It is worth any price to abide with Christ in his kingdom, both now and on into eternity. As leaders, there is nothing more important than helping our followers grasp this truth.
Anything that leads us away from Jesus should be removed from our lives, forcefully, brutally if necessary. No matter how valuable, it is not more valuable than abiding with him. Jesus teaches this through the parables of the pearl of great price and the treasure in the field, by warning about the futility of gaining the whole world at the cost of one’s soul, and and in many other ways. In Matthew 9:42, Jesus teaches this through the visceral image of cutting off our body parts if they are leading us into sin. The context of this verse reveals that the particular sin Jesus is addressing here is pride. In 5:29-30 he used the same metaphor about lust.
The point is, whether it’s our important ministry or our guilty pleasures, if it distracts us from following Jesus, then we need to remove it from our lives. Whatever is most precious to us, even an arm, a leg, or an eye is not worth losing eternity with Jesus. It is not worth losing the intimacy of our abiding communion with him, which leads to joy, fruitfulness, peace, and so much more. This is not another attempt to try harder and do better. This is more like a marriage covenant motivated by love. In love, we choose to forsake all others and cling only to the one who holds our first affection: Jesus.
We have to teach this from the Scriptures, like those mentioned above, but that is not enough. We have to teach it by example, making clear from our choices that there is nothing is more precious to us than walking with Christ. The design of our worship and discipleship plans should reveal this priority and reinforce it. What good would it do for us to do everything else with excellence, but miss this point and find ourselves leading people in a way that causes them to miss entering the Kingdom of God?
How easily would those who follow us identify this as our first priority? What could we do to make this a greater priority in our hearts and in our ministry plans? What impact might this have on our leadership and ministries? What steps do you think God would have you start taking this week?