Let’s read the instructions for our life in the Holy Scriptures.

Being the first does not always apply only to ports, culture, art, and the like… It also applies in spiritual life. Jesus reminds us: “And many who are first will be last and the last first” (Mk 10:31).

God’s word must pass through our minds and free will into our hearts. The word of Jesus entered the hearts of the disciples, and they left everything and followed him. And that is what Jesus wants from us. Not only to keep the commandments but to put God first in everything. God has priority over material values, but also over people. Because entering the kingdom of God is difficult. However, whoever places his hope in God and not in himself, in people, in things, or in his career, will not escape God’s kingdom. Whoever takes on a lot, who prefers himself, his pleasures, people, things, power… to God, is like a camel that cannot pass through the eye of a needle, because he does not want to and cannot get rid of what has no value before God.

God does not forbid us to own, to prove something, to mean, to travel, to enjoy… but God must and should be in the first place. Where to learn it? Where is the proven recipe? It is a book of books – Holy Scripture and Church tradition, which the Church teaches and explains.

An interesting story is told by a sister who works in Algeria. It is a Muslim state, even more fundamentalist, hostile to Christianity. We hear what those who want to accept Christianity have to undergo, that often the transition from the Muslim faith to Christianity ends in death. A Muslim man bought cheese in a shop, which the shopkeeper wrapped for him in paper. Hygiene is often neglected. After the man ate the cheese on the bus, he started reading from the paper the cheese was wrapped in. After a few days, he bought cheese again in the store and the saleswoman wrapped it in the same paper. He re-read everything that was printed on the paper. The text piqued the man’s interest. The next time he made a purchase, he only asked for paper. The saleswoman easily gave him a book from which she tore pages and wrapped cheese in them for customers. The book was Holy Scripture. The reading of the Holy Scriptures thus appealed to the Algerian, that he looked for a Catholic chapel in the city and asked that someone explain the text of the book to him. After a while, even though he knew that hardships and perhaps death would await him, he asked for baptism.

Someone may argue that what happened in Algeria does not concern him. And yet, it’s worth thinking about. Shouldn’t I also reach for the Holy Scriptures more often? There are various events in life where we find the right guidance on how to solve difficulties, how to overcome problems, how to win over temptation and sin, how to correct our life on earth on the way to eternity.