Yahweh Elohim: The Only True God

Yahweh Elohim Israel—The Lord God of Israel. The only true God

In today’s society, at least in the United States, there is a plethora of gods people worship. Most do not worship physical idols, but in terms of what we value most, what we see as important and spend most of our time on, many things qualify.

We often joke about “Keeping up with the Joneses” and living like “the one who dies with the most toys wins.” Yet, even though we act like it’s a joke, our lives often bear it out. One of God’s names is Elohim. It means He is the God of Israel, as opposed to other false gods.

The truth is that God has no rivals. Anything else is a false God. He is the only one we are to live for. (Ex. 20:3, Deut. 5:7) Not power, not wealth or social status.

Personally, I have to fight against thinking about others’ opinions of me and how I measure up. How about you? What do you find competes with God in your life? Let’s talk about it.

Rest--it's actually good for us!

I was going through the book of Hebrews the other day since our church has just finished a series on it.  Something I read struck me as ironic

Chocolate, Priorities, Time, and Life

I love chocolate.  And homemade cookies.  I also love spending time with my friends, reading, and working outside.  But more than these, I love God and seeing Him working in my life.

I read a post this morning by Lynn Blackburn in her blog Out of The Boat. It was about being intentional in everything we do, and it got me thinking.  How do I spend my time?  What are my priorities and how do my actions and relationships reflect them? So I thought and prayed about it and I need to make to make some changes.

It will require purposefully thinking every morning what I want to accomplish and reflecting on how those things show where my priorities lie. It'll take work but I think it'll be worth it.

Don't get me wrong here, I'm not against doing things for fun, or having "down time." In fact, I think that's necessary in order to take care of  me.  When I do, I'm more motivated and have more energy to focus on what matters to me most--loving God.

I think I'll read now and have some chocolate chip cookies.