The first of the ten commandments, also called the Decalogue, introduces the entirety of God's instructions to His unconditionally chosen people. I would venture to say that the command "you shall have no other gods before me" is the key to following the rest of God's instruction, as implied by it being the first commandment. However, rather than focus on the importance and position of this command, I wish to explore the significance of the phrase "before me".
Frequently this passage is read as "God must be first in your life." The consequent application goes along these lines usually, "if God is not the center of your life and if He is not your top priority, then you need to re-prioritize and make changes in your schedule." This approach reads "before" in the ordinal sense, implying that loving God is a matter of ranking Him over other things and people. If this were the case one would expect to find in the Hebrew text prepositions like תחת (tachat; lit.: in place of) or נגד (neged; lit.: before, against) On the contrary, the word "before" is actually a prepositional phrase of two words in the Hebrew text, which reads, על-פני (al-panaya); this translates literally to a more spacial understanding of "before" as the phrase "in My face/presence"; unfortunately, only two main English translations (the Holman Christian Standard Bible and the Amplified Bible) have striven to reflect this in their wording. Consequent to this understanding of Exodus 20:3, God forbade His people to have any other gods in His presence. The Israelites understood that they were ever in God's presence through their journey from Egypt to Horeb (a.k.a. Sinai); and they would continue to learn that they were always in God's presence through the Tabernacle, journeying in the wilderness, the invasion of Canaan, even to David who wrote about God's omnipresence in the 139th Psalm. Therefore, in summary, Israel was never to have any god other than Adonai.
In the same way, if not more so, Christians, God's unconditionally chosen people and adopted children, are not to have any god other than the Father. It is not a matter of God needing to be the center of your life, God needs to be your life. Work, study, recreation, money, friends, family, ministry, etc. are not things (gods) to be properly prioritized around God; they ought to merely be means/opportunities to reflect God and honor Him. He needs to be involved in and permeating every little task we perform. Instead of stressing over finances, seek to find the best way to honor God in your financial situation, in what you do and how you act. When worried about relationships that are wearing away, seek the way to reflect God in those relationships. Does Paul not say in Colossians 3:17, "Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father"? Always is Adonai to be our God alone, and never should anything distract our hearts from Him.
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Col 3:17.
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