Make God Your Number One Priority
When asked which commandment was the greatest, Jesus said we’re to love God with all our heart, our soul, and our strength (Mark 12:29-31, quoting Deuteronomy 6:4-5). We’re to love him more than anything else, to make him our number one priority.
And when we understand God as referring to the three-in-one Trinity, we realize we’re to love God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit with all our heart, all our soul, and all our strength. In this way, we are to love Jesus more than anything else.
It’s easy to claim that we love God more than anything else, that we put following Jesus first in our lives. But let’s consider what this entails.
Love Jesus More Than People
We must put loving God as more important than loving family. Jesus said that to be his disciple we must hate our parents, our spouse, our children, and our siblings (Luke 14:26). In short, we must hate our family.
But Jesus exaggerates to make his point—something his audience would readily understand. Hyperbole aside, the inescapable truth is that we must put Jesus before all others. This includes our family, as well as our friends and those we hold in high esteem.
When some people decide to put their trust in Jesus, they do so at great cost. Their family may disown them. Friends may shun them. They may lose their job or their standing within their community.
But compared to Jesus, none of these people matter. Jesus must come first.
Love Jesus More Than Our Possessions
Though we may readily say we love Jesus more than what we own, does our behavior confirm it? Consider our most prized possession. Are we willing to give it up for Jesus? If it competes with Jesus as first place in our life, we may need to sell it or give it away to remove its distraction. Or the Holy Spirit may convict us to let someone borrow it. For the sake of Jesus, we must hold what we own loosely.
Yet we must be ready to give up all that we have for the sake of Jesus. (Consider Matthew 19:29 and Luke 9:62.)
When fleeing for her life, Lot’s wife look back at what she was leaving behind and it cost her (Genesis 19:21-26).
Love Jesus More Than Our Position
Some people elevate their job above everything else in their life. It comes first and everything else—including God—comes in second. We may pursue it for the satisfaction we derive from our labors, the money we earn through our work, or the prestige of the position we hold. Yet if it gets in the way of us fully following Jesus, our job must go.
Love Jesus More Than Our Pleasures
A final consideration is our comfort. Putting God first and following Jesus as his disciple may result and giving up worldly contentment. We may face ridicule, we may suffer embarrassment, or we may be attacked, either verbally or physically. This could include death. We could—we will—suffer when we put Jesus first.
This may be in small ways or big ways, but we will suffer (1 Peter 4:12-19).
Love Jesus More Than Anything
To put Jesus first, to love God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—more than anything, we must set aside anything that might hold us back (Hebrews 12:1-3). We must make Jesus our number one priority, loving him more than family, property, work, and comfort. Those things all pale when we consider who he is and what he has called us to.
In doing so we’ll realize a heavenly reward of spending eternity with him. Nothing else matters, so put Jesus first,
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.
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