When something is an imitation is not exactly the same as the “real thing.”  There is something that is just something “less than” about it. So why would anyone choose something less than the real thing if given a choice? Yet, people do it all the time where God is concerned.       In this sermon series about the Ten Commandments, we find that God’s first instruction to us is in regard to our relationship with Him.  This week’s commandment is found in Exodus 20:4-6.

Exodus 20:4-6— Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. 5 Do not bow in worship to them, and do not serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing faithful love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commands.

This command is much akin to last week’s command “Have no other gods before Me.”  Both stress giving God first place in our life and in all our affections.

This is not a task for the casual Christian. It is too easy for mere humans to fall victim to placing our admiration and esteem in others, in things, or even in our own abilities or comfort. If left to our own desires, we would surely get our focus onto people and things that will let us down. Keeping our affections on God, the Great Creator of All, must be given a constant, intentional effort.

English theologian G.K. Chesterson once noted, “When a man stops believing in God, he doesn’t believe in nothing—he believes in anything.”