Birth Order
I’ve often said that I felt sort of bad for my oldest son. His mother and I did the best we could as his parents. He didn’t come with an instruction manual. Godly parents had raised us both, so we had some of the basic parenting skills that we learned from our parents. Just about any way you measure it; the first child becomes a learning experience for the parents. Fast forward many years later and my oldest is one of five kids. He grew into a godly young man and is now a parent himself. I’m so thankful for the gift of parenting; I’ve learned things about God that I’m not sure I could have learned any other way. I’m really grateful for each of my children; I’m praying that they continue seeking God’s heart the rest of their days.
King David was at the end of his life. He was making preparations for his son, Solomon to build the temple in Jerusalem. David assembled a lot of the materials lists that were needed. He also organized the Levites for service in the temple. They served in the Tabernacle (the traveling tent temple) and David was organizing things for the Temple service. Check this out…
These were the Levites, according to their families. 31 They also cast lots, just as their relatives the descendants of Aaron did, in the presence of King David and of Zadok, Ahimelek, and the heads of families of the priests and of the Levites. The families of the oldest brother were treated the same as those of the youngest. (1 Chronicles 24:30b-31 NIV)
Growing up there were a few special privileges for being the oldest son. I have an older sister so she experienced a lot of “firsts” before me. As I was reading this chapter in the Word this morning, I realized that God’s economy is not really based on birth order. The Lord’s birth order and economy is certainly different than our culture sees it.
My heart condition (aka commitment) determines my status (aka birth order) in God’s economy. My experience and my age doesn’t necessarily make me first in God’s birth order discussion. I’m very confident that the Lord looks into my heart and notices the depth of my commitment or the lack of depth.
I’m learning to seek His heart daily and simply not stress about birth order. I don’t even stress about being first in His Kingdom – I just want to be in His Kingdom. I believe that eternity is a “pass or fail” exam more than ordered by the highest passing grade or by birth order. I believe the only test for receiving eternal life is going to be from God, the Father and He will ask: “Do you know my Son?” I want to be able to say a resounding “Yes” to that one question. I want to follow Him the rest of my days here on earth and the transition into eternity will be a “piece of cake”.
Pressing On!
Dwayne