(and that’s more than okay)

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves.

Philippians 2:3 (CSB)

America First. Family First. Reading First.

These are just a few movements off of the top of my head that contain an emphasis on “First”. I’m sure that you can quickly think of a few too. Maybe “First” isn’t actually in the title, but we can definitely all of think of movements where something is placed in “first” with an implication that other people or their interests should come second. While I don’t know that anyone has actually coined the term yet, many of us would likely agree that we are currently living in a “Me First” society.

Brothers and Sisters, as followers of Christ we must ask ourselves: What does the Bible have to say about all of this “first” stuff?

It’s pretty clear really.

• Jesus tells us in Luke 14:25-33 that to be His disciple, we must put Him before all else.
• In Matthew 22:36-40, Christ tells us that the greatest commandments are to love God and love others.
• Furthermore, His word tells us that the first shall be last and the last shall be first meaning that those who put others before themselves are doing what God’s servants should do (Mark 9:35).

In fact, a thorough search and study of the word of God reveals 0% emphasis on self and 100% emphasis on putting God first, a priority that we demonstrate in our daily lives by putting the needs of others before our own and serving them as Christ served others.

Think of it like this: When we put God first in our lives – truly, completely, unwaveringly first – we give Him the driver’s seat and we follow His will above all else. Then, because we are following God’s will and loving as He loves, we put others in the best passenger seats. We take our will and our self-interests and, assuming there’s any room left for them at all, we put them in what my kids have always referred to as “the back back”; you know, the cramped third row that you have to crawl over seats to get into and turn sideways in to get your legs to fit, the row where sippy cups go to ferment and McDonald’s toys fall to be seen no more.

Imagine with me for a minute a world where everyone puts everyone else ahead of themselves, where we all surrender all to God.

Can you picture the relief? The sharing? The complete peace as each person endeavors only to help another? No competition. No bickering. No backstabbing. No steamrolling. Just people living to help other people live in harmony with God’s will.

Now, some of you might be thinking that’s a fairy tale or too idealistic or something that will only happen when we get to Heaven, but God – Alpha and Omega – God doesn’t deal in fairy tales. God deals in real flesh and blood people working with real flesh and blood daily living and decision making. When God is first in our lives, He takes care of everything else (Philippians 4:19, 1 Peter 5:7). When God is first in our lives, we desire to love and help others (Romans 13:10, Ephesians 4:29, 1 Thessalonians 5:11).

The reality is, there’s simply no reason to put anything or anyone before God. Zip. Zero. Nada.

God First. Others Second. Me Last. Let’s make it a thing!