"Thou Shalt Have No Other God's Before Me"

I've been studying Preach My Gospel and reading about the 10 commandments. I've been thinking alot about the 1st commandment, "Thou shalt have no other God's before me"...Usually when I hear this I think of the sin of worshiping or praying to images made of gold, silver, wood, stone, clay, fabric, metal, and so on.

But of course there are many more aspects to the sin of Idolatry.

President Spencer W. Kimball said:

"...Some [idols] are in no physical form at all, but are intangible. Many seem to 'worship' on an elemental basis- they live to eat and drink. They are like the children of Israel ... who could not lift their minds above the 'flesh pots of Egypt.' They cannot seem to rise above satisfying their bodily appetites. As Paul put it, their 'God is their belly.' (Phil. 3:19.)"

"Modern idols or false gods can take such forms as clothes, homes businesses, machines, cars, pleasure boats, and numerous other material deflectors..."

"...Many people build and furnish a home and buy the car first- and then they 'cannot afford' to pay tithing. Whom do they worship? Certainly not the Lord of heaven and earth, for we serve whom we love and give first consideration to the object of our affection and desires."

Thinking about this I cannot help but feel that one idol that we often worship is our own selves. We live in a selfish society... how often do we hear, "every man for himself", "obey your thirst", "you 'deserve' it", "look out for number one", "me, myself and I"....

If "we love and give first consideration to the object of our affection and desires"... how often does this come in the form of ourselves. How concerned are we about others "noticing" us or how many "friends" we have on face book, how many "followers" we have on our blogs, and how many comments people leave? Why should it even matter? Is this what marks our value? Do we trust in our Divine worth as children of God or do we need a constant steady diet of the belching praise from man and semblance stamps of approval .... who is man? His breath is in his nostrils, it's nothing more than "hot air"- Isaiah 2:22

When God comes first and foremost in our lives, we will lose ourselves.... and when we lose ourselves to God we will be able to truly love ourselves and love others too. That's the miracle of having no other God's before Him.

Sound Advice

I love to listen to speeches by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. I found this one today called "How do I love thee?" http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=326

Sometimes I find myself asking the opposite, "How do they love me?".... This question only brings self pity, jealousy, hurt, anger and ultimately misery. This question is a black hole collapsing in on it's self... because that's it's only concern. And who can love a parasite?

I have no control over how others love, how others show kindness, how others forgive, how thoughtful others are. I can set an example... but the way another person shows love is totally up to them.

However I do have control over how I love... "How do I.... How do I.... love thee?"

Here's just a few bits and pieces from Elder Holland's talk. I think this will be a good one for me to listen to over and over again. It's sound advice for me.

"The first element of divine love--pure love--... is kindness, its selfless quality, its lack of ego and vanity and consuming self-centeredness. "Charity suffereth long, and is kind, [charity] envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own"...
... True love blooms when we care more about another person than we care about ourselves. That is Christ's great atoning example for us, and it ought to be more evident in the kindness we show, the respect we give, and the selflessness and courtesy we employ in our personal relationships.

Love is a fragile thing, and some elements in life can try to break it. Much damage can be done if we are not in tender hands, caring hands. To give ourselves totally to another person, as we do in marriage, is the most trusting step we take in any human relationship. It is a real act of faith--faith all of us must be willing to exercise.

....In all that Christ was, He was not ever envious or inflated, never consumed with His own needs. He did not once, not ever, seek His own advantage at the expense of someone else. He delighted in the happiness of others, the happiness He could bring them. He was forever kind."- Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles

Selfishness

I have felt the chastening of the Spirit to disolve all selfishness from my heart to which I am so easily inclined.


I am eternally grateful for the example of the selfless life the Savior so constantly lived. I am so thankful for the selfless sacrifice of the Atonement so I can be healed of my cankering selfishness.


Today I read a wonderful discourse by Neal A. Maxwell called, "Repent of our selfishness" given in April of 1999. These are a few bits and pieces from it.



“Our love of God must be pure, without selfish intent.”

“Selfishness is really self-destruction in slow motion.”

“No wonder the Prophet Joseph Smith urged, “Let every selfish feeling be not only buried, but annihilated”

“Surging selfishness, for example, has shrunken some people into ciphers; they seek to erase their emptiness by sensations. But in the arithmetic of appetite, anything multiplied by zero still totals zero!”

“By focusing on himself, a selfish person finds it easier to bear false witness, to steal, and covet, since nothing should be denied him.”

“In contrast to the path of selfishness, there is no room for road rage on the straight and narrow way.”

“Meekness is the real cure, for it does not merely mask selfishness but dissolves it! Smaller steps could include asking ourselves inwardly before undertaking an important action, Whose needs am I really trying to meet? Or in significant moments of self-expression, we can first count to 10. Such thoughtful filtering can multiply our offering by 10 as a mesh of reflective meekness filters out destructive and effusive ego.”

“We can also meekly let our ideas have a life of their own without oversponsoring them. Rather, let the Spirit impel our worthy ideas.”

“No wonder we have been told, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” and this includes self-worship! (Ex. 20:3; emphasis added). One way or another, the grossly selfish will finally be shattered, whimpering, against the jagged, concrete consequences of their selfishness.”

“Strange as it seems, when severely selfish people are no longer little in their own sight, everybody else shrinks! (see 1 Sam. 15:17).”

“A narcissist society, in which each person is busy looking out for number one, can build neither brotherhood nor community. Aren’t we glad in this Easter season and in all seasons that Jesus did not selfishly look out for number one?”

- Neal A. Maxwell http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/EmailArticleProcess?action=view&cmlId=400049&locale=0&emId=790404746