And the gospel must first be preached to all nations.
Mark 13:10
Bible says, 'There's an opportune time to do things, *a right time for everything on the earth:* Ecclesiastes 3:1. It therefore means that some things must be done before others. Those who have basic knowledge in project planning and management will agree with the wisdom in Mark 13:10; which admonishes us to do *'first things first'*. The first thing to do is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. It means nothing should have preeminence over the preaching and sharing of the word of God. If the foundation is faulty you can be sure it cannot hold even a one storey building. The most important thing therefore is to get the foundation right. The Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3:11 that, *For no one can lay any other foundation than the one we already have—Jesus Christ.*
For some people, material wealth is the most important. So, the method used to get the wealth doesn't matter. All they know is to get rich by any means. To others it is the award of a university degree; first, second, third degree and Professorship. They love the pump and pageantry that comes with the academia. There is always opportunity cost for every decision that we make in life. So, a rational person will want to minimise the cost of choosing one thing as against the other.
In the things of the spirit there is also an opportunity cost of either eternal life or eternal condemnation. Life is spiritual. Bible says God created man (us) in His image before He formed (us) Read Genesis chapters 1 and 2. Because God placed man a spirit being in an earthly or physical environment He must give him (man) an outer case or body that will make him (man) resonate with his (man) environment. Hence a body that is earthly made from the dust of the earth. Everything and anything earthly will remain here on earth and everything and anything spiritual will remain in the spiritual world either in hell or heaven.
Man is a spirit, he has a soul and lives in a body. The scientist will tell you things exist in 3 states: physical, liquid and gaseous states. Hence things only change state. Everything God created still exist. They have only change state. When you apply excessive heat to a physical object it would change state into liquid after a certain temperature and duration of exposure to heat. When you continue, it changes into gas and vanishes into the thing air. It still exist only that it has change state. The same applies to us. We don't die. We only change state from physical to spiritual. All those presumed dead still exist in a different state. All you need is the knowledge of how to change hunan beings from spiritual to physical state. This is a secret that even scientists cannot fathom.
This basic information tells us that the permanent state of man is spiritual. The physical state is temporary. Hence, the spiritual is superior to the physical. The spiritual must therefore have preeminence over the physical. The first and most important thing of our lives is our spiritual wellbeing. Our main effort in life is to seek the wellbeing of our spirit man.
The body was formed from the earth so it is earthy. All the material things that we acquire in life are temporary and earthy. None shall transit into the spiritual world with us. They are not the first and most important things of life. The first and most important is to seek the origin of our spirit man. Bible tells us in Genesis that we were created in the image of God. Hence, our source and home is in God. There is no known society of the human race that does not believe that there is life beyond this physical world. The life of the body is in the blood. So when the blood is contaminated with a diseases the body will die. When the level of blood reduces through bleeding the body will die. Once the body dies the spirit which is the real person leaves it. The spirit finds its way back to its source: God.
Bible says in 1 Corinthians 8, that:
'5 For although there may be so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many of them, both of gods and of lords and masters,'
'6 *Yet for us there is [only] one God, the Father, Who is the Source of all things and for Whom we [have life], and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through and by Whom are all things and through and by Whom we [ourselves exist]. [Mal. 2:10.]*
Bible is saying there is only one God who is the source of all things both spiritual and physical; and only one Lord, Jesus Christ through and by whom all things exist.
Whose testimony will you believe? That of man or that of God? Bible says in 1 John 5 that:
9-10 If we take human testimony at face value, how much more should we be reassured when God gives testimony as he does here, *testifying concerning his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God inwardly confirms God's testimony. Whoever refuses to believe in effect calls God a liar, refusing to believe God's own testimony regarding his Son.*
11-12 This is the testimony in essence: *God gave us eternal life; the life is in his Son. So, whoever has the Son, has life; whoever rejects the Son, rejects life.*
13 My purpose in writing is simply this: that *you who believe in God's Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, the reality and not the illusion*...
Bible says "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Mathew 6:21.
The things that excites you and stirs up joy in your inner man tells you where your 'treasure' as it were is. If profanity, academia, wealth, earthly status and ranking, jokes of all kinds et cetera excites you then you know your focus in life and what is the most important to you.
But the bible says the first and most important thing of life is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. To share and read messages on the word of God. You can engage in all kinds of things to excite and please your physical body, gods, lords and masters of this world. Life they say is about choices. You are what you feed your soul and spirit with.
So long as I am concerned all things and everything is second to the wellbeing of our spiritual life. The final and eternal destination of your spirit is the first and most important. Why spend your energy, time, talent, effort, wisdom on things that are temporary?
Do not let the temporary pleasures of the flesh or body rob you of the eternal bliss that awaits your spirit in eternity. You cannot have both so why spend your money on the one that ends here. The first President of the forth republic in Ghana has passed on. The president of Tanzania and Chad has passed on. In the same vein ordinary people who are not even known in their own communities have also passed on. I was at the funeral of a colleague (staff) on Saturday 15 May 2021. Whilst at the burial service I saw other corpses being carried away to the cemetery for internment. The spirit of these bodies continue to live.
If wishes were horses beggars will ride hence a simple wish from those whose bodies are alive cannot change the eternal destination of the dead as it were. No amount of prayer can give you rest or peace in God's presence if you did not heed to His guidance whilst alive. The first and most important thing in life is to spend all your time, money, energy, knowledge, talent et cetera on the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ so that it would be well with you when you change state from physical to spiritual.
The bible says in Acts 4:8-12 that:
With that, Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, let loose: "Rulers and leaders of the people, if we have been brought to trial today for helping a sick man, put under investigation regarding this healing, I'll be completely frank with you—we have nothing to hide. By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the One you killed on a cross, the One God raised from the dead, by means of his name this man stands before you healthy and whole. Jesus is 'the stone you masons threw out, which is now the cornerstone.' Salvation comes no other way; no other name has been or will be given to us by which we can be saved, only this one."
Life choices. Choose Christ Jesus. Choose wisely.
Bro Ritchie Edukwesi WOANYA