🏳️‍🌈✝️ First Things First

Written by Apostolic Faith Church

01/01/2018

________________________________________________________________________________

 

My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. – Psalm 5:3

My husband had promised me a trip to the beach to celebrate our wedding anniversary. I was looking forward to two or three days of relaxing and doing our favorite things: antique shopping and searching for old books. 

I was less than gracious when, on the morning of our departure, he mentioned that he first needed to take the older man who lived across the street to shop for groceries and food for his many cats, to the church to empty waste baskets, and then drive the Sunday school van to the service station to fill the tank with gas. After that we would leave. I determined that we would not reach the coast until noon, and by then we would both be exhausted and ready to stop for the day (since we usually get up at 4:00 a.m.). I was jealous for the time he would spend doing other things first.

Suddenly, it dawned on me how selfish I was being. My husband was trying to help others while I was only thinking of myself. At the same time, a penetrating thought occurred to me: How often in the mornings have I put off my time with God while I took care of other things first? I might make up the bed, start a wash, empty the dishwasher, call my sister, make out my bills, water the flowers, write a letter to someone . . . and then give my time and attention to God. It seems there is always something else to do first, and God gets the time that is left over. 

Leftovers are not what I want to give to a Father who has been so good to me. Right then, I determined that God would no longer get my leftover time. I would put God first by committing my day to Him before other tasks can distract me.

Letting God be at the top of our priority list is the best way to begin a morning. He will be right by our side during all of our daily activities, and the rest of the day will go much smoother! It means putting His will before ours, and surrendering to His direction and purpose for our lives. It means putting Him first!