It was a warm, sunny afternoon, a beautiful day for Johnny and his mother to go for a walk. Spot, their Boston bulldog, went, too. On their way home Mother wanted to stop at the grocery story to buy bread, lettuce, and tomatoes for sandwiches. “Johnny, you will have to stay outside with Spot,” said Mother, pointing to a sign on the store.
“What does it say?” asked Johnny.
“It says no dogs or cats are allowed in the store. It is a good rule to keep animals out of stores that sell food, don’t you think?”*
“Yes, that is a good rule,” agreed Johnny. He remembered that he had wanted Mother to teach him the first rule in the Bible. “Mother, please teach me God’s first rule, the first commandment in Exodus.”
“As soon as we get home and take the clean clothes from the line, we’ll talk about God’s first rule,” Mother answered.
Once they were home, Johnny put the clothespins in the bag while Mother folded the fresh white sheets and towels. In a little while they were able to sit down together in the breakfast nook. Mother took her Bible and read:
“Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.”
“This is God’s first rule,” said Mother. “In this first rule God tells us about Himself. This means that God comes first. He made us, and He made the world and everything in it. Everything belongs to God. He says in the Bible: ‘Every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.’
“God wants us to love Him above everything, because He gave us life, water, food, sunshine, and all the trees and flowers. We should feel God close to us when we look at the sun and the moon and the twinkling stars, for we know that God made them all.”
“Did God give me to Daddy and you?”
“Yes, Johnny. God gave you to us. You are our child. We are to care for you, train you, and love you. We want you to love us, too.”
“I do love you and Daddy,” Johnny piped up.
“It is the same with God. He is our Father, and He loves us. We belong to Him, so God should be first in our love and first in our thoughts,” Mother explained.
“I love God, too,” said Johnny.
“There are many ways to tell God we love Him. Do you know how we can show our love to Him?” Mother asked.
“We can pray,” Johnny answered.
“Yes, God wants us to pray to Him. He hears us, too, when we pray. We can also bring gifts to God,” Mother added.
“But, Mother, God is in heaven; how can I give Him a gift?” puzzled Johnny.
“Suppose Daddy gave you a dollar to buy whatever you wanted. You would want to go to the store and see what you could find, wouldn’t you? You might decide to buy a play car that cost one dollar. Then suddenly you think to yourself: I’m going to give the dollar to help someone else learn about God. Johnny, that is telling God you love Him. You would show you thought of Him first, and would be giving Him a gift.”
“Mother, I am going to give God the money I have in my bank. It will help to teach some other boy about God.”
“I know God will be pleased,” said Mother. “But there are many people in this world who love their own things more than they love God. Some of the things they have are like a god to them. Whatever we love more than our heavenly Father is an idol, or false god.
“I once knew a little girl who had a treasure that was almost like a god to her. She loved it so much she wouldn’t go to sleep until it was right beside her. It really didn’t amount to much, but it was the most precious thing in all the world to her.”
“What was it, Mother?” inquired the boy.
“It was a fluffy, furry kitty. The little girl would love it and hug it tightly. One day the kitty was gone. She couldn’t find it anywhere in the house. She cried and cried. She stamped her feet and shouted naughty words. Her mother couldn’t seem to comfort her, and the girl wouldn’t go out to play with her little friends. She sat around all day and pouted.
“It was all right for her to like her kitty, but she thought more of it than anything else. When we love anything more than God, then it crowds God out of our hearts, and we become angry when we can’t have what we want.
“God said, ‘Thou shalt have no other gods before Me,’ and He doesn’t want girls or boys to love anything above Him. Boys or girls should not think so much of their games or dolls or bicycles that they forget God who gave them all things. God wants you and me to love Him with all our hearts.”
“God loves all the people in the world, doesn’t He?” asked Johnny.
“Yes, but not everyone loves Him. You see, there are many people in this world who pray and bow down to other gods, Johnny. They do not love the true God who made them.”
“I always want to love God more than anything else,” Johnny reflected.
God’s Ten Rules, Ethel M. Neff, ©1948, 15–20
* The setting of this story is in the 1940s. Today, service and emotional support animals are permitted in almost all public places including restaurants and food markets.