What’s Your Number One?
What is at the center of your life? Let me ask you again, what is at the center? What’s the number one thing in your life? Some of you would say, “Well, it’s my kids that are my number one thing.” Some of us would say it’s our career, climbing the corporate ladder. Others might say it’s building a financial portfolio. So, being honest, it’s the thing you put the most effort into that’s the center, that’s the number one. And what would it be for you?
The Ladder of Success
Because I’m just telling you: whatever it is that you make your number one, when it’s not God, it will fail you. In life, many things fight for our time, for our attention, for our money. If we’re not careful, we can chase the wrong things and be swayed this way or that. Our lives can be knocked around, thrown out of balance. People spend their whole lives climbing the ladder of success only to find, once they reach the top, that the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall.
Question: Where is your ladder leaning? What wall is it leaning against? Have you paused long enough to look up at the wall to evaluate where it’s going? Where do you want your life to go? Is your ladder against the wrong wall climbing fast but going nowhere? The scariest thing in the world is to get to the top and realize you spent your whole life climbing the wrong ladder.
The Richest and Wisest Man Depressed
King Solomon, who was regarded as the wisest and richest man who ever lived, had everything to his heart’s desire: money, houses, women, 700 wives and 300 concubines, but he groaned and said What is the purpose of life? Vanity of vanity; all is vanity. Hear the sadness in this voice in these bible verses:
Ecclesiastes 1 verses 2 to 3, and verses 14 to 18 “Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge. And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit. For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.
and Ecclesiastes 6 verses 1 to 4 “There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men: A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it: this is vanity, and it is an evil disease. If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he. For he cometh in with vanity, and departeth in darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness.
This King was living in depression about his life. It is recorded that at his death, he loved many strange women, and his heart had turned from God. Can you just for a moment make this sink into your brain, the wisest and richest man died the death of a fool. So we must make our priority Jesus Christ.
Your first priority, your top priority, is your relationship with God.
I remembered when my then-wife encouraged me to surrender my life to Jesus Christ, I said, I’ll get to that later. When I get older
“I’ve got to do my own thing first.”
But nobody is guaranteed a tomorrow. You get to the end of your life, lying in a hospital room, and nobody is putting their bank statements on the wall. You know what they’re doing? They want to make sure their soul is right with their Creator, and they want those people they value most close to them. What do you value? How much time are you putting into developing your relationship with God?
This is what Jesus says in Matthew 6:33: “Seek the kingdom of God above all else and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need.” Is there anything more difficult than to seek a God-first life in a me-first world? Because everything around us screams, “Me first!” my kingdom, my promotions, my money, my plans. But Jesus is inviting us into something better than the world’s distractions. He’s offering us purpose, peace, and true significance. If you want to win at what matters most, seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.
The Problem
The problem for most of us isn’t that God isn’t a part of our life it’s that He isn’t first in our life. And if He’s not first, everything else gets out of place. C.S. Lewis said it best: “If Jesus isn’t Lord of all, He isn’t Lord at all.” We must examine where He isn’t in control and surrender those areas. Only when He is first can our lives find lasting direction and meaning.
Jesus is not just inviting us to a better life He is warning us of what’s to come. The truth is, we’re not just choosing between a good life and a better one; we’re choosing between life and death, salvation and wrath. Scripture makes it clear that judgment is real. In 2 Peter 3:10, we’re told that “the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.” If that doesn’t shake us awake, what will? This world is not permanent, and the comforts and idols we cling to will be consumed. Only what is anchored in Christ will endure.
That’s why Jesus must be first not just a part of our life, but the center of it. We cannot afford to keep Him on the margins while the clock is ticking toward eternity. Jesus said in Matthew 24:44, “So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” The urgency is not just about improving our lifestyle but about preparing our souls. If we delay surrendering to Jesus, thinking we have time, we risk everything. The flames of God’s righteous judgment are not a metaphorical warning they are a coming reality. And only those who have made Jesus Lord of their lives will be saved from it.
Now, Right Now
This is why today right now is the moment to evaluate where your ladder is leaning. Is it against the wall of temporary success, fleeting pleasure, or false security? Or is it built on the solid foundation of Christ, who is the only way, the truth, and the life? When Jesus is first, everything else falls into its proper place. He doesn’t just save us from wrath; He gives us purpose, peace, and the promise of eternal life. But we must act turn, repent, and seek Him above all else because the day is coming when it will be too late to rearrange our priorities. The earth may burn, but those who are in Christ will rise.
So let me ask you again: What’s your number one?
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