By Riley Nelson Minister Richmond Hill Church of Christ
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” (Matt. 6:33, 34).
It is amazing how important God is in the lives of some when they are having problems or sickness. They want God to help them; they want the preacher to pray to God for them. They may even make promises to God about how they will change their life if God will only get them through the tough time. In far too many cases as soon as the tough times are gone so are the thoughts about changing lives and following God.
The need for God should be seen each day, for it is God that gives us the blessing we have, even life itself. Yet when things are going well some seem to think they are doing everything for themselves and there is no need to think about God. They fail to realize just how much they need God. The people of Athens believed they needed a god, but they needed to hear about the God of heaven and that they needed Him. Paul said, “Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
Either religion is important to a person or it is not. Some use their families as an excuse not to worship God. Family comes to visit on Sunday at the worship hours and they say, “Oh, religion is important to me, I just do not want to hurt my families feeling by leaving them by themselves, besides we do not see each other that often, God will understand”. One day a long time ago, God’s Son, (His Family) was beaten, spit upon, mocked, and crucified. All this was done so man could have the salvation of his soul. It was real, not a fairy tale, the cross was wood, the nails metal, the agony was great. Christians are the family of God. When one of His children puts others before Him, it has to “hurt” His feelings. The Hebrew writer wrote, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb. 10:25-31).
Love for family is taught in God’s word, and must be practiced. However love for God must come first even above our love for our families. Satan will try and use anything or anyone to put a stumbling block before those seeking to follow God. This should never be allowed to happen. When the occasions comes up where such a decision must be made think about who is most important and remember, “God is most important”.