Prioritizing Jesus. He must increase. We must decrease.
My goal here is to get across to you this message: that comparatively speaking, all of this means nothing next to the excellence of knowing Jesus. This graduation service means nothing. The past 12 years of schooling mean nothing. The college and career plans you’re forming mean nothing. Who cares what your GPA is? Who cares what your SAT scores are? Who cares whether you even go to college or not? Comparatively speaking, it doesn’t matter what your parents want for you, it doesn’t matter what we, your school, want for you, it doesn’t matter what YOU want for you. The only thing that matters in this life is Jesus, knowing Jesus, following Jesus, trusting Jesus, becoming like Jesus, serving Jesus. If Jesus isn’t first in your life yet, what are you waiting for?
No other name is given; if anyone wants to come to the Father; His is the name above all names; He is the Way; He is the Truth; He is the Life; He’s the one at the door knocking.
[two illustrations: entering heaven for the first time; looking around… the sensation of all that was of the Old Earth, all the old ways of thinking and the suffering, and the worldly cares, all of that just slipping away…; coming back from the millennium and comparing what you’ve known for 1000 years to what you see rushing up at you…]
He’s the one who creates, pursues, rescues, redeems, reforms, and delivers. The Rock. The Foundation of the Church. The Head of the Church. The Brains behind this whole operation. The Architect. The Designer. The Builder. The Director. The Star. The Master Teacher. The Educational Superintendent. The Chairman of the Board. The Great Physician. The CEO. The Wonderful Counselor. The High Priest. Prime Minister. Commander in Chief. He’s the lily of the valley. He’s the bright and morning star. He’s the fairest of ten thousand. He’s the one everybody ought to know. Bread of Life. Light of the World. Lamb of God. The Word. And He wants to be your friend.
What if we didn’t start our day with Him? What if we actually woke up, and didn’t think of Him first? What if we ignored Him or just plain forgot Him through the whole morning routine, and the first time we thought about Him in our day. . . never came. A whole day, breakfast, lunch and dinner, without a prayer, without a word about Him, or from Him, or to Him. What if we came to church at the end of the week, our souls starving for a word, a touch, a glance from God. Scary thought.
Do you know how scary that thought is? I don’t mean to get off on a rant here, but society is disintegrating. MTV dominates the culture of young people today, and MTV is a commercialistic, profit-driven media guru. Don’t tell me kids don’t worship MTV. What else is a false god, if not a life-dominating power causing those who worship it to become little reflections of it, talking like it, dressing like it, acting like it? Parents, do yourself a favor: Watch MTV (not with your kids; kick them outside the room). Watch Tom Green’s show. Sit through the show which is called jackass, not because it stars a male donkey. Watch an hour’s worth of music videos. And be sure you watch all the commercials. Then turn it off and think about the fact that your kid watches hours and hours of this stuff. And don’t fool yourself into thinking that you’ve covered that base by not allowing it into your home, because your kid has friends that have free access to it. Okay, maybe MTV’s not your kid’s god. I use MTV as a symbol of the harsh, commercialistic, materialistic, multi-level marketed society it represents. Society is deconstructing itself by turning our teenage kids into addictive, attention-deprived, attention-deficit worshipers of a culture created by four or five media conglomerates spoon-feeding them this culture in every TV show, movie, radio broadcast, magazine, music CD, video game, video store, clothing store, fast-food chain, sports team, and internet chat room.1 This sex-addicted, adrenaline-saturated, shock-valued, youth-worshiping culture is a jealous god, demanding your kids’ attention with all the corporate muscle of a transnational conglomerate. Do you fool yourself into thinking, Hey, my kid is drug-free; I’ve done my job. Parents: drugs are just a tiny corner of the world you need to protect your kids from by educating yourself and communicating with them. And there’s no more powerful antidote to the attraction of the MTV god than a parent talking and praying in quiet, loving tones with a child convinced of their unconditional love. This is why Jesus must come FIRST!
First in the day. First thought, first word, first song, first smile, first “I love you.” FIRST.
He wants to be last, too, I think. Just not last, ONLY. First AND last, and best in everything. He is Alpha and Omega, the “A” and “Z.”
Revelation 22:12, 13
[another illustration: someone who put their priorities in the worst order possible, followed by one who put them in the best of all possible arrangements; maybe Judas, who gave up an honored position as one of the disciples of the Messiah, the Son of God, just to make a lousy 30 bits of silver; and Jesus, who gave up convenience, comfort, and even His life to become the Savior of a whole planet.]
It takes effort to order your priorities in a Christian way. The whole ungodly world is constantly asserting its own priorities on you. But this is what it means to make Jesus our Lord. “Savior AND Lord” involves priorities. Steve Dailey, in the book Choices and Challenges, says it well: “Far too many Christians are content to call Jesus Savior, but not Lord. We want His grace, but not His growth; His mercy, but not His maturity; His power, but not His priorities.” p. 114.
Seek ye first. The first shall be last, and the last, first. First cleanse the inside of the cup, so the outside will also be clean. The first fruits. We leave our First Love when we put anything before Him.
So put Jesus first.
[for more information on MTV and what it's doing to our kids, see http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/]