The Overwhelming Importance of Christians having God First Place in Their Lives and not Money or Earthly Wealth!

13 Apr 2026 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

1 Timothy 6:7.        For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 

One more morning, one more day, one more week of work, heralded by our friend Monday. Yes my brethren, once again, it’s time to dance the dance of work, where we go back and forth to the concrete jungles, and spend our days toiling in high towers, with only other high towers as the surrounding scenery. But that’s okay; we can handle the rushing and pushing of the weekday rat race because the rewards enable us to have a somewhat better standard of living than a lot of the other denizens or inhabitants of our world. 

What we won’t do for the almighty dollar eh! (smile) But unfortunately, in this society the dollar is mucho importante; for it’s our lifeline to everything we need and want. Without it, we can’t buy food, find shelter, afford transportation, clothes and several other necessities of life. And yes, we need to make a fair amount of money to live in a decent manner, especially in these times of constantly rising prices.

But let’s stop right here and make this most salient point: making money, accumulating the almighty dollar is not the end all and be all of this world! No sir! It might be very important, but it’s not supposed to be the most important thing in our lives. The most important thing in our lives ought to be seeking God. As Jesus so rightly puts it in the Sermon on the Mount: ‘But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.’ (Matt. 6:34)

And that’s the gospel truth my people! When we seek Almighty God first, all our wants and needs are looked after. Remember these amazing words from Bruh David in Psalm 23: ‘The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want (shall not lack anything). (Ps. 23:1) And if Bruh David says it, then there must be a lot of truth to it, for he spent his whole life seeking God and though at times his life was very difficult, he lacked nothing, for the Lord took care of his needs. 

Listen to how he corroborates that in Psalm 27. ‘I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.’ (Ps. 27:13) That means one needs to have hope in experiencing God’s goodness not only in the afterlife, but possibly more so in this earthly one. Yes friends, a lot of it depends on hope and faith and righteous living. For as Bruh David further states in Psalm 37: ‘I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed (descendants) begging bread.’ (Ps. 37:25)

And as this commentary tells us: ‘That’s a powerful declaration of faith, highlighting a conviction in God’s provision, suggesting that those who live uprightly and trust in Him will not be abandoned, nor will their descendants.’ And that’s the gospel truth. God will never desert a righteous man. As Bruh David says earlier on in Psalm 37: ‘The steps of a good man are ordered (established) by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.’ (Ps. 37:23-24) More indisputable truth friends! 

So, although we need money to live, and we need to work for it, it should not be our first LOVE. That ought to be God. Therefore, we ought not to spend most of our time trying to get or accumulate money. Sadly though, the world we live in judges you by the amount of money you possess, thus the misfortune where a lot of us are indeed running down the almighty dollar, accumulating it with no thought for self, family or nothing else, using it to boost our ego and power and live the high life.

But let’s remember one thing, money is no respecter of persons, and you must work hard to get it, but it flies away much easier than it comes. Thus, the wisdom of these words from Bruh Paul to Timothy. ‘But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment (clothing) let us be therewith content.

But they that will be rich (desire to be rich) fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful (harmful) lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition (ruin and destruction). For the LOVE of money is the root of all (kinds) of evil: which while some coveted after (for which some in their greediness), have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.’  (1 Tim. 6:6-10)

And though we see the truth of those words being played out every day in our greedy and selfish world, too many of us are still choosing to run down earthly wealth with all our might. When, as Bruh Paul continues to Timothy, this is how we ought to be living. ‘But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, LOVE, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed (confessed) a good profession (confession) before many witnesses.’ (1 Tim. 6:11-12) 

And since it’s not easy to live that way in our current world, let’s go to the throne of grace, through our Monday Morning Battle Hymn, seeking divine help to do so. Altogether: ‘Our Father, who art in heaven, we, Your humble servants, praise Your Holy Name and thank You this Monday morning for life and strong faith in Christ, despite the mass confusion in our world. Heavenly Father, You are the ONLY ONE with the power to solve our many problems. 

Yes, we have all sinned and seriously disobeyed Your Word, but You are a merciful, forgiving and gracious God, who has faithfully promised to hear and answer our prayers when we humble ourselves, pray, and sincerely seek Your face. So, we come to You now, with sincere repentance in our hearts, pleading for wise guidance and direction to alleviate our problems. 

Oh Father, please ease the pain of the many suffering from negative situations, show them Your awesome grace and mercy. And faithfully keep Your promise to prosper us if we turn from our evil ways. Show this evil world that You are indeed Jehovah Rapha; the God who heals! We pray this in the holy and blessed name of Your Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen! And again, we say: Amen!’  

And the Lord will certainly keep His promise, if we keep ours…that’s turn from our evil ways, and instead seek Him first and foremost! Much LOVE!

…money and earthly wealth are important…but are not worth…the tearing asunder of our lives and souls… 

Hear our podcast at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/randy-obrien

Today’s Scrip-Bit 18 April 2020 1 Corinthians 3:7.

