Christ’s followers not only love Him (Luke 7:47), but also become like Him by the Spirit’s power (n.b. 1 John 4:19). We are made holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:15). We come to seek what Christ seeks, desire what Christ desires, and prioritize what Christ prioritizes (Matthew 10:24-25). To put it simply, the most important things to Jesus become the most important things to Jesus’ followers (Matthew 6:33). This is discipleship (Matthew 16:24-26).

Of the sinful woman He said, “for she loved much.” By grace would the same be said of my and you.

Where does this Spiritual transformation come from? From our hearts? From our strength or wisdom? Never (John 3:5-6)! We “are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18). The personal glory of Christ in heaven, as we behold Him by faith, transforms us to be like Him more and more as we step ever closer to our dying day. One day we will die. We will go to Him. We will reflect Him perfectly and praise Him properly. Till that day, the day we are completed and confirmed in holiness, we are in process. We are being made holy in Him. We are being sanctified.

Sanctification is a gift. It is the gift of holiness to undeserving sinners. Like all such glorious gifts—gifts of salvation—sanctification is a gift given in Christ. It is a gift delivered to us personally by the Holy Spirit of our risen Lord and great High Priest. He has justified us. He will glorify us. He is sanctifying us.

(1.) Justified – Being declared righteous in God’s eyes based on the righteous life and sacrificial death of Jesus.

(2.) Glorified – Being risen from the dead like Jesus was and living forever with Him in God’s presence.

(3.) Sanctified – Being set apart for God’s purposes and being conformed to God’s character by the Holy Spirit.

What’s Most Important?

What are the most important things in all the world? What are the most important things to you? What is your life devoted to? What will you be remembered for? What is the “Why?” that you wake up with in the morning? What is the “Yes!” that you will rejoice over in your final days, final breaths? Will it be money, trinkets, trophies, or hobbies? Will it be popularity? Perhaps tragic mistakes. Or maybe just a plain ol’ mundane story of another trivial existence consumed by meaningless entertainment and wasted time. God’s calling, and my challenge to the reader, is to make the most important things in God’s eyes the most important things in our eyes. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21).

What, therefore, is most important to God? What is greatest to Him? What is first in His eyes? What is of highest priority to the Almighty God and King of all creation?

There are different aspects of what is most important to God. First, the gospel of Jesus Christ is of first importance to God: that Christ died for sin, was buried, and then risen according to Scripture to achieve salvation (1 Corinthians 15:3). Second, two foundational commandments are of greatest importance to God: that we love Him with all and above all and that we love each other as ourselves (Matthew 22:36-40). Third, His own kingdom—the way he defeats his enemies, saves his people, and rules over all things in Christ in fulfillment of his eternal purpose—is first and should be sought first (Matthew 6:33). Fourth, the manifestation and recognition of His glory is God’s highest priority: the revealing of His nature and character through His names, works, and Word in the world; and the response of his children in glad adoration and joyful praise over this wondrous showcase revealed to them (1 Corinthians 10:31; Isaiah 42:8; Habakkuk 2:14).

These are the four pillars of God’s top priority. We must learn them, love them, understand them, and live by them. This is the path of Life, the path of living. The four pillars of God’s top priority are God’s gospel, God’s law, God’s kingdom, and God’s glory.

The Four Pillars

(1.) God’s Gospel – God’s message of good news that Christ’s life, death, and resurrection have achieved salvation for God’s people, i.e. all come to Christ in true repentance and faith.

(2.) God’s Law – God’s moral demands, the reward of Life for meeting those demands, and the penalty of death for violating them.

(3.) God’s Kingdom – God’s reign over all things that culminates in the full and final redemption of His people and conquest over evil.

(4.) God’s Glory – God’s revelation, or God’s showing forth of His own nature, character, and power in a way that can be observed, understood, and responded to.

The whole Christian life and perspective rests upon these four pillars of God’s top priority. There are other aspects that help describe what is most important to God. But apart from these four pillars, they are meaningless and lead to, at best, a shallow faith that is so vague it can barely be distinguished from other forms of monotheism. But we are Christians. We believe Scripture. We stand, therefore, upon God’s gospel, law, kingdom, and glory. These are God’s top priority; they must be our top priority as well.

These pillars, however, rest upon a foundation: God Himself. God Himself, in the most ultimate and absolute way, is most important. We are talking, though, about what God is doing, how God has revealed Himself, and how we personally take part in His plan for all things. The four pillars help us do so; but we must never lose sight of God Himself as the grand foundation holding them up.

Picture a majestic, towering building—perhaps a museum of some sort—that rests upon four massive and brilliantly designed pillars. Which pillar is most important? All of them are most important. They work together. They depend on each other. If you remove one, the others fail. Three pillars cannot hold up the museum in my mind’s eye. It needs all four. This is about personal application in how we live, not about philosophy or speculation. We want to know, understand, and live according to what is most important to God the almighty One. How foolish would it be to pit one pillar against the others? Or to isolate one pillar and try to understand it apart from the others?

Personal Obedience

God calls us to love and obey him through faith in Christ. Beloved of God, this is personal and practical: we want God’s top priority to become our top priority more and more as the Day draws near (1 Corinthians 3:13; Hebrews 10:25). Pray to this end; and do not lose heart.

God’s gracious gospel, God’s holy law, God’s kingdom of redemption, and God’s magnificent and manifest glory; these are the most important things to Almighty God. Are they most important to me and you? Upon these pillars can we build a life lived for God. Blessed is he whose life is devoted to the pillars of God’s priority; heaven is his inheritance. The one who wakes up with these pillars upon his heart is no fool; the secrets of God’s wisdom will guide his steps. He will not know regret when death comes knocking. He will look back with a hearty, “Amen! Yes!” at what God has done.

Your grace, O Lord, and strength alone,

Have made Your loves to be our own;

Hearts to cherish, minds to seek,

Ears to hear and mouths to speak.

These delights by Spirit given,

From Christ the Lord who reigns in heaven,

Forever on His throne.

So here it is. If you and I are united to Christ by faith, then we belong to Him. We are His and He is ours; you are mine and I am yours. We are filled with the Spirit of Christ. And will we seek what Christ seeks, desire what Christ desires, and prioritize what Christ prioritizes? Have the most important things to Jesus become the most important things to us?

Let us, by faith in Him, live and die for God—Father, Son, Spirit—and His gospel, law, kingdom, and glory. Let us eat, sleep, and breathe for these pillars of God’s top priority. Let us pour ourselves out as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1) unto Him. “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field” (Matthew 13:44).