Jesus is our first priority! You don’t have to believe me of course, just listen to what Jesus says. While talking to a big crowd right after He invited everyone to follow Him, He explained to them the personal priority and cost of discipleship. Notice what He wrote:
26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry his own cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. … 33 In the same way therefore not one of you can be my disciple if he does not renounce all his own possessions.
Jesus challenges us here with expectations on our being productive and effective Christians.
Jesus First
Jesus uses three analogies to help us understand what He expects from us when we choose to follow Him.
- You must love Jesus more than others. He comparatively uses the word hate in this text. In other words, Jesus teaches here to love God more and anyone else less. Whenever loyalty to family or your own personal desires comes in conflict with loyalty to God, loyalty to God should supersede loyalty to family. Love Jesus more and most and others or your own desire less.
- You choose suffering and rejection if need be in order to follow after Christ. Your loyalty and allegiance to Jesus, even in the face of possible suffering and rejection, must be priority.
- You choose Jesus over your own possessions. Literally, in the text, it refers to saying goodbye to your stuff. Jesus does not demand all your stuff; He doesn’t expect a big yard sale. Instead, again by analogy, Jesus demands we love Him more than our own things.
Jesus first – our first priority.
Jesus – Our First Priority
As you get started on your new day and week, please understand the priority. Jesus first. We follow Him, are loyal to Him, and love Him more than anything in comparison. As we do, it changes our attitude, thinking, and behavior. We release the grip of our heart on anything and everything that is different than following Jesus first and foremost.
May God grant us the clarity to be passionate followers of Jesus Christ this week.
Image Credit Tim Wildsmith
KevinCarson.com | Wisdom for Life in Christ Together