Tag Archives: God’s Priorities

God is Foundational

Living in the Spirit

November 21, 2020

Scripture Reading:
Ephesians 1:15-23
I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

We are called to understand the priority we chose for our lives when we elected to follow God.

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. –Ephesians 4:4-6

When I was in college, I heard to story of the prayer the president of one of the men’s social clubs gave as grace over a banquet. His prayer was Yea! [his club’s name], Yea! [The school’s name], Yea! God let’s eat. I wonder at the time if God being mentioned last meant God was more important or the least important. I never got the chance to ask him. He went on to become a wonderful pastor and leader in faith.

Recently, I learned that most of us have the meaning of totem poles all wrong when we say someone is low man on the totem pole*. The base of the pole is the most important figure. These poles are not religious in nature often they record family history.

Combining these two stories to illustrate what Ephesians is trying to tell us, we see God is our strength which behooves us to accept God as foundational. The Lord is the alpha and omega, the beginning, and the end, yet God grants us the freedom to align with God or not. Choosing wisely results in a lifetime commitment to recognizing God who is love as our highest priority, which shapes everything else.

Prayer: Lord, in this time of pandemic help us reconsider our priorities and make the adjustments needed to follow your priorities more closely. Amen.

*https://www.aaanativearts.com/general-facts-about-totem-poles

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

God’s How

Epiphany

January 28, 2020

Scripture Reading:
Micah 6:1-8

‘With what shall I come before the Lord,
   and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings,
   with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
   with tens of thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
   the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?’
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
   and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
   and to walk humbly with your God? –Micah 6:6-8

God’s priorities do not rest in our offerings, no matter how great, or our acts of repentance, even though we must face the consequences of our sins and seek forgiveness. These are included respectively in the prosperity gospel, which recognizes monetary wealth as a measure of our status with God, and the hellfire and damnation belief system bent on judging others. I often notice when religious groups identify sins, the behaviors they identify as the worst sins are often things related to others, not them.

Micah 6:8 is the seminal scripture for my life’s work as a child of God and a follower of Christ. Jesus provided the vision, the “what” elements when he commanded us to love God and love our neighbors as we love ourselves*.  Micah describes the “how.” I guess one could see that the other way around, but they are definitely interrelated.

God seems to be more concerned with how we treat one another than our personal salvation. Personal salvation is just the starting gate, not the finish line. That is a hard thing for those of us raised on massive doses of personal salvation to understand,. The finish line or more appropriately a new beginning is when God’s love is the norm for everyone throughout the earth.

Prayer: God of Justice and Mercy, instill in us the drive we need to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with you. Amen.

*Matthew 22:36-40; Mark 12:30-31 derived from Deut. 6:4,5 and Lev. 19:18

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

The Constancy of God

order my lifeEastertide
April 1, 2016

Scripture Reading: Revelation 1:4-8

‘I am the Alpha and the Omega’, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. –Revelation 1:8

The old adage “There is nothing certain but death and taxes” is an incomplete truth at best. God is the only certainty. Once we incorporate that reality into our being, we are freed from the chains of death and, well taxes too, perhaps, I happen to be one of those rare birds who believes paying taxes is one of the responsibilities of being a good citizen. I like to drive on roads, have safe drinking water, have fire and police protection at my call, and know that all my fellow citizens have their basic needs met including health care. While I long for the day when our soldiers are primarily dispatched to provide protection and to intercede in times of disaster, I want them to be adequately paid and supported whenever they are called to duty. Thus I have no problem paying my fair share of taxes.

Trusting in the constancy of God is the key to ordering our lives, getting our priorities straight. Someone sent me a poem recently that listed all the things we routinely see as priorities that have no meaning whatsoever once we die. So why are we investing so much of our lives in them? I have recently spent an inordinate amount of time trying to get my digital life in order. Changing cell phone providers is not for the faint of heart. Hopefully it was time well spent to help me order my life better from this moment forth, I am not sure right now whether it was or wasn’t.

So how do we incorporate God’s constancy into our lives? We do that by making God our Alpha and our Omega, lifting God to the position of first priority and last priority allowing everything else to fall into its proper place.

Prayer: Lord, order my life so that I may thrive as a servant in your kingdom and know the full joy of living in your way and your truth. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.