(Thanks to our dear friend Larry V. for inspiration on this one).
"The Main Thing, the First Thing"
Life consists not only of proper content, but also of correct emphasis.
"Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33).
Many things bear importance in our lives. However, if we do not establish the main thing as the main thing and the first thing as the first thing, we miss the heart of life as it actually is. The Person and Truth of God must be embraced as paramount in our hearts, minds, and actions. Only thereby will we seek His reign and His righteousness, that is, the Lordship of Jesus and the free gift of acceptability with God through Christ's redeeming work on our behalf. Indeed, if we consistently and increasingly trust and submit to the Lord Jesus, all things matter. If we do not, nothing matters. Significance and the Savior are inextricably bound. "To live is Christ" declared Paul in one of his most absolutist declarations of truth and reality (Philippians 1:21). We must join the Apostle in his single hearted devotion to both content and emphasis.
The glorious thing about narrowing our hearts in devotion to Christ is that it broadens our experience of everything else. Consider the blessings of life. If we merely receive them as things or experiences that make us happy, we miss the truth that "every good gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights" (James 1:17). Or if the hard things come to us as merely the product of chance, misfortune, or wrong (of others or ourselves), we fail to see God's "very present help in trouble" (Psalm 46:1). Finally, in the everyday, mundane realities of life, a heart established and maintained in worship of the living God makes if far more likely that we will know the vibrancy of His loving presence amid even the rote and the repetitious. Proper emphasis, namely, seeking to keep the main thing and the first thing in their proper place, leads to the only genuine life available to our hearts: "He is thy life" (Deuteronomy 30:20).
What we do matters very much. Why we do it matters more. Only the Lord Jesus can establish and maintain both our doings and motives in accordance with genuine significance. Through Him, we grow in both content and emphasis. His presence of life in our hearts leads us in the worship that results in a walk that bears meaning for both this life and forevermore…
"God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba Father."
(Galatians 4:6)
Weekly Memory Verse
God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba Father.
(Galatians 4:6)
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