Pastor Weber and I occasionally discuss this topic of “first things”. There are those of our Biblical convictions that have made much of this phrase with the understanding that soul winning is our first and highest priority. And while soul winning is a great and wonderful activity and privilege it seems to characterize it as the highest priority of the believer is a bit of a stretch or imbalance.
It is likely that the real error here is that of attempting to mark some of the believer’s responsibilities as greater than others. It is not unusual for us to over simplify things at times. And in defense of those who would characterize soul winning as the believer’s highest priority I would recognize that it is indeed difficult to always keep everything on our plate a one time. We battle with that at potluck meals all the time. I don’t think that the life of the faithful believer is easy. We often find ourselves walking on a proverbial tight-rope. Let me just mention a few items:
A) We are to be in the world, while not being of the world. We need transportation for ourselves and our families, but we must not worship those tin boxes.
B) God is sovereign in His actions, while at the same time we are responsible to be thinking, reasoning and decisive people. This involves a thoughtful art of balance that many of us will never agree upon in this life. I.e. where do my free choices meet with God’s sovereign will?
My point is that our walk with Christ really is a life-long struggle of growth and learning that we do together and when we begin to think that we have it “nailed down” we only cloud the issue with harmful simplifications.
Let us agree to do our best together to follow our Savior and serve Him well. Now that I think about that, it may qualify as a “First thing”.
