Getting Priorities Straight

OT: Ezra 3
NT: Matthew 22:36-38

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Ezra 3: 8-9 — In the second month of the second year after their arrival at the house of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Jeshua son of Jozadak and the rest of their brothers (the priests and the Levites and all who had returned from the captivity to Jerusalem) began the work, appointing Levites twenty years of age and older to supervise the building of the house of the LORD. Jeshua and his sons and brothers and Kadmiel and his sons (descendants of Hodaviah) and the sons of Henadad and their sons and brothers — all Levites — joined together in supervising those working on the house of God.

Everyone has to set priorities. Some people put a lot of thought into which things they do first. Others just do whatever is easiest first and save the harder stuff for last. In either case, when we decide to do things becomes our priority structure. When the Jews returned from exile, led by Zerubbabel, the heir of David whose family had been stripped of its official royal position, and Jeshua, the high priest, they had to set priorities for their resettlement of the land. For 70 years the land lay wasted and largely empty. Now the remnant of Judah had returned. So what did they do? Well, things take time and after settling into homes, the leaders decided the religious practice of the nation needed to resume. Gone were the pagan idols and practices from the Jewish liturgy. God took care of that desire with the painful exile to Babylon.

What Zerubbabel and Jeshua (and later, Ezra) knew is that the nation needed to be focused on the Lord once again. So they made the engagement of the Law of Moses and its worship system the top priority. The cornerstone of a new temple was laid and the work began on its construction. Making God a priority is important for us today, just as it was back in the days of Ezra. We need to make sure that our vertical relationship with God is solid before we try to reach out in a horizontal direction towards each other. Is the worship and obedience of God the top priority in your life? If not, make it so. From that starting point you can build the rest of your life with security.

Be God's.