God, Lord of our Lives

Was not thinking of blogging but absolutely must get this idea recorded.

In the book 'Your work matters to God' by Doug Sherman and William Hendricks, Chp 13 'Living for the Weekend' has this idea that blows my hierarchical mind:

"If you've been around Christian teaching in our culture for very long, you've undoubtedly heard reference to a hierarchy of priorities. This hierarchy says that in your life you should put Christ first, your marriage and family second, your church third, people fourth and so on.....

While this hierarchy has some value, let me suggest that it is both unbiblical and inadequate as a model for life. Its value lies in its usefulness for tradeoffs. For example, if your choice is between achieving a major career success but losing your family in the process, then biblically you would need to sacrifice your career success and give preference to maintaining a healthy family. Thus the hierarchy is somewhat useful.

.....

The point is that Jesus must be brought in on everything we do- our family lives, our jobs, our friendships with neighbours, our play, our hobbies, our sex lives, our conflicts, our politics, our financial decisions- everything! He is not simply the first of many demands to be satisfied. He is a Person who intends to walk through life with us.

.....

I mean that we need to live every aspect of our lives purposefully, with an eye toward how it might be affected by something He has said, and how it will please or displease Him. We need not be neurotic about this, but simply reflective and intent on carrying out what He wants.

So if we're going to have a list, then Christ shouldn't even be on the list. He should be the Lord over everything on the list."

I don't know about you, but wow, this was something new to me.