“You must have no other gods before me.” – Exodus 20:3 (CEB)
We hear that and picture statues, which lets us off easy. The older test is simpler. What gets your first response? Not your best intentions, your first response. What do you check before you are fully awake, protect before you will protect anything else, reach for when a day goes sideways? Whatever moves first is what you are actually serving. Money sits on that list for most of us, and it does not look like a god at all, which is exactly what makes it effective. Nobody builds a shrine to it. They just check the balance first. The first commandment is not asking about your beliefs. It is asking about your order.
What gets your first response, honestly?
God, you asked to be first, and I have put other things there. Reorder me, starting with what I reach for tomorrow morning. In Jesus’ name, Amen.