Together - Daily DevotionalSample

God first 

One of the key elements of Jesus last week was His insightful teaching. Some of this was in private to His disciples but He also spoke publicly to rapt crowds in the Temple. The religiously leaders made several attempts to trap Jesus in order to discredit Him but He outmanoeuvred them all.

Today’s reading highlights one such attempt. The Pharisees thought they had planned the perfect ambush. If Jesus said Jews should pay taxes to the hated Romans, the Pharisees could denounce Him to the people and turn them against Him. If Jesus declared that Jews should not pay taxes they would have betrayed Him to the Romans as an insurgent. 

Yet Jesus used their trap to unveil the true meaning of life and the importance of making spiritual decisions our chief priority. The message is similar to Matt.6:25-33 where Jesus encourages us to give first place in our hearts to God and His purposes rather than to food, fashion and fun. We do have various responsibilities to fulfil but our very first priority is to put God first.  When we do, true joy will fill our hearts as issues that previously caused us anxiety are relegated to secondary importance.

Prayer: Father, I place You and Your kingdom as the chief priority of my heart