The First Commandment

I mentioned in an earlier post that we have established a family tradition of singing "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" for the first week of Advent.  Because I know so few actual Advent hymns, our traditional hymn for the second week is "Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus." 

Lines from this song reminded me that sometimes the simplest message is the most necessary message.  What is the first commandment? "You shall have no other gods before Me."

By Thine own eternal spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone.

It can be easy to gloss over the first and second commandments pretty quickly. I'm confident most of us have always been monotheistic.  We likely haven't bowed the knee to Ba'al or worshipped the moon. But I postulate with great confidence that all of are idolaters. 

As far as I can tell, pretty nearly every sin always comes back to the root sin of pride. And I am so frequently reminded of how prideful I am. In my case, the pride very often hides itself in the form of quite about of angst about not being good enough.  But I have come to understand that feelings of inferiority are essentially prideful, and if at any point I seem in danger of forgetting it, the Lord generally sends someone or some message along to remind me.

And so throughout Advent, the simplicity of those lines calls me back to first things first. No other gods. I may get to be a joint heir with Jesus Christ, but I don't get to be a co-regent. Again I must depose myself and seek true humility rather than pride-based inferiority, and simply worship. 

Born to reign in us forever,
Now thy gracious kingdom bring.

Thy kingdom come, O Lord!