Wholeness is First Priority: The Good is the Enemy of the Best

Many people are trying to do good things in the church. I have met many good Christian people, but I think we also have become soft intellectually and soft in prioritizing our time. As a result, our efforts produce meager results at best. We must admit that even our best known Christian leaders often have different priorities among them. So even they can't all be right. Maybe too, because we are soft intellectually, we also are a bit too afraid of facing honest criticism that good things are the enemies of the best things.

We must turn from our good ways and focus on our best ways to reshape a good biblical phrase. It was one of my professors in seminary that pointed out numerous examples of how the good can be the enemy of the best. Are we focused on our first priority or are other priorities pushing it out? Are we willing to move from the convenience of where we've focused our efforts before or from the comfort of just dropping out and not trying? Do we really find peace without pursuing first things first?

Have you ever tried to fill a jar with rocks, small stones, sand and water? You have likely seen that it is important to place the items in the order I have listed them. Without that order or if the rocks are placed in the jar last, they are likely to not even fit in the jar. Our lives are like that jar. Our jar of time is limited. If we want to fit the big things in our lives, they must go into our lives first.

So whether called biggest or best, let's put what counts most first. I recommend studying holiness first and foremost and not taking our eye off the greatest character trait that God's word places as best. We need to do the intellectual work of realizing that holiness is wholeness, so that we know wholeness comes first. Whether you look at Isaiah 6:3 or Revelation 4:8, holy, holy, holy or wholly or wholly, wholly remains his most awesome character trait.

In Christ,

Pastor Jon Westlund