Follow Jesus and Put God’s Kingdom First

Pray – (1/2 minutes)

Read – (2 1/2 minutes) – “He said to another man, ‘Follow me.’ But the man replied, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’ ” (Luke 9:59-60)
   Passage: Matthew 6:25-33

         Throughout Jesus’ public ministry, there were other people who followed Him besides the twelve He chose as His inner core of disciples. This man was one of those. He had probably been joining Jesus off and on as He traveled. Jesus’ call to him was to follow full time. The man’s request to do that after the funeral for his father sounds reasonable – if his father had just passed away. That wasn’t the case. If it was, Jesus certainly would have encouraged it, because God calls on us to honor our parents. This man was saying that he would follow Jesus fully after his father died, which may have been a distant time.
        The issue that kept this man from being all he could be was his priority. Jesus was not negating the importance of family. He was pointing out when you determine to make the kingdom of God your priority, everything else will come along and fall in line. God cares about every area of your life, from what you wear, what you eat, where you live and the family you have. Put Him first and He’ll guide you in handling all the rest.           

‍Apply - (2 1/2 minutes)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Pray - (1 1/2 minutes)