“You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3, NIV).

I have never been an eloquent evangelist, but I do ask the Lord every morning, “Please help me speak to someone about Jesus today.” In the middle of my patient visits today, God said, “This is the guy.” We had just experienced Easter, so I asked him about his Sunday. He said he just had a quiet day at home by himself. I then asked, “Are you a Christian?” “No, but I do believe in a higher power.” “You need to consider Christ again,” I said. “Jesus died to forgive us so that we could have eternal life and He rose to prove it. Before long, you’re going to need that.”

A “higher power” just isn’t going to cut it. Russia’s a higher power than the Ukraine—and how’s that working out for the Ukrainians? Knowing there is somebody out there who is bigger than I can be as scary as it can be comforting.

If I’m going to submit to a higher power, I need to ask some questions first:

What does that higher power think of me?

How does that higher power want to relate to me?

How can I make that higher power work for me?

How does that higher power stand up to other powers in my world?

These are all legitimate questions I should ask any power before I decided to submit to its authority.

We already have the answers if we ask the Father/the Son/the Holy Spirit—our God.

God loves me. God created me so I might connect with Him in a relationship of love.

God does not work for me at all, He works with me and around me for my good and the good of all who love Him. He focuses on my good because He loves me. He loved me enough that He diminished His power and became like me, loved enough to suffer and die for me, loved enough that He refused to stay dead for me. And His love lasts. There is no other power of life or death, or angels or demons, or height or depth, or anything else in all creation (Romans 8:38) that can overcome His love for me or His action for my good.

It’s not a question of higher powers existing in the world; we’re not that big. Satan does exist, and my inborn desires for wealth and power and security and prestige and self-realization are powers far bigger than I can manage, but Jesus can. The question is not whether higher powers exist. The question is which higher power I will choose to follow.

Dear God,
Let me not be tempted toward any other power than yours.
Amen