So What do Priorities Matter?

When we address the issue of priority, we can go many different directions. One way is to address where we put God in relationship to the other things going on in our life. To take myself for example, I find that I often fill up my time with things that lead to no real fruitful end -- video games, surfing the web, watching movies for instance. These things are my bad habits. But even the things that our culture normally considers "good" (such as working hard, reading a book, or managing finances for example) can get us into a bind if we aren't' careful. These things, among others, make us "busy."

If we look at Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament, we get an interesting bit of wisdom from Solomon regarding priority. The Scripture below talks about the accumulation of wealth and "stuff", but I think what it also addresses is where we place our priorities... where we are storing up our 'treasure':

"I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun." Ecc 2:10-11.

Where in all of our toil and busyness is God? How often I find myself thinking "I'm too busy to pray," or "I can't squeeze Bible study in this week," or even my personal favorite: "God will understand." And then back to those other pursuits I go. After all, I'm BUSY, right? Now not all of this is bad. There are good things also. There is raising children, attending to our spouse, etc. But the issue is not if we do these things or if we don't do them, but rather, does God take priority in all of it? Are we honoring our vow to Him?

We are God's children first. We are husbands and wives and brothers and sisters second. We (who are born again) wrote God a love letter when we accepted His son and became baptised. We were adopted into the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. We must honor this down payment of Grace. He will honor His part.

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