First Things First

I want to show you several key aspects of life that we tend to get out of order. First, we often miss the significance of Paul’s words: “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:23). Notice that God’s priority is concern for your spirit first, your soul second, and your body third. We get that totally backward, always focusing on our bodies first and our spirits last. We worry about things such as: “What will I wear?” “What will I eat?” “Where do I need Botox?” Jesus told us not to worry about such things, saying, “Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matt. 6:25).

According to God’s principle of “first things,” what you put first will order the rest. When you put your spirit first, you serve the things of the Holy Spirit rather than the desires of the flesh. As a result, your mind, will, emotions, as well as your physical body and health will fall in line according to the Spirit’s leading. “For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Rom. 8:13).

Another area that too frequently becomes out of order has to do with reconciliation and public worship. Notice what is to be “first” according to Jesus: “If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matt. 5:23). First be reconciled. God desires our public and corporate worship. However, those public acts of worship do not fix our private acts of strife, contention, and unforgiveness.

Fasting allows the Holy Spirit to come in. He can begin to dig up stuff that needs to come out of your spirit. You will have a hard time accepting the grace and forgiveness of the Lord if you haven’t gotten down to that “teapot” in your own heart. You have to get out that first offense you stored up years ago, and sometimes, you will have to dig for a long time. But when you do get down to that teapot, the river of living water can spring back up out of you and refresh others. That is God’s priority.

What else does the Lord expect us to keep first? In the words of Jesus, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also” (Matt. 23:25–26). Jesus was teaching the people to obey the laws of God taught by the Pharisees, but He instructed the crowd not to do as the Pharisees did.

They had gone overboard into legalism, and in their extremes, had gotten things out of order. For example, they cleaned a pretty cup on the outside, but the inside was still full of crud that they had not cleaned out. Whether you are talking about your life or your cup, first clean the inside, because that makes all the rest much more presentable. Fasting will cause you to get the crud out, cleaning the inside, which will then make the outside clean.