Monday, May 21, 2018

The Challenge Of Putting God In His Proper Place



Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. —Matthew 6:33

{CHAMBERS} “When we look at these words of Jesus, we immediately find them to be the most revolutionary that human ears have ever heard. “…seek first the kingdom of God….” Even the most spiritually-minded of us argue the exact opposite, saying, “But I must live; I must make a certain amount of money; I must be clothed; I must be fed.” The great concern of our lives is not the kingdom of God but how we are going to take care of ourselves to live. Jesus reversed the order by telling us to get the right relationship with God first, maintaining it as the primary concern of our lives, and never to place our concern on taking care of the other things of life.“…do not worry about your life…” (Matthew 6:25). Our Lord pointed out that from His standpoint it is absolutely unreasonable for us to be anxious, worrying about how we will live. Jesus did not say that the person who takes no thought for anything in his life is blessed— no, that person is a fool. But Jesus did teach that His disciple must make his relationship with God the dominating focus of his life […] It is one of the most difficult, yet critical, disciplines of the Christian life to allow the Holy Spirit to bring us into absolute harmony with the teaching of Jesus in these verses.

{ELGIN}  A young man said to Jesus “Let me first go bury my father.”  Jesus replied “Let the dead bury the dead” (Luke 9:60)  Jesus said “Unless you hate your father and mother … you cannot be My disciple.”  (Luke 14:26)  Jesus said to the rich young man “Sell all you have and give it to the poor” (Mark 10:21) The men had a natural view of things … They were not evil .. they had good intensions, but .. Jesus point was to them and to us … there is something greater required of you … put God first in everything.  We don’t have a problem with the idea of putting God first, but struggle with doing that when it conflicts with our natural affections.  There are a number of commands that we can quote much more easily than we can put into practice.  Jesus could see the devotion of the heart in each of these men.  Obedience begins in the heart.  Are you willing to lay your life down .. all of your life … for God?  If not then what is it that demands your affection that sets itself up as the true god in your life?  Money.  Family. Occupation.  Lifestyle.  Traditions of your fathers or your culture?  (Mark 7:7-9) “‘These people honor me with their lips,  but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain;  their teachings are merely human rules.’ You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.” And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions.”

The path that we follow as Christians has a slippery slope.  It is easy to deceive ourselves and think that we are fulfilling God’s purpose when, in fact, we are following our own – watered-down religion.  One that puts our well being and what we consider to be right … ahead of God and what He has made clear in His word and through His Son.  So when God says “Love me first with your all”, that is exactly what He means.  When He says “Pick up your cross”, “Offer yourself as a living sacrifice”, that is exactly what He means.  But to live like that requires faith.  If you are not nurturing that faith then you will not be able to live the life that He has called you to.  Instead it will be a life that is a mere shadow of a new life in Christ.  It will have a good appearance but will lack the spiritual power that God has intended.  So to take you back to an old friend (Proverbs 3:5-8) “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes;  fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.”  Pray on that …

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