Priority No. One

I found this quote recently and it was perfect for this post:

“Make service your first priority, not success and success will follow.”

I have no idea who it is by, but it makes perfect sense, especially if you apply it spiritually. "Make service to Christ your priority, not worldly success and he will make you spiritually successful." This is exactly what Paul means when he says, "What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ".

Something that has been on my mind for a little while and I think it's worth mentioning because I hope that you would feel at liberty to say the same thing to me (but I include myself here anyway). The crux of it is this: we all need to make the life of the church for the love of the Lord, our priority. What am I driving at?

Well, when we became Christians we received a radical thing: a new heart. That new heart won't allow us to value the Lord and his desires the same way we did before we were saved. The changed life is an inevitability if we have been truly saved, not that it all happens at once obviously. It does happen though, and there's no room for complacency.

We know that the relationship between Christ and the church is one which is pictured in the bible as a marriage. This means that Christ esteems the church very highly. As a result our lives aught to be full of church (remember that means all the Lord's people gathered together); our desire should be to spend as much time with the Lord's people as is physically possible. The verses below don't just apply to Sunday Mornings, they should be things that we continuously strive to do.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. ²⁵Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Heb 10:24-25

With this in mind we may need to evaluate our use of time; we may need to ask ourselves, 'if I do this particular thing on a Saturday evening, will it affect my chances of being ready for Sunday morning, or will I make it through the whole day?' Or, 'if I choose to do this on a Saturday will I have enough time to complete the other things that I need to do before Sunday so that I can be at the bible study?' All the time we need to be thinking, 'what is my priority?; What has the Lord provided for my benefit which I can't afford to miss?; What would the Lord have me do for him?!'

Our time is a precious thing I know that, but it is a precious thing that first and foremost belongs to the Lord and not to ourselves; we have to be willing to use it wisely. The double difficulty is that there are so many interesting, fun and engaging things to do which occupy our time and sometimes we need to get a handle on them and ask ourselves, 'am I spending more time pleasing my old nature more than I am developing my new nature?' Remember sacrifice is an inevitable part of the Christian life (the example of the Lord Jesus will tell us that much).

A radical change of nature aught to bring about a radical change of life, but part of it is the work of the will. The desire is there because of our new heart, but we must exercise it. The bible says, 'For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live'. Romans 8:13.

I also want to tell you that it is an encouragement to me to have you all regularly at YP's and in church; I feel privileged to know you all and to have the opportunity to spend time with you, both through the week and on Sunday.
May the Lord bless you all and help us to make the life of the church for the love of the Lord, our priority.