Who's on First?

God was very specific in His commands and He left no doubt where He stood on certain issues.

God warns His children about those who practice witchcraft, use spells and incantations,  speak to the dead (mediums) and foretell the future.  Their powers can be intriguing and it can be easy for us to become involved in these activities.  But God is clear that He is not the source of these powers (if He were, these activities would not be detestable to Him) and He does not want us to be deceived by them.  God desires to be the Almighty in our lives .. and the source of our power and strength.  When we give honor to any other source of power, we, in effect, give our worship to something or someone other than God.   God’s  power is greater than any other, so when pursuing such deceptive interests, we are settling for something inferior.  Why do THAT?

God also instructs in children regarding giving and offerings.  Obviously, God does not personally NEED what we have to give Him – but we NEED to give to Him as an act of obedience, as a sign of our love and devotion.   We need to take a day from our busy week and set it aside to rest and to honor Him.  We need to clear our minds of the worries and concerns of our lives and focus on His blessings.  If we all took time to stop and reflect on how amazing God is and how He cares for us, our lives might be a bit more peaceful.

Today’s reading seemed at first to be “all over the map” .. but as I thought about it, I realized that all the issues addressed are really variations on a theme – God wants to be preeminent in our lives.  He wants us to love Him, obey Him, respect Him ... in response to His great love for us!