Most important of all, keep God, his righteousness and his kingdom first in your heart, and God will meet all your needs. — Matthew 6:33 (King Jimmy Translation)
“Keeping Him Number One”
At the end of the 2016 Presidential elections, the American people elected Anita Mann as the first woman President. She called her father with the good news.
“Dad,” the President-elect said, “I’ve been elected President of the United States. You and mom must come to Washington for the inauguration.”
“Oh, that’s nice, honey, being elected President and all.” He paused. “I don’t know, sweetie. That’s a long drive, at least thirty hours, and at our age, we don’t travel well.”
“Don’t worry, Dad,” Anita said. “I’ll send a limo and charter a private jet for you and mom to come to the inauguration.”
“But we don’t have any fancy clothes,” her dad said. “and what will your momma wear?”
“Don’t worry, Dad,” the President-elect said. “I will dress you and mom in the finest clothes.”
“But the food is so rich, and with my stomach troubles, I just can’t eat all that fancy stuff you folks eat up in Washington.”
President-elect Mann refused to accept her dad’s excuses. “I’ll have gluten-free, salt-free meals prepared for you and momma. Daddy, you gotta come see me inaugurated.”
“Okay, honey,” he said. “We’ll come if you insist.”
On January 20, 2017, the new President’s mom and dad sat on the front row, watching history unfold before them. Their daughter, Anita Mann, would be sworn in as the first woman President of the United States.
Dad, seated next to a prominent Senator, leaned over and whispered to the law-maker. “You see that lady up there with her hand on the Bible?”
“The President?” the Senator whispered. “Yes, I do.”
Dad’s chest swelled with pride where he nearly popped the buttons off his new tuxedo shirt. “Her brother plays football for Texas A&M.”
Disclaimer: Before Mrs. Aggie, my two daughters, my three granddaughters, my sister, my lady relatives, and my lady friends everywhere shoot more cannon-balls at me than fired on Fort Sumter, accusing me of being a misogynist, sexist, or anti-female, let me explain. This is a story about priorities, not male oppression.
Besides the dad in our silly story, and your humble Aggie scribe, how many Christ-followers can honestly raise their holy hands to admit they routinely have their priorities out of order? Come on, raise your hand with me. You know you do.
God gave the Ten Commandments as a guideline to show what he requires for righteousness. A quick reading of the Commandments reveals it is impossible to keep them. He made his priorities unmistakably clear in his first commandment:
Number One: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall not have any other gods before Me
—Exodus 20:1
God stated it was he, the great I AM, who freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Moses led them, but it was God who delivered them by his mighty acts.
To further emphasize he wasn’t kidding about that no-other-gods thing, God’s second commandment backed up his first:
Number Two: You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.
— (Exodus 20:4)
After I became a Christ-follower, I learned how serious God takes idol worship. He warned that not all idols are made of wood or stone, or looks like a cow [longhorn] or fish or freaky imagination from a pagan mind. An idol is anything that takes priority over God in my life.
For years, my life revolved around my racing career. I devoted all my efforts, my attention—every waking hour—to making a name for myself in the drag racing world. Far from God, I followed and worshipped the god of drag racing. After accepting God’s grace that he extended to me, I realized how I’d trample on the first commandment.
Years later, I fell into the trap of overworking that often let work take precedence over time with God. I thought being a workaholic was noble since it provided more funds to support my family. Unfortunately, working long hours robbed God of the time we spent together.
God is serious about wanting all our attention and affections. Anything—no matter how honorable, or anyone—no matter how precious to me—that replaces God on the throne of my life, he identifies as an idol. He demands to be my fulltime God. If God is not number one in my life, I’m guilty of breaking the first commandment. And if I break one commandment, the Bible says I’m guilty of breaking all the commandments (James 2:10).
Here is the recurring problem: I cannot keep the first commandment. Despite good intentions and conscious efforts, I allow my affections to be steered off-track. Before realizing it, I’ve moved God from the top shelf of my life to a place cluttered with my desires, my wishes, my will over God’s will. It happens gradually, as my time with him becomes less.
Again, I’m in another pickle.
Again, Heaven’s court must declare me guilty of breaking all the commandments.
Good news. Enter Jesus. His atoning sacrifice for my sins paid the debt I owed God for not keeping him number one. Jesus amazing grace enables your humble Aggie scribe to stay in right relationship with our heavenly father. When God is number one, all other relationships fall into their proper place.
More good news. He offers the same grace to you, too, for failing to keep him number one. If you haven’t already, be sure to take him up on it.
Lord, may we be so in love with you that keeping you number one is the joy of our lives.
Stay close to Jesus.
Jimmy
P.S. Before entering politics, Anita Mann operated a successful ladies online dating service.
Jimmy Eskew © 2017
THANKFUL 
Leave a Reply