“23 And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.” (1 Corinthians 3:23)

“Put God first in your life.” You’re told this often as a Christian. But what exactly does that mean? It is an abstract concept or principle that needs to be more specific to implement. It doesn’t sound convenient. After all, you have your life to live.

“I can’t do that!” You are told that your life will work out by putting God first. But how can that be when you are the one who makes it work out? Right? Indeed, God doesn’t expect you to prioritize Him in everything! Certainly, He must understand that you must do things outside of Him to maintain control of your life… or it will fall into chaos. Right? “What an order!” It’s not easy, but it’s necessary. It all hinges on first having a relationship with God.

IT IS A RELATIONSHIP:

“37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” (Matthew 22:37)

Love God more than yourself! Jesus summarized the Law of God by quoting Deuteronomy 6:5. To please God, you must love Him in all you are and do, above everything – even yourself. But no human being could do this! But Jesus came, fulfilling the whole Law perfectly (Romans 8:3-4). The Law taught us God’s standards (Romans 3:19-20; Galatians 3:24) and proved that we always fell short (Romans 3:23). Jesus is the only way to the Father (John 14:6).

WILL YOU LET GOD JUSTIFY YOU?

“5 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:” (Romans 5:1)

It’s a gift. If you’re not saved, then you need to be. According to God’s abundant love, He sent His only begotten Son (John 3:16), the Lamb of God (John 1:29), your Savior Jesus Christ, whose blood was shed for the remission of sins (Hebrews 9:22), who washed you (Titus 3:1-7), cleansed you (1 John 1:7-9), and redeemed you (Ephesians 1:7).

You are justified. When you believed on Him (John 11:25) to atone for your unrighteousness (Romans 3:25), this faith on Jesus and His blood gave access to God’s abundant grace (Romans 5:1-2; Ephesians 2:8). You were justified by blood (Romans 5:9), by faith (Romans 3:28), and by grace (Romans 3:24; Titus 3:7). Jesus’ righteousness was imputed onto you (Romans 4:22-25), and you were made right with God (Romans 3:22-26).

You are sealed. His Holy Spirit came to dwell in you (Romans 8:11) as a seal of promise (2 Corinthians 1:21-22), and you awaited an inheritance of eternal life and glory with God (1 Peter 1:3-5). But it didn’t stop there. God called you to be separate from the world and live for Him (Romans 12:2) through the power of His Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). He gave you freedom from the power of sin (Romans 6:7) so that you could walk in newness of life (Romans 6:9). You had perfect peace (Isaiah 26:3).

WILL YOU LET GOD SANCTIFY YOU?

“6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” (Philippians 1:6)

Maybe you don’t feel peace. Maybe sin still plagues your life. Perhaps you think God is displeased with you because you still can’t do right, even though you are saved. Or maybe you’re so disheartened that you’ve come to doubt your salvation. Suppose you’re not experiencing the freedom from sin’s power, perhaps because you are living according to your will. Your will is destructive, and sin is a given. In your attempts to control life, you render yourself powerless over sin. You have to give up your way!

Is Jesus Lord over you? Perhaps you need to allow Jesus to be Lord and rule your heart’s throne. You want to control things and have it your way. Because, after all, ‘you know best.’ Have no confidence in your flesh to save you (Philippians 2:3)! You must give up your self-centered will (Mark 8:34) and be conformed to God’s will and image (Romans 8:29). Will you trust God, acknowledge Him in all things, and submit to Him as sovereign over you so He can direct you (Proverbs 3:5-6; 16:9)?

Submit to the power of God. Jesus redeemed you, freed you, and made you new so that you would be godly, not so that you would be free to remain as you were (Ephesians 2:10). God asks you to stop using your body for unrighteous things and to become a servant of righteousness, not to submit to the power of sin but to submit to the power of God (Romans 6:13). The result of trying to save yourself is death. Still, if you die to yourself and lay hold of Christ, you will find life (Luke 17:33). Indeed, you are crucified with Christ. He lives inside you, causing you to live out your fleshly life as an offering of love for the One who loves you and offered Himself for you (Galatians 2:20). So, surrender your illusions of ‘power’ to Him, and by His power, present your body as a living sacrifice, separated from the world, acceptable to God for service (Romans 12:1-2).

Eliminate worldliness from your heart. Since you have been washed clean, you must put away the works of the flesh and seek to develop spiritual fruit (Galatians 5:16-25). This is the process of sanctification. A love of worldliness is contrary to a love for God. All the flesh, lusts, and character defects stem from this unstable foundation of self, but if you do God’s will, you will abide forever (1 John 2:15-17). You must actively remove your flesh and put on your new creature (Colossians 3:10; Ephesians 4:22-24). Christ demands your absolute loyalty, that love and devotion to Him are primary in all things (Luke 14:26-27, 14:33). You will reflect the glory of God as you are being changed to become like Him (2 Corinthians 3:18). When Jesus returns for you, He will perfect you, and you will be like Him (1 John 3:2). Ultimately, you become less, and He increases to overflowing.

WILL YOU LET GOD RULE THE THRONE OF YOUR HEART?

“9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

Your own heart deceives you! Maybe you give God the time of day here and there. You give Him a slice of your life, but not your whole life. You give Him a wedge of your week but not your whole week. You give Him a dividend of your day, not your whole day. You give Him a ration of your routine, but never anything more than that because to do so is to come to terms with the reality of your powerlessness. You want to be in power in your pride, so you avoid the truth. “I can’t trust anyone except me!” But the truth is that God is trustworthy, and you couldn’t be any more powerless or unmanageable outside of Him. Will you fully surrender your life, will, flesh, character, everything? Your will has been running the show, but you need new management!

