||Rhema for the Week||
“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”
Matthew 10:37-39 NKJV
One of the greatest theme of God’s love towards man is giving man the ability to choose. Choice is such a big deal because even God who gave that to us does not control it. Due to this unique ability of all men, everyone has a well arranged priority list —intentionally or otherwise. When presented with options, as we have been presented with in life, each person apportions himself to things considering how essential they are to him.
One might not have a written down list of arranged things in order of priority but our lives show us things we have put on top of our priority lists even if we don’t have such a list spelt out. How much of your attention, time, talents, strength and resources you give to a thing is the measuring scale of the priority you’ve put on that thing.
In the main text, Jesus puts Himself on the topmost position of every Christian’s priorities. This is to say a person in Christ must give the most of his time, attention, talents, strength and resources to Jesus and the things of God. That’s what it means to worship a deity. “Worship” stems from the word “worth” which describes the value one puts on someone or something. To worship Jesus, He must be the most valued in your life, hence the most prioritised. If you prioritise Jesus, you give Him the best and the most of you, and you do that out of love, not compulsion or deception.
Remember, setting priorities is subject to your free will, so this must be an individual and deliberate decision. This is what it means to love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind (Matthew 22:37). Take time to assess your life to see who/what you value most by looking at how much of you you give out. If Jesus is not on top of your list, then you need some rearrangement because He alone is worth enough to occupy that position.
Further reading: Genesis 2:16–17, Luke 9:23–25, John 14:21–24
Leave a comment