September 30th Sunday Readings.

I married a Twins fan, but I grew up in St. Louis, MO as a rabid Cardinals baseball fan. In 1987 when the Twins played the Cardinals in the World Series, my heart was broken by Kirby Puckett and those upstart Twins with their dome-field advantage. When I moved to MN I adopted the Twins as my American league team. People ask all the time who I root for when the Cardinals play the Twins. My answer is easy – the Cardinals are my team.

Everybody has a #1. Everyone has something that is most important in their life. As much as we might hope to have a short list of priorities that are all equally important to us, when push comes to shove, one of those things will come out on top. In fact before mid-20th century the word priority was almost never pluralized. We only had a priority, not priorities. 

When we try to hold multiple priorities in our hands we only deceive ourselves and set up a situation where our true priority might get lost in the shuffle. In fact, it happens more often than not that we don’t end up prioritizing the thing that we say or believe we hold most dear.

This is why Jesus Christ tells us that whatever causes us to sin we need to cut completely out of our lives. If anything confuses us about what is most important, we need to completely rid ourselves of it. It is better that we don’t have things that keep us from the most important thing.

What is the most important thing? God. If we truly want what was best for us, then our number one priority should be spending eternity with God, starting right now at this moment. 

How important should this priority be to us? So important we would be willing to loose a body part for it. How dangerous are the things that distract us from God? So dangerous that we should cut them out completely. 

I want to be clear, this isn’t easy. Christianity isn’t easy; it is good. The path is narrow. The way is hard. And it is worth it. God can do it, if we fully rely on Him. 

LIVE IT:
Take out your calendar (digital or paper), and figure out what is the thing that you build the rest of your life around. Work? Kids Activities? Gym time? Or could it be God/Prayer/Church? If someone never met you, but got to examine your calendar, what would they say is your number 1?