This is an invitation to live the most exciting, fulfilling life you could ever imagine. It’s not for the faint-hearted, but oh, the rewards that arrive are delightful. I’m talking about pursuing God’s priorities with all of your heart, soul, and mind by becoming an Mt. 6:33 Christian. “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you.” So, what are God’s priorities? I’ve listed just three, but have learned that, if you get these anchored in your life, everything else will fall into place.
SALVATION
God created humanity as a spirit being. That means they are going to live forever… somewhere. Think about it. Everyone you talked to today or those you will email tomorrow will spend eternity in heaven or hell. That co-worker who brags. Your child’s school teachers. Everyone. I think it’s safe to say that our Father’s eternal priority is to have His children spend eternity with him. All other priorities pale in comparison, don’t you agree?
Training people to win souls is easy. With a few 1-2-3’s, you can turn people’s hearts towards eternity quite easily. God bless our Baptist friends who teach soul-winning courses. Learning the A-B-C’s of salvation is simple: A-Admit you are a sinner B-Believe that Jesus is God’s Son C- Confess with your mouth that Jesus is your Savior.
Decide to build a bridge for future moments. When co-workers mention how bad things are, boldly share, “Thank God I’ve found peace in Jesus.” No one can argue with your personal experience. The objective is not necessarily to pray the sinner’s prayer but to plant seeds in their heart that cause them to think about eternity and have someone to contact when they are ready to ask questions. “One plants, one waters, but God gave the increase…” I Cor. 3:6
CHURCH
I am watching a wonderful thing growing in the hearts of God’s people towards their church. There are a new reverence and commitment to the House of God. People are beginning to schedule their extracurricular activities around the church’s calendar. This is good. This is right. This is pleasing Jesus so much because He is the Head of the Church. Certainly, our commitment to the House of God should be more important to us than us any other activity. What message would it give to our children if it were any other way?
How does Jesus feel about His church? Eph. 5:25 says, “Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her.” Let’s put your name into that scripture. “Kyle also loved the church and gave himself for her.” “Sharon also loved the church and gave herself for it.”
The church is Heaven’s Headquarters on the earth. All eternal influence that occurs flows first through the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice Luke 1:1, “The former account I made…of all that Jesus began to do and teach…” What Jesus began in a human body, the Church is to complete as His spiritual Body. Beloved, your local church is the invisible Body of Christ. If you’ll do what He did, you’ll see what He saw. If Jesus died for His church, shouldn’t we live for it? Those who honor His house are honored by Him.
FAMILY
God is all about family. The Bible is a book about a Father and His family. Family is a priority to Him and should be for you, too. I’m using the word ‘family’ here in the broader sense since you probably have at least three ‘family’ groups. He selected your natural family, planted you into your church family, and fulfills His purposes in your occupational family. Sometimes people turn in a prayer request to us that says, “Please pray that I get a new job. No one else is a Christian.” My response is,
“Why do you think that He put you there, honey?” Shine, sister. Be a light in a dark place. Consider yourself a missionary-incognito. If you want to be somewhere that’s predominantly Christian, come to church.
Perhaps you have some relatives that are not too lovely. This allows you to grow in love and prove that your relationship with Jesus is authentic. Paul’s advice of “Overcome evil with good,…” Rm. 12:31 applies here. Give yourself away. Start with your different ‘families.’ I know that it’s good to help the heathen in India, but you might want to begin with the heathen in your own family first. When God’s priorities become important to you, then what’s important to you will become God’s priorities.
