Highest Priority

I think most of us would agree that our nation’s priorities are off-track! Money, power, fashion, and prestige seem to take preeminence above other far more important things. Everyone has a perspective of what they deem as central in life, but there is one thing that is truly important, and here is what Jesus had to say about it. 

Mk 12:30-31  “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Where did the American church get off track? Why is there so much going on that is the opposite of love? Why are there so many people who claim Christianity that don’t operate in the love of God? Could it be that people have treated God like they would a gym membership; come and go as they please? Has their halfhearted relationship with God translated into hearts that don’t genuinely care about those for whom Jesus died? Of this, you can be sure; Christianity is not about adding God to our life; it is about God being our life! Christianity is about love! God was willing to sacrifice Jesus because of his passion for humanity! Should not our response be to give our lives completely? Look at what Jesus declares true Christianity to be.

Matthew 16:24-26 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

Many things are vying for your time – what deserves your greatest attention – what should be your highest priority? Having an eternal perspective causes a person not to get so easily sidetracked by things that don’t really matter. The things that try to invade and take center stage in our lives are the things that God hates! This is why God never intended for us to live by the law, i.e., our own righteousness. Self-righteousness is the worst distraction of all; it is the sin of all sins and the lie of all lies! Self-righteousness detours us from the great commission of Jesus to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Matthew 28:19-20

The more we surrender to the revelation that we can never be good enough to deserve God, the more we enter into the life of being truly loved, forgiven, and free! This is the life of intimacy with God! The command to love God with all and to love people as ourselves is impossible in our own strength. The only way we can love God with all is for him to do it through us, which requires intimacy with him!

The righteousness God requires comes from believing what he has revealed to us through his word, and that righteousness produces the life of love. The Holy Spirit is the one who reveals the word of God to us, and he is the one who empowers us with God’s love.

Romans 5:5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

More than anything else, God wants to be intimate with you! He wants you to wholeheartedly believe his words that declare how precious you are to him and of all that he has done for you. The more you live in intimacy with him, the more you will live a life that looks just like him. You can cough, sneeze and even spit on someone, and they won’t get the flu if you are not infected with it. Similarly, the more you are infected with God’s love and grace, the more you will affect and impact this world for him!

So, how can you increase your ability to impact this world with the gospel of Jesus? The answer to this question will be determined by what you have chosen as your…

Highest Priority