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.