“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.”

Matthew 10:37

Lists can be a very helpful tool for organizing, planning our day, or just examining our priorities. In fact, when it comes to priorities, let’s make a list. As soon as you can, after reading this entry, make a list of your top five (5) priorities. This includes people, possessions, and activities that are the most important to you. What’s on your list? Family? Friends? Career? Money? Sports? Traveling? While I don’t know what’s on your list, I can share with you that your relationship and walk with Christ should have been at the top. Go back and read today’s opening passage. “He who loves father and mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.” These are the words of Christ. Wanting to honor our parents and having a desire to make them proud of us is not bad in itself but if we are seeking the approval of our parents above that of pleasing God with our lives, we have gone astray (Colossians 1:10). Jesus goes on, “And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of me.” But I thought God created families? He did! Unfortunately, the traditional family (as God intended) is vanishing in our modern world…another message for another time. But God didn’t intend for our family relationships to supersede our commitment to Him. Consider this parallel passage from Luke: 

“If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate (by comparison) his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.”

Luke 14:26

The language in this passage is even more direct. Jesus is not telling us to hate our family members but He is drawing a stark comparison between love for family and love for Him. Our love and commitment to our parents, our spouse, our children, our grandchildren, and our siblings is important but is at no time suppose to take a higher position in our hearts than Christ. Jesus even says, “Yes, and even (a person’s) own life (cannot be more important or) he cannot be my disciple.” Jesus could have said, “If you love your career more than Me you are not worthy of Me.” He could have said, “If you love money more than Me than you are not worthy of Me.” He could have picked anything that entices people in our fallen world but He didn’t. Jesus went straight to our family relationships when teaching us about priorities. And if this is what God thinks about family relationships, it should be obvious how God views all of the other things that are placed above Him in our modern world.

And the issue of priorities is an important one. Why? Because when we get our priorities out of order, we enter into the issue of idolatry. Perhaps, idolatry is the most neglected topic in the church today but it is a vital one. The culture will tell us that idolatry is not that big of deal but placing the priority on pursuits, activities, and leisure over that of serving God, daily pursuing a relationship with Him, and taking our rightful place in the body of Christ is nothing short of absolute idolatry. And we simply cannot be in right relationship with God and be idolaters at the same time. At some point, either Christ or the world will sit on the throne of our hearts…a true indication of where we stand on the issue of idolatry. 

Proper priority means that Christ is first above all other things. If our lives are out of balance, chaotic, or seemingly caught in a cycle of sin, the very first thing to check is this issue of priority. Is Christ first or have you replaced Him with something else? This is the question that we need to be asking when we seem out of fellowship with God. Jesus even mentions the idea of priority when answering the question, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Listen to Christ’s answer:

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.”

Matthew 22:36-38 (NIV)

Loving God is the “first” and “greatest” commandment given to mankind. That means that there is nothing of more importance than that. Let that soak into your soul. Our relationship with God is to be premier. No person should ever gain more admiration in our hearts and minds than the Person of Jesus Christ. No pursuit should ever become more important to us than our commitment to loving, serving, and following Christ. No amount of worldly success should eclipse our desire to please God with our lives. 

Here’s another “first” given to us by Jesus:

But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

    Matthew 6:33

Again, you’ll notice the aspect of priority in seeking God’s kingdom and His righteousness above and beyond any other pursuit. This should be the standard for any Christian life but we often see, in today’s culture, a distortion of this reality. The church cannot afford to compromise in any area but certainly it cannot yield to cultural pressure when it comes to idolatry. Idolatry is simply putting anyone or anything above Christ. And God takes idolatry very seriously. This is not a matter of pretending that we have never fallen into idolatry (for most people probably have) rather it is a call to refresh our priorities and ensure that our walk with Christ is indeed supreme. 

Finally, we see God’s judgment on the church in Ephesus, a good litmus test for all of us to use in assessing our lives, families, churches, and communities. Consider God’s words to this church:

I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. 

But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.

    Revelation 2:2-5

God had many good things to say to this church but there was one problem…they “had left their first love.” They were busy for the kingdom and were doing some good things however, they had neglected the most important thing and that was their relationship with God. Is it possible for us to find ourselves doing kingdom work and yet neglecting our relationship with Christ? That certainly is a concern of mine as I do the things that God has called me to do. Although obedience in using your gifts for the kingdom is important, our work for the kingdom can never replace our relationship with the One in whom we are serving. God gave them the roadmap for a course correction…remember, repent, and return. The people needed to acknowledge where they had gone astray, change their minds, and return to doing what they were doing before leaving their “first love.” 

We live in a world full of distractions. The world is often calling us to follow our own heart and to pursue what we want without any consideration or consultation as to what God desires for us. Some of the pursuits we might find ourselves in can even be good but we cannot ever allow people, temporal things, or the pursuit of any goal to become more important to us than our walk with Christ. Why not sit down right now, seek the Lord, and then make out a brand new priorities list, making sure that Christ is first and foremost! 

A special thanks to Dr. Tony Evans for furthering my understanding of this amazing passage in Revelation!