“Have No Other gods But God Almighty!”

“Have No Other god But God Almighty!”
After giving the Ten Commandments to the children of Israel, God still reiterated, “Do not make any gods to be alongside me; do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold” (Ex.20:18-23).
I was carrying out a research on religious co-existence in Bali Nyonga. In the course of my interviews the pastor of a Pentecostal church raised a challenging and thought provoking point. Before my research an inter-village skirmish was just quietening down. The cause of the skirmish was that one village had roughhandled the sacral instruments of the most fearful god of the other village.
This pastor told me that if the god was as powerful as was claimed, then he should have fought for himself. It could not have been humans fighting for him.
Straightforward as the answer may seem as an apologetic for the Christian faith, we could equally ask why the many Crusades that were fought for the reclamation of the Holy land! What about the tens of thousands of French Huguenots who were slain because they were protestants?
The list is long where men fight for their God instead of allowing God to fight for them. There is a sense in which when men fight for God Almighty, their passion for the fight actually becomes their idol! They fight to defend their positions on who they think God is; which as a matter of fact is a defense of their ego!
God is rather the one one who fights for his people; in which case they just have to be still (Ex.14:14).
What is it that you carry alongside God? Is it a ring or chain which gives you extra power? Is it the strong belief in your ancestors on whom you depend? Is your major preoccupation about your spouse, children, property or wealth? Then such has become an idol that you have made alongside God!
Salvation comes from God Almighty alone! He has revealed himself through his son Jesus Christ who has become our Lord and Saviour. There is no other name by which we are saved. There is no other name that gurantees us abundant life in this physical world.
Do not run after the shadow and miss out on the substsnce! There is fullness in the Lord and in nothing else!
Prayer of the week: Lord speak to me that I may speak to your children your word of trust, hope and life. Amen!
Welcome back to a new working week and have a blessed day and week! Peace be with you!