“You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3).

As many of you already recognize this is Commandment #1 of the Ten Commandments.

Seems simple enough. Right?

Why would we want any other gods? After all, we know that God is the “LORD our God, who brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery” (Exodus 20:2). God is the one who saves us, rescues us, delivers us, and guides us. So, why would we ever want any other gods?

You know, when we think about “other gods” we often think idols or something like that. We know very few people who have idols in their homes. No one we know prays to an idol, let alone worship an idol.

And this is exactly what the devil wants us to believe. Since we don’t have figurines or idols in our homes, the devil wants us to believe that we are not idolaters. The devil wants us to believe that we have no other gods.

Here’s the thing. What God is talking about in the first commandment has little to do with figurines and has much to do with what/who calls the shots when it comes to how we live our lives, how we spend our time, how we invest our finances, and how we make decisions. While most of us may not have figurines or idols in our homes, we certainly have value systems that want to shape how we make decisions about time, money, values, sex, etc.

That’s what God calls “other gods.” Anyone or anything other that God himself who impacts our decision making regarding time, money, sex, values, etc. is “other gods.”

And when it comes to “other gods,” the devil really doesn’t care what we replace the centrality and the sufficiency of God with – as long as we replace God with something else.

So, let’s think about this again – “You shall have no other gods before me.”

God and God alone gets to dictate what is right, what is good, and how we should live.

May that be so with us.

“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).

The Greek language had two words for our word “life”: bios and zoe.

• bios – means life in the sense that something is alive vs something that which is dead. It means breathing, existing. This is where we get the word “biology” the study of living things.
• zoe – means life as it was meant to be lived. Zoe life refers to the life that we all dream of living, a life that is truly life.

The word in our text is zoe. Jesus says that he came so that we can live the life that we were created to live. That life is found in Jesus, and Jesus alone. A person can be breathing and going through the motions of life and yet have no life in them. We’ve all experienced that at one point or another in our lives. We live without purpose, passion, or direction. We merely exist. Such living is dreadful.

That’s not what Jesus died on the cross for us. Jesus wants his followers to live…to truly live.

So, here is the million dollar question: How do you know you are living zoe life?

You are living the zoe life if you can answer these in the affirmative:

• Am I more encouraged these days?
• Am I more at peace these days?

You are moving away from zoe life if you can these questions in the affirmative:

• Am I growing more discouraged these days?
• Am I growing more irritated these days?

These are not exhaustive, but how we answer these questions will give us a clue as to whether we are living the life Christ meant for us to live.

So, which life are you living?

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is that gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).

The wide gate is not marked, “This way to hell.”

If the wide gate were marked that way, who would take that road? “Yeah. I think I would like to completely destroy my marriage, my family, and my life. That sounds like a great plan. I want what that gate provides.” Who does that?

So, the devil marks the wide gate with the sign, “This way to life,” just as the sign above the narrow gate. The devil promises happiness, pleasure, success, and everything else needed for life. And, at first, those who enter through the wide gate and travel down its path experience momentary happiness, pleasure, success. If it didn’t, who would stay on that road.

What the traveler on the wide road doesn’t know that its ultimate destination is destruction and hell.

No one gets up in the morning and says, “Boy, let’s royally mess up my life today by having an affair.” But many do. How?

They choose what is easy. Instead of working on marriage, communication, and staying faithful, they choose what is easy. Instead of staying on the road of faithfulness and obedience to God’s word and God’s plan, we choose what is convenient. Instead of listening to God we listen to our hearts.

Friends, there is only one gate that leads to the road to life. That gate is the way of Jesus. He is the only way, the only truth, and the only life. There is no other way to live than to live life according to the ways of Jesus. You discover how to live the way of Jesus by reading and studying his word.

Stay on the path. When you deviate, get back on the road. When you get lost, return to Jesus.