The Proper Order of Things

Read the Bible through different eyes—eyes that acknowledge that these other gods exist in our lives. Then, to say that our God is

Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

✙ Psalm 95:2-3

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There is only one God. But there are many gods. In ancient times these other gods were acknowledged as divinities. In some places they still are. They are often associated with statues, images, or natural phenomena such as trees, mountains,  and bodies of water. We judge the people who worship them as superstitious, or even uncivilized.

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But at least they're honest enough to acknowledge their gods as gods. People in our culture—even those belonging to our religion—also have a variety of gods. Only we call them wealth, or possessions, or technology, or positions of influence. We worship them without even realizing it. We place them above the one God in our affections, in the amount of time we devote to them, or in the place they hold in our lives.

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It would help us, therefore, to read the Bible through different eyes—eyes that acknowledge that these other gods exist in our lives. Then, to say that our God is a great Ruler above all these other entities, would help us order our lives around the One who created us and who asks us to give God center place in our lives. The Bible says that God is "jealous," and I suppose that's true. But that's a rather shallow way of saying that putting God first puts everything else in its proper order.

So let's put God first and find out how that might make sense of the rest of our lives.
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He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords. It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

✙ 1 Timothy 6:15b-16

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Prayer after thinking about today's devotion:

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Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, I commit all my ways unto thee. I make over my soul to thy keeping. I pledge my life to thy service. May this day be for me a day of obedience and of charity, a day of happiness and of peace. May all my walk and conversation be such as becometh the gospel of Christ. 

✙ John Baillie

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After your own thanksgivings & petitions, close with the Lord's Prayer.

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