Devotionals for the Heart: Why you should always put God first in your life

 

First Things First
A devotional by Hannah Benson

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”—Matthew 6:33 (ESV)

We all desire good things in this life. A dream job, a spouse, for blessings to abound, a scholarship, or to get into a specific college. I bet you can think of any number of things to fill in the blank here. Those are not necessarily bad things. In fact, they can be great! But the danger comes when we place anything, including something good, above God.

I know that I can worry about a lot of things. Apprehension about the future or things not going according to my plan are big ones for me. God knew that we as human beings would be tempted to worry. That is probably why Jesus addresses worry in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:25-26 (ESV). He said, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”

In other words, if God takes care of the birds of the air, how much more will God take care of us?

We don’t need to worry about tomorrow, about if we’ll get the scholarship, if things will follow our carefully formulated plan of XYZ, and so on, because all that already matters to God. He knows the desires of our hearts, and He knows what’s best for us.

If we seek God and His kingdom first, then “all these things will be added to you.” Now, that doesn’t mean that by seeking God first we’ll get our dream job or that things will work out the way we want. But I do believe that it means if we seek the kingdom of God first, then all fulfillment and happiness we thought [fill in the blank] would bring us will pale in comparison to the true joy we find in seeking God. Nothing will ever satisfy us like God can.

Nothing else could ever bring us true joy.

If we seek God and His kingdom first, then suddenly, everything else including our rigid plans don’t matter as much. We know God will provide, and we can rest knowing that He knows our heart’s desires. He will take care of us in a way that no one or nothing else can.

When we seek God first, He will fulfill us in a way that no one else or nothing else is able to.

Let’s Pray:
Dear Father God, I’m sorry for placing other things before You in my life. I’m sorry for allowing myself to get distracted and not seeking You first. Please give me a hunger for You, more than anything else. No matter how hard it is, help me to keep You first in my life. I believe that You alone will satisfy me. Thank You for Your love and mercies that are new every morning! In Jesus’s Name I pray. Amen.

Song of Reflection: “First Things First” by Consumed By Fire. Listen to it here.

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Author Bio:

Hannah Benson is a Jesus-follower who’s passionate about sharing the love of Christ with others.

From the time she could hold a pen, she was writing. But it wasn’t until she was sixteen that she began to seriously follow God’s calling to write a novel. Hannah is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and has at least four novels in the works. For the past five years, she has been involved with her local Biblical theater company. She wants to show others the love of Jesus through the creative arts.

When she’s not acting or working on her upcoming novel, you can find Hannah laughing with her siblings, cuddling her little fluffy dog, or reading books (usually historical fiction or fantasy stories). You can read more of Hannah’s writings on her blog or on her Instagram where she strives to write content that leaves others feeling encouraged.

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Connect with Hannah:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hannahlynnauthor/ 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Hannah-Lynn-Writer/100073790792576/
Blog: www.loveunconditional.blog