Earthly Priorities v.s. Heavenly Priorities

Well, the Christian walk is one that is all black and white! There is a race in this life on earth: a race to win all that we want and a race that hits the mark and wins Christ. We must understand that there are choices and the choices you make will determine the end results. What is the cause of us making a choice? It is because we look at our priority scale and we determine from that. We lean more towards doing that which is on the higher part of the scale. I chose to entitled this post "Earthly Priorities v.s. Heavenly Priorities" because this is probably in the top ten battles that man-kind faces.

When we were little, most of us had desires of what we wanted to be when we grow up. Some wanted to be just like their teacher, some wanted to be a President, a super hero, and others a red Fire Truck or something silly and impossible. As we grew older that vision grew dim and eventually died. In-fact we may reflect back on that and have a little laugh about it now. Now we find ourselves older, most of us are not what we dreamed to be when we were younger, and waiting to be a somebody someday.

I was reading in the Gospel of Luke 2 today and the last section of this chapter (v:41-52) has always interested me. For those of you who aren't too familiar with Luke 2; it talks about Jesus at the age of twelve and he is at the temple with his parents. His family heads back home, but Jesus remains at the temple. It took them a day for them to realize that he was still at the temple; they had to return to the temple and find him. About three days later they find him and Jesus' response to his mother Mary always stuck to me. His response was this, "How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" Interesting, isn't it? Jesus clearly understood at age twelve that He was the Son of God and that His Heavenly Father's business took priority over that of His earthly parents. Some people may read this and interpret it as, "I know my calling so forget my parents, forget the authority and what they say, I'm doing this!" That is rebellious and not of the Lord! We must seek the Lord and understand what our Heavenly Father's business is for us (little Christs). Make sure that we keep it as our priority and not just as a "maybe" option. I hear many people say this and I find myself sometimes saying this too, "I really need more hours because I need to earn money". If that is our priority then we must stop what we are doing right now. This is not a priority, in-fact it shouldn't even be our main worry. Gods priorities are what we must seek out and find. He will bring in the finances, the training, and all that we need.

Matthew 10:33 says, "But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven." If we have things in line, then we will not deny the Father before man. If we do find ourselves denying the Father in a certain area of our life, then thank God for opening your eyes to this and surrender it to Him. Allow Him to deal with it as He did to the Apostle Peter. Peter denied the Lord three times before man and yet we see with his repentant heart that Jesus restored Peter and lifted him up to the position God the Father had planned for him.
Let us deny ourselves and take up the cross and learn from Him (Matt. 16:24; Mk. 8:34; Lk. 9:23). There is a time to learn, a time to sow, and a time to reap. We must learn as much as we can in the time that God has appointed to us to learn and be trained. When it is time to sow, know this that we never will stop learning for every situation we are brought through is different. Lastly, when we reap may we not find ourselves filled with sorrow because we did not have the right priorities. The things of this earth will pass away and grow strangely dim, but the things of Heaven are eternal and everlasting. May we be stable, having a personal vision that is given to us from the Lord. Setting our faces as a flint and allowing Christ to progressively widen us in Him.

God Bless!