Day 169: God Isn't a Good 2nd Place Finisher

Mark 12:28-44; 1 Kings 4-5; Hosea 7:3-16

The first and greatest commandment is to love God with all of our heart, soul, and mind. As Christians we know this, it's in our brain, but how often do I not live like this? We need to love God with our hearts and lives and THEN love our friends, family, neighbors, coworkers. God is not a good second place finisher. This means that I need to love The Lord and serve him, MORE than I love my husband, my family, my friends. I need to follow God's will for my life MORE than I listen to the input from my husband, family, my friends. I challenge us to take a look at our lives and figure out what holds the primary spot of importance. Is it ourselves? Our family? or God?

I find it very interesting that Jesus says that the religious leaders will be punished most of all. Say what?! The religious people? But they are so "religious," right? This is a dangerous misconception that our American society has adopted. Religion has nothing to do with a relationship, and everything to do with rituals. Through rituals people try to earn a spot in heaven by following guidelines; a relationship has to do with learning, growing, following, living. The reason that Jesus says these religious people will be punished most of all is because they know the truth, and yet they abuse it and the people around them. Then you have people like the widow in the story who gives two small coins, but Jesus praises her because she sacrificed all that she had for The Lord. This story is directly related to the previous thoughts. Want to know what people care about most? If we love God more than anything else, our giving will be the first thing out of our paycheck every month. If I love God with all my heart, I will be generous with my money, not stingy or greedy. If people love God with everything they are, they will sacrifice their finances for The Lord. What people do with their money is a great indicator of what they care about. And since we are to care about The Lord first, our money needs to go to him first.

Solomon had it going on. His kingdom was at peace, they were well provided for, and he had lots of stuff. He also was really wise; so wise that people would travel all over the world just to listen to him teach. And where did he get all of that? God. One of the really interesting things that Solomon does is how he works his workers. Each region provided food for him--for only one month of the year. They had eleven months where they could focus solely on themselves. Then, the workers that were to cut trees for the temple worked one month and had TWO months off. If people only worked 1/3 of the time, or even 1/12th of the time, bosses everywhere would freak out. So instead, our society overworks in overtime in overdrive. Are we that much more productive? Maybe. But Solomon recognized that people needed breaks. He had to power to say, "you are going to work 23 1/2 hours a day!" and they would have to, until they died of exhaustion. But he didn't do that. He didn't need to. He wasn't in a hurry to get done, because he trusted God and cared about his people.

I cannot help but hear "America" when I read these passages in Hosea. The people are angry, they have turned from God, they plot against him, they cry out in pain to other gods. We need to take note as a nation and stop living for other junk.