I’ve done my share of flying through the years, and despite my best efforts to avoid them, I’ve had more than a few  early (5 AM kind of early) flights.  Anytime I’m up at 3:30, it’s not pretty.  Those mornings consist of dressing in the closet to make as little light and as little noise as possible, skipping coffee because it’s just too early, and trying to make sure I have my laptop in my bag.   Hence the Top Button Truth.  The Top Button Truth becomes readily apparent if I mess up on the top button.  Let me explain.  Putting on a dress shirt is pretty simple, put it on, then button it.  You start with the top button and work your way down.  However, when the top button is off, you usually don’t notice it, and you proceed to button all the way down the shirt.  Then you get to the bottom and realize your shirt is  totally, completely, and hopelessly crooked, and can’t be fixed.  You have to unbutton every single button and start over.

The Top Button Truth is exactly like life as a Christ follower.  If we miss getting the first button right (our relationship with Christ) then everything else is simply off.  But too many times we won’t know it until we get to the end.  As a Christ follower, our first, best, and only priority is obedience.  Christ is our Lord, and HIs words are simple – “if you love Me, you will keep my commands” (John 14:15).  If we get that priority right (the top button) then the rest of our life falls neatly into place (Matthew 6:33).  But when we get it wrong, when our priorities are off, even by just one button hole, it’s all wrong.  All wrong.  And the only way to fix it, is to undo everything and start over.  Because so many buttons seem to fall into place, you can button almost every button on the shirt before you realize you’re off.

Word for the day – take a really good look at your top button.  If it’s not right, nothing you do the rest of the way (meaning the rest of your life) will ever be right.  Read Matthew 7:22-23 where Christ said that “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you.”  

Somehow, despite all they did, including miracles, they missed the top button, and they missed it all.

Grace and Peace