When you wake up in the morning, what is the first thing you usually think about? Are you inclined to immediately reach for your phone to see what’s happening in the world? I must admit, for a while, the first thing I would do is grab my phone to check the time and then the news. I hadn’t trained my mind to first think about God. As I began to meditate on His Word and understand what He requires of us, I realized the way I started my day didn’t fit the commandment Christ has given all God’s people. This bothered me. In Matthew 6:33(NLT), Jesus Christ said, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” When it comes to our relationship with God through Christ, “first” means first—number one. This is what God requires. He must be our top priority in every aspect of our existence.
I, like so many of you, truly love the Lord and want to please Him, but I was out of alignment with His standard. I’m so thankful to have received a deeper revelation of God’s Word regarding how we should prioritize our relationship with Him. I knew I had to change the way I was doing things, so I prayed and asked God to teach me how to put Him first. This is something I encourage every believer to do, so that we are sure to give God the place of honor in our lives that He so richly deserves.
Philippians 4:8(NLT) tells us, “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” Examine the detail that our Heavenly Father has provided in this verse about how we should discipline our thoughts. Why do you think God is so descriptive in His instruction regarding our thought life? He is so careful about this instruction because our minds are extremely important to our relationship with Him. If we are not honoring God in our minds, dishonor and darkness will spill over into all the other areas of our lives.
You and I are in control of our minds. We have free-will and we make the decisions and choices about what and how we will think. We can choose to think in alignment with the mind of Christ, or we can think like the rest of the world. But God hopes we will choose the mind of Christ so that our thoughts will produce a reality that pleases Him. This is the Christ-centered mind that leads to a more than abundant life! It is the thought life that meets the requirement and produces the blessings of Matthew 6:33.
In Ephesians 4:29-32(NLT), God instructs us, “29 Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. 30 And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. 32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.”
Not only has Heavenly Father told us to put on the mind of Christ, but He’s told us to watch the words that come out of our mouths. He has instructed us to only say things that are good and helpful. This is His Word! It’s His commandment to us, and we are to humble ourselves because His Word is truth, and we must trust this with all our hearts. He is telling us how to live so that we can have a life that is pleasing to Him and a blessing to us as well. The Lord tells us to get rid of the negativity, because not doing so will grieve the Holy Spirit. No believer should ever want to do this. Instead, we must be diligent to always honor God with our lives. We honor God by doing the things He’s told us in His Word. This is what it means to put Heavenly Father and His Kingdom in first place, and this is the place that He alone deserves. ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“God Deserves First Place” written by Kim Times, edited by Reverend Fran Mack for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2020. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.