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I was reading this verse for a devotion I had this weekend. What is even more interesting was that my wife and I then read a devotional in our couple's book and it had a lot of similarity. The devotionals were speaking about how often Christ is priority in our lives. We need to let Him be Lord over everything or He is not Lord of anything. That's a saying I heard one time. It holds much meaning when we think about how much we are actually allowing the Lord to control in our lives these days.

In this chapter of Matthew, Jesus sends out the twelve disciples with many important things to remember. This passage being among one of the important reminders. Jesus is trying to tell them that if they make anyone more important than Him, then Jesus is not their Lord anymore. It is a bold statement Christ makes, but it is so true. As children of God, we are called to love Him more than anything else. Another way of putting this is to look at what Jesus says in Luke 14:26, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple." Wow! What a statement Jesus makes there! However, He is being figurative and not saying that you must hate your family members and friends around you. He is trying to make such a strong statement about loving Him above all other things in life. He says He must be Lord of all or He is not Lord at all.

We must keep Jesus Christ as high priority. If we take our focus off Him and focus on the world or other things around us instead of Him, things will start to crumble. Have you ever noticed that when you take your eyes off Christ, life just does not seem to feel the same? You might start to have several bad days at work, at home, church, or with some friend or family. It is amazing how much stems from having our focus on Christ, but it makes total and complete sense!

I am learning this lesson of priority each day. It is especially hard now that life is so busy with a family of my own. So many days, I let so much get in the way of Christ being Lord of all. I get to the end of the day and realize that He was not Lord at all of my day. Sure, I prayed for a few minutes and read a few Scriptures to begin my day, but was that enough to really fall more in love with my Savior? I can do more and I should do more when I find myself failing like that. I know that I am not alone in this struggle. Each of us struggle

].1 each day with making Christ Lord of all. We must make it a disciplined priority to keep Christ first in everything. It is not always easy because so many things fight for our constant attention. We must stay strong in the Word, in prayer and in constant communication with Christ to keep our priorities in line.