Love God first
He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:8
A Christian faith is not a self-help religion, it's a loving relationship with our creator, so the words "LOVE God" are the most essential part of our faith.
A healthy self-esteem is important, and so many self-help books advise us to love ourselves first. Though I believe we must love ourselves, I disagree with loving ourselves “FIRST”. 2 Timothy 3:2-5 lists sinful behaviors including "lovers of themselves" which is sometimes translated as "self-centered lovers”.
Many Christians approach God like a legalistic father so we need to be religious and complete a checklist which is a form of “self-righteousness”. Nevertheless, I would like to point out that selfish people are different from self-centered people. One of the notable differences that selfish people don't care about others, while self-centered people care about others but think excessively about themselves, making it difficult for them to experience God's love and love God. The reality is that we still have a sinful nature, so we cannot be 100% free from self-centeredness, plus it is not wrong to think about ourselves, just the key is to not overthink ourselves excessively, and to become less self-centered as we go along in our lives.
A self-centered mind will think "God, please bless me." Prayers always revolve oursevles. while a loving God mindset will think "God, is there anything I can do to make you happy, not my will but your will!" “ Self-centered Christians often read the Bible to build up their “knowledge” rather than seeing it as God’s love letter and as an intimate revelation of God’s character. Without being motivated by love for God, our Christian activities such as worship, service, and prayer become chores.
A pastor once joked "Go to die...by getting married". It conveys the truth that to love, we must die to ourselves, our ego and self-centeredness. Parents and pet owners can experience this kind of selfless love by putting their children and pets before themselves. They give love without expecting anything in return. In order to put God first above ourselves, we must make the conscious and wilful choice, and we will know this by living our lives in obedience and trust. True life change will happen when we love God first as His love transforms and softens our hearts. This will enable us to fulfill the greatest commandment: "love the Lord with all our hearts".
We may not want to give everything to God because love can be risky and messy. Indeed, love requires faith, and sometimes we must take a leap of faith to abandon our safe little boat so we can radically love God with no holding back, even when He asks us to walk on the waters with Him.
Blessing prayer: May we love you as you love us, and God is love, he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. In Jesus’ name, Amen
