Put God First | Hot and Cold Water Bottles

What you need:

• 4 clear bottles of some kind. I used some smaller milk style bottle I found in Walmart in the craft area.
• Yellow food coloring
• Blue food coloring
• An index card
• Hot water
• Cold water

Lesson:

SET OUT BOTTLES OF HOT WATER COLORED BLUE AND BOTTLES OF COLD WATER COLORED YELLOW

Here we have the things of God (point to the hot blue bottle)… the important things… the eternal things, the lasting things, the things of value… prayer, consecration to God, reading your Bible, living a Godly life, being holy inside and outside and all the other things that are essential to a walk with God.

And here (point at the cold yellow bottle) we have the things of this world that sometimes people confuse as being important and can sometimes even take the place of the important things of God in someone’s life. Things like hobbies, interests, jobs, careers, silly stuff like video games, comic books and stuff we should stay away from altogether like television, movies, Hollywood and other such things that are opposed to the ways of God.

Some people are interested only in what they can get out of life… what kind of money can I make? How successful can I be? Let me start with my career and with what’s important to me and once I get that all figured out, THEN I’ll worry about the things of God.

Let me put the things of God on the bottom… at the end of my priority list… let me wait until the end of my day before I read my bible, before I pray. Let me wait until I am too tired, until I run out of time or until I just forget to do the things of God.

PUT THE HOT BOTTLE OF THE THINGS OF GOD IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TABLE. PUT AN INDEX CARD OR SOMETHING SIMILAR ON TOP OF THE COLD BOTTLE AND THEN TURN IT UPSIDE DOWN AND CAREFULLY SET IT ON TOP OF THE HOT BOTTLE, ALIGNING THE 2 MOUTHS OF THE BOTTLES EXACTLY WITH ONE ANOTHER.

So here we have life the way some people like to live it. The “fun” things first… the things we LIKE to do on top and the things that are eternal, the things of God on the bottom… last.

PULL OUT THE CARD AND WATCH THE TWO COLORS BEGIN TO MIX INSTANTLY AS THE HOT WATER RISES AND MIXES WITH THE COLD WATER

And this is what happens… when you don’t put a priority on the word of God, you lose clarity. You begin to even remember what was EVER important. “Now why did I EVER think that praying every day was something I was supposed to do? I am doing just fine! Right?”

But, you’ve lost touch with how important the things of God really are. You can’t even remember how things were supposed to look any more. “Why did I ever think church was important? Why did I ever think that it mattered how I dressed, how I talked, how I looked, and how I act? Why did I ever think the people I hung around with mattered?”

When you get things backwards, you can completely forget what’s real and what’s not… what’s important and what’s not.

But the BIBLE says in Matthew 6:33 – But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

SEEK FIRST the Kingdom of God and THEN… after you have done the RIGHT things, THEN God will add all of the things that we need.

PUT THE COLD BOTTLE ON THE TABLE

The job, career, money, play time, fun things we like to do and everything else we see as important sometimes, need to go on the bottom of the list.

PUT THE INDEX CARD ON THE HOT BOTTLE, TURN IT UPSIDE DOWN AND PLACE IT OVER THE COLD BOTTLE, CAREFULLY ALIGNING THE MOUTHS OF THE BOTTLES

When we “Set our affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” like it says in Colossians 3:2

PULL OUT THE CARD AND YOU WILL SEE THE HOT WATER STAY SEPARATE FROM THE COLD WATER AND THE COLORS WILL REMAIN DISTINCT

Everything stays aligned… everything stays in place… everything stays clear and focused.

Put the things of God first and God will make sure that we have a great life, full of wonderful things… The things of God will stay separate from the things of this world AND THAT’S EXACTLY HOW GOD WANTS IT TO BE.

2 Corinthians 6:14 – Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?