You cannot rule rightly. You are part of fallen and sinful humanity where everyone comes short of God’s glory; not one person by any power, ability, or self-will can ever attain God’s righteous standards (Romans 3:23). Even if you knew God’s Law through and through, you could not fulfill it, unlike Jesus who has already accomplished it for you (Romans 8:3). Face it. You are without strength to save yourself from yourself and the consequences of God’s impending wrath; what godless people we are, for whom Christ joyfully laid His life down (Romans 5:6). But what a demonstration of God’s love (John 3:16)! Jesus has sealed you with His Spirit, without which there is only destruction and death (Romans 8:9). All of us were well-deserving of such a punishment. Still, God gifted you and me with unmerited favor (Romans 6:23). Your only hope is Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6).

Let Jesus rule your heart’s throne. If you are saved in Christ, you must walk spiritually, unlike the condemned who walk according to the flesh (Romans 8:1). You are not in the flesh, but the Spirit (Romans 8:9-17), so act like it. Get off your throne and give God His proper place! You must abide in Him to become spiritually fruitful because outside of Him, you are lifeless, void, cut off, and ultimately cast away (John 15:5). Jesus is your lifeline!

Trust God. Trusting in yourself for everything only leads to being lost; therefore, you must trust in the Lord and acknowledge Him in everything you do, and He will guide you (Proverbs 3:5-6). It pleases God for you to have faith in Him, believe HE IS GOD, and patiently wait for the rewards of seeking Him (Hebrews 11:6).

WILL YOU DECREASE AND LET GOD INCREASE?

“30 He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30)

God is trustworthy. Maybe you do not understand or trust God’s character or ultimate provision for your life. Perhaps you do not fully understand that when your will tries to be in ‘control,’ it is absolute chaos and personal anarchy. To say it is difficult to break your own delusion is an understatement. You need God! Often, His intervention. God is worthy, and He will satisfy. Indeed, He is more trustworthy than you are. He will do a far better job than you ever did. Do you not see it? Do you desire God to rule rightly over you? Will you surrender? Will you humble yourself before Almighty God?

God tells you who He is. The LORD is self-existent; He possesses essential life and permanent existence (Exodus 3:13-14). God is everlasting, and His depths are unsearchable (Isaiah 40:28). The Lord speaks truth and righteousness (Isaiah 45:19). God is not a liar; He does what He said He will do, and He does not go back on His Word (Numbers 23:19-20). The LORD God describes Himself as righteous, longsuffering, compassionate, gracious, merciful, forgiving, and abundant in goodness and truth (Exodus 34:5-7; Psalm 86:15, 116:5). The LORD is so holy that He is like a consuming fire and righteously jealous (Deuteronomy 4:24). This jealousy is not like human jealousy, which is self-destructive. God’s jealousy is motivated by love for you, to protect you from yourself. God is like an unchanging refiner’s fire, and you must be purified of your impurities (Malachi 3:6). Jesus’ blood cleanses you entirely if you trust Him by faith (Romans 3:22-26).

Let go of your will and obey God. God is light and truth; if you walk in darkness and deceit, you do not walk with God (1 John 1:5-7). Since your heart is deceitful, and God is truth and love, obeying God is your only option. Don’t fall short in your spiritual growth; seek to be blameless for when Jesus returns by being unified with God and communing in fellowship with His people (1 Corinthians 1:4-9).

Let go and trust that God is your protector. God loves you so much that He counts you as His child; the world does not know you because you no longer belong to them (1 John 3:1). He is a good Father, and He will prove Himself as a perfect shield of protection for those that trust Him and His perfect ways (Psalms 18:30). Trust in the Lord in all your opposition and troubles, knowing that He is always there for you when you seek Him (Psalm 9:10).

Let go and let God be your primary need. This world cannot satisfy our ultimate need: Jesus offers a gift of living water that eternally satisfies (John 4:13-14). God will help you because He is with you and will sustain your soul (Psalms 54:4).

Let go and let God provide for all your secondary needs. When you seek God, His righteousness, and His Kingdom – first in all things – then all your needs will be met (Matthew 6:33). God can supply all your needs (Philippians 4:19). The Lord gives good things, and yields increases in your life (Psalm 84:11-12). When you give freely and cheerfully of yourself, God is willing and able to provide you with an abounding grace that is sufficient in all things; indeed, the more you give, the more you get back (2 Corinthians 9:8). God the Father gives good and perfect gifts (James 1:17). Jesus invites you to go to Him who are burdened and exhausted, that He will provide rest for your soul, that He is gentle and humble (Matthew 11:28-30).

Let go and let God love you. God demonstrated His love to all people through His One and only Son that whoever believes in Him will be spared from wrath and live eternally with Him (John 3:16). God’s great love also makes Him rich in mercy (Ephesians 2:4). What human would die for a good person, much less a bad person; and yet we were beyond bad, and Jesus willingly laid down His life for us, demonstrating God’s love (Romans 5:8). God is not slack regarding His promises; instead He is exceptionally patient and longsuffering, out of love, because it is His desire that everyone repent and trust in Him (2 Peter 3:9). As an outflow of God’s love for you, you ought to love others (1 John 4:11).

Let God be first. This is the vital shift that must take place before you can ‘put God first’ in your life. Indeed, He must be first. Are you willing for Him to be first, above you? I hope you are.

“2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” (Colossians 3:2)