More important than anything else, keep God, his righteousness and his kingdom in first place in your heart, and all the things you need will be given to you as well—Matthew 6:33 (paraphrased in King Jimmy Translation).
The 2016 Presidential elections ended and the nation elected Anita Mann, the first woman President. She called her father with the good news. “Dad, I’ve been elected President of the United States. You and mom have to come to Washington for the inauguration.”
“Oh, that’s nice, honey, you being President and all.” He paused. “I don’t know, honey. That’s a long drive, at least thirty hours, and at our age, we don’t travel well.”
“Dad, I’ll send a limo after you and mom and charter a private jet to fly you here.”
“But we don’t have any fancy clothes,” her dad argued, “and what would 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 anything, you know.”
President-elect Mann refused to accept any of her dad’s excuses. “I’ll have gluten-free / salt free meals prepared for you and momma. Daddy, you gotta come and 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 their eyes. Their daughter, President-elect Anita Mann, would be sworn in as the first female President of the United States. Dad sat next to a prominent Senator. He leaned over and whispered to him, “You see that woman up there with her hand on the Bible?”
“The President?” the Senator whispered. “Yes, I do.”
Dad’s chest swelled with pride to the point where he popped the buttons off his 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 your humble Aggie scribe and the dad in our silly story, how many Christians can raise their holy hand to admit they routinely have their priorities out of order? Be honest.
God made his priorities unmistakably clear to the Israelites with his first commandment:
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 Him, the great I AM, who freed them from slavery and delivered them from Egypt. Moses led them but it was God who delivered them by his mighty acts.
To further emphasize that God was not kidding, his second command backed up his first:
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. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments (Exodus 20:4–6).
I learned after I became a Christ-follower just how serious God is about idol worship. He warned that not all idols are made of wood or stone, or formed in the image of a cow or fish or some imagination from a pagan mind. An idol is anything that takes priority over God being number one in my life.
For instance, for years my number one priority was my racing career. All my efforts, all my attention, all my waking hours were devoted to furthering my racing career. Far from God, my racing career was my idol. After I became a Christ-follower, I realized I’d trampled all over the First Commandment.
Later, I tended to be a workaholic and often let my work take precedence over time with God. My noble excuse for overworking was what every provider wants: to provide for my family.
God plainly stated he is a jealous God and wants all my attention and affections. Anything—no matter how honorable, or anyone—no matter how precious to me—anything that replaces God on the throne of my life, God identifies as an idol. God may still be important, but if he’s not number one, he is not pleased. He wants to be my full-time God, not the God I take off the shelf on Sundays, wipe off the dust and take to church, or call upon whenever I get myself in a bind.
Here is the recurring problem. I am unable to keep the First Commandment. No matter my good intentions or conscious efforts, my affections invariably get directed toward something or someone else. Before I realize it, I’ve moved God back on the shelf, back to second or third place, to gather more dust until the next time. I didn’t mean to replace him, but I did. I’ve found that as long as I’m breathing, I’m unable to keep the First Commandment. I find myself in a pickle.
Enter Jesus. His atonement on the cross paid the debt for my failure to keep God first in my life. His amazing grace enables this flawed Aggie to stay in right relationship with our heavenly Father.
You have promised us, oh Lord, that when we put you first in our lives, all our needs are met. May you always reign supreme in our lives.
Stay close to Jesus.
Jimmy
Before entering politics, Anita Mann operated a successful online dating service.
Jimmy Eskew © 2016
THANKFUL 
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