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Has there ever been something you really wanted?  Or perhaps has there been something you really liked doing?  It’s so easy today to find a hobby and delve right into the heart of it.  Before we know it we are spending hours among hours seemingly obsessing over it.  And then it turns into something that is always on our mind and our thoughts become caught up in an activity or an object.  Unfortunately, this tends to get in the way of our spiritual lives.

For example, many people love watching football games in the fall.  It’s something people look extremely forward to every Sunday. Watching football isn’t evil in and of itself, obsessing and thinking about all during church that morning is the problem.  When we should be focusing on God, when we come together for worship, too many times we focus on worldly things.  Sometimes this leads to the thought that we don’t need to show up for worship as we have more “important” things to do or “plans” come up.

The most important commandment of all is that we put God first in everything we do.  Matthew 10:37 reads, "Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”

These are Jesus’ instructions to the disciples whom he charged with the authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease.  It is similar to the demands made by God to the Israelites, that they should put Him before everything.  The reason why God insists on absolute loyalty is because only He knows what’s best for us.  We may think we know what is best for our family and ourselves, but God knows what is best for them and us.

As Christians we are committed to God’s will and God’s plan.  If we can learn to put God first in everything that we do we will find that we will have a better life because we are closer to God.  It’s so easy to get caught up in the world today.  Because the truth is there are a lot of fun things to do and before you know you’re swept off your feet and your focus on the Lord is gone.  If we can keep God first in our lives, continually go to Him in prayer, and study His word we will find that it will be easier to stand up against temptations because we have a close relationship to God.

God expects 100% loyalty and devotion, nothing less.  We have to strive as Christians to give every part of our lives to Him.  Everything that we do, we do to glorify His name.  So let’s put away the worldly pleasures of the world and put God first today and have a closer relationship with Him.