Are you a christian?

If yes, are you a part-time or full-time christian? Do you want God to be there for you part-time or full-time? Did your answers for those two questions match? Shouldn't they?

What is it that God will allow us to put in line in front of Him? Everything in the world; for a season. Man was created to have a love relationship with God. If we are not giving our entire being to the One who gave us life and then gave His life for us; we are omitting the whole reason we're here. Because of the purpose God has for each of us, He will allow us to run our lives until we run them in the ground. Or He will allow us to put everything else we "love" in front of Him. But He will continue to draw us to Himself. He does this because it is through this love relationship with Him that we are able to know the Father's will. This relationship is fostered through time in His Word (getting to know Him and His character), time in prayer (learning to hear what is on the Father's heart while sharing with Him what is on yours), quiet time with the Father (learning to hear Him speak), and time in worship, both private and corporate. God is willing to do anything to get to that point where we are in a love relationship with Him.

The Bible says in Romans 5:8
8 But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us!

That relationship is so important to Him that He was willing to die for it! He is also willing to allow us to go through WHATEVER we have to, so that we get to that point as well. He removes whatever stands in the way of your relationship with Him, not because of some vendetta against you, but because He has a perfect love for you and has your long term benefits in mind over your current pleasure.

Below is a devo that reflects this concept:

None Before Me

Thou shalt have no other gods before me. This is a rather familiar phrase, easily recognizable from the Ten Commandments. Most of our children have heard it and can give you a brief synopsis of its meaning. Yet how deep does that answer go?

In Ukraine (Summer 2008) I heard two ladies giving a testimony about their lives. These are two very godly women that had a story to share. Each one had a story very different from the other; yet the message that the Holy Spirit was giving me from the two was the same. One tells how her husband had a very successful job making more than enough money and how they lived very well. She knew God, just not very well. She had been babied in her early years by her dad and then her husband took over that position. She had full faith in her husband, his job and his relationship with Christ, but little regard for her own relationship. God decided to increase His efforts to draw her near; so in one evening, she lost her husband and his job. All the things that she had faith in disappeared instantly. She now had a husband that was incapacitated; his person, his job, and his faith were removed from her all in the span of a couple of hours. The result though, was that she did (eventually) gain that personal relationship with Christ that she needed to have all along the way. The whole time I was hearing her share this, the Holy Spirit kept saying there shall be no other gods before me. Fortunately they are both serving the Lord now in full time ministry.

The second lady shared the story of her life and how it was dominated for so many years by her mother. She had spent a lifetime worshipping her mother and having the kind of relationship with her mother that should have been focused on God the Father. As she would share the little bits of her faith with her mom that she could, she was met with laughter and ridicule. This would cause her faith to shrink and her relationship with God to suffer greatly. God had plans to use this woman to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth. But before she could share with people her relationship with Christ and how they could have one, hers needed to grow exponentially. Unfortunately for her, because of her priorities being out of alignment, God took her mother. This was very difficult for her to swallow. Honestly, she spent more than a year being mad at God. With the drawing power of the Holy Spirit though, she did come into an incredible relationship with God. God was then able to use her to reach a lost world. She has an awesome burden for the lost and Christ-like love for children. Once again, as I heard her story unfold, the Holy Spirit kept reminding me that there shall be no other gods before me.

Now, what do you have in your life that is being that “god that is before God”? Do you have a souped up muscle car that you take to car shows that sometimes fall on Sundays? Do you play softball for teams that have you away from church on Sundays? Do you have a boat that you take fishing on Sundays because you can’t get out there on Saturdays, or worse yet, Saturday is just not enough. Do you take your little princess to pageants that happen to only fall on Sunday? Dog Shows? Sports of any type (played or watched)? Do you have anything that causes you to put your relationship with God in second place? When God gives us a command, He means it! When He says no other gods before me, when He says don’t forsake the assembling of yourselves together…He means it! As He continues to draw you back to Him, He will remove whatever we put in His way. He does not do this to punish us, but because he is most concerned with our character and has our long term benefit in mind.

We must learn to prioritize.; God said to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy, not keep it selfishly for ourselves!

He will do anything, removing any person, place or object of affection to have a deeper, more personal relationship with the people He created. We were created to worship the King and not our things!
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All I can say is: He gave you the best He had (Jesus), can you say the same?

God didn't say: I'm going to go have a little fun, a little "Me" time, and then you guys can have the rest of what's left of my time. Why do you?

God first
everyone else second
ourselves last