No Other God’s

And all for the countless whorings of the prostitute, graceful and of deadly charms, who betrays nations with her whorings, and peoples with her charms. Behold, I am against you, declares the LORD of hosts, and will lift up your skirts over your face; and I will make nations look at your nakedness and kingdoms at your shame. I will throw filth at you and treat you with contempt and make you a spectacle. And all who look at you will shrink from you and say, “Wasted is Nineveh; who will grieve for her?” Where shall I seek comforters for you?
Nahum 3:4–7
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No Other God’s
The Large Catechism says that anything that you put your fear, love, and trust in is your god. When the Lord gives the Law to the people of Israel, he calls himself a jealous God. He wants all the fear and all the trust and all the love for himself. He doesn’t want us going after other gods, but instead, that we would repent of our sin and live. When his people go after false gods, he equates it to adultery. For God, idolatry is adultery. Going after other gods is being unfaithful. But he also wants you to know that it is like prostitution, too. The false gods take a fee. The devil, the world, and our sinful nature lead us into false belief, despair, great shame, and vice. The Lord won’t leave you to the devices of the devil and the world. He pays a great price when his Son goes to the cross to have you back. He pays with his own blood and his innocent suffering and death to destroy our false belief and give us life with him forever. Thanks be to God for Jesus and his work on the cross.