The First Commandment

Exodus 20:2,3

God is first. Without God nothing exists. God has created and is creating all existence. There is only One Presence and Power in the Universe; God, the Good, Omnipotent, Infinite Power.

 God is Mind. The One Mind encompasses all, and all ideas exist in the One Mind as Omnipresence. God is everywhere present, in, through, and around all. Omnipresence is a spiritual realm that can be experienced and known only through the mind activity of meditation and prayer. 

God is the One Spirit, the One Principle of living intelligence through which all thought exists in God-Mind. Every individual and the various phases of character that make each individual are limited states of consciousness within the One God-Mind.

The statement that you may not place any other god before the Lord God is Absolute Divine Law or Principle. As Absolute Truth it cannot be broken. A living being on the earth must have air, food, warmth, and water. If one should attempt to discard any one of these she or he would suffer great discomfort and eventually die! In the same way, the Principle of One God is the sustaining and nurturing life force for the soul and provides health, peace, comfort, harmony, and security. Placing anything first before the Lord God builds a barrier of separation that starves the soul and leads to discord, insecurity, and an unhappy and painful state of mind. This condition of “separation” places one in sin and is harmful to one's soul.

What “gods” other than The One Lord God might one believe in? When we hold the belief that evil or the Devil has power over our lives and affairs, we recognize that “power” as a god. In denying the power of evil, it is not necessary to deny the existence of evil in the world. We can choose God only and deny the power of evil, for God is the only Power in the Universe. When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness to sin, He affirmed, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’” (Matthew 4:10) Jesus denied the power of evil and held steadfast to the Lord God.

When we follow the First Commandment, God is all inclusive in every part of our lives, whether we are in worship and prayer or living our daily lives, on the job, at play, or resting. We do not set aside certain activities or affairs that exclude God. Yet, there are people in our society who continually attempt not only to separate God from certain activities, but also insist on imposing their desire for separation from God on all people in our society!  They view God as an intrusion that denies them their pleasures. When we make a wall of separation between the religious and the secular, between the good and the bad, we separate ourselves from the Lord God, for God is Omnipotence; all the power that is; all the Good; all the Harmony; all the Love. 

Divine love does not discriminate among persons. God is Absolute and is Perfection everywhere. Divine Love exists and is the same in the hearts of both sinners and saints. When we accept the Truth of Spirit in our hearts we pull down all walls of separation. Only then can we feel the flow of infinite love that Jesus felt and demonstrated.

A sense of oneness is a natural product of love, and it is accompanied by a consciousness of security. Through our sense of oneness with the Lord God, the greatest possible sense of security is realized. Therefore, all fear and insecurity is immediately and completely cast aside as nothing. The Gospel of John teaches us that if we are to put God first and love God, we must necessarily love everyone. A love that is contaminated in any way by hatred for any other individual will tend to turn away and isolate the offender from the infinite good of the One God.

Jesus spoke of this first commandment saying that total love of God is the greatest Commandment. Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:5 when he said, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second like unto it is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments the whole law hangeth." (Matthew 22:37-39)

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