The One True God

"They feared the Lord, yet served their own gods..."
(2 Kings 17:33)

Ouch!! The children of God feared the Lord - they worshiped Him, followed His Laws and yet they served their own gods! At the same time!! Pretty much right after they worshiped Him!!!

That's a hard pill to swallow! Aren't we guilty of the same charge? How often do we keep things in our lives which demand our devotion and we willingly offer it? Our time is occupied, our thoughts are consumed and the Holy Spirit is crowded out of our hearts.

He is to be our first love - the One True God. Our devotion belongs to Him. Our thoughts should be steered and governed by Him. And yet...

And yet the world creeps in. Oh, it is usually not obvious or brazen. No. Surely we would not intentionally sell part of our soul for worldly gain. After all, we are totally devoted to our God, right?

The world is very sly and our heart is very deceptive. The Word teaches us that our heart is most deceptive above all things. How easily we are swayed, tossed and turned. The result is that we serve other gods instead of our God...usually without even realizing it.

The result is that we turn to other people or other things for our security.
The result is that we turn to other people or other things for comfort.
The result is that the Lord has to compete for our devotion and love.

May it never be! May we never declare that He alone is God and then run quickly to our other gods for solutions and provisions.

Lord God, You alone are worthy to be praised! You, Who created the heavens and the earth are worthy of my devotion, my love. I do not want to intentionally place other people or things above You. I want You to be high and lifted up. I want to love You with all of my heart, my soul, my mind and my strength. I want You to be glorified in all that I do. Lord, help me identify things in my life that You consider to be gods. Open my eyes that I might see the deception and then to see Your Truth concerning these things. Thank You, Lord, for Your mercy and grace.