Did I Forget to Tell You… that Some Things Are More Important than Other Things?

Did I forget to tell you that all things are not equally important?

On one hand, that seems like a no-brainer that people would understand without explicit reinforcement. But when people want to fight – especially about the Bible or “hot-button” issues, all of a sudden, people believe that certain things (usually that they agree with) are more important than others. The ability to distinguish between what is important and most important disappears.

The Bible clearly teaches that some things ARE more important than others. And furthermore, the Bible is consistent about what the most important things are:  loving God with complete devotion and loving our neighbors as ourselves.

So, why do we so often let some obscure, out of context verse (or handful of verses) steal the focus – especially when the obscure verse contradicts the clearly identified most important verses?

Years ago, when we lived a good 30 minutes away from the closest hospital near Memphis, I took training to be an Emergency Medical Technician.  A neighbor’s child just 3 doors down the street had had an accident with a lawnmower flipping on him and nearly died.  I saw first handthat it could take time to get help for my little girls in a crisis and I was determined to be able to know how to be the best help I could be on the spot.  I learned a lot in class and as a volunteer EMT in the ambulance.

EMT training is where I learned the word triage.  Triage is where you assess what is most important.  If a person is having a heart attack, you don’t spend your time or focus on a skinned knee.  You go immediately and without hesitation to the most important, likely- life-saving need.  No right-thinking medical person would spend time on minor cuts and bruises for someone who was having difficulty breathing.  Or chest pains.  You always look for what is the most important condition and treat that first.  Everything else takes its place.  Failure to do that could cost someone their life.

    Triage is important in spiritual life, too—especially in applying the Bible.

    Some things ARE more important than other things.

    Jesus knew that and He modeled it.

First of all, he KNEW what was most important.   (Matthew 22, Mark 12 )  When Jesus is asked about what is most important, He has a ready answer:  Love God with all you have and love your neighbor as yourself.  Everything else falls under that.  

The life of Jesus EXEMPLIFIED what was most important in any given encounter.  Jesus gives light upon light on how to “keep the main thing the main thing”.  So is keeping the Sabbath important?  Yes. Jesus practiced keeping the Sabbath. But when there was a man with a withered hand or the bent-over woman stood in front on him on the Sabbath, treating others the way we would want to be treated superceded the important Sabbath keeping.

Time and time again, the Scribes and Pharisees would criticize Jesus based on what THEY decided was important.  It would be like treating a skinned knee when someone was having chest pain.  But they were determined that skinned knee was of equal or greater importance.  Getting their way was all they cared about.

So in case I haven’t said it, let’s be absolutely clear:  some things ARE more important than others.  Jesus said so.  Jesus lived so.  And that means that every other important thing should get appropriate attention based on what is most important.  Every piece of admonition or teaching or guidance that helps us with the supremely important loving God with our whole selves and treating others the way we want to be treated is icing on the cake.  Any verse(s) that blocks the SUPREMELY important love of God and neighbor is superceded.

The goal of an EMT is to keep people alive till they can be delivered to more complete medical care.  People will – literally—die unless the EMTs understand the things that are most important.  The goal of every believer moving toward sanctification is to understand that some things are more important than other things….and apply our attention and devotion and loyalty to what is of supreme importance. Our spiritual life depends on it.