A Mistake You Don’t Want to Make: Putting God First Place in Your Life (part 2/6)

In the last post we discussed that God does not want to be first place in your life.

God is not first place in your life as if there were things that rank after Him. He is not merely the most important part of our life. Jesus is our life (Col. 3:3-4).

Instead of legalistaclly putting God number 1 on our priority list, we need to rest in the fact that He is our life.

Wrong mindset

The source of the lie “you need to put God first place in your life” stems from the mindset that says there is a division between sacred & secular or spiritual & worldly. Therefore people say that you need to prioritize God and “spiritual things” over everything else – the “worldy things.”

However, it’s not the nature of an activity that makes something “spiritual” or “worldly” but the nature of the person.

Since you are a spiritual being who lives in a human body, everything you do is 100% spiritual and 100 % natural. Therefore, Bible reading, praying and church activities are not more “spiritual” then baking your favorite pie, filling out tax forms, or playing games.

Whether you know it or not, God is involved in all you do because He lives in you, as you. The question is; are you aware of it? God becomes less boring and religious, and things become a lot more fun when you don’t separate activities between “spiritual” and “wordly” but have a wholestic view that says everything I do is fully spiritual and fully natural.

Bad mindset produces bad fruit

Here are a few results of believing the lie that you need to put God first place in your life.

* First of all, if you value Bible reading, prayer, and fasting above other things like sports, hanging out with friends, watching a movie and reading books because these things are supposedly “worldly” activities, you’ll end up feeling guilty when you do to few “spiritual” activitities and too many “worldly” things.

You might even end up believing that “worldly” activities (which do not exist) is a waste of time. Consequently, you’ll judge other people if they aren’t spending the same amount or more time doing “spiritual” acitivities as you do.

I am not encouraging a “be-lazy-and-fill-your-mind-with-anything mode.” Nor am I saying to not have times set aside for prayer, Bible reading and such. These activities help us discover who God is, who we are and what He wants to do through us.

The crux, however, of this series is to underline that you’re meant to do all of your daily activities with a conscious awareness and active interaction with the indwelling Spirit of God. Because that’s the only way to stay full of God; that is to stay build up in your heart, to not feel dry or distant from God and make an effortles impact on people as you love them from an overflow of His love that’s bubbling up in your heart.

* Secondly, because you compartimentalize your life into “spiritual” and “worldly” areas, you’ll start asking yourself the question; have I done enough “spiritual actitivities” today or this week? The answer is always the same and the devil will help to remind you of your constant failing: “No, you’ve not done enough. You should be doing more. How can God be pleased with you?” As a result you’ll feel like you’re never good enough, that you are never spiritual enough, and should be doing more “spiritual things.”

* Thridly, you keep comparing yourself with others who seem to be doing more “spiritual things” or who have a more “spiritual” job, therefore your confidence level drops below zero. Plus you feel unworthy of God’s blessings and favor. After all, who are you really? Oh, how I hate lies! Lies make you believe you always fall short and never measure up.

* Fourthly, you might not make the supernatural impact you’re created for. People attend church, hear a sermon, sing some songs, then go out and live just like their non-Christian neigbors. Why? Because the preacher says things like, “When you leave church and get back into the ‘real’ world, here’s what you do…” In other words, this law-preacher makes himself a division between sacred and secular and enforces the false idea that you can experience “sacred” things in church, then you go live in the “secular” world according to different principles. Noooo! There’s no division.

Can you see how much this split-thinking is still prevelant in our minds?

* Fifthly, because of this split-thinking, even some vocations are considered more spiritual then others – being a pastor, priest, apostle or missionary is considered more spiritual then being a plumber, lumberjack, or a gardener. Really?

Truth be told, I am a missionary, but I am not more spirtual than any of you because, as believers, we are all as spiritual as Jesus is. Nobody is more spiritual than another. Nobody is more special or better then another.

Every believer has the same standing before the Father as Jesus – we’re all standing on one plain, level ground. All loved. All accepted. All favored in the same way.

Paul nails it in Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Everything about your life is sacred

“By this will we have been sanctified [made holy] through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all (Heb. 10:10). You are a holy child of God. The New Testament refers to all believers, including you, as “saints” – “holy ones.” In other words, you are God’s sacred possession. If that’s true, it follows that everything in your life has been made holy or sacred.

There’s no such thing as secular and sacred. The opposite of sacred according to its real meaning is “common” or “ordinary.” There’s no doubt about it, you are truly uncommon if the life of Christ dwells in you. Consequently, your environment becomes an uncommon, sacred environment because you are there. Jesus didn’t fear what we would call the secular world. In fact, He plunged Himself headfirst into it. By His presence in those environments, He made sacred those things that had been considered secular. The idea that there’s a difference between sacred and secular in the life of a Christian is not true. You live and move and exist in Jesus Christ. Consequently, everything about your life is sacred. Our role as believers is to allow “Christ in us” to move into every sphere of our lives, bringing His influence to homes, families, businesses, governments – even churches. Christ expressing Himself through you wherever you are is the real Grace Walk – Steve McVey.

What about seeking first the Kingdom?

Some might say, what about Matthew 6:33, “But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you?” “See, we have to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness first – we have to put God first place.” Nope. Let me explain.

Wrong mindset produces bad fruit

We seek righteousness before we get saved, since that is the basis through which we relate to God, but once we get saved, we become His righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21).

We don’t seek to become righteousness, but we seek to discover we have become the righteousness of God in Christ.

“But what about the Kingdom, shouldn’t we be seeking the Kingdom?” The Kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21). Therefore, seeking the Kingdom, which you’ve found already, now means to keep relating to God based on Christ’s righteousness and not your own.

So how do you seek the Kingdom? By finding out what you already have become and what you have received in order to establish the Kingdom – the reign of God – on earth. You don’t wait for the Kingdom to come, it’s in you. All you have to do is believe it and then take it to where it’s needed and then let it out.

May you see that the false distintion between the spiritual and worldy has been forever abolished in Christ and that everything you do is 100% spiritual and 100% natural. That God is involved in all things and that you are meant to enjoy life in Christ and to allow Him be expressed through you.