18 Apr 2020 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

1 Corinthians 3:7.    ​So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
 
Well the days pass by as quickly as ever, although they seem to be taking their own sweet time, what with the huge amount of inactivity so many are undergoing through the Covid-19 fallout. But friends, if we want to make it through this disastrous situation successfully, we have to try and stay as active as possible within the narrow means that are currently available to us. That’s exercise body, mind and spirit! And you can’t use that age old excuse that you’re busy and have no time, (smile) for if it’s one thing most of us have right now is lots of idle time on our hands. 

That means we also have the magnificent opportunity to get into the Good Book and voraciously devour the Word of the Lord! Glory be mih people! Yes, getting into the marvellous Word of our great God, should be our number one priority in these idle times, so that when our world returns to whatever the new normal will be, we will all be much better versed in it, and thus better able to live it! Wow! 

Friends, most of us will never have a better opportunity to learn the Word than right now, so please, let’s not waste it, since our lack of knowing, and thus implementing the Word is probably what has brought us to our current situation. Read that as stubborn, hard-hearted rebellion and an abundance of sinful disobedience against the Lord of the universe! 

Anyway, it’s Saturday, so let’s get into those quotes that our friend Anselm sent us this past week, as he sincerely aspires to inspire us for a better tomorrow. And he did have some very interesting ones this week, focussing on what we term progress. But listen to this first one – I just LOVE it. ‘Little by little becomes a lot.’ And isn’t that the awesome truth! As my Jamaican people would say; ‘one one cocoa full basket.’ 

Yes friends, simple consistency and satisfaction with a small amount is rather important in our lives. Or as we’d say further down south: ‘Take a li’l and live long!’ And that’s a major problem with our society these days; a lack of patience and overarching greed, wanting whatever we want right now in profusion. That’s also why we have to start saving from early, always putting aside a little for the rainy day that’s bound to come! 

And this one, I can certainly testify to it’s truth: ‘Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.’ Oh isn’t that the awesome truth my people! I’ve experienced it some in my own life. When you’re riding high, everyone wants to be your friend, but when the chips all fall down, there’s never anyone around to help you look for them. Those are what we call ‘fair-weather friends.’ 

And for some reason, when that talk comes up, I always  remember MC Hammer (Rick Stanley Burrell) the American rap artiste and dancer. He spoke to that situation. When he was popular and riding high, there were numerous so-called friends around to enjoy his largesse, but by the time he hit bankruptcy, none of those bodies could be found. So friends, please take note; look for those people who are willing to ride the bus with you, when the limo breaks down, or you can no longer afford it. 

Now hear this: ‘Progress is not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be.’ And there is some truth in that, for enhancing what we have is not always the best way to go. We need to keep our eyes steadfastly fixed on where we want to go, where it would be most beneficial for us to go, and work towards that. Just doing better in the area we’re currently in is not necessarily progress, especially if the Lord has a better and/or different plan for our lives. And that, my brethren, needs to be our number one consideration; the Lord’s plan for our earthly lives, for from that, all else ought to flow. 

And that thought segues ever so smoothly into this one: ‘You don’t make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining.’ That’s the gospel truth! But if it wasn’t…then our world would be ever so progressive since this generation has made whimpering and complaining a lifestyle of the first order! Steups! Nobody wants to put up with a li’l discomfort, or do a li’l bit of hard work, but everybody wants to live the high life; that associated with the rich and famous. 

But friends, here’s a li’l secret that we all ought to know; the initial rich and famous didn’t get rich and famous by whimpering and complaining, but by working their tails off, be it for good or evil! Yes, some of their descendants might have come into their fame and fortune rather easily because of their forefathers, but here’s another li’l gem, none of them will keep it if somebody doesn’t put some blood sweat and tears into doing so! And consequently, this quote is also rather true and wise. ‘Don’t compare your progress to that of others. We need our own time to travel our own distance.’ 

Yeh mih bredrin, just like the Lord has different plans for different people, the time we need to accomplish them also differ. And the worst thing we can ever do is compare our plan and what it entails with that of someone else, because all that does is breed frustration, jealousy, envy, dissatisfaction and resentment in our hearts, especially if the other somebody seems to be more progressive and successful than we are. Listen to Bruh Paul as he warned the church at Rome and us: 

‘For I say, through the grace given unto me. To every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office (function): So we being many, are one body in Christ, and every one (individually) members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching…’ (Rom. 12:3-6) 

Yes my fellow believers, we all have different gifts to do different things in the Lord’s cause, but they don’t all have the same result, or take the same time, but we are all members of one body, Christ, so we must not be contentious and jealous, think of ourselves too highly or lowly, just know that we will be well rewarded for whatever Christ has us to do if we do it selflessly and sacrificially,. 

Bruh Paul also touched on the subject in his first letter to the Corinthians: ‘For ye are yet carnal (fleshly, worldly): for whereas there is among you envying and strife , and divisions (dissensions), are ye not carnal, and walk as men (according to man)? For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.’ (1 Cor. 3:3-7) 

So my faithful brethren, please, please, let’s stop complaining and whining and comparing ourselves to each other nuh, for if we truly believe that our God is wise, then all the parts He’s made will fit nicely and smoothly together in one plan, if we sincerely follow His blueprint; His Word. Much LOVE!

…the Lord’s blueprint for earthly living is perfect…we just need to follow it sincerely…