You shall have no other gods before me.

Chances are, you’re not a pagan. At the very least, you most likely don’t identify as one.

Once upon a time, I didn’t either. But when I look at my “before life,” “pagan” might be considered one of my kinder designations.

When you live for yourself, you certainly don’t intend to live for the One, True God.

Which, for me, seemed to open up a wormhole that allowed a whole slew of other gods to sneak right in: writing and drinking being two of them.

Now, you probably figure (like most of the rest of the world), that drinking can become an evil if one lets it.

But writing?

Yep. Even the more innocuous things in life can lend themselves to the darker side when left unchecked.

At the time, all I cared about was becoming a Great American Author. This meant nothing (and most certainly nobody) was going to come between me and my “destiny.”

Which would have been fine if I weren’t, well, a mother and wife.

Shamefully, I spent a portion of motherhood and wifedom caring more for the bottle and pen (well, er, laptop) than I did the beautiful people God gave me to care for and nurture.

After all, if Hemingway lived this sort of life, why couldn’t I?

And here’s the thing: I certainly could. God gave me (and all of us) free will, but instead of looking at it like the precious commodity it is, I squandered it in the name of my own selfish pursuits.

Eventually, God put an end to my self-seeking nature. There’s only so many evenings you can spend on the bathroom floor before you start to realize He’s absolutely right.

But just because I follow him now, doesn’t mean I’m to let down my guard when it comes to the gods of this world. We’re to be armored and alert, aware of the ways the enemy insists on worming his way into our hearts only to devour our flesh.

Search me, God, and know my heart.

Be honest. What are some of life’s temptations that you’ve placed above and before Yahweh? Take a moment to thank God for the gift of repentance, asking Him to make clear the things of this world that may be tearing you away from Him. Ask Him to help you stay armored and strong in His Word to fight off this kind of evil.