Setting Our Priorities

“Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: Give careful thought to your ways.  You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.” (Haggai 1:5-6 NIV)   

 

• We are pressured and pushed from all sides in our daily schedules
• We find ourselves rushing through life to attend the necessary 
• We soon have little left to give as we run out of energy

Do you ever get frustrated trying to prioritize all the demands put upon you, always trying to make everything and everyone perfect and happy? Sometimes the harder we work at fulfilling all our passions and promises, the less we have because we are ignoring our spiritual lives. Multi-tasking is a word we hear almost daily; the pressure we feel to do as many things as possible to acquire more stuff and please more people has become the “new normal”. In a world that is moving too fast, and living in a culture that places so many demands on our time, we must decide Who and What are really the most important things in our life, and not allow things or conditions to side-track us away from God’s claim on our life and priorities. What have we done with the resources that have been made available to us? Have we been faithful in the tasks that have been assigned? 

• He wants to be the One who sets the priorities…
• He wants us to give ourselves daily to Him…
• He wants to be first in everything we do…

“Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” (Romans 12:1-2 MSG)

Our # 1 priority in life should be to live with a passion and purpose to grow into a deeper, more satisfying relationship with God. And our priorities are reflected in how we use our resources; if we aren’t putting God first and aren’t finding enough time for Him and His word because of our busy schedules, then it’s time to give our “to-do” lists a major overhaul!  We were created to have fellowship and experience God’s plans for our lives, but sometimes because of our stubborn self-will, we choose to go our own independent way. But when God is in His rightful place in our schedules, our time will be more productive and we will harvest more in less time; we will find that our stress level is less. He wants us to honor and obey Him, following His direction and putting all else aside. Jesus calls us to a higher mission than to worry about finding comfort, personal, and material things in this life; our busy schedules and ways can be self-serving and used as an excuse not to serve God or do His work, and we have the choice to make time for Him and keep our schedules and lives in perfect and complete balance.

Linking up with Joan to “Share His Beauty”