No “Add-On” Deities – The Second Commandment

No “Add-On” Deities

The Second Commandment

Examine yourself.

Exodus 20:23

“You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold.”

During their many dalliances with false gods and pagan forms of worship, the people of Israel never completely abandoned the God of their redemption. They simply added other deities “with” the Lord and created other forms and venues of worship besides those which God had ordained.

Many contemporary Christians are clinging to the gods of this world—work, wealth, pleasure, convenience, ease—while, at the same time, faithfully participating in the worship of the one true God. They may not even recognize that these worldly concerns are as important to them as anything that has to do with their faith. Yet the “god which consists of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4, my translation; cf. Rom. 1:18ff.) can blind an unguarded believer just as surely as it blinds those who do not know the Lord.

Examine yourself: Are you harboring other gods, looking to things other than God Himself for the hope, joy, peace, meaning, and significance you require?

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