Priorities

 “You define what’s important by what you dedicate your time to.”

 
Have you ever come across people who clearly have misplaced priorities? We can look at them and realize what they care about is completely out of whack. One such example is that of Marcin Muchalski. Marcin was a tough New Yorker (you gotta give him that much). He was approached by a thief at gunpoint while walking across the Williamsburg Bridge.
  What did the robber want? His cell phone. His Nokia 3390 to be exact. And no, I am not making this up…Mr. Muchalski preferred to risk parting with his life than with his phone. He surmised that the armed bandit would be too timid to shoot him in public at 7:00 a.m. on the bridge, obviously not putting together that this guy was already willing to pull a gun on him, so he dared the guy to shoot him over a phone.
  His assailant found the request reasonable and readily complied, shooting Muchalski in the thigh. Maybe that was the moment when Muchalski realized his assailant was also a tough New Yorker. Did he then hand over the phone? Nope. He hobbled away, clutching his phone as he went, presumably because it came with that Snake game. The gunman fled the scene but was later caught when Muchalski used his phone to call the cops.
  All of us struggle with priorities. While they’ve always been difficult, with the increased choices and options of our culture, evaluating and determining priorities is even more convoluted.
  E.M. Gray spent his life searching for the one denominator that all successful people share. He found it wasn’t hard work, good luck, or astute human relations, though those were all important. The one factor that seemed to transcend all the rest … [was] putting first things first.
  Along the same lines, German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe grasped the importance of priorities. He observed, “Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.”
  Setting the right priorities are vital for success, but not just for material success. The Bible sets priorities that lead to eternal life and spiritual success. It’s insignificant to be successful in this short life but a failure for the next. God’s Word tells us that it’s vital to put our priorities in the right order and then carefully cultivate them with zeal and enthusiasm.
  What should our priorities be? Well, if this one is correct, it’s simpler to align other priorities but when it’s not, life is a jumbled mess.
  Christian priority No. 1: God must come first. When God gave the Decalogue at Mount Sinai, He thundered these words: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me” (Ex. 20:2-3). God does not want us to place anything before Him. His desire is that we worship Him, love Him first and that He has first place in our lives.
  How do we demonstrate that God is first, that we truly love Him. When we put His teachings first. 1 John 5:3, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.”
  The evidence that God is first is that we love Him and strive to keep His commandments. “He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him” (1 John 2:4-5).
  We have to be honest with ourselves. Are we putting our relationship with God first, or allowing other aspects of our lives to come before the priority and worship of the one true God?
  Our priorities determine how we start our day. For some sleep is a priority and they continually hit the snooze button, squeezing every moment of slumber that they can. For others, coffee is a top priority. They don’t start the day without it or that stop by a favorite coffee shop. Our priorities direct and alter our lives.
  When God is first, we give Him the best. He’s not squeezed into the margins of our life. Amazingly and wonderfully, when God is first everything else: marriage, family, work, leisure, finances, friendships, mental health, etc. falls more easily into place. Our relationship with God must be our true north. When He’s not first, we find ourselves floundering, fighting and feeling frustrated through life.
  Back in the dark ages before the Internet and inexpensive cell phone calls, Jane and I had a long-distance romance. We wrote letters, lots of them. And when I got a letter from Jane, I’d read it and then I’d re-read it, and then I’d re-read it again. Think about this – the Creator of the universe, the God who knows everything about you, Who loves you and gave His Son for you, gave you a love letter – the Bible.
  But how can we think that God is our priority when we rarely if ever read His Word. The average American spends between 3 to 5 hours on their cell phone every day. Why? Our phones are a priority. If you don’t believe that just misplace yours and see how frantic you become. God and His Word must be like that. His Word becomes so much a part of our lives that it’s our normal. We want to hear from and talk to our Heavenly Father each day. Yet, it’s not enough to read or even study God’s Word, we must obey and apply Scripture to our lives.
  One Christian leader spent time in war-torn Angola and learned something from those rural villages that changed their walk with God and response to His Word. Their Angolan friend and guide told them, “One of the most frustrating things is that in villages where they received seed, they often eat the seed rather than planting it and bringing forth the harvest.”
  This is the reason why some Christians see the fruit of God’s Word in their lives and others don’t. For example, why have many of us read books on forgiving people, known the teachings were true and right, cried over them, marked them up with highlighters, yet remain in our bitterness? Because we ate the seed instead of sowing it.
  When God is our priority, His Word isn’t just information, it becomes our map for life. We read the Word of God. We hear it. Some even study it, but it has so little effect because we fail to apply it to our lives.
  If we want to reap a harvest of our full potential in Christ, then we must ask the Holy Spirit to make God’s Word work in our everyday circumstances. It’s not enough just to study the Word, we must apply it, too! We must, with God’s help, put it into practice and obey Him. As it says of these early believers in Acts 2, we must, with reverence and awe, “devote ourselves to the apostle’s teaching.”
  Are there other priorities? Absolutely. When your Heavenly Father is first, He will direct you by His guidance and wisdom into prioritizing them. Too many Christians flounder through life when God wants us to have fulfilled, meaningful lives. It only happens as we keep the main Person the main focus of our lives. Christian priority No. 1: God must come first.

