Deuteronomy 4:29 - Christ First and Last and Best in Everything!

Deu.4:29; Christ First and Last and Best in Everything!

Seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him
with all thy heart and with all thy soul. Deu 4:29 (KJV)

Look for the LORD your God, and you will find him if you look
for him with your whole being. Deu 4:29 (NCV)

So often we feel that God isn't present in our lives.  But it's
not because he doesn't want to be there.  Maybe it's because we
haven't made a place for him inside of us.  We are so filled up with our
addictions and compulsive activity that we leave no room for God.  Reading
the Bible, praying and serving Him help us start creating a place
for God.  [Recovery Devotional Bible mod]

If you will seek the Lord and be converted every day; if you
will of your own spiritual choice be free and joyous in God; if with
gladsome consent of heart to His gracious call you come wearing the yoke
of Christ,--the yoke of obedience and service,--all your murmurings
will be stilled, all your difficulties will be removed, all the
perplexing problems that now confront you will be solved.  MB101

In the midst of playing baseball in the backyard, Jim's
six-year-old son's best friend, and next door neighbor, came out of his
house. "Dad, can I go play with Brad?" he asked. "But son, we're
playing baseball. Don't you want to play with me?" Jim asked, not really
wanting to hear the answer he knew was coming. "Nah, I'd rather play
with Brad," his son replied, all too honestly. Jim had a rival for
his son's affection, and he was a six-year-old.
 As he struggled with that thought, knowing that he'd better get
a handle on it because it was only going to escalate, he suddenly
was reminded that God felt the same way about him. He jealously
desires our affection and attention as well. It breaks his heart when we
show more interest in cars, sports, newspapers, television, yard
work, hobbies, books, and family activities than we do in reading his
word and prayer. It saddens him when we are more committed to serving
ourselves and pursuing our own interests than we are in serving him.
 If God were to examine your heart today, what rivals for his
attention would he find? (A Dad's Blessing by Gary Smalley and John
Trent)
 Application: Idolatry makes anything but God the highest
priority in life. Do you value your relationship with God more than
anything else? Or have you allowed money, leisure, friendships - or
anything else - to rule your life? Smash the idols in your life and make
a fresh commitment to put God first. He alone is worthy of this
position! [Inspirational SB]

A union with Christ by living faith is enduring; every other
union must perish. Christ first chose us, paying an infinite price for
our redemption; and the true believer chooses Christ as first and
last and best in everything. But this union costs us something. It is
a union of utter dependence, to be entered into by a proud being.
All who form this union must feel their need of the atoning blood of
Christ. They must have a change of heart. They must submit their own
will to the will of God. There will be a struggle with outward and
internal obstacles. There must be a painful work of detachment as well as
a work of attachment. Pride, selfishness, vanity, worldliness--sin
in all its forms--must be overcome if we would enter into a union
with Christ. The reason why many find the Christian life so
deplorably hard, why they are so fickle, so variable, is that they try to
attach themselves to Christ without first detaching themselves from
these cherished idols.
 After the union with Christ has been formed, it can be preserved
only by earnest prayer and untiring effort. We must resist, we must
deny, we must conquer self. Through the grace of Christ, by courage,
by faith, by watchfulness, we may gain the victory. 5T231