By grace, I came to faith early. And, by grace, God is still the one whom I choose. Nothing has taken his place in my life over the decades. I have experienced heartache and loss but they did not turn me away from God. Instead, they made me run into God’s arms. Everything but God was taken away from me but God was more than enough. I was healed and made whole again. And the best part of the whole thing: now I know by experience God is alive and well and is relentlessly coming after us. Since then I have never doubted God’s existence or his heart. So God is still the one whom I love and adore. God is still the one whom I choose.

O God, God of Israel, there is no God like you in the skies above or on the earth below who unswervingly keeps covenant with his servants and relentlessly loves them as they sincerely live in obedience to your way. (1 Kings 8:23, MSG,*)

God is still the one

No matter how much life or world change, God is still the one who saves. God is still the one who makes us whole. He is still the one who loves us until the end. But people don’t know this. They look for anywhere but God to get love, wholeness or salvation. Yet only God can save us not only from ourselves but from our sins and our hardships.

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.  So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God. (Romans 5:8-11, NLT,*)

Put God first

Because God is still the one who reigns, we need to keep him as number one in our lives. No one else deserves the place in our lives. There’s none like him. So we need to make sure nothing will take his place. Not even bread-winning or awesome life experiences or any other wholesome activity. There are many blessings for those who put God first and everybody/everything else second. We do not reign, we are not the center of the universe. But God is. So he is the one we worship and adore. When we surrender our egos and agendas, we often receive exactly what we would have wanted at the first place. God is still the one who is in control and knows what’s best for us. Hallelujah.

 

Gracious God,
Thank you for relentlessly pursuing us.
Forgive us our trespasses,
especially for not giving you the number one place in our lives.
We surrender to you, Lord.
Come and be the center of our lives.
Show us how to live our lives worshiping you.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: Is God still the one for you?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you keep God as number one in your life!

*[As you might have noticed, I enjoy reading the Bible in different translations and love comparing them. I have started linking the Bible verses toBiblegateway.com so you can easily read (and compare) them in the different versions I’ve used while preparing each post.].

Photo by Wang Xi on Unsplash. Linking up today with Dance with Jesus, Five-minute Friday, Worth Beyond Rubies.