Putting God First

by Pat Hackney

The ten commandments are recorded in two different places in the Old Testament. They are found in Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:1-21. These were the laws that the Israelites were to follow under the covenant that God made with them in Horeb.
When an expert in the law came to Jesus testing Him with the question: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?" ( Matthew 22:35), Jesus states: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Matt. 22:37-39).
Here we see Jesus condense the ten commandments into just two commandments. Today, we are under a new covenant with a new law ( Hebrews 8:7-13). However, we see from the above account that we still must "have no other gods before the Lord." The better covenant tells us that our God must always come first just as in the old covenant.
As Christians, we understand this concept and accept it as our prime directive. The Lord Jesus Christ must have preeminence in all things ( Colossians 1:18). He must come first in all that we say and do ( Colossians 3:17). We should never make plans without taking God into consideration. This includes all of our daily walk in life. Especially, is this true regarding our entertainment. We must be very careful what we watch on TV and what we attend in the way of entertainment. We must never let anything come between God and us. As a simple test, compare the amount of time we spend watching TV or attending sporting events to our time in the study of God's Word. Are we truly putting God first? Only you can answer that question.