3 Bad Things That Happen to You When You Do Not Put God First Every Day

Here are 3 bad things that happen to you when you do not put God first in your life every day.

1. When You Don’t Put Christ First in Your Life, You Lack the Full Level of God’s Favor

The Bible is clear that God does not show favoritism. For example, in Romans 2:9-11 (NIV) it states:

There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism.”

While God does not show favoritism, this should not be confused with the fact that at times God does show favor to some and not to others. Favoritism is when you get treated better because of who you are even though you are doing the same things as other people. God will not treat us differently in that respect. We all need the blood of Jesus to save us, period (John 14:6, Ephesians 2:8-9). But we also reap what we sow as Galatians 6:7-9 explains.

So one of the bad things that happens to us when we disobey God and do not put Christ first in our lives is that we miss out on the favor that comes on those who do what God says. In Proverbs 8 we are taught about the importance of wisdom. In Proverbs 8:34-36 wisdom is speaking in the first person and explains, “Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord, but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death.”

It is clear that one of the consequences of not living biblically wise lives is that we will lack God’s favor over our lives. Life will still have many trials and tribulations, but the Bible is clear that things will not go as well for you in life as they could have gone if you were to have put God first every day.

2. When You Do Not Put God First in Your Life Every Day, You Will Experience Lots of Confusion in Life

Proverbs 3:5-6 teaches us, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” While these Bible verses about God’s gift of clarity should bring us comfort, they should also be a warning as well.

When we do not trust in the Lord with all our heart, when we do lean on our own understanding, and when we don’t acknowledge him in all our ways, God will not make our paths straight. This means our paths will be very crooked and confusing if we are not walking in the Spirit and living according to God’s word.

So one of the consequences of not putting God first in your life is that you will constantly feel lost and out of place in this world. You will consistently feel like you are missing out on what you were created to do and you will feel like you are wasting your life.

God designed us in a specific way. Just as the human body will feel terrible if we drink mud water rather than fresh water, so the human heart will feel lost and confused if it does not live for the glory of God because that is what we were made to do. When we do not put God first in our lives every day, we are missing God’s purpose for us that day. While each day will have different details in it, ultimately each day’s purpose is the same – to glorify and obey God.

When we don’t do that, we will feel lost and confused.

3. When You Do Not Put God First in Your Life, You Will Feel Guilty and You Will Miss Out on the Freedom God Intends for You to Feel When You Follow Him

When you are a Christian, you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you. One of the jobs of the Holy Spirit is to convict us when we are not living for Christ (John 16:8). God does not condemn us when we have been saved by Jesus (Romans 8:1), but God does convict us of sin so we can repent quickly from any sins we commit and continue to be sanctified.

So when you are not putting God first every day, you will know this in your heart and thus you will live with a sense of guilt because you know what you are doing. God will forgive you instantly and remove your guild anytime you confess and repent, but when you don’t repent the feeling of guilt with remain. For as Psalm 32:3-7 states:

For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him. You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance.”

None of us will be perfect on this earth, thus we will always be completely dependent on God’s grace to cover us. But we still have to repent quickly to experience the gift of his grace.

Therefore, if you want to experience the freedom God wants everyone to have through faith in Jesus Christ, then you must live for God every day.