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Seek Him First
"So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."
-Matthew 6:31-33 (NIV)
I often have to remind myself of my priorities. The Lord wants me to focus my time and energy on Him. It is no secret that most of us have experienced that stressed out, overwhelmed, over-committed, out-of-whack feeling. You are probably smiling right now because these words describe you right where you are today. Usually when we are feeling this way, it is a sign that we have allowed our priorities to get out of order. This can happen to any of us; even those who are organized and good planners. We all have to regularly check that our priorities are pleasing to God.
The key to keeping our priorities straight is found in the above verses.. They clearly tell us that our priority should be seeking Jesus by putting Him and His ways ahead of our own. Our main problem, though, is that we live in a world that teaches us to be self-focused, to go all-out for OUR own goals with the sky as the limit. That would be fine if we were living for ourselves, but we're not. We are supposed to be living for Him!
I like to bring the teaching from God's word into everyday examples. If seeking the Lord and His Kingdom is the top priority, how does that affect us and what we do today? Here are a few questions that you might ask yourself:
- Do I begin my day by jumping out of bed and getting engulfed in my "busyness" or do I start the day in prayer asking God for His guidance?
- Do I run my children around to every music lesson and sport event and then complain or make excuses of why they can't participate in something at church?
- Has my involvement in my career become a greater love to me than my love for my God, husband, or children?
The truth is that we usually know what our priorities should be without much thought, but often they are ignored and their importance minimized. If we will just stop and think, spend some time organizing, and then be disciplined to live it out, those priorities would have a much better chance of staying in order.
The two biggest causes of priority derailment are procrastination and the inability to say "No." Remember that, as an old saying goes, we have time for what we want to do. So let's make time today to please the Lord by seeking His Kingdom first. The rest will then seem to just fall in place.
-Matthew 6:20-21(NIV)
Prayer:
"Dear Lord, I know that I often jump into my day without stopping and asking Your direction first. Help me to prioritize the way that You tell me in Your word. Help me to seek first the kingdom of God and it's righteousness and help me to trust that all these things will be given as well. Help me not to seek the things first, but to seek You. Give me fortitude and diligence so that I will not procrastinate, and give me wisdom and the ability to say no to distractions and busyness. I thank You for it. In Jesus name, I pray, Amen."
Copyright © 2008-2015 Melinda Henderson
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