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God’s truth contained in this verse, and in other places in scripture, should always be at the forefront of our spiritual awareness. In summary, it tells us not to put anything above God in our lives – not even ourself. The Holy Bible, the world around us and our own lives prove these words are an inbuilt aspect of our human nature.

When questioned by the Pharisees, Jesus confirmed the Father’s desire for mankind to get this in the right order. Matthew 22:37-38, “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.”

The previous two verses in this chapter are meant to be examples of aspects of life that are common to humanity across time and by highlighting them we should seek to avoid the same pitfalls today.

Verse 23 tells us that making an idol out of any natural aspect of this world that we can see corrupts our thinking and leads us away from placing God above all. In the time of Paul’s writing, he referred to statues or images of creatures / animals we can see. Today we can see this same shift of priorities when the created world is given more worship than the God who created it.

Verse 24 adds to the creatures from the animal Kingdom the awareness that we too can become a creature of our own worship. If we submit to the bodily lusts, that come from our human nature without maintaining control and the ordinance of God, we will follow our own desires rather than God’s purpose. It is then that we require the Holy Spirit to assist from within so we are able to submit our will to God’s will for our lives.

Jesus also dealt with this order of priorities when giving His sermon on the mount. Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”