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address. 

Winning is everything?

“Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.”

                                                                                    Vince Lombardi

By the end of tonight’s Super Bowl, someone is going to win and someone is going to lose. Few though will remember the losing team. It’s a winner takes all world. That’s even though the 2^nd place team made it all the way to “The Game of Games” but they just didn’t win the final prize.

  Our culture is addicted to success, yet very few are ultimately successful. Consider sports. While everyone makes the team in grade school, fewer make it even in high school. Your abilities have to be in the top percentile to make it to a college team and those percentages dramatically drop to make it in professional sports. That analogy holds true in every field and category of life. Few will make it to team lead or branch manager and even fewer to VP, President, or CEO, particularly of a large corporation.

  Yet, it doesn’t matter where you work or what you do, if you’re a homemaker or a retiree, we tend to be addicted to success. It can be things as innocuous as tic-tac-toe, receiving public recognition for a job well done, or even how many likes your post on social media receives.

  Executive Coach, Katy Trost, developed 7 markers to use to evaluate yourself on whether you’re addicted to success: *You find purpose in achievement. *The expectations you have for yourself are way higher than average. *You ask yourself what else is there to life? *You measure your self-worth through your achievements. *You’re at the peak of your professional life but don’t feel fulfilled. *You’re very results-driven but you don’t feel content. *You’re constantly tense.

  Recently, I finished, When Pride Still Matters – A Life of Vince Lombardi. It’s a must read for every Packer fan. The candor of the author, David Maraniss, was refreshing.

  Growing up in poverty in an Italian family in Brooklyn, Lombardi wasn’t a fantastic player. Where he truly began to shine and showed his genius was in coaching. It’s why he’s been lionized by fans and former players.

  Yet, Lombardi was far from successful as a husband and father. When his famous book, Run to Daylight, came out in 1963, it was jokingly suggested it be called “SHUT UP, MARIE!” 

  Though he and his wife, Marie, began madly in love, she couldn’t compete with Lombardi’s greater love – football. They’re constant fights and bickering were legendary. It was a miserable marriage with Marie ultimately succumbing to alcoholism

  When Marie announced her desire to marry Lombardi, her status-conscious stockbroker father didn’t like the idea of his daughter marrying the son of an Italian butcher from Brooklyn, a prejudice Lombardi faced much of his life. Yet, he and Marie nonetheless wed on August 31, 1940.

  But even on their honeymoon, Lombardi was preoccupied with football and cut it short to be able to get back to his assistant coaching job.

  His two children never lived up to his expectations and suffered throughout their adulthood because of it. His players were more like his sons than his own son, Vince Jr.

  It’s very easy to be seduced by success. Nearly all of us struggle with it at some level. True success, God’s standard of success, is centered on obedience to and glorification of God (Rom. 13:14; Gal. 5:16). Success is first obedience to God, empowered by His Spirit, motivated by love for God, and directed toward the advancement of the kingdom of God.

  The Bible teaches that success begins in our closest circle of relationships – our spouse and our children. Those relationships are so important, failing in either of those spheres is a disqualification for vocational ministry.

  Please understand, one can be a successful Christ-honoring spouse without having a successful marriage. The same is true of parenting. We are to be obedient to the Lord and live out godliness in our area of responsibility, even if our spouse or children do not.

  For example, John Wesley was faithful to the Lord and greatly used by God though he had a miserable marriage. Many a parent has sought to honor the Lord yet had a child who rebelled and later repudiated everything their parents had sought to instill in them about God and in the home. Often we forget that the very first father with rebellious children was God.

  What is success? What is true winning? It’s boils down to living for an Audience of One. Every Christian can be successful because every Christian can choose to do that. It’s choosing by God’s grace to live out Colossians 3:17; “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

  To live for an audience of one means that I have to stop thinking about what’s good for me and how to make myself look better in the eyes of others, or how I can get ahead in this world. Instead I must focus on living for and pleasing God. It means waking up every morning and dedicating the day, the schedule, the pain and problems, the hopes and dreams of my life to God. It means going to bed at night thanking God for everything that has happened and asking Him to shape the day to come. It means setting godly priorities for my life and committing my marriage, my family, my job, my free time, my rest and my reflection all to God. It means seeking to truly live for God alone. 

  On one occasion when he was asked why he was not offended by a vicious attack from a fellow Member of Parliament, Winston Churchill replied, “If I respected him, I would care about his opinion. But I don’t, so I don’t.” In the same way, we who live before the Audience of One can say to the world: “I have only one audience. Before you I have nothing to prove, nothing to gain, nothing to lose.” Winning is everything and the only thing if you win where it matters…with your Heavenly Father!

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address. 

The cost of taking up your cross...

