First Things First

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[b]? 28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6: 25-34

The state of our union in America is causing many people to worry about our future as a nation. Too many Americans are unemployed, possess upside down mortgages on their homes, feel insecure about future terror attacks, are concerned about the state of health care, and worried about their retirement plans. It seems that we are living in a time period of our nation’s history when it is legitimate to worry.

However, in this passage of Scripture, Jesus teaches us that we should not worry. With so much uncertainty in our world today, how can we live a worry free life? This blog will address this issue.

Three Ways To Live a Worry Free Life:

1. Make Christ and His Kingdom your first pursuit.

Jesus teaches that our Heavenly Father feeds the birds of the air and clothes the lilies of the field. Neither the birds nor the lilies have ever had to worry about God providing for them. Reminding people of this fact, Jesus instructs them that they are much more valuable than birds and grass. Therefore, we should have great confidence that our Heavenly Father will take care of us.

Possessing this confidence allows us to focus on what is most important: seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. When we are insecure about how our heavenly Father will provide for us, it causes us to seek first the material things of this world. Pursuing the wrong things, thinking they can take the place of God in our lives, leads to unhappiness and stress.

2. Rearrange your priorities so you can seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

It has been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results. Many people know they need to change the way they are living, but are unwilling to rearrange their priorities to make a necessary life change a reality. Therefore, they stay stuck in the same old situation as time passes them by. These people end up missing the will of God for their lives.

18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him. 21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. Matthew 4:18-22

Many of Jesus’ disciples made mistakes as they followed Him during His ministry time on earth. John and James possessed selfish ambition and had to learn servant leadership. Peter lacked revelation and denied the Lord. However, one thing they consistently did right was they never stopped following Jesus. When Jesus called them, they immediately left their nets, boats and father to follow Him. In other words, they rearranged their priorities to walk with their Lord.

3. Write down your plans and calendar them.

If you are serious about rearranging or ordering your priorities so that you know you are seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, then it is essential to write down your plans and plug them into your calendar. It is also important you learn how to say no to things or activities that hinder your walk with the Lord.

Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. Proverbs 16:3

In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps. Proverbs 16:9

The Lord guarantees our success when we commit whatever we do to Him. Committing our plans to the Lord is how we make sure our motives are pure. Too often we want God to bless our personal agenda or selfish ambitions. When we commit our plans to the Lord with a pure heart, He will determine and direct our steps by keeping us in the center of His will. Living in obedience to God’s will is the only way to possess peace.

Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21

It is humanly impossible to know if all of our plans are from the Lord. However, we can trust in the sovereignty of God, knowing His providential hand is guiding us in His purpose, as we commit our plans to Him. We don’t have to worry about figuring everything out; we just have to keep the heavenly Father’s kingdom first in our heart.

Do you have first things first in your life?

We Need More Than Rules

The weather temperature is dropping and the sounds of the Seminole war chant are in the air in Tallahassee, Florida. The Fall semester is officially here and with it the college football season. Each Fall, beginning in September, brings with it a sense of expectation and excitement. All day tailgates are a reminder that there is no college sports environment quite like NCAA football.

Leading up to this season, college football has been plagued with scandals and probations. Create a scenario where you compete against your rivals, have millions of dollars at stake, tens of thousands of rowdy fans that demand victory, coaches’ jobs on the line every year, and you have a perfect "recipe for rules infractions".

Most notably are the incidents that happened at Ohio State University and the University of Miami. Both programs are suffering from violating rules involving recruiting and illegal player compensation. It seems many college football programs are “gaining the whole world while losing their soul”.

A couple of weeks ago I was watching a roundtable discussion on ESPN with former Florida Gator’s coach Urban Meyer and some current prominent college football coaches. The topic of discussion was about how to punish programs that initiate and allow activity that breaks NCAA rules and policies. There seemed to be a consensus from the panel that the NCAA should make more rules and enforce them more strictly. This was their solution to stopping a problem that has tainted college football for quite some time.

While I appreciated their passion and commitment to uphold, enforce and improve NCAA college football rules, I couldn’t help but think about how the Bible reminds us that rules have never stopped people from participating in inappropriate conduct.

Think about it, even the Ten Commandments, couldn’t keep the Israelites from sinning and rebelling against God’s laws. God was never surprised that commandments, rules and laws didn’t change people’s behavior. These were never God’s final remedy for the sinful condition of human nature. God’s law was a schoolmaster intended to guide them to something, or should I more accurately write someone, much greater and more powerful.

Galatians 3:4 says, “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” (KJV)

Apostle Paul, the writer of Galatians, uses a metaphor in this verse about the Jewish law, the Greek word “paedagogos” which was in ancient Greece, a trustworthy attendant for children.

The “schoolmaster” in the historical context of this Scripture was not the teacher, but rather the slave, who cared for the master’s son from around the age of 6 or 7 until they reached puberty. The servant, usually elderly, would escort the child to school and care for his safety in his immaturity, seeing that this child too was his master. Once the child grew up, he was no longer required to obey his servant.

The technical duty of the attendant, according to historians, was to guard the children from evil, both physical and moral, rather than instruction. He went with them to and from the school and gymnasium, and was personably responsible for their safety and protected them from any bad company.

This is striking imagery of how the Law was primarily given for a certain purpose as an attendant to lead us to Jesus, who is the real teacher. Paul makes it clear that the Law was never given to teach us (we could never obey it), but rather it was an instructor pointing to the One who is the only teacher, Jesus!

When Jesus ministered on earth, He did not give people more rules and laws. Instead, he summed up our whole purpose in life with one “big idea” statement: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself”. All the Law hangs on this one “big idea” (Matthew 22:37-40).

More NCAA rules will never change the corrupt activity in major college football, just as more laws in our society will never keep people from committing crimes. Our only hope for this nation, and our only hope for the future of college football, is people who love Jesus with all their heart, soul, mind and strength. These people are the ones who have repented of their sins, put their faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and have received a new righteous nature.

Wouldn’t it be refreshing to have more of these people leading our nation, our college football programs, and competing on the gridirons across our country? I think of a guy like Tony Dungy, the former coach of the Indianapolis Colts, who won the Super Bowl doing things the right way. According to Dungy, the key to his success was following Jesus as his Lord and Savior. He won the most prestigious prize in pro football free of scandals and violations. More college coaches need to follow his example.

College football has created a “recipe for rules infractions”, and only Jesus Christ (not more rules) can change the content and intent of the ingredients!