But Christ Alone

August 18

I raised My hand in an oath to those in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the Gentiles and disperse them throughout the countries, because they had not executed My judgments, but had despised My statutes, profaned My Sabbaths, and their eyes were fixed on their fathers" idols. Therefore I also gave them up to statutes that were not good, and judgments by which they could not live; and I pronounced them unclean because of their ritual gifts, in that they caused all their firstborn to pass through the fire, that I might make them desolate and that they might know that I am the LORD,”

Ezekiel20:23-26.
God and His immutable word were not the basis for the righteousness of His people Israel. They had forsaken His way for the way that “seems right to a man but the end thereof is the way of death,” Proverbs 14:13.

Mankind today seems abysmally unaware of that reality. Mankind today, from the leadership who initiates edicts that are contrary to the law of God to each individual who complacently follows ungodly laws, are contributing to the downfall of our race.

In Romans 6:15-19, the Apostle Paul addresses the topic from a different perspective. Here he says, “What then? Shall we sin [transgress God's law] because we are not under the law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.”

The conclusion we must consider then is that it is not merely our thoughts or our behaviors, or our actions that determine our standing before the Holy One; rather, it is the motivation, the source of our thoughts, our behaviors, our actions that truly identify us as who we are.

The source of the values to which we subscribe identify who is the sovereign in our lives and make clear exactly who it is to whom we bow our knee. Are we servant and worshiper of the true and living Christ or do we bow before the enemy of our souls in order to obtain his fleeting favors?

The understanding of the source of our values, our thoughts, our behaviors, our actions also reveals whether idolatry is present at the core of our being. Have we made our ‘self’ our god? If we are to avoid the spiritual death which is the result of following after any entity but Christ alone, we must assure that the God we worship is neither the evil one nor the self. Our worship must be lifted only to the God who inhabits the ages and who holds everything that exists in the hollow of His hand.