(Note: this page is intended for Christians; if you are not a Christian you are free to read but this page is not intended for you)
Psalm 16:8
“I have set the Lord always before me;”
The core/center of being a Christian and the life of a Christian is having a relationship with God!
Seeking a relationship with God as well as seeking what he wants and desires for you is called seeking after God:
This does not just involve the commitment you originally made when you got saved and became a Christian. It’s also going to have to be a daily commitment to put God first in all things in our life. We can’t just say it one time, like in getting saved, and expect that to be sufficient for the rest of our lives like so many others Christians/ people who have gotten saved did. No! its an everyday commitment from that confession at your salvation! We will fall back into the same pattern of loving things/people over a relationship with God because our bodies and minds love it so! We must wake up every day and consciously decide to put God first in ALL things!
God looks for people (like you) all over the Earth who desire a relationship with Him:
Psalm 14:2 & Psalm 53:2
“The Lord looks down from heaven
And as Christians we are supposed to be the ones seeking after God (have a relationship with him). To have and value a relationship with God above all else in our lives. We should try to have a desire for God like David (the author of this Psalm):
Psalm 63:1-3
A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah.
“You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.”
Did you read all that? Those are some strong words: MY WHOLE BEING longs for the Lord, your love IS BETTER THAN LIFE. That is how we should properly desire God’s relationship because a relationship with God is BETTER than LIFE ITSELF!!!
While this is something very nice to say, for many of us Christians this genuine and deep relationship is not really practical in our daily lives: we have other things we love more, do more, and especially think about more, if we want a deep relationship with God then how do we get there with our daily life filled with so much? Especially if we are proud with all that we have/do?
Well, there is someone in the Bible who did have a lot, you could say he had it all; If anyone had a reason to be proud/love what they had/their birthright/ their achievements/ what they had done/ their reputation IT WAS PAUL! Paul (also called Saul) was a man who had it all: he had money, he had status, he had power, he had a grand heritage, he was a role model citizen, and he had knowledge. But after becoming a Christian all that changed, he had ONLY this to say about all his possessions, actions, and power after that:
Philippians 3:3-8
"For it is we who are the circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh— even though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh. If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.”
Did you hear that? He thought of them as NOTHING in comparison to knowing and having a relationship with Jesus (God)! All that wealth, all that accomplishment, all that power:
in comparison to having a relationship it all was NOTHING MORE THAN TRAST (rubbish)!!!
Also it is important to say this was not written by Paul overlooking all of his wealth in his mansion on a big hill being fed grapes and drinking wine by his concubines. No! he most likely wrote this after he lost almost all he had, suffered so much, and was now in a lonely Roman jail cell.
ONLY SOMEONE IN A JAIL CELL AND LOST EVEYTHING COULD SAY THAT IN FULL HONESTY!!!
So no matter how much possessions you have, what you have achieved (or are achieving), how grand and honorable your heritage is, and how much status or power you have; in comparison to having a relationship with God/Jesus all those things are worthless trash in comparison!
This is not to say however that we as Christians should not or cannot have possessions, be achievers, be proud of our heritage, and have status and power: These are definitely blessings and we should be thankful if God has given these things to us.
But the main point is this: the main priority is God/Jesus first your relationship with God/Jesus is more important and the top priority above anything or anyone else in your life. all other things or people in your life they are worthless/garbage In value and comparison to having a relationship with God/Jesus! All things are secondary compared to that!
So seeing how important a relationship with God is we as Christians should strive and desire to have a relationship with God above all other things no matter what it takes, as David says:
Psalm 84:2
“My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.”
If you are struggling to put God above all things, you have in your life right now here are some ways you can begin putting God’s relationship with you first in your life:
Pray to God first thing when you wake up symbolizing that you are giving the first part of your day to him( your time)
Pray to God last thing before you Go to sleep symbolizing you giving up/ending the last part of your day with God (your time)
Praising God through the day through worship or prayer is giving time, through and honor to God and is a way to lift God up and put him first
Giving tithes to the Church and giving to the poor/charity is a way to put God first in your money and show that God is more important than your money
Give time and energy that you would for something else you do and instead read The Bible, study it, and listen to sermons on Bible verses/topics