The Emperor Menelek II of Ethiopia used an electric chair as his royal throne for many years. How come? During the late 1890s, the Emperor was told of the new method of executing criminals in the United States by electrocution. So he ordered three electric chairs from the States. But there was one tiny problem: he forgot that electricity had not yet been introduced into his country. The chairs were useless. To save his investment, he appropriated the same as his royal chair.
Electricity is a prerequisite to the electric chair. College students know all about prerequisites. You can’t take General Chemistry 2 until you’ve successfully completed General Chemistry 1. A prerequisite is something that must come first. Electricity is prerequisite to the electric chair.
There was one time that Jesus talked about prerequisites. In Matthew 7:1-6, he said that some people get really excited about identifying the flaws in the people around them, but there is something that must happen first: “take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” Peter repeated this message by saying that judgment begins with the household of God (1 Peter 4:17).
Sometimes we forget how important it is to take care of our own house before we take care of others. We need to make sure that we take the prerequisites, first!