God's Priorities
Man, I loved what Mark Buckley had to say last Sunday in his sermon at Living Streams. He said we have to make sure we are keeping God’s priorities above our personal preferences. He mostly applied this to marriage and family, but it also applies so well in the realm of governing society—or as some refer to it, politics. So, if we, as followers of Christ, are to keep God’s priorities first and foremost, what are God’s priorities?
To me it’s pretty clear what God’s priorities are, because of consistent biblical teachings, consistent sociological findings, and reasonable historical and scientific proofs. God‘s priorities include:
loving the whole world, not just a certain country or state,
caring for the poor (fatherless, orphan, widow),
protecting the sanctity of sex (gender, marriage, family, unborn),
love (for the household of faith, neighbor, foreigner, enemy),
providing healing and counsel to the afflicted (medicine, insurance, and aid),
equality (race, gender, socio-economics, education, physical abilities),
caring for the environment,
authority and submission,
fighting against greed, pride and deceit.
There is no doubt God will judge us on how we go about these things. Though we can find ourselves disagreeing on the source of our problems as well as the solutions, and we can be overwhelmed by the size and nature of the problems, it is important to remember that God is with us.
A Brit who had spent his life as a missionary in India returned home to England in the late 1970’s to find all kinds of societal problems. His name is Leslie Newbigin. As Leslie looked at the size and nature of the problems, he remembered the plan of God for the Church. He wrote these wise words:
“If the gospel is to challenge the public life of our society… it will not be by forming a Christian political party, or by aggressive propaganda campaigns. …It will only be by movements that begin with the local congregation in which the reality of the new creation is present, known and experienced.”
This reminds me of the line from Joshua in the Bible book named after him. As he was commissioning the Israelites to live into the fullness of what God had given them as a nation, he set before them two ways they could go—one of blessing and one of cursing. Then, Joshua basically said, “It doesn’t matter to me what you all will do. It doesn’t matter to me what is popular or will get the most votes. It doesn’t matter how hard or easy it is for me.” He said, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
I pray we will humble our hearts before God, be grateful for all He has given us, and we will choose to serve His priorities with our own lives, our families’ lives, and whatever other institutions we are a part of.
Peace to you,
David
p.s. A Covid-19 update. After listening to Governor Ducey’s COVID-19 press conference on Wednesday, and debriefing with our direction team, we want to continue to ask our Living Streams church family to take this pandemic seriously, wear masks and social distance, stay home if you feel sick in any way, and self isolate if you have any of the vulnerable health conditions that COVID-19 attacks. I am thankful for the grace of God and the responsible, common sense actions of our church, which have allowed us to have in-person options for almost everything we do. Please keep praying for God’s covering over us and for humility and kindness to be the fragrance of everything we do. Read more about our policy here.