And [Isaac] built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants were digging a well. – Genesis 26:25, Amplified Bible (AMP)

When people have their priorities in man’s proper order, their relationships are often filled with animosity. When people have their priorities in God’s proper order, their relationships are usually filled with peace.

In Genesis 26:26-31, King Abimelech approached Isaac in order to make a peace pact with him, and the reason he wanted peace with Isaac was because God was blessing Isaac in everything he did. Not wanting to be on the wrong side of a man so blessed of God, Abimelech bound his nation to live peaceably with Isaac, and he asked Isaac to return the favor, which he did.

The question is, “Why was God blessing Isaac so much?” Yes, Isaac was Abraham’s child of promise, but the Bible records God fighting rather than blessing many of Abraham’s descendants. Isaac fared so well, then, not just because he was Abraham’s son. He fared so well because he put God first in his life, his family second, and his work third.

As BibleGateway records in its note pertaining to Genesis 26:25:

With Isaac God came first. Before doing anything else in the new place, he built an altar and then waited there to call upon the Lord. Second came his home; he pitched his tent. Third came his business; his servants dug a well.

By placing God first in our lives, we gain a proper perspective of ourselves in relation to God and to others because we grow in humility as our character becomes more like Christ’s.  God gives grace to the humble, and wrapped within that grace are many blessings, including the gift of peaceable relationships with other people.

When we place our family or our work first in our lives, we gain a warped perspective of ourselves in relation to God and to others. We grow not in humility but in pride and greed as we nurture our prized possessions – our family or our work – even to the point of disobeying God’s will. As pride and greed swell, God resists us more and more, and with His resistance comes animosity towards Himself and towards any person who remotely threatens what we prize so much.

Only by pride cometh contention. When God is not first in our lives, pride swells, and relationships become strained. When God is first in our lives, humility swells, God’s blessings come, and our relationships with God and others become much more peaceable. Are man’s priorities or God’s governing your life today? Take a look at how peaceable or how strained your relationships are, and you’ll have an idea of what this question’s true answer is in your life.

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