PRIORITIES

PRIORITIES

Depending on how God has wired you, you may be the kind of man who sets goals and has a plan for your life. Some of us set goals during the last days of the year as we think through the year looming before us. Some of us are disciplined enough that we have check points throughout the year to see where we are in terms of meeting and reaching our goals, and depending on the outcomes, make mid-course corrections so that we stay on track.

For many of us, life is like a treadmill that has been stuck on a fast speed and somehow we cannot get the control bottom to slow down. We constantly running and never quite able to catch up. When I first started in ministry at America's KESWICK, I realized that every day was going to be an adventure. And you know what, over a month in my tenth year, it is still true. I cannot say that any day has been "boring." There are some days that I find myself saying, "It would be nice to get to the end of the day and say, 'I was bored.'"

With all that is going on in our lives, how do we stay focused? How do we keep from losing control and the perspective we need to stay on track? One of the ways is too established priorities in our lives. For many years I heard that my priorities should be God first, family second, and then work/ministry. Quite honestly, while that sounds good, it isn't always to follow.

Oswald Chambers helped clarify priorities for me several years ago and I have turned down the corned of the page on the July 13th reading as each year when I read this devotional, it becomes for me my mid-year course correction:

"Your priorities must be God first, God second, and God third, until your life is continually face to face with God and no one else is taken into account whatsoever. Your prayer will then be, 'In all the world there is no one but You, dear God; there is no one by You."

If we are really honest with ourselves, usually the first priority on our list seems to take the backseat. We get caught up in the stuff of life and our time with God gets put on the backburner. Yeah, we want to do it, but we oversleep or we get a late start. So we say, "I'll do it later . . ." and later never comes.

Several years ago I was really stressed and came home from work to find that Zach wanted my undivided attention as soon as I walked in the door. I had a long day and had spent considerable time dealing with people issues. I really wanted some space to debrief and pull myself together. To my shame, I was very short with him and in a snippy voice said, "Can't you give me twenty minutes of quiet so I can get my thoughts together?" Deflated, he left the room. Ten minutes later, the phone rang and it was a staff member asking me if I could meet with a man from the Colony who was in distress. I told Jan that I had to go and meet with him and an hour later returned to a very icy house. I could tell as soon as I walked in the door that I had stepped into a freezer.

Jan made this remark that whacked me on the side of the head: "We are tired of getting the leftovers!" Well, my friend, as you think about the priorities of your life, I want to suggest that God doesn't want the leftovers! He needs to become our number 1#, number #2, and number #3 priority. And you know what I am discovering? When that happens all the other issues of life begin to fall into proper place, and life, even though it may feel like a treadmill, is easier to handle.

What are your priorities today? Maybe today is the day to make a mid-course correction in your life.