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Is God First on Your List?
Show of hands, how many of us have made lists with the intention of putting our day in order and starting with, “God First?”
(raises hand)
It was always a mess of a list no matter how neatly it was written. There’s where my troubles started.
I’m thankful for a Heavenly Father who loves me. He sees my heart instead of the way I fumble up what my heart is trying to accomplish. He reaches to me in my frustration and bids me to come to Him. In all my ways, I want to direct my heart and attention to Him because He certainly knows the way I am to go. The way I’m trying to go-sometimes (and all too often)- I navigate in haste and without the guidance of my mapmaker.
The Lord is our mapmaker!
Trust in the LORD with ALL thine heart, and leant not unto thine own understanding. In ALL thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall DIRECT THY PATHS.Proverbs 3:5 – 6
I Put God First on my List
For years my daily lists, always sincere, started with, “#1. God.” Maybe I’m weird, or maybe I’m in good company, but the high of putting a check mark next to itemized list components made my day, I’ve even been known to write things down such as “make breakfast” as I finished putting the last breakfast dish into the dishwasher…just for a check mark. But the reality of my to-do list was a simple group of words that were ever yielding way as the most urgent in my day pushed and prodded: a meal to make, a baby to change, an injury to fix, a husband’s need that only I can meet (like, “Where are my socks?”, an appointment to meet, and on and on urgency grew.
Urgent replaced Priority
Suddenly, in subtle, everyday and ordinary moments my Urgent List bumped out my #1 God List. My heart grew more discouraged as my pillow would catch my head only to keep seeing how My Heavenly Father got bumped from the top every time life interrupted. This is not at all what my heart desires. I wrestled with the common advice: if God was my priority, my list would show it-on paper and in life. Sigh. I tried harder. I did more. I did less. I prayed. I cried. I sighed and felt like throwing up my hands. I did everything and anything I could think of: read something else or listen to another podcast and hoped it just might help me live with Jesus first in my life and keep Him on top of that list each day. You’ve heard it, right? J-O-Y: Jesus, Others, Self; Jesus first, and then everyone/everything else.
I failed time and again.
I don’t remember exactly when the Lord showed me what He really wanted in my life, or how drastically different it looked than J-O-Y and being on the top of my list. But in His faithfulness and His continual love pursuit for me, He DID.
He wanted my heart— all of it.
He wanted to be JESUS, all of Him in my life!
Proverbs 21:3
To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.
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God can’t be place on top of my list!
God can’t be placed on the top of my list. List making needed a re-do and #1 wasn’t God. As odd or wrong as it sounds, He just can’t. Why? Because, if He’s there, by the time I get to the business of whatever has multiplied in my day (before I turn off the water from brushing my teeth!), I’ve distanced myself from #1 to #723! Figuratively speaking of course, but it’s true in the sense of my flawed thinking. God isn’t trying to get a check mark by His position in my day!
God want’s to be overflowing from the center of my life and my heart!
He wants to be the overflowing right from the center of my life-my heart.
And yours, too.
When I am in obedience to all I know is right (James 4:17 Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.), then I am free to let the Lord infuse every breath and every action in my day. Every day.
God belongs in the center of my life, not at the top of my list!
The secret to every wheel is its hub! You may not know exactly how a hub keeps things turning and in balance, but you’ll be able to tell when it’s not working. Let’s look at the the short-notes from,
Signs of a worn wheel hub:
• Snapping, clicking or popping. This can indicate worn or damage
(Unless we’re talking green beans here, snapping isn’t a good thing.)
• Grinding when … in motion. …it means a loss of integrity
(Ok, Grinding has taken on a new meaning lately (and working hard is good), but when teeth start making noise, our faces turn red, and children hide, we’re losing.)
• Knocking or clunking. …caused by excessive backlash
(Every mom knows this one. When our day is full of dragging ourselves around with all the clunking noises coming with, it’s not a good day. It’s not a good look. And whatever is mumbled under our breath is mostly likely not God honoring as we clunk-on.)
• Humming, rumbling or growling
(If growling is accompanying humming, this is a sign our praise has changed to grumbles, and grumbles aren’t an effective side-note to loving others throughout our day.)
• Vibration or wobble. This is generally associated with a damaged or worn tire, or severe chassis misalignment. (Is it just me who feels like she visibly shakes so everyone in the immediate area sees the vibration, or feels it, before I come unglued?)
• Shudder, shimmy or vibration. This is normally associated with… being out-of-balance.
(Shimmy, shimmy-that’s a fun dance? Dancing and shuddering, and shaking are sure signs all things are out of balance, and we should probably stop our day in its track to get things back in line before we really blow it. Or, gather those around to seek their forgiveness after a good talk and time of repentance with the Lord. So thankful our children are so forgiving, and the Lord doesn’t keep a limited record.)
• Uneven… wear. The most common cause is a warped rotor due to the caliper not retracting.
(Those times when all things are off kilter and it’s all you can do to just breathe. Weariness is part of life, for sure.)
• Abnormal or uneven… wear. . The most common are worn or damaged… misalignment, improper inflation or tire selection.
(This may be the most directly related to trying to keep the Lord #1 and removing Him from the center hub of our lives. ALL things uneven, and unfixable until and only after He is allowed to have preeminence back in the center of our lives.
• Auto Brake failure, which could be internal or external
(Do we need to talk about this? Is there a woman here who is unfamiliar with the reality of holding onto the end of the rope so all you have doesn’t come crashing down? I think not. We can’t afford brake failure, can we? Thankfully, God can take care of us in every way, as we allow Him to.)
How’s your hub?
Friends, life can get really difficult, and even with the Lord in the center of our lives (Praise Him for that!) we feel the bumps, rocks, potholes and mud splashing covering us head to toe at times, but it’s ok. It’s ok to struggle. It’s ok to be tired sometimes. It’s ok to know our burden is too much-that others are needed to help us carry that which the Lord is doing in our hearts. But it’s always, always right to obey God at all costs. We will always come out FAITHFUL, and faithful women is what we who love the Lord desire.
God won’t waste your story! Trust Him.
Matthew 11:28
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30.For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Psalms 57:7
My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises!
