Daily Devotional
Exodus 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me… Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God…Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain… Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Did you realize that the first four (4) commandments recorded in Exodus 20 centers around honoring God and the latter six (6) speaks to honoring people? One takeaway from that is that we must start first with honoring God; let that be the beginning point for everything in your life.
Not only does the first four (4) commandments teach us to start with honoring God, but hidden therein are four (4) fundamental principles that we must adapt to consistently honor God. The first commandment is “thou shalt have no other gods before me”. The principle that we must grasp from this is that we must make God our top priority; that means putting him first in our daily affairs by making Him our primary focus.
The second commandment is “thou shalt not bow down thyself to them (idols), nor serve them.” The principle being taught is to worship and serve God alone. It is the strict adherence to this principle why the three (3) Hebrew boys would not bow down to the golden image.
The third commandment is “thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain’. The principle behind it is to show total reverence to God. When we revere God, we refuse to do anything that would knowingly displease Him. Job showed his reverence for God in Job 23:12 when he said “I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food”. Pleasing God was more important to him than anything else.
The fourth commandment is to “remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy”. The principle is to honor God with our time by setting aside a day out of our busy schedule to worship him and rest in His presence. To honor God in these four (4) ways is taking practical steps to love Him with all our mind, soul, heart and strength.
Life Application: Start everything with honoring God by making him your top priority, worshiping Him alone; seek always to please Him by keeping His Laws; and, give back to Him your time by setting aside a day to worship and rest in His presence.
Prayer: Lord, I seek to put you first in all things. May I never lose sight in honoring you first. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Daily Devotional 
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