Priorities

February 13

Whether or not it is our intention to do so, we all establish priorities. When we are students, our parents set them for us. Homework must be done before playing outdoors will be permitted; bedtime must be honored, no matter what amazing program may be airing on TV—and no matter how many friends may have permission to watch it.

We carry our parents effective training into adulthood where we prioritize our own lives around the values they instilled within us. Most notably, those responsibilities that involve our work, come first. Somewhere, after the enormous requirement of time that our careers impose, we allocate whatever remains to our family, social, and spiritual life.

While the Lord understands our responsibilities and it says in I Timothy 5:8, “If any provide not for his own household, he is …worse than an infidel,” yet He makes it clear that His expectation is that we will place the things of God very high on our ‘to-do’ list. Notable examples are found in Matthew 6:33 where Jesus Himself says, “Seek first God’s Kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.” If you take care of the spiritual things, the Lord will take care of your temporal needs.

Our priority must always be to serve and honor the Living God. Although we are required to assume our responsibilities regarding the demands time and life place upon us, doing so must not result in our neglect of the things of the spirit. In Matthew 6:24 Jesus said that we cannot serve two masters…we cannot serve God and money.” To the degree that worldly gain supersedes our time to fellowship with Jesus and to be established in His truth, to that degree we are robbing ourselves of the fulfillment of life’s true priority.