Jesus: #1 in life or Center of life 3
So what should it be? Should Jesus be #1 or the center of our lives?
As a teenager I can vividly remember a pastor saying that Jesus should be number one in our lives. After that should be family, etc. He went on to say that if Jesus was truly #1 then everything else would be fine. If God is #1, then your family life would work, and so on. All of that made sense to me at the time, but can your family life be horrible even though you have a good relationship with God?
In Joshua 1 there’s an interesting conversation between Joshua and a few of the Israelite tribes. Moses had recently died and they were getting ready to enter the land God promised to them. Earlier in the story Moses promised these tribes a particular piece of land as long as they promised to continue fighting with the other tribes in the promised land. So here we see Joshua calling them to remember their previous agreement. Here’s how they responded (verses 16-17a):
“They answered Joshua, ‘We will do whatever you command us, and we will go wherever you send us. We will obey you just as we obeyed Moses.’”
It seems like the conversation could have ended there, but it didn’t. They went on to say “And may the LORD your God be with you as he was with Moses.” There was one more thing they wanted to say. “May the LORD your God be with you…”
God couldn’t simply be among his priorities or even #1. God needed to be “with” him. Whatever he did…God. Wherever he went…God. No separation. No breakdown in priorities. God needed to be the critical piece to everything! In other words, God had to be the center of his life.
God isn’t just a part of our “church life” or the times we set aside to be “with” him. Shouldn’t he also be involved in our finances…our friendships…our leisure time…our good times…our troubling times (Psalm 49:5)…our darkest valleys (Psalm23:4) and so on?
Setting God up as #1 in a list of priorties give the faulty notion that if God is #1 then everything will work out. Ask Job how that one went? There is no promise of a care free life in this world for those who claim to be followers of Jesus. In Matthew 10:16 Jesus actually told his disciples “Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves.”
Life doesn’t always work out like we want it to, but one essential thing remains. God needs to be the center of our lives, not just #1.
Tommy
i vote for center. and it’s interesting that you post this, because i was just reading something very similar somewhere else … but i can’t think of the reference.
if you come across the reference shoot it my way
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