The First Commandment
Do you worship the Lord, or your finances…
Jesus answered... love the LORD your God
Mark 12:29-30 NKJV – Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments [is]: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. ‘And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This [is] the first commandment.
Jesus called this the greatest commandment, for in it all of the Law is fulfilled.
That sounds good, but what does that look like in your life?
Look to Christ
In Christ’s life you can see what it looked like to love the Lord with all His heart. In Luke 5:16 it says, “But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.”
Slip Away to be With God
Paul Washer once said this about Jesus’ habit of slipping away: “You know, oftentimes we find something that we greatly enjoy, as opposed to what we must grudgingly do, we try slip away to it. A man might want to avoid his yard duty by slipping away to watch a ball game. A man may come into work early so he can slip away to go hunting. A wife may want to slip away to go to the mall. They slip away to the things that they most enjoy. Isn’t it a crime that Jesus Christ and the labor of the Kingdom seems almost to be work we want to slip away from?”
“The only place you will ever rest is in Jesus Christ. And you know when you’re walking with God, when? When you slip away to Him. When you say there’s so much, there’s so much I have to do, so much grudging work, so much labor, I just wish that I could slip away to Him, for a moment. Because He’s the one to whom I escape. He’s the place I rest.”
- Paul Washer
What do you make a priority in your life?
sports, cars, fishing shopping…
What do you really care deeply about and focus your time and resources on?
Where do you turn in times of trouble and where is your trust and your treasure really?
The thing that you need is not financial help but spiritual help. Jesus Christ said you cannot serve both God and money. The financial tools we have available can help you with money, but they will not fill the empty hole in your heart meant only to be filled by Christ even if the software tools create more money for you, what profit is it to you? Christ once said “what does it profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul?”
[Mat 6:19-21 NKJV] 19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 “but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Worship Him Only
Exodus 20:2-3 NKJV – “I [am] the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. “You shall have no other gods before Me.
Die To Yourself
[Mat 16:26 NKJV] 26 “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
Lay Up Treasure In Heaven
[Mat 6:21 NKJV] 21 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.