I feel like a lot of us hear “first fruits going to God” from the Bible and it translates into the idea of giving 10% of our income back to
God by tithing. The money is
supposed to go first, ahead of other spending or budget concerns.
God
has given us stewardship of much more than just money, however. Every Christian is created with skills
and abilities and given spiritual gifts by God, different things that they are
meant to use to help others as we follow Him. There are times, though, when following God as our first
plan of action becomes a challenge for us.
“[Jesus]
said to another man, “Follow me.”
But
he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
Jesus
said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the
kingdom of God.” -
At first glance it looks like Jesus is being pretty harsh; is there really such fault in
wanting to care for loved ones? But perhaps he has simply put his finger on the exact stumbling block for this
particular man. Maybe the man’s father had not just died, but instead the man meant that he
wanted to wait until his father grew older and passed away before he joined
Jesus.
Whatever
the case, he wanted to follow Jesus, just not first.
We're not any different. If we were honest with ourselves, could we fill in what it is that we put a higher priority on than God?
What's our own “Lord,
first let me ____________________”?