Confidence 2

Exodus 20:1-4

We like to gather as a family now and then and play various games. It’s a great way to pass the time, to have fun, and a great way to be together enjoying one another’s company. One of the essential parts of playing any game is understanding the rules. To sit together and move game pieces around the board with no purpose really accomplishes nothing.

The same thinking can apply to our journey of faith. In the history of the Israelites, a relationship with God began with Abraham and the relationship was simple. In Genesis 17:1 God told Abraham, “I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless.” That was the relationship.

Now that the Israelites had been delivered from Egypt it was time for the relationship to take on some structure. Who has delivered these rules? What is the first commandment? What is the second?

God has established some organization – rules – to the life of a holy believer. This is the beginning of what we have come to know as the Ten Commandments. They are the basic guides to holy living, the foundation of a relationship with God.

And where does it all begin? It begins by acknowledging that these commands have come from God Himself. And the first of the commands is to keep the Almighty as the one and only true God we worship and adore.

The second is like it. We are not to have any other idols, or gods, that will compete with God.

If we will be true believers in the Lord, if we will be obedient followers of the Almighty, we must first have the courage to leave the comforts we know and follow God. Then we must have the confidence to be obedient to the structure God places in our lives and in our faith.

The most essential part of this is keeping the Lord at the center of who we are and what we do. God must be the primary focus and center of our faith. With God as the core of our belief and the central guide of our actions we will have the confidence to obey whatever God asks of us, to go wherever God will lead.

DAILY CHALLENGE: How can you keep God at the center of your life?