Learning from Moses (3)

Third: you must determine your priorities. ‘He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.’ At that time, a lot of the world’s wealth was stored in Egypt. So Moses already had what many people spend their lives trying to get: popularity, pleasure, and possessions. But when God asked him to do something that was more important, he did it. It was a matter of priorities.

Moses could easily have rationalised, ‘The slave situation is bad, so I’ll stay in the system and work for reform.’ Many people crave popularity, and most of us want to be liked, but the problem with being popular is that it often doesn’t last.

Then there’s pleasure. We all want to have fun, and there’s nothing wrong with that unless we find our fun in sinful things.

Then there are possessions. There’s nothing wrong with material success – some of the greatest people in the Bible, like Abraham and Solomon, were extremely wealthy. But Jesus said, ‘Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions’ (Luke 12:15 NIV). In the end, wealth doesn’t bring happiness. Money should be used – not loved. God wants us to use things and love people. But if we love things we’ll end up using people.

Moses had his priorities right; he devalued material things because there was something more important in his life – God’s will.

1 Tim 1-3; John 6:35-51; Ps 127; Prov 24:19-22