The first commandment is a pretty direct imperative from our Lord.

“You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3)

A clear vertical command, no other gods before me. It doesn’t leave a lot of wiggle room.

The thing is, I like a little wiggle room. The competitors for space in my soul, the place where God wants to reside fully and freely, are more welcome there than I care to know or admit. I’ll confess, there are many, and all are horizontal, encroaching on God’s first commandment space. Yet I persist in thinking that they are all good.

And most of them are. Good books. Reading. Good coffee. The best chocolate. Late summer harvest. In terms of time, the creation and consumption of media. These are just off the top of my head.

I started thinking about this in relation to the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution. I'm not sure what brought it to mind, probably all the political reporting. The first commandment and the first amendment. I liked the juxtaposition, the pairing of the phrases and it got me thinking.

A quick civics class refresher of the first amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

This is a good thing. There is much to love about it. For a news junkie and one who is sometimes mistaken as a member of the press, freedom of the press is kind of a thing for me. This is especially true when I monitor the persecution of Christians in countries where the press is not free to report. Free speech is definitely not a universal right, but one that we and our neighbors all enjoy and maybe even take for granted.

And the freedom of religion—I find great hope that our forefathers did not establish an official religion. That means I can freely believe and follow Jesus, as can other people. Seeing majority religion countries enshrine one religion as official leads often to them aiming their ire at minority Christian citizens and churches. Established state religions so often seem to turn faith into history, regular people seem to abandon them in daily lives. These are cautionary reflections when I look in the mirror and see myself and my home.

In the course of our political and social upheaval these days, I wonder if my citizenship in the country where I was born carries more weight in my heart than my citizenship in heaven, where I am a son of the most high (and humble) king. I hope not.

You may have seen the campaign signs “Jesus 2020” on the internet or in social media, maybe even in your neighborhood. This is a strange mixing of the horizontal and vertical. I kind of like it and I kind of don’t, but it’s interesting.

The idea came from some women at the Sampey Memorial Baptist Church outside Montgomery, Alabama, when their community was in COVID-19 quarantine. They wanted to make something that would point people to Jesus.

“We don’t see Jesus' name out there,” said Joyce Hubbard, one of the women in the church who made this happen. “We’re going to put him out there. He’s the one that doesn’t lie to you, who keeps his promises.”

This church gave away more than 7,000 signs and then the website they set up sold 30,000 more across the nation (as of three weeks ago). They don’t mean for us to start a write-in campaign. It’s not literally political. They're trying to point people to Christ.

It's the secular and sacred, the horizontal and vertical, constantly colliding. Life gets messy like that.

Lorraine and I got into the car one Sunday afternoon a few weeks back, and the classical music station WFMT was on. As we drove, I interrupted Lorraine’s talk. “Isn’t that a hymn?” I asked.

We turned up the volume.

“It is,” she said. Sure enough. It was a contemporary setting on piano of “I Surrender All.”

It brought back memories of altar calls and televised Billy Graham Crusades, walking the aisle to give everything to Jesus, to surrender everything over to the loving Savior.

All to Jesus I surrender

All to Him I freely give

I will ever love and trust Him

In His presence daily live

All to Jesus I surrender

Humbly at His feet I bow

Worldly pleasures all forsaken

Take me, Jesus, take me now,

I surrender all

All to Thee my blessed Savior

I surrender all

All to Jesus I surrender

Make me Savior wholly thine

May Thy Holy Spirit fill me

May I know Thy power divine

Surrendering all to Jesus is more than an item on my Saturday to-do list It's a faiithful choice to focus on the Savior of the world instead of the things of the world. In last Sunday’s sermon, Pastor Ben Panner said, “In our hearts there is spiritual adultery against God. …He demands and he deserves full allegiance, full devotion, full loyalty. …God will not share space with anyone.”

Jesus, why do I let so many idols in when you gave everything that I might have your peace, your life, your all-devouring grace. Help me surrender over the spaces of my heart to make more room, actually, to make all the rooms of my life, open and filled with only you, not the cares of this world, the little sins I like, the good and noble causes I fight for, or my favorite coffee in the world.

(It’s Kenya; thank you, Jesus, for making it.)