Straight Priorities
Matt 8:21-22 - Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
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Ready for some debate? For those who read my blog you know that one of my goals is to read scripture in a fresh way. I don’t want to take any of my culture or my “Christian” ideas into it. Sometimes that leads to awesome discoveries for my walk, and sometimes that leaves me even more confused than I started. Case and point – today’s verse.
The majority of my life has now been as a Christian. One thing that the church has always taught is that your family should come before just about anything. We say that God comes before our families, but in practice he doesn’t, and for the most part we are OK with that. But I got to thinking today, does the Bible place family before ministry? Should it be that way?
May I suggest that perhaps we should place ministry before our family? I am not saying that this is right, or that I do this, I am just suggesting that perhaps we could make a case for this in the bible. The verse above is just one example of scriptures calling us to serve with Jesus before we take care of the needs of our family. Elsewhere in scripture we see Jesus allowing his disciples to leave their careers and their families to follow him. The real kicker is in 1 Corinthians
What I think we have is a disconnect in our Christian world between love and action. Can we love the Lord more than anything in this world and not have time to serve him because of our family obligations. I am not ripping on anyone, but I got to tell you that I get this excuse all the time. I love my job but the hardest part of it for me is getting people to jump in and do ministry with me. I am sure that the bulk of the problem is my fault, for not being a good enough motivator, but this excuse is just tough for me. It sounds so noble, and I am not sure that anyone has been called on this before, but let me say this, - If you are unable to do the Lords work because your family is your priority, perhaps your family has a whole needs a new set of priorities.
Then there is the idea that my family is my ministry. That is valid, but it is something that we never see in scripture as far as I can tell. Please don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that family is not important. My only thought is that most of us admit that God is more important. We need to align our actions up with that.
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Lord help me to not only love you most but to live for you most at the same time. I don’t want to categorize my time, I want to be a Christian all the time. Whatever you are calling me to do is my primary concern. I live for you first, help me to do that.
posted by Thomas at 8:20 PM
8 Comments:
I have read somewhere that the verse you quoted in Matthew, "Let the dead bury their dead," is essentially on par with some of Jesus' other radical statements--most notably, "If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out." Therefore Jesus is not giving a new commandment--ignore familial duties to follow God--rather, he is shocking our sensibilities into taking a heart check.
It'd be interesting to know a little more about the man Jesus said this to. For instance, we don't know, but maybe he had never truly cared for his family's needs before, but now he was using it as a cop-out and Jesus was calling him on it. Or maybe he was a kind, God-fearing, family man who had gotten a little complacent about his faith and this was Jesus' way of challenging him to take the next step.
In either case, I don't think that Jesus was making a hard and fast rule to always put ministry over family. Even Paul said that Christian women who were married to non-Christian men should stay married to them, being even more faithful and loving, in the hopes that they too may be saved.
And at the end of all this thought, it kinda hits me: When Jesus calls, you gotta go. Don't put it off. Don't wait. Go. That man didn't and obviously Jesus wasn't impressed. It's a sobering thought that when I do the same thing, Jesus probably isn't impressed with my response either.
Thank you Thomas for inspiring me to dig deeper today!
9:56 AM
Thomas, I'm sure you're familiar with the idea that each generation is responsible to train the following generation in God's ways. My experience says that the primary way, and one of the most effective ways, that this happens is in the home. Would you agree?
You know that God's primary picture for how he relates to us is as a father. He didn't pick pastor, high priest, or king as the primary basis for the relationship, although he is all of those things too, but he reveals himself as a father tenderly caring for his children. And Paul instructs Timothy that the church should not give authority to a man as a leader in the church if he has shown poor leadership at home. Seems to me that God is quite interested in this family thing.
I think you glorify your current role. I am curious if, ten years from now, you would re-read this entry and agree wholeheartedly with it.
Be wary of categorical statements. "Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord." "There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven... He has made everything appropriate in its time." Perhaps God's personal call for you is for your ministry focus to be foremost in serving at your local church. Perhaps God's personal call for your friend at that church is for his ministry focus to be foremost in serving his family. Who are you to judge?
Following instruction from Jesus and Paul, I aim to understand people's decisions by looking at the fruit, rather than judging how I feel about the decision itself.
12:14 PM
One more thing on categorical statements — remember what I said last night about Joshua Harris? What he learned was exactly what he needed. His only mistake was writing a book about it. Well, actually writing a book would have been fine, if he had taken an angle other than preaching his personal lesson as a New Rule for all mankind.
I also noted that he rescinded his own mantra in his second book. Faced with the discrepancy between the two, he says: "We need both... Basically, one book is on waiting and the other on pursuing. I think different people need one more than the other at different times in their life." Okay, good, that attitude shows more maturity and wisdom. And it sounds a lot like Ecclesiastes 3, as I quoted above.
"There is nothing new under the sun"; Solomon's wisdom is still quite applicable today. :-)
12:29 PM
My only thing brian is that it seems that if we read scripture with fresh eyes, not taking into account our christian culture, we may have a different understanding on family vs ministry. The bible offers a categorical statement on putting christian ministry above the needs of a marriage in the verse I quoted from 1 corinthians. I see nothing in scripture that tells us the opposite, only indrect statements that lead us to believe that this family may be more important. Again I am not saying that this should be the way it is. I am just trying to come to terms with the tough verses of the bible. I am a man who desparately wants to see the love of god in action, not just in theory. In the church or outside of it, we need to love God the way we say we do...#1
3:46 PM
HELLO Thomas!!! Good Stuff, very interesting!!! So I agree that God needs to be #1 and that our actions need to match up with that. We need to walk the walk and talk the talk!!! If God calls you, you go it's as simple as that. Family is important and we are all responsible to care for our loved ones...BUT God comes first. There are different forms of ministry that God calls us into, based on our gifts and abilities. We need to be in step with the spirit and not question God's leading ability.
I think what the issue comes down to is, "what is ministry?" Is it us serving at the church, going on missions trips and mentoring the youth? These are all good things and could be what Gods wants you to do. BUT ministry ultimately, is walking with God and being his instrument in order to successfully affect the world. Ok! I think I'm getting off topic! FOCUS!!! God is #1!!
ALSO, I think reading scripture in a new light is very important. Maybe I'm being way to post-modern but we need to make the scripture personal. We need to read about how life was back in Bible times to really understand what it is saying. Finding a wife and having children was all about carrying on the family lineage. it was almost like a requirement. Marriage were alot of times arranged and Love came second. Love was included, (read song of songs) but it always leads back to glorifying God in that relationship first. Family today is very different, obviously, but one thing remains the same, that God is our first priority.
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