First Things First

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one." (Deut. 6:4)

These are the opening words of what Israel came to call the "Shema". It is the central declaration of their faith, and of the Christian faith to in a sense. God declares He is the only true and living God. He is the supreme good and the ultimate One. He alone deserves all of the glory and praise, and our full undivided allegiance.

If I were to stand in the pulpit and church and declare that to the degree that we don't love God foremost in our lives, that is sin; To the degree that loving God is the foremost commandment, if I don't obey that I am committing the greatest sin, no one would likely take offense. They would probably say "Amen" in their hearts if not out loud.

But if I stand up and declare that as Americans in church we are guilty of idolatry. We have substituted false gods for the worship of the one true God, I believe people would argue, if not outloud at least in their heart. Isn't it true, however? Are we not largely a consumer church? Do we not make it all about us? We say its all about God, but is it really?

Take a look at your checkbook and your calendar and see. Where we spend our money tells us what is important to us. How we spend our time tells us what is important to us. Is God in the first place of our lives? I don't mean in our speech, but in our actions. If we say that we love God, if we say that He is first, but our actions don't show it, are we also liars? Are we fooling ourselves? Are we trying to fool others?

You say these are harsh words. Should we not be called back to reexamine our lives? What is the greatest good? What is our number one priority? What is the real guiding principle of your life?