Beware False Gods – The Kingdom Curriculum IX (6)

Beware False Gods

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.” Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16

“You shall appoint judges and officers in all your towns that the LORD your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous. Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the LORD your God is giving you.” Deuteronomy 16:18-20

Justice, and Only Justice!

Parents can sometimes be tempted to bow to some other god in raising their children than the One Who appointed them to bring those kids up as unto Him. For the sake of a little peace and quiet, for instance, parents may cave in to the persistent whining of their children for this, that, or the other. In order to curry favor with kids, parents might overindulge them with TV or material possessions. Or, simply to satisfy some lust for power and control, parents might be overly harsh or demanding of their children. All such genuflecting to the false gods of peace, privilege, or power will only bend children away from the Lord.

Kids who grow up learning to honor their parents and seek justice and righteousness in all things will elect leaders who do the same. Verse 20 of our text actually reads, “You shall diligently pursue righteousness….” This instruction was for both the people and their magistrates. The pursuit of righteousness according to the Law of God was the only sure way to know the blessings and favor of God in the land He was giving them. The pursuit of righteousness was thus everybody’s business. Jesus commanded us to “seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness,” promising that everything we could ever need or want would be provided if we did.

Does this apply to civil law today? Why should it not? Is not the earth and everything in it as much the Lord’s today as ever? And are not we stewards of the land, of our communities, and of all their assets and resources? And should we not be seeking to bring glory to God in every area of life in our communities? We certainly cannot expect to realize as much blessing as God is prepared to pour out upon us until we begin to insist, from youngest to oldest, among citizens and public officials alike, that the diligent pursuit of righteousness–and not the lesser, false gods of peace, privilege, and power–must be the primary concern of us all.

Daily meditation in God’s Law is the mark of a righteous person (Ps. 1). Order your copy of The Law of God today, and begin to discover the beauty, goodness, and truth of God’s Law for yourself. Go to www.MyParuchia.com, point your browser to “Publications,” then click on the drop-down option, “Waxed Tablet Publications.”

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore.

T.M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.