To Make, To Worship, and To Serve

"You shall not make for yourself a carved image--
any likeness of anything that is in heaven above,

or that is in the earth beneath,

or that is in the water under the earth;

You shall not bow down to them nor serve them.

For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God,

visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children

to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

but showing mercy to thousands,

to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

He told them they could have no other god besides Him. He told them not to make any kind of image as an object of worship. He told them they were not to bow in worship nor serve in obedience any kind of man-made god. Man-made gods and man-made religions are tools of enslavement inspired by the devil, designed to control people with rituals and rules. But God and His religion are not meant to control us; they are meant to bless us.

Everything about the nature and character of God, everything found in His word, demonstrates that He only wants to favor us with the best of heaven's blessings, the bounty of His riches, the power of His grace. God loves us, has always loved us, will always love us. But He has also created us and done all good things in us, for us and through us. We've already talked about His right to hand down these commandments from on high, but we need to understand...he did not do it for our detriment, but for our good.

Knowing that there is only one God, and having His Word to tell us everything we need to know about Him and about His will for our lives, makes life so simple. He never changes His mind; His word and His will are always constant; and He Himself is ever faithful. He is the one who has made us, not we ourselves. He is worthy of all our worship because of Who He is and what He has done. And to Him do we owe our service and obedience.