we get to do. So I would like to take some time to remind you of what we get to do.

We have a God who loves us so much that He gave His only Son to die for us, that He want us to come to Him and pray to Him. We have a God who is the Creator of all and has given us His Holy Word in which He tells us all that we need for salvation. He has created us, giving us life. He has given us His Son through whom He has given us forgiveness and eternal life. He has given us His Holy Spirit through whom He has given us faith and strengthening of faith. He has given us Himself, and He gives us the joy of praying and worshiping Him.

Maybe you never thought of it that way, but our Lord does give to us the joy to respond to all that He gives to us. God does not need anything from us, as if we would have something of value to give to Him; yet, He does allow us to come to Him to give Him thanks and praise, to worship Him for all that He has done for us. And we do it, not because we are able to on our own, but because He moves in us through the power of the Holy Spirit so that we do say, to God be the glory.

Dear Lord, forgive me when I think that I am doing You a favor by coming and worshiping You and giving You some of what You have first given to me. Thank You that You have graciously given me the ability to respond to all Your good gifts and blessings. Thank You that You have given me faith, forgiveness and eternal life through Jesus. Forgive my doubt and strengthen my faith. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.