First Things First

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Matthew 6:33It's a new year and many of us are re-evaluating our lives and setting goals. In spite of that, most New Year's Resolutions are simply self-seeking and rarely get obtained. I'm not saying I haven't fallen into that category and I am quite skilled to even offer helpful advice on how to keep a goal as well. However, if you truly want to make changes in your life, then God needs to come first.As a believer in Christ Jesus, we have been given a greater purpose then to just fulfill our own dreams. God has a greater plan and sees the bigger picture that we often miss. As difficult as it may be to believe, we have a part in his bigger scheme of things. So if we approach all our plans, goals, New Year's Resolutions from a God perspective, I wonder how many goals would seem worthy?When we have a greater purpose for our goals, we are more likely to follow thru and the meaningless ones would fall to the wayside providing less distractions.I would like you to consider one of your New Year's Resolutions right now. Does it bring glory to God? Is it for kingdom purposes? Maybe one of your goals this year is to lose weight, which is one of the top New Year's Resolutions made. Ask yourself why do you want to lose weight. Is it to attract the opposite gender or to fit in those skinny jeans or maybe your want to look like _____, fill in the blank. All of those reason are self-seeking and we fall into the trap of comparing ourselves with others when we approach our goal with that mindset. I'm not saying we shouldn't exercise, but I believe God would want us to instead strive to be healthy. "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own, you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body" 1 Cor. 6:19-20. What would happen if we obeyed that verse and remembered it every time we ate , got dressed and exercised? I believe many of us would rethink much of what we ate and did. God First.Another example of a popular New Year's Resolution is to get out of debt. We know that there are Biblical principles on how one should manage their resources and certainly getting out of debt is of kingdom value. No one wants to be " a slave to the lender" (Prov. 22:7). Again how we approach this task is key. Although we may be hard-pressed and determined to cutback on certain purchases, we must never skimp on our tithe. We should desire to have extra resources available in order to bless others, not to buy ourselves a bigger television. We must first learn contentment with what we have and demonstrate we can be trusted with the little things too.As you evaluate five areas of your life; spiritual, health, relationships, finances, and personal enrichment/education, make sure your plans include God and most definitely pray. Invite others to pray with you for support and/or accountability. If our goals remain self-consuming then we will only end up disappointing ourselves again and again. Therefore, Trust in Him-not in ourselves. If we seek God first, his will and purpose for our lives will be revealed.