God Alone, Not God And

Scripture: As soon as the order went out, the Israelites generously gave the firstfruits of their grain, new wine, olive oil and honey and all that the fields produced. They brought a great amount, a tithe of everything. The people of Israel and Judah who lived in the towns of Judah also brought a tithe of their herds and flocks and a tithe of the holy things dedicated to the Lord their God, and they piled them in heaps. 2 Chronicles 31:5-6

Observation: King Hezekiah orders the reinstatement of all practices that honor the Lord, including the giving of the tithe to the temple, and immediately the people reply. These are all the people of Judah, plus even the remnant of Israel who escaped to Judah. The give the full tithe of everything, in such quantities that it is more than can be processed.

From a faith perspective, Judah had seemed to be on the brink, and Israel was past recovery. Yet that must not be accurate, for as soon as the call is given, the people responded. They worshipped when the temple was put in order, they celebrated the Passover, and now they give their tithe generously. Clearly the people love the Lord. Their issue was never that they stopped loving God, but that they stopped acknowledging him as their only god.

Application: Over and over again, I declare my love for God. I worship and praise and pray. I declare him to be my Lord and salvation. I lean into his glory and mercy. However, do I have other gods? Do I have "God and ..." or "God alone"?

My first thought is that my "and" is ... me. I still care too much about myself, my life, my deeds, my knowledge, my ambition, my goals. I think on these often and take action to advance myself through them. This doesn't seem completely wrong, as certain God uses me for both his kingdom work and as a way for proving blessing to me and my family. Yet I am too central in my narrative.

I meditate on false fantasies and thoughts too much. These, again, present me in an elevated status that never existed, and place me in the center of my thoughts. These must stop.

Surely I have other issues, yet I feel that, for the most part, I properly order the rest of my life, with the Lord primary and central and the single priority. Except for those things that involve me. I am the "and" that needs to be tamed in my life.

Prayer: Lord, again I say it, may I no longer be the important figure in my life. I desire to make you the only person that matters in my daily walk, with that centrality realized by how I love and treat the others you have created around me. May I place everyone before me. Amen.