My Daily Journal:
What is THE most important thing? What is the ONE thing that over-rides everything else?
Many manufacturing companies list Safety as the #1 objective. Nothing ever trumps safety. For other organization it may be honor, for others service above self. For being a christian, a Christ follower, it means Christ is #1. Anything we put ahead of Christ means that Christ is not #1. We must leave our old lives behind, our old way of doing things and our trust in the comfortable things we thought we knew before learning the real truth.
Does that mean Christ is in-compassionate to families and death? Absolutely not. Look at His response in John 11:33 in the family’s mourning of Lazareth. But He does mean that even this most extreme and basic thing – feeling sorrow for the loss of a loved one, cannot be placed as something above God.
Following Jesus means He is out in front of you. This is not easy. I grow impatient and rush ahead, looking in my rear-view mirror for Jesus to “have my back.” But that is not following. That is trying to drive forward using the rear view mirror. That is an accident waiting to happen. If that were how a bus driver operated their bus, they would be unfit for their job. If that is how we live as christians, we are unfit for service. But it means patience. It means waiting on God’s timing and following Him even into places and things that I am not comfortable doing on my own. That would mean relying on Him first and only!
My Answers:
10.
a.
Following Christ is not an occupation. The church may compensate and support individuals in ministry, but it is not like the teachers in the synagogue who received housing, room and board for their adherence to the law
b.
What do you put first in your life? God or something else – if tell God to wait, then He is not first
c.
No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God
11.
a.
It must be first in your life, nothing is of a higher priority, not family, not self – It is not for personal gain or comfort, but it is a calling and it is work
b.
My rewards for my ministry are not on this world. I need to be more patient and wait on the Lord. I need to put Him alone above and before everything.
The Notes are Good 