More Than Sunday Morning
Why Putting God First is About Your Whole Life
"Jesus, I want you as my Savior, but I don't want it to interfere too much with my life."
If we're being brutally honest, haven't we all lived seasons where this could have been our unspoken prayer? We'd never say it out loud, but our actions sometimes tell a different story.
You know the feeling. Sunday rolls around and you feel spiritually charged, ready to live for God. But by Tuesday afternoon, when work gets stressful or family drama kicks in, that Sunday commitment feels like a distant memory. You find yourself compartmentalizing your faith – Sunday is for God, but the rest of the week? Well, that's just life.
The Wedding Vow Problem
Imagine standing at the altar and promising your spouse: "I take you to be my wife, as long as it doesn't interfere too much with my life. I have plans, and I want you to be part of them – but they're my plans."
You'd never make vows like that because you understand that marriage isn't something you add to your life like joining a club. Marriage transforms everything. It becomes the context in which you make all other decisions.
The same is true with our relationship with God.
More Than an Add-On
Here's what I've learned after years of trying to squeeze God into my already-packed life: putting God first is not a religious activity – it's a lifestyle.
When Jesus said "seek first the kingdom of God" in Matthew 6:33, He wasn't asking us to pencil Him into our calendars between soccer practice and grocery shopping. He was calling us to a completely different way of living.
True Christianity isn't another item on your to-do list. It's not about adding church attendance, prayer time, and Bible reading to an otherwise unchanged life. It's about letting God's kingdom become the foundation upon which everything else is built.
What This Actually Looks Like
Living with God as your first priority means:
- When you wake up in the morning, your first thought is "God, I'm living for You today"
- Your decisions at work are filtered through "How can I honor God here?"
- Your relationships are shaped by kingdom values of love, forgiveness, and service
- Your use of time and money reflects eternal priorities, not just immediate desires
Paul captured this perfectly when he wrote about offering our bodies as "living sacrifices" (Romans 12:1). This isn't about religious ritual – it's about every ordinary moment becoming an act of worship.
The Freedom in Surrender
I know what you might be thinking: "This sounds restrictive. What about my dreams? My goals? My plans?"
Here's the beautiful paradox: when we truly put God first, we don't lose ourselves – we find ourselves. We discover that God's plans for us are better than anything we could have dreamed up alone.
The rich young ruler in Mark 10 walked away sad because he couldn't see past what he thought he was giving up to what he could gain. He was so focused on protecting his wealth that he missed the treasure of the kingdom.
Your Next Step
Maybe you've been treating your faith like a side dish instead of the main course. Maybe you've been trying to manage God instead of letting Him lead.
Today, you can make a choice. Not just to add more religious activities to your week, but to let God's kingdom become the organizing principle of your entire life.
What would change if you woke up tomorrow truly living Romans 12:1 – offering your whole life as a living sacrifice? What decisions would you make differently? What relationships would be transformed?
The kingdom of God isn't just about Sunday morning. It's about every morning, every decision, every relationship, every breath.
