“I have too many gods,” complained a man to his wife.

“One wants me to work seven days a week. The other wants me to take a day of rest. One wants me to build a palace. The other wants me to care for the poor. One wants me to destroy my enemies. The other wants me to show them kindness. What am I to do? I can’t make them all happy.”

“You can’t worship them all,” said his wife. “Sounds like you have to choose.”

Everyone must make a similar choice.

If a god is something that requires obedience, time, attention, and affection, then the human heart only has room for one. If anything can be learned from the polygamist marriages of our forefathers of faith, it is that the human heart can’t be passionate for more than one lover, for one person’s needs, one’s desires, one’s interests. God knows this too: we can’t share our heart with Him and any other god.

The world — the great craving for pleasure — is God’s rival. Both have a plan for our money, for our time, for our thoughts. Both want our praises. Both want our love. It’s a marriage of our spirit.

It’s up to me to decide who I will worship.