Success, Relationships, and the Local Church: Why We Must Re-Prioritize Our Priorities

According to the Christian Post, very few American adults state that faith is a top priority.  The article cites both the CIA Factbook and George Barna’s research ministry, the Barna Group, saying that nearly 90 percent of Americans identify themselves with a religion.  But only 12 percent of American adults say faith is a top priority in their life.  The priority of faith in any religious thought and lifestyle is declining for many Americans.  With the rise of postmodernism and the worldview of relativism and subjective truth continuing to spring forth, the church in the West has been in great decline.  According to research cited in Steve Wright’s book, “Re: Think,” over 23,000 Southern Baptist Churches are baptizing a total of 0 teenagers every year.  Needless to say, even amongst teenagers, faith is becoming a bottom of the totem-pole priority.  

Americans, young, old and of every rank, are chasing the American Dream of achieving a better, richer, and happier life.  Whether we admit it or not, success is something that all of us want to accomplish in some form or fashion within the tiny framework of our lives.  As my pastor said this past Sunday, “None of us will look back over our lives wishing we had more time to sit and watch television, play Xbox, or take more naps.”  Absolutely not!  We will always look back and say, “I wish I could have done better… loved more… worked harder… applied myself more… invested more, etc.”  It’s the nature of the beast; it’s the culture we have grown up in.  It’s the American Dream.  We want more, more, more, more, and more.  We want to be richer, better, happier, and healthier.  

The Church has also fallen behind my generation’s emphasis on relationships.  Relationships are so important to my generation… maybe the most important.  My generation – the Facebook generation – desires relationships above all else.  I often talk with young people who claim that their lives and schedules are filled up, but when I inquire about what they are doing with all of their time, their answers usually fall within 3 categories:  work, school, and/or relationships.  It is true – young people prioritize relationships over the local church.  We don’t have time for the local church anymore because of our need for success and relationships above all else.  

My generation, I implore you to begin to re-prioritize your priorities.  Jesus did not come and die for sinners so that we could be happier, healthier, and more successful.  As Paul exhorted the Ephesian Church, I also exhort you to not continue to walk in the futility of your minds.  He says in Ephesians 4:18-19, “They (Gentiles) are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.  They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.”  

But he continues in 4:20-24 saying, “But that is not the way you learned Christ! - assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”

We were not taught to put Christ second, third, or even last.  On the contrary, he must be first!  When Jesus becomes first then by default his church becomes first.  We must move away from simply being observers in the local church to becoming active participants and members as we partake in God’s mission within our city in which we live and serve.  

So, with that said, I challenge you to think through where your priorities may lie.  Is Christ and his Church first, or is it way down the list?  A good way to evaluate where your priorities may lie is to ask yourself where your affections, desires, and time are channeled.