The Most Important Thing

"The most important thing is that the most important thing REMAINS the most important thing."- old German proverb.

"And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?" (Mk 12:28)

This scribe asked a very important question, "which is most important"? It's interesting how the Lord answered this question. He didn't rebuke him and say, "Why are you asking this? They are all important!" or any other dodge. He accepted the question and answered him straight up...

"Jesus answered, 'The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ " (Mark 12:29)

Jesus is clearly acknowledging that some things are more important than others and that one thing is very important. In this case it's our love and devotion to God.

For the Christian, the issue of priorities is huge. There are so many things distracting us from Him day to day. Just when we think we have a handle on keeping Christ first, something will creep in and take His place in our hearts. The last verse in the book in 1 John says, "My little children keep away from idols". I suppose anything that takes God's place in your Christian life can be an idol. We commit our life to Christ. We clean up our act and take extraordinary measures to get rid of anything that would tempt us or seduce us back to the old lifestyle. This is done in prayer as a type of consecration to God. As time goes by life gets more complicated: dating, marriage, children, jobs, pressure, financial responsibility, and church activities. 

What is a Christian to do? How can you keep Christ first in your life? What practical processes can ensure that we are loving the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength?

If you believe Brother Lawrence in his little book, "The Practice of the Presence of God" you would conclude that keeping Christ first in your life is less a matter of time management or handling multiple demands and more a matter of keeping your heart right. In this devotional gem he comments on the problem we all face in the busyness of life:

"We should establish ourselves in a sense of God's presence by continually conversing with Him. It is a shameful thing to quit His conversation to think of trifles and fooleries. Useless thoughts spoil all; mischief begins there. We ought to reject them as soon as we perceive their impertinence and return to our communion with God. One way to re-collect the mind easily in the time of prayer and preserve it more in tranquillity, is not to let it wander too far at other times. When the mind, for want of being sufficiently reduced by recollection at our engaging in devotion, has contracted certain bad habits of wandering and dissipation, they are difficult to overcome. They commonly draw us, even against our will, to the things of the earth. I believe one remedy for this is to confess our faults and to humble ourselves before God."- Brother Lawrence

According to Brother Lawrence, a French monk from the 15th century, the cure for a wondering mind is to reign in the heart. Jesus advised us in a similar fashion when we said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness." The full context of this passage proves that the Lord understood well the demands of life and the distractions we face...

"Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." (Mt 6:31-33)

When the Lord points out that "the Gentiles seek after all these things", He is contrasting the Gentiles' style of life with the way we should live, as His followers. We are to stop thinking, worrying, and striving after all the earthly concerns and begin seeking after God Himself and His righteousness. That takes a change of heart, and an attitude of repentence.

Now, I know there are many practical things a person can do in their everyday life to keep Christ first, but these things follow after we have done serious business with God. Business where we repent from our preoccupation with the temporal and turn towards the eternal.

We need to get serious with God and take time on a regular basis to think these things over.

After all, what could be more important than keeping the most important thing the most important thing?