Living a God-first life

There is a right order to living well, but in a particular way to living as a disciple of Jesus, that is, the Christian life. Baptism brought each of us into a relationship with God. It was the initial grace that opened our souls to a life of faith. And from the grace of our baptism, the Lord continues to draw each of us, mind and heart, body and soul, into an ever-greater intimacy with him. 

   As a response to his divine initiative, the Christian life must be intentionally centered around the Lord in humble obedience, reverence, service and praise. St. Ignatius of Loyola teaches this as the “First Principle and Foundation” of the Christian life: “The human person is created to praise, reverence and serve God our Lord, and by doing so to save his or her soul; and it is for the human person that the other things on the face of the earth are created, as helps to the pursuit of this end. It follows from this that the person has to use these things insofar as they help towards this end, and to be free of them insofar as they stand in the way of it.” In short, I describe the Christian life as “living a God-first life.” 

   As the Lenten season is upon us, we might do well to examine our daily routine to consider to what degree we are putting God first in our lives. Of course, this will depend on our state in life — married, single, divorced, priest or religious. Ordering, or reordering, our daily lives according to this God-first principle might help us look honestly at our daily routine and notice both where we are faithful to the First Principle and Foundation, as laid out by St. Ignatius, and where we put God off for other things. 

   If the human person is created to “praise, reverence and serve God our Lord,” then prayer to begin each day and wrap up each day is the first practice in living a God-first life. In this way, we acknowledge that each day is God’s gift to us. Likewise, if we spent a few minutes at the end of our day by doing an examen of how well we responded to the Holy Spirit ever at work in us, and then made a sincere act of contrition, we humbly submit our lives each day to his sovereign kingship. 

   And throughout the day to put God first by reverencing his holy word and his commandments in our thoughts, speech and actions would further make real our God-first way of living. To put God first in what we think, say and do requires that we become intentional about doing certain things and avoiding certain things. As St. Ignatius teaches us, “It follows that the person has to use these things [in the world] insofar as they help towards this end [praise, reverence and serve God our Lord], and to be free of them insofar as they stand in the way of it.” 

   As a simple example, how easy it would be for us to enjoy a Saturday evening out late with good friends but stay in bed on Sunday morning because of one excuse or another. This is not God-first living. How often do we prioritize the use of our resources for recreational purposes but give little or no help to the works of mercy for the poor and those who lack what they need whether in support for organized charitable programs or more locally for those in the communities where we live. 

Along with our praise and reverence for God our Lord St. Ignatius adds that we ought to serve him. A God-first way of living strives to be intentional about doing everything for the love of God and for his hidden disguise in those around us. Time is one of the things we all seem to be lacking. There is never enough time to get it all done — that is, all that we would like to do. Thus, most of us would hold that we simply don’t have enough time to serve others. Yet, if we are honest with ourselves, we usually manage to accomplish that which is of greatest priority for us. A God-first way of living takes the courage to put some of our favorite things aside so that we might have time to make a gift of our lives to others who may need us. In this way, the works of mercy might take priority over the NFL on Sundays, over shopping on Sundays, over working-to-get-ahead on Sundays.   

  Pursuing a “God-first” way of living will pinch our routine to some degree as we learn to adapt our “self-first” way of living to intentionally living in a way that pleases the Lord. But the reward of this return to the First Principle and Foundation of St. Ignatius will soon be felt and noticed. When we honor the Lord, putting him first in our lives, a tremendous peace and harmony set in. This is the fruit of a right-ordering of our lives and our priorities. It’s not magic and it has its challenges, but God is ever faithful. 

  The last thing the evil one wants us to do is be faithful to the Lord, so don’t expect God-first living to be all sunshine and roses. But day by day, as we embrace a God-first way of living, the more we are able to recognize the antics of the evil one and in that moment rely on the grace of our baptism. So, during these days of Lent, let us renew our commitment to praise, reverence and serve God our Lord and enjoy the fruits of a God-first way of living.

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