Put God First
Put God First
“Do not have other gods besides Me.” (Exod. 20:3)
The Thrust
In her book My Memories of Ike, Mamie Eisenhower tells that after she had been married only a month, Ike was given a new assignment and announced to Mamie that he must leave. She said to him, “Ike, you are not going to leave me this soon after our wedding day, are you?” He put his arms around her and said gently, “Mamie, there is one thing you must understand. My country comes first and always will; you come second.”
Likewise, God always comes first too. He will not share His place with anyone or anything. The words “besides Me” mean “in preference to Me.” The central thrust of this commandment can be summed up in one word—priority. God wants to be our number-one priority, not just one among many. He wants to be first, not a close second.
The Tests
Does God really have first place in your life? There are two simple tests to determine if He has first place. The first one is the love test. You are called to love God “with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30), but if you give your first love to someone or something else instead, then you are serving some other god. The second test is the trust test. What do you trust or cling to? “To trust anything more than God is to make it a god,” Puritan divine Thomas Watson wisely stated. Is God first in your life?
Bottom Line
Continually examine your life to make sure God is first. When He is in His proper place, life gets a whole lot simpler.