God was emphatic about this point. It is one of the Ten Commandments and is repeated near the end of the chapter in verse 23.
God is jealous in a justified way. His perfection demands complete worship, and there can be no substitutes. No imitations. For God to require anything is for him to demonstrate his grace and mercy. Knowing anything about God means that he has communicated to us. This act allows us to realize that he is awesome and wonderful. He is perfect.
When we allow something to encroach on his glory, we are diverting our attention from his glory. We are, in essence, saying that God is not enough. He is not sufficient to meet our most profound need to worship.
Americans see ridiculous people who worship stones or statues and shake our heads. It makes no sense to bow to a rock. And yet we Idolize other things. Just drop your cell phone in the toilet and see if you don't stick your hand immediately into the residue to pluck it out.
That panicked action shows that you Idolize that object. You can't live without it. It occupies more of your time than you care to admit.
So, do we need to rid ourselves of our phones? Maybe. However, our god might be our body, health, job, or spouse. Whatever or whoever it is, we need to deal with it. Or rather deal with ourselves. God doesn't share his unique space with anyone or anything. God said that we are to have no other gods. So, who or what is your god?
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