“for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.  Acts 17:23

 The Apostle Paul traveled the countryside, going from city to city, preaching about the salvation of Jesus Christ. During many of his journeys, he discovered communities with idols they worshipped. One community even had an idol of the unknown god.

 What is an idol? It’s anything that you worship, treasure, put before everything else, and most of all it consumes most of your time. Wither you choose to accept it, you too have an idol (possibly more than one), that you prioritize above everything else. Maybe it’s your children, your spouse, your significant other, your hobby, finances, the list is endless. What comes to your mind when you consider your idol?

 Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” Matthew 22:37

 Now, take that idol and ask yourself, is it more important than your love for God? Does it consume more of your time than praying, reading the bible, attending worship? If the answer is yes, then your priorities are out of line with God’s command to put Him first in your life.  God doesn’t mind you having things you enjoy doing, He just wants to be the Lord of your life. When you put His ways and will for your life above those things you deem important, He blesses your interests in ways you could never have imagined.

 Just sharing a personal experience, I enjoy woodworking, specially making writing pens on my lathe. I sell them at 3 local stores and they do fairly well. This past October our church held a month-long event and had a gift shop. I asked if I could sell my pens at the event, and give 50% of the sales to the church. Over the course of those 4 weekends, they sold 29 pens! That’s more pens sold than the three stores I normally sell at during a year.

Ask God to help you put Him first in everything you do in life and He will certainly bless you for loving Him above all else. God bless!