Is Jesus First?
Posted by Randy | Labels: Disciple, Exodus, Jesus, Luke, Priorities, Ten Commandments | Posted On Thursday, October 1, 2009 at 12:01 AM
We all have our priorities. Some friends are closer to us than others. Our spouse or children or parents have a higher priority than co-workers, etc. The question is, who has the greatest priority in my life?
Jesus makes a radical claim - if we decide to follow him and be his disciple, then he has to be first. He told a large crowd, "'If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison - your father and mother, wife and children , brothers and sisters - yes, even your own life. Otherwise you cannot be my disciple.'" (Luke 14:26 NLT)
But Jesus, as the Son of God, as God in the flesh, isn't making a new claim here. He's only rewording the very first of the Ten Commandments: "'You must not have any other god but me.'" (Exodus 20:3) Jesus tells us this not because he's arrogant but because he knows we were created to experience the most in life this way.
I've discovered that if I put my wife first in my life, whom I love very much, I can certainly love her, but the amount of love I have to give is limited. When I put Jesus first in my life, plugging into the ultimate Source of love, I discover I have even more love to give my wife than when she was first. If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense.
Jesus isn't saying we're to "hate" our wife or husband or children or siblings, etc. He's telling us our priorities need to be in the right order, and to the right degree, or we're placing limits on how well life will work. C.S. Lewis said, “Put first things first and we get second things thrown in; put second things first and we lose both first and second things.”
If I want God to do greater things in me, I have to begin with the right priorities. I won't experience His best unless I give Him my best. If I make the commitment to follow Jesus and be his disciple, then placing him first in my life is the only way I can truly follow him. It's a challenge, and I struggle to live this way. But, with God's help, it's the choice I'm making today.
Jesus makes a radical claim - if we decide to follow him and be his disciple, then he has to be first. He told a large crowd, "'If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison - your father and mother, wife and children , brothers and sisters - yes, even your own life. Otherwise you cannot be my disciple.'" (Luke 14:26 NLT)
But Jesus, as the Son of God, as God in the flesh, isn't making a new claim here. He's only rewording the very first of the Ten Commandments: "'You must not have any other god but me.'" (Exodus 20:3) Jesus tells us this not because he's arrogant but because he knows we were created to experience the most in life this way.
I've discovered that if I put my wife first in my life, whom I love very much, I can certainly love her, but the amount of love I have to give is limited. When I put Jesus first in my life, plugging into the ultimate Source of love, I discover I have even more love to give my wife than when she was first. If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense.
Jesus isn't saying we're to "hate" our wife or husband or children or siblings, etc. He's telling us our priorities need to be in the right order, and to the right degree, or we're placing limits on how well life will work. C.S. Lewis said, “Put first things first and we get second things thrown in; put second things first and we lose both first and second things.”
If I want God to do greater things in me, I have to begin with the right priorities. I won't experience His best unless I give Him my best. If I make the commitment to follow Jesus and be his disciple, then placing him first in my life is the only way I can truly follow him. It's a challenge, and I struggle to live this way. But, with God's help, it's the choice I'm making today.
