What does it mean to put God first?
The short answer
The First Commandment — "I am the Lord your God… you shall have no other gods before me" — calls us to put God first in everything: to believe in him, hope in him, love him above all, and worship him alone. It rules out not just literal idols but anything we let take God's place at the centre of our lives.
Full explanation
This is the foundation the other nine commandments rest on. Before any rule about how to treat others, God asks for the heart: that he be first. Everything else in the moral life flows from getting this right — because whatever sits at the centre of your life ends up shaping all the rest.
In its original setting, the command was radical: surrounded by nations with many gods, Israel was to worship the one true God alone. To love him with "all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might" is, Jesus says, the greatest commandment. Positively, this commandment is about faith (believing in God), hope (trusting him), and charity (loving him above all) — and about adoration: God alone is to be worshipped.
It also names what breaks it. The obvious one is idolatry — but idolatry rarely looks like bowing to a golden statue today. It looks like letting something created take the throne that belongs to God: money, success, power, pleasure, image, even another person or a good cause turned into an ultimate thing. An idol is whatever you'd sacrifice anything for, whatever you trust to make you secure or happy "if I just had it." The First Commandment gently asks: what actually runs your life?
The commandment also rules out trying to get power or knowledge from sources other than God — superstition, divination, fortune-telling, horoscopes, the occult, and magic. These promise control over the future or hidden forces, but they sidestep trust in God and can open the door to real spiritual harm. The Church takes seriously both that God alone is Lord of the future and that dabbling in such things is not the harmless entertainment it's often sold as. Likewise it warns against putting God to the test, and against the indifference or contempt that simply pushes God to the margins.
None of this is God being insecure or demanding. It's the opposite: God knows that we become like whatever we worship, and that only he is big enough to be the centre without crushing us. Put anything smaller in that spot and it will eventually fail you or enslave you.
Why this matters
We all worship something — we're built to organise our lives around what we treasure most. The only question is what. The First Commandment isn't an arbitrary demand for attention; it's a rescue from the smaller "gods" that promise life and can't deliver. Getting the first thing first puts everything else in its right place.
Myth Common misunderstanding
Many assume this commandment is irrelevant today — "nobody worships idols anymore." But idolatry just changed costume: the human heart still hands ultimate trust to money, status, romance, or self. Another misunderstanding treats horoscopes, fortune-telling, or the occult as harmless fun; the Church sees them as real violations of trust in God, not trivial.
Scripture connections
- Exodus 20:2-5 — the commandment itself: no other gods, no idols to worship.
- Deuteronomy 6:4-5 — "the Lord is one"; love him with all your heart, soul, and might.
- Matthew 4:10 — Jesus: "worship the Lord your God, and serve only him."
- Matthew 22:37 — loving God with everything is the greatest commandment.
- 1 John 5:21 — "keep yourselves from idols," a New Testament echo.
Church teaching references
Reflect
If someone watched where your time, money, and worry actually go, what would they conclude is really "first" in your life — and does that match what you'd want it to be?