After the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Peter, and other disciples had been fishing. After a tough night of unsuccessful attempts, Jesus appeared and blessed them. But John, who called himself one loved by the Lord, was gathering the fish even after recognizing Jesus. However, Peter who had in fact renounced Jesus three times left the fishes, ran towards Him, and humbled himself. Jesus was His priority over the blessings.
Most of us are the opposite of this. We have the habit of praying, worshiping, and calling upon the Lord only when we need help. Ancient Israelis were also the same. They used the name of God only for the fulfillment of their needs. When their needs were met, they were busy with idolatry and other sinful deeds.
God is not pleased with this habit. The angels in heaven worship Him for His glory, not for their needs. Though God knows our needs and hears our prayers for the needs, our devotion towards Him should not be motivated by our needs. When God blesses us, He tests our loyalty. When He blessed Abraham with Isaac, He asked Abraham for the sacrifice of his son. Without hesitating, he obeyed, but God stopped him and instead blessed him much more.
We should have the habit of serving, praising, and worshiping God at all times. Paul and Silas were praising God in prison even at midnight, not for deliverance, but because they had that lifestyle of praising and worshiping God at all times and situations.
In the name of serving God, many people get so busy in the works of the ministry, they quit spending personal time in the presence of God. For some, ministry is more important than personal time with the Lord. This is not good. Ministry and blessings should not be our first priority, but rather the presence of God, and His Word. They are the consequences of spending time in the presence of God. When blessing becomes our priority, we tend to suppress our spiritual sense towards God being focused only on the blessings.
And there is another group of people who spend personal time in devotion to God but neglect their leaders. We should avoid this in our life. Joshua had a special character. He used to spend time in the presence of God even after Moses left the tent. He was loyal to Moses as well. Hence, he was chosen to be the leader after Moses died. We should honor God and serve our leaders faithfully.
Our first priority should be Jesus, not our needs. Because of his humility towards Jesus, Peter was the chief leader after Jesus was taken above to heaven. Honoring God and the church leaders, prayer, worship, and obedience to the Word of God should be our lifestyle.
