Matthew 6:33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you.”

Jesus clearly says to put Him and His cause first. Unless we do that our “autopilot” will be, “Me First.”

Though virtually anyone with a pulse will see through the raw self-centeredness of “me first,” we still live that way, most of the time, most of the day.

It’s 2:00 in the afternoon. I’ve had one meeting, one appointment, two phone calls and answered ten e-mails. I can only think of two times today that I’ve consciously stopped myself mid-stream and wondered, “What does this person’s life look like to them, right now? What is it they would love to hear from me?”

It’s much more “human” (sadly) to think first about what my life looks like to me, right now.

As parents it is imperative that our children see that our lives are first committed to a cause bigger than ourselves and our families. They need to see we are first committed to Christ. They need to see that our lives matter most when invested in people and His kingdom. Without this, our kids will wrongly assume that they are first, the “center of the universe.”

This is not a call to living irresponsibly with our God-given responsibilities like our families. It is a call to intentionally live out our “first” commitments to Christ and His kingdom. Sometimes what is really first is seen in our time use; other times what is really first is seen in our attitudes, what we get excited about and what we get sad about.

Several years ago a friend of mine asked me, “Hey, Seth, do we have a cosmetic surgeon in the church?”
“I don’t think so. Why?”
“I feel like I’ve got a big tattoo that says, ‘Center of the World’ tattooed on my (backside). I’d like to have it removed!”

Question #1: What is really, really first in your life?

Bonus question: How would your kids answer question #1?