Aug 31 2024 25 mins
Is What You “SAY” About Your Priorities In Alignment with What You “DO”?
MESSAGE SUMMARY:
From the Gospel of Luke (Luke 12:32-48): Our Life’s Priorities
A Priority is a preference or a precedence established by order or urgency. Your priorities are reflected in your actual behavior and actions not by what you say are your priorities. In other words, is your “say” in alignment with your “do”? In Luke 12:32-48, Jesus is speaking to His priorities for us. Jesus begins this passage in Luke 12 by telling those in attendance, followers of Jesus like us, that He has given them His Kingdom. Also, Jesus defined our priorities for being in His Kingdom. We are created to become like Jesus – we were made for a mission. We need to be in a personal relationship with God so that we know what His priorities and His will are for us.
Luke 12:32-48 speaks to two priorities of the Kingdom: 1) Luke 12:33-40 – “being a ready follower of Jesus”; and 2) Luke 12:41-48 – “being a responsible steward of the Kingdom”. Are we ready to follow Jesus, and do we make ourselves available to follow Jesus – is being ready for Jesus our priority? Are we afraid to be ready for Jesus when He has given us the Kingdom? In this passage from Luke 12:32-48, Jesus gives us three things that provide a context for following Him: 1) be ready to give; 2) be ready to go; and 3) be ready to greet the Master.
To be a “responsible steward”, is not so much “what we have been given as our charge: rather, the focus of our “stewardship responsibility” should be what we do with our charge. It is a deep privilege to know what God wants us to do, but if we are not ready to follow God’s will for us while being a good steward, our priorities are not in alignment with God’s priorities. God’s justice is based on our knowledge and obedience, and we are accountable for what we know. God wants to bless us; but when we refuse to follow His will, we miss out on His blessings for us.
TODAY’S PRAYER: Keeping the Sabbath, Lord, will require a lot of changes in the way I am living life. Teach me, Lord, how to take the next step with this in a way that fits my unique personality and situation. Help me to trust you with all that will remain unfinished and to enjoy my humble place in your very large world. In Jesus’ name, amen. Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day (p. 129). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM RIGHTEOUS IN GOD’S EYES. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21
SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Luke 12:32-48; Romans 14:7-9; 1 John 3:17; Psalms 39:1-13.
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