Philippians 3:4-11

What is most important in your life? Most of us will probably say something about God or Jesus. Yes, my first reaction was to say Jesus and the grace that He pours over us. We’re always so ready with the right answer.

But let’s be honest with ourselves and consider these questions:

• What can’t you do without?
• What is uppermost in your mind?
• What fills your day?
• Who do you talk to in your head?
• Where do you spend most of your time?
• When you get excited with your friends, what do you talk about?I don’t want to be fanatical and say we have to pray the whole day long. I also don’t mean to say that we have to stop doing all that we do each day and sit reading the Bible the whole day.

But when I look at these questions and look at my life, I realize that God and Jesus do not occupy a big part of my day. Then I realize that for most of the day I’m on my own.  I shift God to the side to first do my own thing. I must find a way to have God with me all the time.

I must say I do try hard. It doesn’t matter where I go and who asks me how I am, I always glorify God by saying: “With God’s grace, it is going …”

Because that is how it is. If not for God, we would certainly not be here anymore. If not for God, I would probably not have had a marriage anymore. If not for God, I would have killed myself by now. I’m not afraid to glorify God and to share it with others.

But Paul still bothers me today when he says: 8… Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him.

Is Jesus everything to you? Is Jesus everything to me?

Don’t answer too quickly. First look at what message your actions tell people. Look at the message of your words and how you treat other people. Who comes first in your head? You or the other person?

Is Jesus the beginning and the end of your life?

Lots of questions, hey?

I don’t have the answers to all of them and I don’t have a ten-point plan to make a success of your relationship with God. Maybe Paul’s words are a wake-up call to shake us out of our fool’s paradise.

Wake up, my friend, maybe Jesus and his cross is not so high on your priority list. Take God with you. Maybe we should talk to Him more, so that he can become a bigger part of our day-to-day lives.

Reflection

What can’t you do without?

What is uppermost in your mind?

What fills your day?

Who do you talk to in your head?

Where do you spend most of your time?

When you get excited with your friends, what do you talk about?

Prayer

Lord, I am guilty before you. Too many other things take your place. Please help me, Father, to get my priorities right and to put you first in everything. Amen