PRAY
Heavenly Father,
open our eyes so we can see Your truth.
Open our ears so w can hear Your voice.
Open our mind so we can understand Your Word.
And open our heart so we may receive all that You want me to receive. AMEN
Let God be First Instead of Pushing Him Out of the Picture is a pretty bold statement. It implies that people are actually doing that, pushing God out of their lives.
No one would ever do that. Or would they?
I believe that many on this continent have done just that. People are pushing God so far out of the picture in their lives that our western society operates completely opposite from His will.
Do you want proof?
In our society we see things that are wrong being called right and things that are right being called wrong.
So much is wrong in our world today and it all is a result of people not allowing God to be first in their lives. It is such a simple philosophy and yet many, even those who call themselves Christians fail to live by.
The moral and ethical standards in this world and in this nation are becoming obsolete.
We are pushing God further back and children are carrying guns to school, innocent people are dying, sexual immorality is common place; even on prime time television, the lines between right and wrong are becoming more and more blurry.
We are pushing God further back and people today argue over creation, they disagree on sin issues, and they live their lives as if they are the only ones who matter.
Church it is time that we stop pushing God out of the picture and we start letting God be first.
Let God be first! It is such a simple thing to do.
Do you know who God is?
He is the creator of all things.
He is a Father who loves you.
He gave us the greatest gift of all, eternal life through Jesus Christ.
He has healing for us.
He has provision for us.
He has strength for us.
He has protection for us.
He has promised to help us when bad things happen.
He has promised to never leave or forsake us.
And all He asks is that we follow Him and allow Him to be first.
Let – allow – to permit
to be – to remain – to continue – to have a place and a position first – foremost in rank, the most important thing in your life, before anything else.
God desires that we allow Him to be first. That is why He said, “I am the Lord your God… You shall have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:2-3
The very first commandment that God gives is for Him to be first. That is why Jesus said to the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2:4 “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.” ESV
Let God be first!
Why is it so hard for people to let God be first? Anyone care to answer that?
The Apostle Paul tells us the answer in Romans 7:18.
18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. Romans 7:18 ESV
Our flesh is under the control of our minds and if our mind wants something the flesh says, “Yeah, let’s go for it!”
We have a tendency to indulge our flesh more than we indulge our God. Then we end up satisfying our flesh so much that we have nothing left to give God.
And the truth about the flesh is that our flesh is never satisfied. No matter what we do our flesh is always going to want more.
It does not matter how much you have, what you have achieved, who you know, where you have been, how far you have gone, or anything else. The flesh wants more.
That is the mentality of our society. Get all we can first and then if we have time we will seek God.
This is not the plan that God has for us. Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 6.
Jesus is just about done with the Sermon on the Mount; He had just concluded the portion of the message that talked about people not worrying about the needs of life when He said this.
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33 ESV
Jesus is talking to people who have pledged their allegiance to King of kings. These people said that they were going to follow Jesus.
Here is a little side note. Jesus is looking for people who will follow Him. He is not just looking for people to have a personal relationship with.
The phrase, to have a personal relationship with Christ is not found in the Bible.
What is found in the Bible is the words “follow me.” Jesus told people to follow Him over 20 times.
Does that mean that God does not want a relationship with us?
No. God desires to be our God, our heavenly Father so that we will follow Him and seek Him first. Yes, even make Him our first love.
The concept “let God be first” is something that we need to grasp because if we do not we will leave ourselves open to the world and thus disqualify ourselves from the blessings that God has for us.
I honestly believe that God has storehouses of blessings for us in heaven that He desires to pour out upon us. The reason we do not see many of those blessings is because we fail to put God first in every area in our lives.
First’s are important to God.
Remember, You shall have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:3
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33 ESV
God wants to be first in everything in our lives and if we expect to live in His blessings and if we expect to live in His favor then God must be first.
He must be first in our church. He must be first in your job, in your finances, in your things and before your spouse, your children, and your family.
The point is God wants to be your number one priority.
If we are not putting God first it is like buttoning your shirt incorrectly. If you get the first button wrong, all the other buttons will be wrong.
But if you get the first button right, everything else lines up.
That is why the Psalmist wrote, Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, 2 but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night. 3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.
Psalm 1:1-3 NIV
When you decide to serve God with your whole heart and make Him first in your life, your soul will prosper and your joy and peace will increase.
When we put God first we are making a commitment to follow Him and to lean on Him more than anything else.
When we put God first we are saying, “God, I want to do this, but I can’t do it without You.”
He doesn’t expect you to live for Him in your own strength or ability, and He understands when you make mistakes.
God has a wonderful benefits package prepared for all who will put Him first. It is designed to cover all of our daily needs and keep us free from anxiety, as Jesus described in Matthew 6:25-33.
It is a matter of getting our priorities in the right order. If God is first then our hearts are set on something that is eternal rather than temporary.
When our priorities are in line with His we have God’s assurance for everything we need.
When we put God first in our lives we are putting Him in the center of our lives.
When God resides in the center of our lives, our lives will revolve around the things of Jesus. And when everything revolves around Jesus, he not only becomes first in order, he becomes the center of our purposes.
When our lives become God-centered, it no longer matters if we're happy or sad, broke or thriving, discouraged or peaceful—because everything we do, everything we think, and everything we desire is aligned to do, think, and desire like Jesus.
His will becomes our heartbeat and begins to align with our deepest desires. And when we begin to feel the effects of a satisfied heart, our lives become more simplified.
Think about this for a moment. Think about the impossibility of this commandment. Think about the impossibility of the standard that God has set before us.
What happens when we do not follow God’s commandments?
We sin. And the wages of sin is death.
If we were all honest tonight we would know that there has never been a moment when any of us have never had a problem doing this.
As believers we all love God, but have we always succeeded in loving Him the way He commanded us. Have we always succeeded in always putting God in the center of our lives?
When Jesus was walking on this earth 2000 years ago there was never a moment that God was not at the center of His life.
The only way that we are going to be able to do this is by becoming like Christ. But there is a problem in doing this.
We are sinners. In and of ourselves it is impossible to become like Christ.
But here is the good news. God has exchanged our sinfulness for His righteousness and in doing so He has made us new creations.
We can put God first. We can lead God centered, Christ centered lives. We can do so because He loved us first and because He loves us we able to live this way.
Loving God with all our heart, all our soul and all our strength is not an easy path but it is possible. We can live God centered lives.
Yes, the life of a Christian is a life of joy, despite trials, and a life that anticipates great joy. But we should not expect our life in this world to be easy, or successful and fulfilling in a worldly sense.
The world is at enmity with Christ, and is therefore also at enmity with His followers. The world will tell us to be someone, to achieve something, to live the good life in this world and we should do it our way.
That is a lie. It does not bring fulfillment but only pain and disappointment to those who give their lives to it.
Conversely, the life of a Christian should be characterized by moment-by-moment selfless service to God that flows from a love for Him and His people.
This is what it means to put God first and that is what it means to live a God centered life.
I invite you today to put God first and live a God centered life and see if God will not always be with you.
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