"You shall have no other gods before me.
Exodus 20:3
There is a sense in which the first commandment 'Thou shalt have no other gods before Me' - includes all the others within itself, and indeed sums up the whole meaning of the gospel. For it tells us that God must be first, and be given the glory in men's lives. And this is precisely what the gospel is designed to achieve, and it alone can. It was for this that He came, and lived and died, and rose again and was given a name that is above every name, the Lord Jesus. And it is far from the mark to think of this commandment with its reference to 'other gods' as speaking of primitive tribal deities, and therefore being in its primary intention a mere parochial warning to a particular people to adhere to Yahweh. Even on the level of tribal deities, however, we must remember that dark powers stood behind the idols of wood and stone. Nor can we forget Paul's own words on the subject, 'There be gods many and lords many' (1 Corinthians 8:5). What is a man's god? It is that which has the central place in his heart and life, and if this is so, then there are gods many and lords many today also. The words of the hymn,
'Is there a thing beneath the sun
That strives with thee my heart to share?'
… are a sufficient indication of how wide and extensive our idolatry can be. Think of the rich young ruler, whose money was his god (Luke 10:25-30) and the rich farmer, who worshipped himself (Luke 12:16-21). When we withhold the love and obedience of our hearts from Christ, and refuse Him indisputable control of our lives, for whatever reason, we are guilty of violating the first commandment. We do not understand either the gospel or the commandment aright if we do not realise that Christ requires us to set Him on the throne of our lives. The alternative to this is idolatry.