“Riches are not an end of life, but an instrument of life.”

               Henry Ward Beecher

  I’ve been thinking about money a lot lately. Okay, I think about money a lot – period, but probably a little more lately. Now don’t rat me out…after all, I’m a Pastor and am not supposed to think about such worldly matters…and if you believe that….

  Some of my friends will ask about our proposed building plans. I’m quick to quip, “Got a million dollars lying around some where?”  

  As I was thinking back over my life, I’ve never been someone who wanted or needed to have lots of money. Yet, one of the biggest struggles in my life with money though was walking away from making money. Maybe it plugs into some male ego thing of needing to win or conqueror.

  There have been two major decision hurdles that I’ve had to cross that were very, very difficult for me. They were truly repentance moments where I turned from heading one direction and start heading in the opposite direction. They were Matthew 16:24 moments for me. There Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Taking up your cross is a one way trip. It’s the death to self, your own agenda, drives, and wishes.

  That first “take up your cross” moment was when I was fifteen and I gave up drinking. Even at that age, I’d already become a very heavy drinker and had a reputation as my high school’s drunk. I’ll never forget pouring out a half gallon of Bacardi as parts of me screamed that I needed and that I couldn’t give up…but I did. It was a life changing “take up your cross” moment.

  The other “take up your cross” moment was a few years after I’d graduated from Bible College with a degree in Pastoral studies. I’d served at a church in Central Illinois as their assistant pastor. Then, Jane and I had returned with our little family to the Detroit area with plans of planting a new church in Ann Arbor. I’d worked my way through college working for a commercial roofing company. After graduating, I’d returned to that field but this time selling roofing. God had blessed and I’d been very successful.

  When a company offered me an opportunity to launch an office for them in the Detroit area, I jumped at it. Again, God blessed and I was able to break all records for sales for a new office, selling something like $1.25 million that year and winning “Salesman of the Year.” Unfortunately, in my youthful naïveté, I failed to get a contract. The owner of the company reneged on his promise for my commission and I was out my commission. But the Lord used it because I really, really enjoyed selling and making money. That’s when I faced another “take up your cross” moment. I had to choose whether I wanted to stay in the ministry or pursue a career in sales. At that point, I could have gone anywhere in the country with another roofing company. The company I’d worked for had a reputation for their record year which I was a major part of. It would have been easy to have found another position. A couple of roofing companies contacted me. One, even after I’d been pastoring our church for a few years, to see if I’d consider going back into roofing. 

  Please understand – there is nothing wrong with money. Money is merely a means of exchange. It’s our attitude toward money that’s either good or bad; godly or ungodly. There are several common attitudes toward money.

  Some despise money and the making of money. Yet, they have to survive and so they’re usually dependent on others to supply the hated “exchange” they need to survive. They also violate God’s will and command that we’re to use the gifts that He’s entrusted to us as a stewardship. We’re to be creative (Genesis 1:28). That’s why working and creating is so fulfilling. It’s how God designed us. Work isn’t part of the curse. Those who won’t work and aren’t creative are often some of the most miserable individuals on earth. They’re not fulfilling their God-ordained design and purpose.

  Some love to spend money. They’re consumed by consumerism and materialism. They live for bigger, better, brighter believing it will somehow bring meaning, fulfillment and satisfaction to their lives. It never will. Instead it succumbs to idolatry and they’ve fulfilled the tragedy of Romans 1:25, “they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.”

  Some love to save money. Obviously, there’s nothing wrong with saving money. Saving money only becomes an issue when we hoard it and neglect Kingdom opportunities. We have a responsibility to use our money for our Lord (it’s all His after all). We are also to use our money to minister to the poor, particularly those who are fellow believers (1 John 3:17).

  Some love to make money. Some are just gifted at working, being creative or making the right investments. They know how to take a little bit of capital and make it grow, often exponentially. The Bible commends them for their wise money usage (Matthew 25:14-23). There’s nothing wrong with being wealthy. Some of the godliest individuals in the Bible were also some of the richest – Abraham, Job, Lydia – to name a few.

  Some love to give money. God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7). Our generosity has profound potential to bring God glory. Miserliness, on the other hand, sours the effects of the gospel in our lives and others. Each of us, in assessing our own level of generosity or stinginess though needs to ask some vital questions:

·        Does my generosity lead others to give thanks to God for His glory?

·        Does my lifestyle generosity obedience to the gospel and is it for to the glory of God?

·        Do I really believe God will reward me for my generosity?

  We must all heed the warning found in Matthew 6:19-21, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

  We are so blessed that we worship a God who gives freely and lavishly. So do we resemble our Heavenly Father? Is this kind of giving reflected in our checkbooks? Does our lifestyle keep the free flow of grace going to the glory of God? The Father gave His Son for us. Will we clench His grace tightly or let it flow freely through us toward His work? Let me encourage you to let the “treasure” God has entrusted with you to slip through your fingers into ministry and let God get all the glory.