I had two conversations yesterday that struck me; struck me by the shortsightedness and carelessness of the people in question, Christians, regarding the value of their existence and eternity.
For people who say they believe they will one day find themselves with God, we put very little effort into preparing for it; our entire focus is on improving our earthly living conditions. Yet, we regularly read passages that speak of seeking first the kingdom of God and the rest will be added to us. In other words, when priorities are right, God takes care of the rest. But the rest has become the priority, which explains the difficulty many Christians have in achieving it. We are doubly losing out.
When someone tells me they are too busy to go to church to worship God, I see someone who either does not yet know God or suffers from a chronic deficit of spiritual intelligence. We cannot know God and allow ourselves to say we have better things to do than worship and serve Him. This is reducing ourselves to slavery while God seeks to elevate us to the status of worshippers, friends who contemplate his face. It is picking up the crumbs that fall from the table instead of sitting down to enjoy delicacies.
It is to live in total indifference to God's mission on earth. I was telling someone on Sunday, God comes first, and my other activities must be organized in such a way as not to conflict with my commitment to serve Him. We must render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's.
This is the difference between a worshipper and a profiteer.
