Put God First

Jesus did not commit Himself to them . . .for He knew what was in man —John 2:24-25

Successful people have ordered lives; ordered but not necessarily orderly. They have priorities. They use, but are not ruled by, to do lists and calendars.  Jesus taught a successful life style: Seek First the Kingdom of God. Our priorities are not best determined by what we believe or say or plan. They are best read in what we do. Try keeping track of your time for a week. If you do that, your priorities will emerge. You will clearly see what is really important to you by what you do, by how you spend your time.

How should our worlds be ordered?  As usual, OC has the right idea.

Put Trust in God First. Our Lord never put His trust in any person. Yet He was never suspicious, never bitter, and never lost hope for anyone, because He put His trust in God first. He trusted absolutely in what God’s grace could do for others. If I put my trust in human beings first, the end result will be my despair and hopelessness toward everyone. I will become bitter because I have insisted that people be what no person can ever be— absolutely perfect and right. Never trust anything in yourself or in anyone else, except the grace of God.

A person’s obedience is to what he sees to be a need— our Lord’s obedience was to the will of His Father. The rallying cry today is, “We must get to work! The heathen are dying without God. We must go and tell them about Him.” But we must first make sure that God’s “needs” and His will in us personally are being met. Jesus said, “. . . tarry . . . until you are endued with power from on high” ( Luke 24:49  ). The purpose of our Christian training is to get us into the right relationship to the “needs” of God and His will. Once God’s “needs” in us have been met, He will open the way for us to accomplish His will, meeting His “needs” elsewhere.

God came as a baby, giving and entrusting Himself to me. He expects my personal life to be a “Bethlehem.” Am I allowing my natural life to be slowly transformed by the indwelling life of the Son of God? God’s ultimate purpose is that His Son might be exhibited in me.