First Commandment

The Ten Commandments can be found in a couple places in the Bible. The first list can be found in Exodus 20 when Moses receives the instructions on the mountain, straight from God. The second set comes in Deuteronomy 5 when Moses is recounting all the important things the people of Israel should remember as he leaves and Joshua takes over as leader - the Ten Commandments made the list!

The first commandment is a big one, a little harder than you might think.

The First Commandment

You shall have no other gods

What does this mean?

We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.

The commandment above comes right from the Bible. The explanation ("What does this mean?") is Martin Luther's description of the commandment, as found in his Small Catechism. Martin Luther did this for many of the most important parts of the Christian faith, helping people get a basic understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

Some people may be quick to cross this one off the list since they do not have any statues of Zeus, Thor, or other gods in their house that they worship. This commandment reaches farther than this, though. Choosing to go to a movie instead of spending time in church or Sunday school could be an example of having another god. Going to a movie is not wrong, but giving that movie a higher priority than God is wrong. Video games are not wrong, but when your money goes to them instead of God, they might be too important in your life.

The biggest 'god' that we worship instead of God is ourselves! Every time I do what I want to do instead of listening to God and his Word, I am choosing myself over God! Every time I sin, I choose me, not God.

This can be overwhelming when we start thinking about all the times that we sin against this commandment and fail to keep God's laws, but that is exactly the time that God wants you to remember that this is why Jesus came, for God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son... You guys know that one, right?

God loves you!