The next entry for my Blog is First Things First, which was written by Jordan David Ward, Caleb Paul Ward, Jake Hess, and Grant Timothy Bias. The song was initially released March 17, 2023. A link to Consumed by Fire performing the song is at the bottom of the Blog.
First Things First
All the things that I have held dear
The vanities that whispered in my ear
What would I do if they all disappeared
Riches and fame and all that they could buy
I’ve come to find they never satisfy
What would I gain if my soul’s the price
I don’t wanna love what the world loves
I don’t wanna chase what the world does
I only want you
I only want you
First thing’s first
I seek Your will
Not my own
Surrender all my wants to you
Keep the first thing first
To live Your truth
Walk Your ways
Set my eyes
Lord I fix my face on you
All my desires reversed
To keep the first thing first
I give it all
My life an offering
My heart is yours
So have Your way in me
Your kingdom’s all I wanna seek
I don’t wanna love what the world loves
I don’t wanna chase what the world does
I only want you
I only want you
First thing’s first
I seek Your will
Not my own
Surrender all my wants to you
Keep the first thing first
To live Your truth
Walk Your ways
Set my eyes
Lord I fix my face on you
All my desires reversed
To keep the first thing first
To keep the first thing first
All my desires reversed
To keep the first thing first
To keep the first thing first
First thing’s first
I seek Your will
Not my own
Surrender all my wants to you
Keep the first thing first
To live Your truth
Walk Your ways
Set my eyes
Lord I fix my face on you
All my desires reversed
To keep the first thing first
To keep the first thing first
To keep the first thing first
All my desires reversed
To keep the first thing first
If a friend took a close look at you, what would your friend say are your primary drivers in your life? Then take a good look at yourself, what are the everyday things in life that are most important to you? I am thinking you may come up with items such as friends, family, close relationships, jobs, money, retirement, your next car, your next place to live, or maybe that special someone in your life. Some more personal things may be your clothes, your looks, fame, and even how you fit into the world. Now, think about your view of the world around you and what you are willing to do to just fit into the crowd. Are your really happy with all aspects of your life or do you feel as if you are constantly chasing happiness and trying to escape regret?
This song then asks an extremely thought provoking question, what if everyone and everything you listed above just disappears? As you answered the questions above; was God, your faith, and your salvation part of the list? If not, then that should quickly tell you that your focus is on the wrong things. Everything I listed is temporary except for the eternal life that we gain by accepting Christ as our personal savior. I John 2:16 tells us that we cannot truly love this world and love God. “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”
The initial lyrics of the song references all of what we perceived to be the best things in life, but having what we perceive to be all without putting our faith in God, only makes us continue to search for true peace and happiness. The reality sinks in along the way and as the song says, we can only gain eternal hope and happiness through faith in God and the plan of salvation he offers us. Once we have accepted God’s plan and accepted his son as our savior, he will meet our every need. This is validated in Matthew 6:25-34: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. This doesn’t mean we can’t have nice things, homes, cars, great friends, or a wonderful family; it just means that we need to seek God first and let him guide us in each of our decisions so we can achieve the eternal happiness that he wants each of us to have.
The chorus of this song is extremely powerful and tells us what we need to do. We must start and then continue putting first things first. Open your heart to God, read the bible to find out how he works in us, and talk to him in prayer to understand what he expects of each of us. Turn away from the sins and temptations of the world, and turn your eyes and heart toward God. Ask God to show you the way he has chosen for you instead of you trying to find the right paths. As the song says, give God your all and he will direct your path. This doesn’t mean you turn away from everything and everyone in your life, but it is asking you to turn your eyes and heart to God first and let him guide you along the right path instead of you finding your own way. Our way will never give us eternal life, it only takes us from the day we are born to the day we physically die. God’s way gives us our period of time on earth, and then an eternity with him. All we have to do is accept his son, Jesus Christ, as our personal savior. Accepting Christ does not make you perfect, it does not mean you will not make mistakes in life; but it does mean you have an eternal life in heaven and not just a temporary life on earth
It is time to make first things first and seek God’s will instead of our own. We must put our trust in God and the path he wants us to take. The good news is that we are told in many places in the bible that God, via his son Jesus, will never leave us once we put our faith in him. Hebrews 13:5 states, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.“ None of us can ever achieve true happiness until we can put First Things First and put our lives in the hands of God and his son.
We all need to decide if we want to live for today or do we want to live for eternity. Isn’t it time to put first things first?