Many things in life are good, but other things are better. The Bible works with this same principle in a number of ways. For the Christian, life can consist of putting first things first rather than of choosing good over evil. Jesus tells us to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you” (Mt. 6:33). The “these things” are obviously not evil things because Christ would never promise to add them unto us. Rather, they are things like clothes and food — things that we need since we do not live on this earth as disembodied spirits, but which take sec­ond place to eternal things.

As Jesus spoke of human relationships, he declared:

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Mt. 10:37

In Luke 14:26 the account is even more startling, and we are told to hate other members of our family.

Clearly, God tells us again and again to love our parents, our spouse, and our chil­dren. A person who does so does not even prove thereby that he is a Christian, because “if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Tim. 5:8). The assumption there is that even unbelievers are expected to take care of their families. What Jesus is saying is that looking after our families, and loving those under the same roof, is something that God demands of us as human beings. However, Christ demands that we love him more.

In the home of Mary and Martha, there is the well-known episode where Martha is anxious and troubled with the washing up and looking after the guests, while Mary occupies herself by sitting at Jesus’ feet, and listening to his teaching. When Martha complained about her sister's inactivity, Jesus reminded her that “one thing is necessary”. The lesson was: “Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her” (see Luke 10:38-42).

It is not that Martha was doing some­thing evil but that Mary was fixed on something better — seeking to hear, under­stand, and obey the Word of Christ. Armed with a diamond, George Whitefield once inscribed “One thing is needful” on a window pane in Southold about the year 1765. This is not a case of graffiti before its heyday, but a reminder of what life is all about.

Twice our Lord refers to the words of Hosea 6:6, “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice” (Mt. 9:13; 12:7).

Neither Hosea nor Christ was rejecting, under the old covenant, what God had commanded, which was sacrifice for sins. What Hosea and Christ both meant was that to exercise mercy is more vital to God than slitting a lamb’s throat in sacrifice. It is not that sacrifice is wrong, but that it is secondary.

Even when Peter and the apostles tell the Sanhedrin: “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29), they are not implying that Christians must not obey men. We are to be good citizens who nor­mally obey the state (Rom. 13:1-7), employees are to obey employers (Eph. 6:5-9), and children to obey their parents (Eph. 6:1-3). However, there is some­thing greater than obedience to men, and that is obedience to God. Where the two clash, the claims of man must give way to the claims of God.

Similarly when Paul deals with the options of demanding justice or suffering injustice, he asks: “Why not rather suffer wrong?” (1 Cor. 6:7) It is not as though demanding justice is obviously evil but that suffering injustice is obviously Christ-like.

You will not always be confronted between the choice of rescuing a drowning child or sending Jews to Auschwitz. Often the choice may be between something that is good in itself, but overshadowed by Christ’s greater claim upon you. It is in these choices that our hearts are revealed as either regenerate or natural. Here is a final word from the journals of David Livingstone:

I will place no value on anything I have or may possess except in relation to the Kingdom of God. If anything I have will advance that Kingdom, it shall be given away or kept only as by giving or keeping it I may advance the Kingdom of Him I love.