God’s Way Only – The Kingdom Curriculum VI (7)

God’s Way Only

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image…” Exodus 20:4; Deuteronomy 5:8

“When My angel goes before you and brings to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out, you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces…You shall make no covenant with them and their gods…They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me…” Exodus 23:23, 24, 32, 33

Why not try it God’s way – exclusively?

The second commandment not only forbids our making other deities to worship, but using in our worship of the one, true God any of the trappings or practices that pagans use in worshiping their gods, even if those “gods” are only the gods of money, success, happiness, power, or popularity.

God has told us in His Word how we are to worship and serve Him–with what practices, by what means, with what motivations, and so forth. He has even provided vast resources for us to use in worshiping and serving Him, resources that we know are pleasing to Him because He Himself has provided them. Maybe we should make sure that our worship is what God wants–all that He wants, and only what He wants. And maybe we should examine the ways we’re trying to serve God, just to make sure they are as soundly Biblical as the Lord desires.

The allure of pagan ways is great, and the forms and practices by which unbelievers practice their religion and pursue their gods are easily accessible to us. But this does not make them legitimate for the worship and service of the living God. The second commandment, together with its attendant statutes and precepts, is meant to guard the purity of God by guarding the purity of our worship and service in His Name.

The way to begin to love God’s Law is to spend time reading and meditating on it. Order your copy of The Law of God today by going to www.MyParuchia.com, clicking on Publications, then clicking Waxed Tablet.

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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.