All in this Together: Put God First

by Devin Dummel

 

I was one of those kids who “grew up in church”, meaning if something was going on you could pretty much guarantee my family would be there.  Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights, worship services and pitch-ins, you name it we would be present. 

 

Because of this everything about going to church as a child kind of blurs together.  It’s hard to pick out any specific moments or lessons.  I remember flannel graph Jesus and being able to count on snacks each week.  I remember some sort of club called the “Whirly Birds” where we would memorize bible verses in order to receive plastic trinkets which were sowed onto a vest, kind of like boy scouts.  Unfortunately, that’s nearly all I remember about going to church as a young boy.

 But there was one lesson that has stayed with me from that time period.  I believe it’s stuck with me because of the mnemonic device attached to the teaching.  Maybe you’ve heard it before, it’s represented by the acronym – J-O-Y.

 The purpose of the “JOY” acronym is to teach and remind us of the proper priorities of relationships.  The “J” stands for our relationship with Jesus, and it should always come first.  The “O” is for others, reminding us to put others before ourselves.  Finally, the “Y” stands for you, emphasizing that we cannot neglect the internal relationship with ourselves.

 On the surface this may seem like a gimmick to teach children to be kind, but the reality is the “JOY” acronym is one of the easiest ways to ensure that all of our relationships are held in the proper place and are given what they need to grow in the way that God intended.

 

There is a story in the Old Testament, it can be found in Genesis 22.  It’s a story about relationships and the struggle to keep them in the right order.  Although it is an ancient story, it still speaks to us today.  Many of us find ourselves living and upside down or mixed up version of the “JOY” paradigm.  We live for our kids first; we put the needs of our spouse before God; we stress over the commands of our superiors at work while neglecting what God would have us do each day.

 

If you have found or do find yourself in a place where things seem upside down or out of whack, perhaps it’s because the priorities of your relationships aren’t in the proper perspective.

 

As God made the promise to Abraham to make him the father of a great nation that would change the world, He needed to be sure that Abraham kept things in the proper perspective. 

 

Sometime later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”  “Here I am,” he replied. Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”  

Genesis 22:1-2

When you begin to read this passage, it can be shocking.  How could a god – a good god – make a request like this?  I don’t know about you, but the thought of sacrificing or giving up one of my children for anything would shake me to my core.  I would rather die than let that happen.  I can’t imagine that night was an easy one for Abraham.  But early the next morning Abraham did exactly what God had asked and began his journey toward the mountain.

^"When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied. “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”  
Genesis 22:9-12

 In the most unbelievable of moments, Abraham was able to trust that God would provide.  He made the decision that his relationship to God was more important than any other relationship.  He decided that he could not live with himself if he was willing to disobey God.  If we are honest it’s hard to imagine that our faith would be strong enough to do make the same choice that Abraham made.

 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” 

Genesis 22:15-18

 

I know it seems backwards but if we want our lives to be blessed by God, if we want our families to thrive, if we want all of our relationships to be healthy and moving in the right direction – it happens when we place our relationship with God above everything else.  When every other relationship in our lives pales in comparison to our relationship with God that’s when we know we are doing it right.

 Many years later, Jesus was teaching the crowds and He said:

 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

Luke 14:26-27

Many of us claim to follow Jesus, we declare that we are His disciples and yet time and time again we choose relationships with other people over our relationship with Him.  In this same teaching, Jesus would go on to say:

 

“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

“Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.

Luke 14:28-33

We are all in this together – and our relationships and our world will be a much better place when each of us put Jesus before Others and You.  So, let’s make this world a better place.  Let’s count the cost and let’s make sure that our relationship with God takes the greatest priority today.