Let me be the first to tell you, I have the best family in the world. I’m sure you’ll say the same the thing about your family. It’s good that we think that way. It says that we love the people we spend most of our time with. We look forward to getting home after school or work just to spend time in their company. But you know what? My family shouldn’t come first when I have choices to make. Sometimes the choices I make will mean that my family disagrees with me. Sometimes it will mean that my family thinks I’m being unfair or unkind or unwise. That’s often what happens when people put God first. It’s one of the consequences of endeavouring to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and strength.”

When you endeavour to put God first – to love Him with the kind of love that is rightfully His, others may feel put out.

Jesus’ earthly family felt put out I’m sure, when He taught that His eternal family weren’t necessarily His flesh and blood family. If his flesh and blood family chose a different path to the one He was walking, they’d be eternally separated. Love of Jesus trumps all other loves. It trumps the love I have for my wife. It trumps the love I have for my children. And most of all, it trumps the love I have for myself. And if it doesn’t, it should. I still reckon I have the best family in the world. They just don’t happen to be at the very centre.

Pastor Duncan