Priorities and long division. Luke 12.

Do you remember your first attempts at doing long division? Did it come naturally? Or was it a major struggle? In my own case, I grasped the concept immediately. Doing the detail work, though, was somewhat problematic, because of a certain left-handed messiness, and a general antipathy toward organization. So sometimes my digits didn't align quite right, and sometimes I just preferred doing the work in my head. This was okay when the problem involved say, a two-digit divisor, but as the divisor got bigger, the need for a systematic approach grew quickly.

I was thinking about division because of what Jesus says in Luke 12:51, "Do you think I have come to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!" I'll come back to this verse in a minute. First, let's look at priorities as established by Jesus throughout most of this chapter.

In one sense, Jesus begins his teaching in Luke 12 out of His reaction to the Pharisees and their inability to get things right in chapter 11. As He says in v.12:1, "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy." And if His warning isn't enough, He lets us know that nothing will remain hidden. One day the rock will be turned over, exposing all those slugs, grubs, and other crawly things in our "hidden" life. Imagine the change in our life, if we lived every moment out in the open.

That warning is a first call to get our priorities straight. There is no room for the hidden stuff, let alone any time for it. No more talking behind someone's back. No more thinking behind someone's back. No more "whispers in private rooms."

Once started talking about the authorities, Jesus continues with more teaching on what's important. Remember that eternal consequences count a lot more than temporal ones. (And why do we need a reminder of that?) So, don't fear human authorities, fear God. Remember He knows you and values you. Acknowledge the Son of Man for Who He is. And if/when you are brought before the authorities, God will help you speak rightly. Remember your worldly riches are temporary, so store up the riches of God.

Continuing the theme of God's care for us, Jesus says put that as your first priority in your thinking. Release your anxiety about stuff, by recognizing His care.

More priorities. Be faithful and expectant servants of the Lord. At work, no matter His delay. (And what does that look like in your life? Seriously. Write it down in your Bible next to verses 12:35-48, or at the bottom of the page, or in your journal, or as a comment to this post.)

And then He hits us with the long division - the division even between family members that comes when He, Jesus, is our first priority. As He tells us, it will not be so for every family member. Not all will make Him first priority. Some won't make Him any priority. Division. In emotional terms, long division. In eventuality, eternal division. This is a place of no peace. Fortunately, He also tells us that our first priority as His disciples is to make more disciples. So we are commanded to share with, and not abandon, those who have yet to make Him first priority. But in the end, each person makes a choice, and the end of our division from the Father will leave us divided from those who don't end their division from the Father. Long, hard division. A division that wounds the Father infinitely more than us.

Getting our priorities straight, in accordance with the Father's will, as shown and taught by His Son, is not unlike doing long division. There's a system to it, a sequence. Put God first. Write the first number of the quotient above the dividing line. Pick an area of your life, say gossip. Multiply the divisor by the current quotient number, and write the product in the proper place under the dividend. Subtract those numbers. Remove the gossip. What remains? Treasuring worldly stuff more than Kingdom stuff? Write down your next number in the quotient, multiply with the divisor, record the result, line up with the dividend and subtract. Subtract out that treasuring. More remainder? Yep. Add zeros after the decimal point. As many as you need. How about time? What does it mean to have God as first priority when it comes to time?

I may have gotten a little carried away with the long division details. Let's finish this way. To do long division, you need a pattern to follow, and the arithmetic principles underlying the application of that pattern. Principles and system. In Jesus' teaching about how we are to live, He established a principle of priority, and then showed how it applied to some particulars of His followers' (and our) lives. It was systematic, even if the narrative wasn't hierarchical as I've just stated it. This is how we can love the Lord our God with our mind -- use that mind to apply what know to how we live. When it comes to loving with soul, heart, and strength there will be other principles, and it won't necessarily be so dry and rational. It'll include the response of love and desire to be with Him that prompted Peter to step out of the boat and to swear he would never deny his Lord. It'll include the absorption of these mind lessons into our very being -- transforming us to into the likeness of Christ, living completely open lives with our priorities naturally correct.