"... but they first gave themselves to the Lord,"
When priorities are properly set, everything else seems to naturally fall into place. "First things first", it's often been said. But what is first, and what does it mean to put that thing first? When I was a young teenager I often heard people say, "God first, family second...", etc... I look back on that now and it feels and sounds like a platitude. This I need to figure out, however, because it's haunting me at the moment.
No doubt there's truth in the saying I heard as a young boy because that's what the Scriptures teach. The Macedonians "first gave themselves to the Lord." I wonder what that looked like. I sort of envision it like this; a Greyhound racer constantly has a lure in front of its nose as it runs around the track. There's nothing that's going to distract it from its focus. That lure is just far enough in front of the dog that it never quite reaches it. On the one hand, it's frustrating, but on the other hand the dog has eternal hope that it will at some moment clasp onto it's prey and enjoy the longing it's so desperately desired. And yet at the same time the dog is almost as equally satisfied just running after its prey because this exercise is precisely what it was created to do.
It's the pursuit, not the prize that matters in this lifetime. The prize is promised, it's guaranteed. Now I must run with all my gusto with my nose pointed forward, gasping with every breath to make it to the finish line. All other distractions must be set aside. First things first? Jesus, my love, ever before my face. Look at Him, see Him, hear Him, touch Him, smell Him, love Him.
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