True North (How to Find Perfect Peace)

“You shall have no other Gods before me.”

When I hear this first commandment, something in me is stirred; a stirring that speaks of something magnificent and weighty in its simplicity.

Something that says that if we could get that first commandment right, we might not need the other nine.

At first glance, it seems odd that there would be a second commandment that refers to idol worship. Isn’t idol worship and No Other Gods pretty much the same thing? We were made in God’s image. And what was the lie we believed in the Garden? That if we ate of the fruit, we would be like God. We wouldn’t need idols--we would be gods.

Deep inside every one of us is this desire to be God. It’s why we have battles of willpower with our children, with our spouse or a superior at work. It’s why road rage is a real thing, and why we lash out at each other on social media. It’s why we turn to trust in our money over trusting in God, why we worship our hobbies and our free time instead of engaging with the Creator of time itself.

Ever since we ate the fruit, we have given ourselves permission to exercise that “god-ness” as the primary motivator of our decisions.

Don’t believe me?

In any given day, how many of your thoughts and decisions are primarily motivated by your own desires, your own appetites, your own will?

And even if you aren’t afforded the luxury of making all your own decisions, of placating all your own desires, how much of your irritation at life is based on the fact that things don’t go the way you had planned, the way you desired?

It’s because you and I have become mini-gods. And as gods, our primary goal is to build our own kingdoms – kingdoms that serve us and us alone; kingdoms that satisfy and serve our appetites and our desires, often at the expense of those around us.

So – if you are in the business of building your kingdom, and I’m in the business of building mine, imagine what happens when our borders start to run against each other.

We experience conflict.

We experience wars.

We experience hatred, or lust, or coveting, or theft.

In other words, when our focus is on what we want, we violate the other nine commandments – because we all get in each other’s way, bumping up against each other in a certain chaos, because we’re all moving in different directions.

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When I was in school, I recall seeing a video of iron filings under a microscope. What started off as a scattering of metal, each one pointed a different direction, suddenly fell into a perfect alignment the second a magnet was placed nearby. I imagine looking at those at a subatomic level, and seeing millions of little atoms, all moving in chaos; that is, until the presence of the magnet. It’s almost as though the magnet provides a sense of relief to the atoms – that everything can now rest in its place, thanks to the perfection of the natural order.

I see our lives a little bit like those iron fragments.

In order to break from the chaos we so often experience, in order to stop the perpetual conflicts that result from us bumping up against one another, we require direction. Direction provided by a magnet that points us to the true north.

The thing is, we have a magnet like this and it’s Jesus, who made the deliberate choice to abstain from lording his position over us (something, again,we have such a difficult time with), and instead embodied what it looks like to put God’s kingdom first - by serving in such a way as to draw all people to himself, yes, but in selfless and loving sacrifice so that all of us would have opportunity to turn toward  God, to know him, and even more, to experience him as Jesus himself did, as our father.

By his strength, we too could die to our conflicts and instead align our motives, desires, and appetites with God’s. That’s what honoring the one true God is supposed to look like.

If we could all get this one commandment right – to truly worship God, investing in building his kingdom above our own – I am convinced that, aligned like those iron fragments, we as a humanity would experience such shalom, such peace in the presence of God, that our relationships would be unified, our conflicts would fade, and our hearts would be full.

So let’s be done with our relational conflicts. Let’s put to bed our divisions and our strife - both with each other and with God.

Imagine what the world could look like if we as Christians started getting this one commandment right. Imagine the peace we could bring to our families, to our workplaces, and to our communities.

We can’t do it on our own, but with Christ’s strength we are told that all things are possible. Restoration starts with us surrendering our hearts and desires to a good, kind, and loving God. It starts by putting him back on the throne of our lives and watching as we are drawn, like those iron filaments, to a more peaceful whole way of being with ourselves and others.

So may we learn to practice, each and every day, a dying to self and an embracing of living for God. For in him is the key to all life – demonstrated first by the resurrection of Jesus, and lived out in our restored hearts – so that all may know that Jesus is lord, and that in him alone is life to the fullest.

Amen.

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I was humbled to have this piece published by Sandals Church recently. For an audio reading of this piece, as well as some reflection questions, please check out the post from Sandals Church, or download the Sandals App.