What are your priorities?

Who comes first, your spouse or your Heavenly Father (or YOU)?

Let's be honest. As we grew up dating and pursuing a future wife, it probably went something like this, 1. Self 2. Mate 3. God (that is if you had started a relationship with Him). Granted, I'm sure there are exceptions out there, but I think you'd agree, this order probably still holds true for most men nowadays. Suffice it to say, this order in priorities hasn't fared too well over the last few decades.  Given the current divorce rate, rampant levels of adultery (both physical and online), and the quickly growing population of people just choosing to "live together" (versus making the Biblical commitment to marry), this tide seems unlikely to recede any time soon.

How did it come to this? The more society has minimalized God in our marriages, and our very lives, the more we've become easy targets for satan. The enemy's tools are plentiful and powerful. These include online porn, Tinder, the pursuit of more and more money, pride and a basic selfishness that says "do whatever feels good and morals be darned" attitude. No wonder so many marriages end up in trouble. But, there is Good News (pun intended). No matter how powerful the enemy becomes in our world, and in our marriages, there's one power that will ALWAYS be greater, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

If we make God our priority, and love Him above all else, not only will all the tools of the devil be easier to deflect, but He promises to shoulder our burdens and guide our future paths (Jeremiah 29:11). But why would loving God first help us love our wives better? Simply because God is love, and if we love God the way "He" loves us, then how can we NOT love our spouses better. John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." That's what I call love men! Would you have been willing to sacrifice your son for a bunch of creatures who, not only rebelled against you since the very beginning, but then "continue" to DENY your existence to this very day? I'm sure not, but yet God did! Why? Because His unconditional love is a love like no other. By better understanding love, a love like God "loves", we'll be able to love our spouses, not only better, but especially in times of great difficulty when we need to the most. 1 Corinthians 13:7, “Love never gives up on people. It never stops trusting, never loses hope, and never quits.” That's the kind of love that God "loves". And, if "God" loves that kind of love, how can our wives not when "we" love them that way.

Seek God's face, make Him first in your life, and then let Him handle the rest.

MATTHEW 6:33, "BUT SEEK FIRST HIS KINGDOM AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND ALL THESE THINGS WILL BE GIVEN TO YOU AS WELL."