Put God First?

Just the other day, I saw the broadcast of a local church service.  This devotion is not meant in any way to be critical of that church, their pastor, or their members.  The title of the service was "Put God First."  The pastor was a dynamic speaker, more of a motivational kind of speaker than a traditional pastor.  At the end of the service, I was left a little confused.  The next day, the same broadcast came on again, so this time I watched it with "different eyes".  Again, the name of the service was "Put God First".  I counted how many times the pastor used that title or some kind of reference to it.  He either actually said it or allluded to it only 4 times.  But in that same 30-minute broadcast, he "reminded" the congregation that the church sold vitamins for their convenience 7 times.

What does it mean to put God first?  Jesus told the people to seek Heaven first, and then all the others things they desired would be added unto them.  But, as I have to remind myself many times, these two events of putting God first and all other things being added are mutually exclusive events, that is, they are two totally separate things.  We should not be putting God first in order to get the other things we desire.  We should be putting God first because we love Him...period.  We should allow Him, in His infinite wisdom, to add to our lives only the things He deems necessary.  Are we truly putting God first?  God's words through that church broadcast reminded me that many times, I am not.

Deuteronomy 4:29 says, "If you seek the Lord your God, you will find Him if you look for Him with all your heart and with all your soul."

Jesus, please help me to truly put You first in my life and to put everything else third or fourth.  In Jesus name, Amen.