I’m a Christian. Which means that I believe that the one and only big G God came in a flesh form and died on a cross to forgive us of all our sins so we could live eternally in His kingdom. Yes. This. This I do believe. This means that Jesus Christ is my savior. And He is my Big G God.
But when Exodus says that we “should have no other gods,” the writer isn’t referring to our big G God, are they? No. To do so would imply that there is in fact any other big G God than the one in whom we place our faith. (Please do not confuse firm faith with closed-mindedness toward other belief systems.)
Little g god can be defined as any deity that receives praise. Okay so what is praise? What does it mean to worship something? My Google search shows that it means to show adoration or reverence for something. Well that doesn’t sound so bad, does it? I adore my mom and have a high reverence for the performing arts. To give our attention to things like this isn’t sin . . . is it? Well no, not exactly. God gave us these things and it’s beautiful to view them in positive lights.
But in my opinion, the idea of worshipping or giving praise means so much more than adoration and reverence. To me, the things or people that I worship are the ones to which I dedicate the majority of my thoughts. Where do I invest my time and effort? What is the last thing on my mind before I fall asleep and the first thing I think of when I wake up? The things that I glorify can be all-consuming and invasive, if I’m not careful. This gives a whole new meaning to guarding your heart above all else, doesn’t it? Looking at my life, I can identify a handful of little g gods that I accidentally hold too close to my heart; at the top of the list are social media, work, guys that honestly don’t deserve my attention, and money. But obviously, the list could go on forever, different for each individual: food, alcohol, porn, exercise, shopping, sex, drugs, cigarettes, adrenaline, gossip, cursing, etc.
Ouch. A hard realization that we each have some of these, isn’t it? But that’s because most of the little g gods I just listed are specifically anti-Biblical, anti-Christian, anti-big G God. But not all little gods have to be so. In a previous article, I shared a quote that reads “Don’t chase after the things of God. Chase after Him.” Doesn’t that stand true in this situation? Sometimes I put all my time and thoughts into things like joy, patience, going to church, or even reading Christian books. These things do indeed deserve a portion our attention, but to what extent? When these things are taking up more of our thoughts than big G God him/herself, we are no longer merely paying attention to them, but rather giving them praise. . . The type of praise that ought to be reserved solely for the One deserving of it.
So even though this topic might seem to be an obvious one, I encourage you to take a moment out of your day to identify who or what it is you have been praising. If Jesus is your savior, who is your god?
