From The Pastor’s Pen – By Brian Horrobin
Life is all about choices and when we set the right priorities, life works out much better.
Author and apologist, C.S. Lewis, once said, “If you put first things first, the second things will be thrown in. But if you put second things first, then you lose both first and second.”
Often, when we start our day with a long “to do” list we may be tempted to go after the smaller, less important tasks first.
The rationale for doing this is that if we can get some items scratched off the list then we will stay engaged with the rest of the tasks.
The problem with this thinking is that we often never get to the larger, more important tasks.
What’s lacking is a clear sense of priority.
Serving God also has a pecking order of priority.
Jesus put it this way in Matthew 6:33: “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
What Jesus meant by “all these things” was the smaller, less important matters of life, as compared to the main issue, that of putting God first.
A good example of this is the time we spend on relationships as compared to time spent on work.
We may try to justify long hours spent away from family, concluding that the money earned can one day be used to pay for nice vacations.
But, my friend, what if “one day” never comes?
Jesus of Nazareth had only 33 years on this earth, with the latter 3 of those years spent doing ministry.
As you read the 4 Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you find that He never ventured more than 200 miles from His home and the bulk of His time was spent reaching out to people.
Relationships were the priority of our Saviour.
What are the priorities in your life?
Do they include your relationship with God and with others?
Or, do you find that work and avocational pursuits are occupying a large portion of your life?
Perhaps this week would be a good time to make a change!
