Exodus 20:4-6

And it is good for us to review this. Like I said, in essence, God and His laws and statutes and desires are always to be first in our lives. Thus everything else: job, possessions, hobbies, friends, our desires will always be second to what God wants. God always comes first. And because God and His laws come first, our lives will reflect His very nature in dealing with each other, with the environment, and with every aspect of living. You see, that is what this calling is about now, for us to take on that nature.

Bowing down to them. A lot of the world does bow down to graven images and that will cease. And of course, we are not to. So we are not to bow down to any religious idol in worship. Nor are we to let the desires of other individuals or groups lead us into disobeying God. Anything we give first place, in place of God is an idol. And in doing so, we are committing idolatry. In the Forerunner, the definition of idol was this, "An idol is any object of ardent or excessive devotion or admiration." You see our excessive admiration and devotion should always be for God the Father and Jesus Christ. That is where it should be.

Exodus 20:4-6

Right inside the Ten Commandments this idea is explained. But, if you were to read them through, you would not find the word "kindness."

Guess where the Hebrew term chesed is? It is in verse 6, signaled by the translated word "mercy." Part of God's obligation under the covenant is to show us mercy. And we also see that the flip-side of that is also in that same verse—that is, man's obligation is also shown in verse 6. God shows mercy to thousands. But, which thousands? To the thousands who love God, and keep His commandments. He says, "I will be merciful if you keep My commandments and you love Me." He is actually stating the covenant relationship.