The Primacy of God in our Lives

GOD CREATING ADAM.
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"Put God first and He will crown your efforts with success."

- see Proverbs 3:6; 16:3; Philippians 4:6; Matthew  6:33

The Lord Jesus Christ asks Peter, "Do you love me more than these?" [see John 21: 15-17] and he tells all His disciples, which includes us, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you" [Matthew 6:33]. Do we love God above all things with all our hearts, with all our soul, with all our mind and with all our strength? [see Matthew 22:37, Deuteronomy 6:5]. 

Loving God is more than saying the words. Loving God is doing His will. And how do we know God's will so that we could obey and express our love to its fullest?

First things first: when God said we should love Him with all our hearts, soul, mind and strength, He seems to provide no room for us to love anything or anyone else for we are commanded that we should give it all. He didn't talk about percentages, He didn't speak of ratio, not even a pie chart to go with it. He meant all, everything, the whole, in totality, in fullness. So the faithless and some faithful who cannot understand would ask, "Then how can we love each other if our love should be fully directed only to God?" And we hear the Lord give us the exact answer: "You must love one another AS I HAVE LOVED YOU" [see John 13:34; 15:12] for God loved us first [see 1 John 4:19] and He had showed as how much love He has for us that He gave His only-begotten Son to be our Savior [see 1 John 4:10; John 3: 16-17]. Therefore if we really love God, we automatically have to love our brothers and sisters [see 1 John 4:20].

Secondly, about doing His will: God so loved the world that He sent His only-begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life [John 3:16]. The most important and most concrete manifestation of doing His will means believing in the One whom He sent: His only-begotten Son. Now what are the things that the Lord Jesus Christ, God's only-begotten Son, taught us through word and deed? To be holy as the Father in heaven is holy [see Matthew 5:48; also 1 Peter 1:15, Ephesians 1:4]; to deny one's self, take up one's cross and follow Him [see Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23]; to be a good neighbor loving him as one loves himself [see Matthew 22:39; 25: 31-46; Mark 12:31; Luke 10: 25-37],  to go into the ends of the earth and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them everything that He had taught [see Matthew 28: 19-20]; and many more but for now these would suffice for our discussion.

Loving God above all is a fundamental article of Faith and basic logical reality because first of all, He is the Creator and without Him, we are nothing we can do nothing [see John 15:5]. The godless would perhaps argue about this but for us who believe, there's no scientific evidence needed to base this declaration for God won't be tempted to provide scientific evidence of His being just to appease the unbeliever for as the Lord Jesus Christ declared through a parable, "if they would not believe Moses, then even if someone returns from the dead they won't believe" [see Luke 16:31]. This has been proven when the Lord rose from the dead; until now there are those who do not, cannot and would not believe! So we can rephrase what the Lord said by stating, "If they won't believe the Church about the resurrection, then they would not believe anything else that the Church would teach!"

Loving God and putting Him first in our lives is a difficult decision to make for someone who lacks true faith. But the Lord said that we should not worry about what we should eat, drink and wear: we should not worry about anything at all for even the birds of the air which does not labor are provided food by the Father and even the flowers of the fields are clothed with such beauty that even King Solomon in all his splendor cannot match! [see Matthew 6].

Loving God is not blind obedience for in the final analysis, only God could give us true and eternal happiness and joy, which we all try to fulfill even in this corruptible world. Blind obedience can only be found in the practices of fraternities. sororities and other groups and organizations especially during initiation rites, and among institutions which threatens members of physical, emotional and perhaps financial or economic punishments and sanctions if they disobey. Someone might say, "Then why should someone who disobeys God be threatened of being destroyed in hell?" The answer to that is that hell is the absence of God; without God, a person will eventually find himself or herself in hell, for God is the fulfillment of everything, while hell is the lack of them; being with God is the fullness of happiness, while the absence of God is the eternal longing for joy. "Only in God shall we find our rest," says St Augustine. Watch this video to understand.

A man who is in love with a woman promises even the sun, the moon and stars - which means he would do anything for the woman he loves - just to get her to love him too would seem to be the happiest person alive when he successfully makes her return his love but if he is denied would then feel being the saddest person on earth. An applicant who gets accepted to a job might even consider having a party for his or her friends because of his or her success in getting the job; an applicant who is consistently turned down might even consider committing suicide. Having God is far, far greater than getting a woman saying "yes" to her man or getting that most coveted job; while not being with God is much, much more saddening than being turned down by a woman or being turned down by so many human resource managers.

Putting God first in everything is simply making our eternity our top priority. For we may not become successful upon this earth in accordance with worldly standards, but then we would be assured of VIP treatment in one of the mansions in the Father's house [see John 14: 2-3]. The ungodly seek honors in this world; the faithful seek the crown of glory in the Father's kingdom. Even for the sake of corruptible glory, humans exert so much effort; how much more for the crown of glory which will last for all eternity? [see 1 Corinthians 9: 24-27].

May we truly love God and put Him on top of our priorities. 

Next: The Commandments Proper to God.