In the Victorian era of England Artist Sigismund Goetze shocked the country with a painting entitled "Despised and Rejected of Men." In his painting he portrayed the suffering, condemned Jesus surrounded by people of Goetez's own generation.
They were so consumed by their own interests business, romance, politics, and pleasure that they were distressingly oblivious to the Savior's sacrifice. Unmindful to Christ at the foot of the cross the sounding crowd had no idea who or what they had missed. In our day as well, believers and unbelieves alike can easily become distracted from the savior.
Mark 4:18-19 18And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, 19And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
So many things are ready to jump right into your life and demand your time and commitment. If we are not vigilant the adversary will latch on to us like the parasite he is, and drain us to the point that we won't have time or energy for the things of God.
Matthew 6:31-33 31Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
In order to seek God first you need to make a decision. A decision is to make a choice about something. You must choose if you don't the devil will choose for you. Understand no decision is a decision. It's a decision not to choose.
James 1:8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
To decide is to make a final choice or judgement about something.
I'd like to talk to you about a value judgement. A value judgement is a judgement based on the value you assign to something. Thus your decision is based on how much value you place on the person, place or thing involved.
If you value your family more than you value your bowling team, then you will do whatever is necessary to make sure your family is cared for. If that means quitting the team then you know what you will do? You will quit. It all depends on what you value the most.
Most of us make value judgements every day. Now we all come across emergencies and unexpected interruptions in life, there will always be exceptions. But in general when we decide to do something or go somewhere {in this context} it's a value judgement that we make.
Remember, I told you that we all have interruptions in life; did you ever stop to think that God could interrupt your life?
Did it ever occur to you that God would deliberately interrupt you and ask you to do something he wants you to do? That He would give you an opportunity to choose to serve him? You will respond to him in light of how much value to put on his request.
If the church is having a prayer night and you want to play cards with the boys you know what you will do? You will choose whatever you place a higher value on. Look, don't kid yourself you do what you do and choose what you choose because you place a value on it. If you value playing cards and drinking beer with the boys greater than going to prayer night you most likely will be playing cards.
You see to say "let's get our priorities straight" is sometimes too vague. But when we understand that we choose to do the things we do because of the value we place on them that personalizes it. It's no longer a "get your priorities straight," it now becomes a "do you place a higher value on sitting around drinking with the boys than you do attending church?"
Let me show you this in the word.
Luke 10:30-37 30 And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. 33But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, 34And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. 36Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? 37And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.
In this parable God interrupted the priest in verse 31. Now the priest is put in a position to make a decision. God will do this to you throughout your life. He will interrupt your nominally scheduled life and give you an opportunity to acknowledge and serve him, many times by serving others.
There are many records we could turn to in the scriptures to illustrate this point I will only give in light of the brevity of this article.
Exodus 3:1-4 1Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. 2And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. 3And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. 4And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.
Moses was living life and keeping the flock like he did every other day. Nothing special about this day except God decided to interrupt Moses' normally scheduled life that day. It wasn't until Moses said, "I will now turn" that God spoke to him and called him. He didn't say, "I might, or if it's there after lunch I'll check it out he said I will NOW turn aside." And you see that's the only proper response to God. Now! Well you know the rest of the story. This changed Moses' life forever.
I wonder how many people missed their chance to serve God because they didn't want to be interrupted from their normally scheduled life.
A decision that altered the life of Moses forever, Paul on the road to Damascus, Cornelius of the Italian band, Peter receiving the vision to go to the Gentiles, Ananias and Saul, the apostles called by the master and so on. All were interrupted by God: all who turned aside and all whose lives were changed forever.
Luke 10:30-31 30A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
The priest, when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. You know why? Because it was more important to him to get to where he was going then to help someone in need. God gave him a chance to decide and he did. He placed more value on his personal agenda than the opportunity to demonstrate the love of God (who by the way a God he was supposed to be representing) and help someone. The scribe did the same.
The Samaritan however, when faced with the same decision helped. Because he placed a higher value on human life than he did on his own journey. God didn't cause the man to be robbed so he could give an opportunity to these three men we spoke of. They made a choice based on what they valued the most. The Samaritan valued life and mercy that's why he helped.
Let's not be numbered in the crowd at the bottom of the cross that Goetze painted. Don't let the devil tell you that you're too busy for God. Next time you need to make a decision take a minute and think it through in light of what you value most.
You will never be the poorer when you choose God, for He will always provide you with whatever is needed to see it through. Don't miss your chance to make a difference. You will find that God's interruptions will give you a chance to grow and serve in His kingdom
Note: All scripture is from the King James Version unless otherwise noted. NIV indicates The New International Version, NKJV indicates the New King James Version, ASV means the American Standard Version, BBE means the Bible in Basic English, DBY means the Darby translation, NAU means the American Standard Version, 1995 Edition, and NAB means the New American Bible translation. For more information, go to the Works Cited page.