Beware the Pretenders – The Kingdom Curriculum V (7)

Beware the Pretenders

“You shall have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20.3; Deuteronomy 5:7

“And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good.” Deuteronomy 10.12, 13

Here is the way into the promises of God.

God commands us to “have” Him and Him only as our God. As we learn to fear and love Him, to walk in His ways and serve Him with all our soul and strength, we will discover just how wondrously good His plan for our lives really is. The peace and joy we hope for from our faith come through holding fast to the Lord our God and having Him as our only Deity and King (Ps. 16:11; Jn. 14:6). Realizing this, we accept the truth that full and abundant life is impossible apart from knowledge of God and obedience to His holy, righteous, and good Law.

But we are engaged in a great spiritual warfare in which the enemy of our souls wants to persuade us that “the good life” can be enjoyed apart from fearing, walking with, loving, serving, and obeying the commandments and statues of the one true God. He will constantly hold up for our consideration other objects which we might love besides the Lord our God. He will play on our affections, flood our minds with enticing notions, and challenge our settled convictions by seeking to implant other priorities and values in our souls. We must be ever alert to his wiles and prepared at all times to resist and banish him (1 Pt. 5:8; Jms. 4:7).

The devil’s temptations are “custom made” to fit our weaknesses. The better we know ourselves, therefore, and the things which are likely to draw us away from devotion to the one true God, the better able we will be to recognize his snares and avoid them at all costs (Prov. 1:17). Jesus rebuffed the devil three times by turning to the Law of God and holding fast to its teaching (Matt. 4:1-11). We can do the same. But we must decide every day that this will be our chosen course of action. Daily reflection in God’s Law, prayer without ceasing, and the encouragement and example of Christian friends can help us in staying the course of singular devotion to God.

For “besides” the living God Who has redeemed us there are no other gods. All other claimants on our affections, attention, and strength are mere pretenders, fabrications and snares of the devil, and servants of his usurping purposes. We will “have” none of them.

Be sure to order your copy of The Law of God by going to www.MyParuchia.com and clicking on Publications, then Waxed Tablet. Begin to make daily reading and meditation in God’s Law part of your discipline of the Word (Ps. 94:12-15).

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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.