7th FloorDevotional Day 13: ”Jesus and the Gospel above All Else”

DEVOTIONAL DAY 13 - “Jesus and the Gospel above All Else.”

Remember, seventh-floor culture is a culture of radical hospitality where there is extraordinary effort and emphasis placed on making people feel welcome. It is hospitality that overflows with acceptance, is filled with generous grace, and is beautifully diverse around the person of Jesus Christ.

Why is this so rare today? I suspect it is because we have often substituted less critical issues at the expense of more important ones. Indeed, within the Christian community, we have allowed our politics, for instance, to color our whole worldview. In doing so, we have elevated our political views above our vision for Jesus and the Gospel, dividing us from fellow believers. And the same can be said for cultural issues. 

Here is something to consider. Neither Jesus nor Paul said almost anything about politics. Instead, Jesus said much about himself, the Father, and the Kingdom of God that He ushered in. His focus was on the Gospel and what God was up to in our world. The same was true with Paul. In fact, he was unequivocal that our focus needed to be on what was essential to God's work and not on those things that would divide His people. 

If we want to overflow with acceptance, it will mean that we are intentionally open to the views of others. Generous grace means that we will extend understanding and compassion to those who have very different backgrounds and experiences than we have. And a commitment to diversity will always test our ability to be flexible, open, and teachable by those whose story is not ours. 

In each of these instances, we have a choice. Do we put our preferences, politics, or worldview first, or do we choose to prioritize the people we are with as Jesus did? His conversations were never around secondary things but always around primary things, namely what it meant to follow Him. He would not get pulled into secondary discussions even with the Pharisees who tried to trip Him up. For Jesus and the New Testament writers, the Gospel and people took precedence over other issues. 

Again, Paul's words to us in Ephesians 4:1-6. "I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." These are the essential things. Let's focus on these and allow the other things to sort themselves out as we build a church of radical hospitality.

Our prayer for today: Dear God, thank you for your example through the person of Jesus. We pray today that your Spirit would help us to keep the main things the main things, forever holding peace and unity in the faith as priorities in our lives. In Jesus' name, Amen.