God being first in your life is not meant to be a suggestion!
There are many places throughout the Bible that teach us to love God more than anything or anyone else. I will go as far as saying that it is mandatory that God is to be first in our life. Nothing is to be more important in our lives than God. In the Old Testament, it is taught that the people were to bring their first-fruits to the place that God establishes His name. God requires the first-fruits not the last. Many people pay all their bills and then tithe based on what they have left over. If we are truly putting God first, we would tithe first and spend on ourselves with what remains. Here is one example of bringing the first-fruits , “Then it shall be, when you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, and you possess it and live in it, that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground which you bring in from your land that the Lord your God gives you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish His name.” Deuteronomy 26:1-2 (NASB). It is clear throughout the entire Bible that God will not accept being last in our lives, not even second.
It is hard in this busy world to put God first. We have so many distractions and commitments. Eventually we are overwhelmed with life that it takes every minute of the day just to get everything done that needs to be done. Again, God warns us of this as well.
Basically, He says that if we want to put all of our desires before Him that He will let us do just that and receive all the chaos that comes along with it. God loves us so much and He truly wants what is best for us. He knows that we can get so overcome with this world that it becomes a burden to simply survive.
In the Bible, in the Book of Haggai, the people had taken care of their homes much greater than they had taken care of the place established in His Name.
Haggai 1:2-11(NASB)
‘“Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘This people says, “The time has not come, even the time for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt.” ’ ” Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies desolate?” Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, “Consider your ways! You have sown much, but harvest little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a purse with holes.” Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Consider your ways! Go up to the mountains, bring wood and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the Lord . “ You look for much, but behold, it comes to little; when you bring it home, I blow it away. Why?” declares the Lord of hosts, “Because of My house which lies desolate, while each of you runs to his own house. Therefore, because of you the sky has withheld its dew and the earth has withheld its produce. I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground produces, on men, on cattle, and on all the labor of your hands.” ‘
Once these people heard from God, they obeyed and God blesses them greatly. Read the rest of Haggai to see what amazing things God did for them.
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