Is Jesus Our First Priority?

Richard Thetford

Jesus promises us that if we will confess Him before others, then He will confess us before His Father in heaven. However, if we deny Him before others then He will deny us before His Father in heaven (Matthew 10:32-33). It is not easy to be a Christian. Christians cannot blend in with the world. It may be that we will need to make some very difficult decisions in order to maintain our fellowship with Christ. Serving Christ in all aspects of our life may mean that we have to be enemies with our very own household. Listen to the words of Jesus: "For I have come to 'set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law'; and 'a man's enemies will be those of his own household.' He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it" (Matthew 10:35-39). Jesus is teaching us that our love, devotion, and loyalty must be for Him, even above our own family members. There is a strong bond of love that usually exists within our physical family, but Jesus said the bond between us and Him must be stronger. When we made the most important decision of our life to be baptized into Christ we made a commitment to be one with Him. That decision means that we cannot let our family, friends, and things of this world interfere with our love and service to Jesus. Can others truly see in each of us that our first priority is Jesus? God certainly knows the answer to that question (2 Corinthians 5:10; John 12:48).