The returning exiles did not merely return to their land—they returned with hearts ready to put God’s house at the centre of their renewed life. Their example reminds us that restored lives are rightly ordered when worship comes first.
Ezra 2:64–70 teaches us to put God first, offering our resources willingly and ordering our lives around faithful worship.
Scripture — Ezra 2:64–70 (NIV)
“When they arrived at the house of the LORD in Jerusalem, some of the heads of the families gave freewill offerings toward the rebuilding of the house of God on its site.” — Ezra 2:68 (NIV)
Devotional Message
What Gets Your First Attention?
You can learn a great deal about what matters most to a person by watching what receives their first attention.
After a long journey, what do you unpack first? When money is tight, what do you protect? When life begins again after a difficult season, what do you rebuild before anything else?
Ezra 2 gives us a remarkable picture of people beginning again.
These Israelites had returned from Babylonian exile to Jerusalem and Judah. Ezra carefully records their numbers, families, servants, singers, animals, priests, Levites, gatekeepers and temple servants. It is a long list, but the ending of the chapter brings all those details into focus.
They had returned to their towns. They had resources. They had practical needs. They had homes to settle into and a community to re-establish.
But when they arrived at the house of the LORD in Jerusalem, something significant happened: some of the family leaders gave freely toward rebuilding the house of God. And they gave according to their ability.
The central truth of this passage is simple:
God's people are to order their resources and lives around the worship of God, willingly giving Him first place.
They Returned With More Than Their Belongings
The Israelites had experienced exile. Jerusalem had been devastated, and the temple—the visible centre of Israel's worship—had been destroyed.
Now, by God's providence, they were returning.
The opening chapters of Ezra show that this return was not merely a political event. God was bringing His people back and moving the rebuilding of His house forward. Ezra 2 records the people who returned; Ezra 3 will show them beginning the work of restoring worship and rebuilding the altar and temple.
So Ezra 2:68 is strategically important. Before the rebuilding project is described in detail, we see the people's willingness to invest in it.
They had not simply returned to reclaim property. They had returned to restore worship.
That distinction matters.
It would have been understandable for these families to think first about themselves. They had travelled from exile. They needed places to live. They had families to care for. There were countless practical concerns.
Yet when they came to the Lord's house, some of their leaders gave freewill offerings toward its rebuilding.
Their actions demonstrated their priorities.
They were saying, in effect, “God's worship must not be an afterthought.”
Giving “According to Their Ability”
One of the most beautiful details in this passage is found in verse 69: they gave “according to their ability.”
The emphasis is not that everyone gave the same amount.
The emphasis is that they gave from what they had.
Some had greater resources. Others had less. But the rebuilding of God's house mattered enough that they willingly participated.
The recorded gifts were substantial: 61,000 darics of gold, 5,000 minas of silver and 100 priestly garments.
Yet the deeper significance is not simply the size of the offering. Ezra describes it as a freewill offering.
Their giving was an expression of priority.
They had received the opportunity to return. Now they were willing to invest what they possessed in the worship of God.
This gives us a needed correction in a world that often measures importance by accumulation.
The question is not merely, How much do I have?
It is, What place does God have in the way I use what He has entrusted to me?
Our money matters, but so do our time, attention, abilities, possessions and opportunities. The passage does not teach that every Christian must give a particular amount. Rather, it shows God's people responding willingly to what God was doing, according to what they were able to give.
Right Priorities Shape Ordinary Life
Verse 70 may seem like an ordinary administrative conclusion: the priests, Levites, musicians, gatekeepers, temple servants and other Israelites settled in their towns.
But that ordinary detail actually fits the central message beautifully.
Their lives were not suspended in some permanent religious ceremony. They returned to towns. They settled. They resumed ordinary life.
And that is where biblical priorities become real.
Putting God first does not mean neglecting legitimate responsibilities. It means those responsibilities are placed within a life ordered toward God.
They had homes, families, work and communities. Yet the rebuilding of God's house mattered within that everyday life.
This is important for us.
Sometimes we imagine that putting God first requires escaping ordinary responsibilities. But Ezra presents something different. God's people settled into ordinary places while participating in God's larger work.
Your faithfulness may look remarkably ordinary today.
You may prepare a meal, go to work, care for children, manage a household, study, serve someone, pay a bill or fulfil a responsibility. None of those things is necessarily opposed to putting God first.
The question is whether God is treated as the centre around which those things are ordered.
