CHAPTER 14
Priorities: How to Decide What's Important
The constant desire to have still more things and a still better life
and the struggle to obtain them imprints many Western faces with worry
and even depression, though it is customary to conceal such feelings.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
The Problem
- Most men have not settled the issue of what their priorities
should be. Among those who do know, too few live according to those
priorities.
- Perhaps no other time of the week reveals more about us than how
we spend Saturday morning. Saturday is like the discretionary income in
our paycheck.
- How do you spend your Saturdays?
- Most men are more task oriented than relationship oriented. Lets
look at relationships first, the area where we are usually the weakest.
Biblical Priorities
- Our top priority: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your strength" Matthew 22:36,37. The
most practical way to demonstrate our love for God is through obedience
which includes:
- Bible Study
- Prayer
- Worship
- Sharing
The man in the mirror can do nothing better than look
intently into the word of God that gives freedom and discover the
principles, precepts, and guidelines offered.
- Priority number two: "Love your neighbor as yourself" Matthew
22:39. Our spouse, children, and parents should be highest on the list
of "neighbors". God thinks so highly of our relationship with our
parents that He made it one of the Ten Commandments.
- Another priority is rest. Our emphasis is always on doing, but
God is interested in our rest.
- Work should also be a priority. The purpose of work is to glorify
God with the abilities He has given us. This should motivate us to
pursue excellence.
- A final priority is good works which includes:
- Introducing others to Christ.
- Helping others learn about and become like Christ.
- Caring for the poor and needy.
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