THE FIRST COMMANDMENT
I am the Lord your God, you shall not have other gods before me
Everyone has a center. What I mean by that is we all need and indeed have something inside of us which holds our lives together. This center is the prism through which we see the world. It is the background upon which our lives are painted It is our primary motivating force , the engine of our lives. We shall call this our “core center.”
This core center lives inside of a person with other ties. Family, work, friends all in some way are also centers. Decisions in life are made in reference to these auxiliary(my own term) centers. As a matter of fact for most people these are the pragmatic basis for most of our action. Still they are colored by how we perceive them. This is the core center.. If someone has money as the center he will relate to people simply as economic functions. If the desire for power or prestige is at the center he will deal with people as instruments to attain both what he wants and in the case of power as objects of this power. .
We all have to ask ourselves the basic question: what is my core center and how does this relate to the other “centers.” in my life?
In the First Commandment God reveals Himself as the one who wants to be the center. It seems to me that the First Commandment is both a statement of fact, I am the Lord your God, and an invitation. The invitation comes in my either accepting or not accepting this fact. It is God standing in front of us and saying:
“Look, I am your God whether you know it or not. I am your God even if you say
I do not exist. I am at the very center of your existence. You owe your being alive to me. I realize that everything I said may be difficult for you to understand. In the age in which you live reality is measurable. If it is not measurable, if we can not touch it or feel it is not real. Certainly everything I said about myself is not measurable. It is my reality, which really goes far beyond what can be seen.”
“Anyway” God continues “what I am doing with this First Commandment is to remind you of the relationship I have with you and to invite you to respond to it. You see if it is not me it will be something else which guides you. Money, power, prestige all have the potential of being “god” in your life. They promise all the things that only I can deliver on. They promise happiness, peace, fulfillment etc…They are the great dissemblers, promise one thing and give the opposite. That is why I put that part about not having strange gods before me. These things are always trying to dislodge me from your heart. I do not want you to live in a lie.
SOME QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION
To say “I am a child of God” is rather simple. Do I live that way or are these other “gods” the light of my life?
Do I perceive people in the totality of who they are, someone whom God has called His own or do I stay simple on the “what I see” about that person level?
All creation belongs to God. We are its stewards. Do I respect the ecology as belonging to God?