I have a weird 3D puzzle. It has seven hexagon blocks with six colors on each one, all in a different order. You put one block in the middle, and then try to match up the other pieces both to the middle block and the surrounding pieces.
For some reason, I’ve always struggled with this puzzle. It’s very difficult to get right when you don’t know which block to start with. Sometimes, while attempting to solve it, I would immediately run into confusion with the first few blocks placed. Other times, I would put six of the blocks in place only to find that the very last one didn’t work. Again.
This was frustrating, of course, but it only made it all the more rewarding when I finally got it right. By pure chance it seemed, I placed the middle block, and then tried and twirled the other blocks around until the final one slotted into place and I was left staring wide-eyed at the complete puzzle. Victory!
That first block, the center one, was the key to success. Once I had chosen the right one, all the other decisions fell into place. It took a little bit of trial and error, but the result was secure.
Now that I know which block to place in the center, the puzzle isn’t hard to do. In fact, it’s downright easy. Only if I were to forget what goes first would I have any difficulty completing the puzzle again.
I’m sure the metaphor is clear. Our anchor decision, the choice we build all our other choices on, needs to be a good one—the best one—if we want the rest of our decisions to be good ones, too. When I put Jesus and His will at the center of any puzzle life gives me, all the following pieces fall into place much more naturally. Sure, it takes a little time sometimes, a bit of attempting, discovering, and persevering, but as long as that first choice is Him, it all comes together eventually.
Whenever I’m faced with the responsibility of making a decision, if I make my first priority Jesus and God’s Word, then life lines up a whole lot better. It all comes down to putting first things first: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37).