3 You shall have no other gods before Me.

4 You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath.

5a You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God…

— Exodus 20:3-5a

I am the LORD; that is My name! I will not yield My glory to another or My praise to idols.

— Isaiah 42:8

Jesus declared, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’

— Matthew 22:37

15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.

16 They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see;

17 they have ears, but cannot hear; nor is there breath in their mouths.

18 Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them.

— Psalm 135:15-18

3 For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut down a tree from the forest; it is shaped with a chisel by the hands of a craftsman.

4 They adorn it with silver and gold and fasten it with hammer and nails, so that it will not totter.

— Jeremiah 10:3-4

Thoughts on Today’s Reading

Grace, mercy and love from Christ to you.

Let us walk through each commandment of the Law and see how it exposes sin and opens the door to the gospel.

Law #1 — You shall have no other God before Me. The God of the Bible is the only true and living God. Man must honor Him alone. This command confronts our loyalty and devotion. We often make idols of our careers, comforts, relationships, or even ourselves. When we allow anything becoming more important than God to us, we have broken this first and foundational commandment. Isaiah 42:8 reminds us that God shares His glory with no one.

Law #2 — You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on earth under it or that is in the water below. you shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord, your God am a jealous God. God prohibits the making of any object with the intention of worshiping it or bowing down before it. Burning candles before an idol or praying to an idol or an icon is to disobey this commandment. This commandment exposes our tendency to reshape God into our own image.