A Reflection On Priorities

When I am too focused on the here and now

Jesus knows our tendency to focus on making a home for ourselves. Try this little exercise: compare, on the one hand, the amount of time we spend with our eyes focused on getting an education, earning a living, establishing a career, building a home, staying healthy, and achieving our goals; and on the other hand, the amount of time we spend with our eyes focused on our Master and His mission. For most of us, the scale falls clearly on the side of the things of this world.

Yet which is more important? Our answer to that defines whether or not we are disciples. Not that the elements of each option are always incompatible—it isn’t wrong to earn a living, build a home, or stay healthy. Jesus’ followers just cannot make priorities of those endeavors. When we do, our lives are out of order.

Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head.”

Luke 9:58