"Christian" priorities??

One thing we became very aware of while living in another country was just how many things we thought were basic to our "Biblical" belief system but were actually things we valued as North Americans. Things like capitalism, democracy, individualism and egalitarianism (we all have equal rights) come to mind.

Another "Americanism" (but not original to us) that was certainly not part of early middle eastern thinking was the idea of compartmentalization. We tend to separate things into groupings, categorize them and then prioritize them. This is much the result of the Scientific Revolution and very "modern." We have certainly seen a move away from this, in our more "post-modern" culture, to a more holistic, mystical view of life and faith.

Enter a recent conversation concerning the priority of God in our lives. The very "modern" view is that God is first, family is second, ministry is third etc. I am not sure God intended us to have a priority list and, if he did, I might suggest that we have it skewed. Maybe God is all and in all better sums up my thought here.

This plays out in our lives in that loving your spouse and children is loving and worshipping God. Doing all things as if doing them for Christ (Col. 3:23) is loving and worshipping God. Caring for the hurting around us is loving and worshipping God. Enjoying God's creation gift to us is loving and worshipping him. These things are not second to our love and commitment to God. They define and deepen it. This is not to say that time communing with God individually loses value, but is an integral part of a bigger construct...the divine "both/and" so to speak.

Just think of Jesus approach to the Pharisees. They were more committed to holiness than most of us today. Their goal was to do everything exactly as God had commanded. Yet Jesus accused them of missing the point totally. God made the Sabbath for man, not man for the Sabbath was one of the ways Jesus illustrated this point in Mark 2:27 (Jeff's paraphrase). Who were closer to God in Jesus' eyes? The "publican" who beat his chest saying "Have mercy on me, a sinner."