OUR PRIORITIES MATTER

 

 

 

“How much” questions continue to haunt us:

 

·       How long should I pray? How often?

·       For how long should I meditate on the Scriptures?

·       How much money should I give for the Lord’s work?

 

They continue to trouble us because we cannot find any precise answer for them in the Scriptures. A similar question continues to arise today as many pastors are being criticized because their lifestyles or incomes seem to be extravagant. Where should we draw the line?

 

It is not an easy question. Some critics will charge that if the pastor really cared about the poor and about the Gospel, he would live modestly. Others will argue that wealth is entirely acceptable to God since He had granted wealth to many of His faithful children like Abraham and Job. Meanwhile, others will point out that Jesus had lived very modestly, even though he had the power to make abundant gourmet meals just appear.

 

However, I think that there is a principle that can break the impasse: “What standard of living will promote the Gospel? What standard will hinder the Gospel and dishonor our Lord?”

 

First, our priorities must be right. God must be first in our lives. Wealth itself is not an evil. Instead, seeking wealth and success before God is evil. Jesus had taught:

 

·       Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Matthew 10:37–39)

 

When Jesus is our first concern, we are His first concern (Matthew 6:33). While Jesus was teaching, a man asked Him to have his brother divide the inheritance with him. Jesus’ responded with a parable, which demonstrated that he had the wrong priorities. He was trusting in wealth instead of in the Lord:

 

·       “But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:20–21)

 

When God is not first, our ministry will suffer. Paul had explained that he would not insist on his own rights if it might harm a brother:

 

·       Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble. (1 Corinthians 8:13)

 

Therefore, if our freedom might tempt a brother into violating his conscience, we mustn’t do it! Does this same principle also pertain to living a lavish lifestyle? We might have the right to fly in our private Lear Jet and own three mansions, but will it promote the Gospel or hinder it? Will it cause our brethren to set their hearts on the wrong thing?

 

·       But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. (1 Timothy 6:9–10)

 

While wealth can be used to serve our Lord, the love of wealth will turn us and those who respect us away from the Gospel. This love sends the wrong message – that our treasures are here on earth.

 

For the sake of the Lord and the brethren, Paul even forwent the support to which he was entitled:

 

·       If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more? Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. (1 Corinthians 9:11–12)

 

Paul had been concerned that if he had insisted on an income, it might have discredited and impeded his ministry. Today, the Gospel is held in disrepute because of our lifestyles, especially those of many church leaders. Instead, more than ever, we have to show the world that we are sold-out for the Gospel:

 

·       For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. (2 Thessalonians 3:7–9)

 

Paul had a right to receive support, but for the sake of the Gospel, he “worked night and day” to support himself. The Christian leader must be a model of this kind of servanthood.

 

I must confess that, as I write this, I shudder and am forced to cry out, “Lord, make me a model of servanthood for others. Let my life demonstrate that my treasure is not in this world but in the next for Your glory sake.”