You follow what you prioritize

When I look Jesus in the eyes, can I tell Him that He mattered more to me than a bottom line?

Aug 23, 2024

And those who make idols are just like them, as are all who trust in them. (Psalm 115:8)

Who is your role model? Who is the most important mentor in your life? Who have you patterned your life after?

It’s usually a good idea to have a mentor or a coach or someone whose footsteps you’re following, especially if you’re attempting to do something with your life that you don’t know how to do. Mentors are a big deal. They help us. They guide us. They encourage us.

So it’s not too strange that we adopt some of our mentors’ habits or quirks, turns of phrase or favorite jokes, fashion sense or preferred meals. It’s normal, actually. We very much take after the people we admire and follow.

That’s one reason Jesus calls us to follow Him. He wants us to be like Him, to live the way He lived, to prioritize what He values. But admiration can quickly turn to adoration. Granted, if the focus of your adoration is Jesus, you can’t go wrong. He is worthy of our adoration. But no one else is.

And unfortunately, humanity has always been adept at finding adoration alternatives to Jesus. That’s kind of been the issue from the very beginning. Funny how things don’t change.

In our busy, hustle, post-Christian world, the alternative of choice is productivity. We set accomplishment and achievement on a pedestal and worship it with our finances, our time, and our energy.

Jesus can wait. There’s one more task to do. God will understand. We need to get our work done. That’s what grace is for. We can let our relationship with Jesus slip a little if it means finishing that one last project (except there’s never truly a last project).

The difficulty is that—well, it’s true. Jesus can wait. God does understand. And, yes, that is what grace is for. But do you understand what you’re giving up by prioritizing earthly productivity rather than your relationship with Jesus? Do you understand what you are compromising when you choose achievement over Christ?

The Bible has always been very clear about the cost of idolatry. Make no mistake, choosing to “get stuff done” rather than investing in your relationship with Christ is basically the same thing. If you define your worth and value to the world through what you can accomplish, you have traded your identity in Christ for an identity issued by the world. And it will never satisfy you.

The verse for today comes from a larger passage (Psalm 115:4-8) that is comparing the God of Israel to the gods of other nations. But this verse haunts me, because if I make productivity and achievement and accomplishment my idol—if I am trusting in what I can get done—what does that make me?

Sure, it’ll make me a high performer. It’ll make me a great employee. It’ll make me a safe bet for anyone who’s looking to hire an effective worker. And all of those things are great.

But I’m more than what I do. I am worth more than what I can accomplish. My value is far beyond the decimal points in my monthly paycheck. But I can only stand on those truths as long as I find my identity in Christ.

If I’m following Jesus, sometimes that means I will have to do something that doesn’t look productive in an earthly sense. I have to be okay with that if I’m following Jesus. I need to be more than okay with that, actually. I need to rejoice in that.

Or I can choose the earthly perspective and be productive. I can work efficiently and effectively and spend all my time and energy accomplishing tasks and achieving goals, and I can be very well thought of among my coworkers and colleagues and known as someone who gets stuff done.

But at the end of the day? When time runs out? (And it is running out, friends.) What will all my high-performing, big-productivity choices get me when I come face to face with Jesus? When I look Jesus in the eyes, can I tell Him that He mattered more to me than a bottom line? Can I tell Him that following Him was more important to me than checking a box off a task list?

I hope I can. Can you?