God's priorities - different from ours?

Jesus was a radical. He was a non-conformist who challenged the views of just about everyone He came into contact with. His life and teaching was different from most people. As God, He was showing us God's way. He said crazy things like "love your enemies", and "store up your treasures in heaven". 

I don't know if it's entirely legitimate to try and sum up all of Jesus' teachings about life in one word, but if I could I might choose the word "priorities". I think Jesus taught us that the priorities we humans generally accept and live by are considerably different from what God says should be important to us.

Every Christmas it seems there is a "must have" toy. Are you old enough to remember parents frantically searching and willing to pay any price to get their hands on a Cabbage Patch Doll? Maybe you are more from the Tickle Me Elmo generation. Every year it's something, and I learned this week that the toy every good parent just has to buy for their children this year is the "Hatchimal". It's a giant egg that, as the child plays with it, decides to "hatch". It lights up and the shell opens and inside is a furry little creature that does wonderful things.

The only reason I know this is that I saw a news report the other day where parents lined up from 4:00 am for a chance to buy one of the last Hatchimals expected in the toy store before Christmas. A few people were there looking for an opportunity to re-sell the $70 toy, currently available on Ebay for $250 and more. Most were parents willing to go to extraordinary lengths to make sure their child would be one of the privileged few to open a Hatchimal on Christmas morning. One parent with tears in her eyes shared how important it was that her daughter be happy, and apparently a self hatching stuffed bird is the key to that happiness.

This would all be really absurd if it weren't simply an example of a problem most of us have. We have lost our sense of what's important. Our priorities and God's priorities for us are way out of line. Here's what James had to say about that.

"You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."

You might assume I am talking about the human tendency to want more and more money and bigger and better stuff. That's part of it of course, but it goes way beyond that. Why do so many married people have affairs? Because their selfish desire for something they don't have is more important than the people who will be hurt. Why do people lie and cheat and treat other people badly in the workplace? Because they want more power or prestige and that's worth more than whatever collateral damage they cause to themselves and others. 

Do Christians have priority problems? 

Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God with all of our heart, soul, and mind. He said the second is to love our neighbour as ourselves. If these were really the guiding principles of our lives, think how they would affect our priorities. 

• we would spend time praying, and reading the Bible, and really getting to know God
• we would want God's will for our lives, ahead of our own plans
• we would act in ways we know please God instead of doing what feeds our selfish desires
• we would put the needs of others at least on a par with our own
• we would give God his rightful place in our families, instead of a token acknowledgement 
• we would teach our children what's really importatant, instead of teaching them that happiness comes from opening a Hatchimal at Christmas
• we would give God his rightful place in our schedules instead of being so busy with our own priorities that there is no time left for God
• we would invest our time and resources in things that are eternal instead of the stuff we will leave behind
• we would treat others the way we want to be treated instead of always wanting to get our own way

Since I've used the "must have" toy as an illustration, I want to tell you a story. When we lived in Edmonton we were good friends with a couple that earned more money than just about anyone else in our church. The dad grew up as a missionary kid in Africa, and both he and his wife had inherited a healthy set of Godly priorities. The time of my story was during the Cabbage Patch craze and they had a daughter exactly in the age group that was crazy over the dolls. We went to their house at Christmas and were surprised to be joined by two homeless men Brian encountered and invited for Christmas dinner. During our visit the daughter was very pleased to show us her "Cabbage Patch" doll, which wasn't a Cabbage Patch at all, but a cheaper copy she was just as happy with. These are just examples of how they lived every day.

It's been a long time and we haven't been in touch with that family for many years, but I will always remember and respect them as a couple who had their priorities right, and consciously built those priorities into their children. 

We have a culture that promotes selfishness, and a God who promotes selflessness. I'm faced with a choice, and so are you. Which one are you buying into? Which one are you teaching your children? Are God's priorities reflected in your life and family?