The Gospel Gives Us an Even Greater Perspective
The temple was central to Israel's worship because God had commanded His people to worship Him there. In Ezra's day, rebuilding it was a sign that Israel's worship was being restored after exile.
But the story of Scripture moves toward something greater.
The temple ultimately points us toward Jesus Christ.
Jesus came as the true and greater meeting place between God and humanity. John presents Him as the Word who “became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14). Jesus also spoke of His own body in temple language (John 2:19–21).
For Christians, therefore, putting God first is not merely about preserving a building or maintaining religious activity.
It is about putting Christ at the centre of life.
Christ does not merely ask for a portion of our attention while the rest of life belongs to us. He calls us to follow Him with the whole of life.
And unlike the returning exiles, we do not begin with empty hands trying to earn God's favour. We respond to grace already given to us in Christ.
Our giving, serving and reordered priorities are responses to God's mercy—not attempts to purchase it.
What Does God Have First Place in Your Life?
Ezra 2 invites us to look honestly at our priorities.
What receives the best of your attention?
What determines your spending?
What occupies your thoughts when you have free time?
What do you protect when competing demands arise?
None of these questions is meant to condemn you. They are invitations to realignment.
Perhaps life has become crowded. Perhaps legitimate responsibilities have gradually pushed worship to the margins. Perhaps you have been focusing so intensely on rebuilding your own circumstances that you have forgotten the One who gives meaning to everything else.
The returning exiles remind us that a new beginning must have the right centre.
When God is truly first, everything else can find its proper place.
That does not mean every day will feel spiritually dramatic. It means our choices increasingly reflect what we say we believe.
We give because God matters.
We serve because God matters.
We make room for worship because God matters.
We use what we possess in ways that honour Him because God matters.
And we do so not grudgingly, but willingly.
A Priority Worth Protecting
Imagine those returning families standing among the ruins of Jerusalem. They had come a long way. There was much to do.
Yet they looked toward the house of God and gave.
Before everything was rebuilt, their priorities were already being revealed.
That is the challenge for us today.
We do not have to wait until life becomes easier to put God first. We do not have to wait until we have more money, more time or fewer responsibilities.
We can begin with what God has placed in our hands today.
Perhaps putting God first means giving Him the first portion of your morning rather than whatever time remains.
Perhaps it means giving generously rather than consuming everything on yourself.
Perhaps it means rearranging your schedule so worship and obedience are not continually pushed aside.
Perhaps it simply means asking before a decision, “What would faithfulness to Christ look like here?”
The point is not religious performance.
The point is right order.
The Israelites' return was a new chapter, and their response showed what mattered most. They had homes to occupy and lives to rebuild, but God's house was not forgotten.
May we learn the same wisdom.
Do not merely ask God to bless the life you have arranged. Let God shape the priorities by which you arrange your life.
And because Christ has already given Himself for us, we can gladly give our lives back to Him.
Encouragement for the Soul
You may feel that you have very little to offer God. Ezra 2 reminds us that the issue is not whether everyone possesses the same resources. The returning exiles gave according to their ability.
God is not asking you to live someone else's life or offer what He has not entrusted to you.
Bring Him what you have.
Give Him first place in the ordinary details of today. Let your time, resources, attention and choices reflect His worth. When Christ is at the centre, even ordinary faithfulness becomes an act of worship.
Reflection Question
What area of your life currently receives your greatest attention or resources, and what would it look like to intentionally place God first in that area today?
Closing Prayer
Father, thank You for Your Word and for Your faithfulness to Your people.
Thank You for showing us through Ezra 2 that those who returned to Jerusalem did not forget Your house. They gave freely and according to their ability because Your worship mattered to them.
Teach me to have that same right order in my own life.
Keep me from allowing legitimate responsibilities, possessions, ambitions or concerns to push You to the margins. Give me wisdom to recognise what You have entrusted to me and grace to use it faithfully.
Help me to give willingly rather than reluctantly, and to place You at the centre of my everyday decisions. May my time, resources, abilities and choices demonstrate that You are worthy of first place.
Thank You that my hope does not rest in what I can give You, but in what You have graciously given me through Jesus Christ. Help me to live faithfully in response to Your grace.
May my ordinary life become an offering of worship, with Christ at the centre and my priorities shaped by Your will.
And for everyone who shares this devotional, please use their willingness to pass along Your Word to encourage others, strengthen weary hearts, and point people toward Jesus Christ. May the truth of Your Word help others place You first in their lives as well.
In the name of Jesus, Amen.
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