A Thought

“I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; you shall have no other gods before Me.”  Exodus 20:2,3

A singular focus is always hard and is made even more difficult when we live in a society that places high value on multi-tasking.  We have bought into the myth that humans have a capacity for multi-tasking but have failed to realize that when we are focused on too many things at one time, something will be missed.  We cannot give 100% to anything because we are over-committed to too many things.

There is much more to this commandment that a dire warning to stay away from other gods.  As with all commandments, the terms of the Holy Covenant are not spelled out in “thou shalt not”; rather the terms of a good and honorable life are in the promises beyond “not”.  This one is no exception, for it offers more than we can possibly imagine if we will focus our attention, energy, and praise to the One, True, Living God who offers real and lasting life and uncompromised liberty.  Multi-tasking means our life is, in fact, compromised and our liberty at risk.

Faith calls us to let go of the many things we think we must do according to impossible and ever-changing standards, and challenges us to embrace the one thing we are called to do that will allow other things to fall into place according to His divine direction.  This does not mean we become mindless robots; it means we are truly children of the Holy God who will give us not “serpents and stones”, but “bread and fish” (Matthew 7:7-12) – that is, the things we need.

It is not easy to let go of the things we’ve learned to control, but we must for the sake of having and living the life that is so abundantly offered by the Holy Father through Messiah.

Blessings,

Michael