Priorities, Life, and Death

“And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it” (Lk. 17:26-33). I have to tell you my friend, there is only so much that can be preached, or taught, or written about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is no new ‘message’ for the end time, contrary to what so many want to believe. Jesus did not miss a single thing. He IS “the way, the truth, and the life,” even as he said (Jn. 14:6). He exemplified and taught EVERYTHING we need to know, and everything we need to do. In fact, he summed it up in two simplistic statements of absolute truth, and even those statements were nothing new: “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Mat. 22:37-40). The warning that Jesus issued in our text passage about the end time before his coming has everything to do with these two sayings. Loving God with all our heart, etc., and loving our neighbor as ourselves, is the only thing that will save us from the fate of Lot’s wife, who looked back when she was supposed to only look ahead. If we love God completely in our lives it is going to be demonstrated by our priorities. Everyone has priorities and everyone’s priorities speak for them loud and clear.

Jesus gave us the simple instruction on how to keep our priorities in a godly order: “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Mat. 6:31-33). The things of this life, which includes the people of this life, are the only things that we CAN prioritize with. Our prioritizing is something that comes from our heart, and we demonstrate it outwardly. If our relationship with Jesus, and our dealings with others, is not our top priority, it will surely tell on us eventually. Lot’s wife had allowed the things of this life to become bigger to her than they should have been, and she therefore had some regret about leaving it all behind. If we truly love God more than anyone or anything, and continually practice that in deed, then we will always be able to move forward with him no matter the cost. More often than not it is loved ones that get prioritized ahead of God in the lives of believers. Jesus gave us a sobering admonition that covers the bases on that topic as well: “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Mat. 10:37). We can say anything we feel like saying about what or who we love the most, but our conscience knows the truth if we will hear it, and God certainly is not ignorant in the matter. If we allow our relationship with ANYONE to deter us in any way from doing God’s will in our lives, then we are surely putting them ahead of God. I assure you of one thing my friend, neither you or I can afford to get it wrong, and we only have one shot to get it right. Jesus did not tell new testament believers to “remember Lot’s wife,” for the sake of drama. And he did not immediately say the following for drama’s sake either: “Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.” If you look at our text passage again, you will see that he covered everything in regard to what we could wrongly prioritize; and he made clear the stakes involved. All I can do is, with godly fear say AMEN to Jesus.