Prioritizing Matters In Our Daily Lives

Feature 2 – September 2019 – Grace & Truth Magazine

Prioritizing Matters In Our Daily Lives According To God’s Thoughts

To begin, it is helpful to understand the key concepts within the title to this article. “Prioritizing” is to place items in a particular order based on their importance to us. “Our daily lives” indicates that this is something we should be doing each day, not weekly, monthly or annually. Finally, we should be doing all of this based on “God’s thoughts” rather than my own thoughts or those of others.

To Whom Do We Belong?
We first have to remember who has a right over us and, consequently, over our time. As believers we have been bought with the price of the blood of the Lord Jesus. Therefore we have the instruction and obligation to glorify God in our body (1 Cor. 6:20). “Consider ... great things He hath done for you” (1 Sam. 12:24 KJV). The Lord has the right to be involved in matters of our daily lives since we belong to Him.

We are also instructed as believers to “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom. 12:1-2). Our bodies belong to the Lord, therefore our thinking in relation to prioritizing matters is something that needs to be transformed. Prior to our salvation, we used our time to fulfill whatever we desired (Gal. 5:17, Eph. 2:3). Now as believers our minds are changed, and we understand that the Lord is our Master. We think differently about our time, and we have a desire to organize our lives in the way He wants. We need to pray, asking the Lord to give us this desire. The psalmist said, “One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life” (Ps. 27:4). This was his first priority.

How Do We Prioritize Matters?
The Lord was very clear that as believers we should be seeking “first the kingdom of God” (Mt. 6:33). We prioritize matters in our lives based on how much we value them: “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Lk. 12:34). Our heart and, it follows, our time will be based on where our treasure is or our affections are (see Col. 3:1-2). If we love a particular thing, our heart is involved, and as a result our time will be spent on it. For example, if we love the Bible then we will want to spend time reading it. A good way to recognize your treasure is by seeing how you spend your available time. We spend time on our treasures!

There are some things that are common to us all. We, of course, are all given the same amount of time each day, but we all choose to use that time differently. God created our bodies so that we all need to spend time sleeping, just like the Lord Jesus did (Mk. 4:38). However we are warned to not sleep too much (Prov. 6:9-11), which is a danger if we are not mastering our body or bringing it into subjection. We are instructed to work. In fact, right after creation the LORD God put Adam into the garden to care for it (Gen. 2:15).

The Lord expects us to provide and care for our family (1 Tim. 5:8). The apostle Paul referred to this in 1 Corinthians 7:32-33, stating that those without a family have more time to devote to the things that belong to the Lord. We are instructed to provide spiritual care for our family (Dt. 6:7-25) and to take care of family relationships (Mt. 5:24; Mk. 7:10; Jn. 19:26). This takes time and effort.

These are a few of the items on which we spend time. In your own life you will likely have others. Each of us has the same amount of time in the day, although our various responsibilities may take more or less time because of our circumstances.

What Are The Lord’s Thoughts About Time?
As mentioned earlier, we are to seek the kingdom of God first. Our first priority is to the Lord. The Israelites were instructed to give of the “first of all the fruit of the earth” (Dt. 26:2). This indicates that they were supposed to give to the Lord the very best, the first of what they had. In Malachi 1:13 the people were corrected, for instead of giving the Lord the best, they had “brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick.” What about our time? Are we giving to the Lord the first of it or just what is left over?

The Lord also cares about our attitude when it comes to what we are giving. He loves one who is giving cheerfully (2 Cor. 9:7), in contrast to one who gives out of the feeling of necessity. We have an obligation to take advantage of the opportunities the Lord gives to us each day to serve Him. Ephesians 5:16 reminds us to be “redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” The Lord said to His disciples, “I must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work” (Jn. 9:4). We need to “number our days” (Ps. 90:12), realizing each moment is important in our lives. Time is not to be wasted or used with no thought!

What Is Important From God’s Perspective?
Knowing that our lives belong to the Lord and that He should have priority in our time, what are some practical lessons for each of us? The Lord has given some specific priorities for our daily lives:

1. Spend time in prayer. The Lord Jesus is the perfect example: He prioritized His life to spend time with His Father. “And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed” (Mk. 1:35). The Lord made it a priority to pray, not only early in the morning but throughout His day. He prayed prior to eating (Jn. 6:11; Mt. 15:36), while healing (Jn. 11:41-42; Mk. 7:31-37), before choosing the disciples (Lk. 6:12-13), and even while on the cross (23:34). There are many other examples of the priority that the Lord placed on praying.

2. Read the Bible. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Ps. 119:105). For the blessed man, “his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night” (Ps. 1:2). Scripture instructs and teaches us God’s mind for what we will face (2 Tim. 3:15-17). It is good to start each day asking for direction for it (Ps. 5:3, 143:8). We should have the same desire for the Word of God that a newborn baby has to be fed (1 Pet. 2:2-3).

3. Meet with God’s people. The early believers were meeting with each other daily (Acts 2:42-47). There is a danger for us to allow things to interfere with meeting with other believers, hence the admonition of Hebrews 10:25: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” We do not just need to make sure we are meeting with other believers for breaking of bread or preaching, but also for fellowship with one another. One priority we should have is to be with believers and encourage one another (1 Th. 5:11).

4. Be obedient to our heavenly Father. The Lord provided a wonderful example to us of One who was consistently doing what the Father asked of Him. He was able to say, “I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do” (Jn. 17:4). The Lord’s priority in His life was obedience to the Father. He submitted His will to the Father’s will: “Not My will, but Thine, be done” (Lk 22:42). In our lives our priority each day should be obedience to what the Father has given us to do.

5. Care for others. The Lord was seen here on earth as One who served rather than One who wanted to be served (Mt. 20:28). Paul was characterized as a servant (2 Tim. 1:3; Ti. 1:1), and a priority in our lives should be to serve those around us, both fellow believers and those who do not know the Lord (Mt. 9:10-13; Mk. 6:30-44). Practical service is a necessity for the Christian life. Dorcas was an example of someone who had made it a priority to care for the widows (Acts 9:36-43). Caring for those in need is a real demonstration of our love for the Lord and a genuine relationship with Him (Jas. 1:27).

There are many other items that you may consider. We need to be challenged to seek the mind of the Lord so we can understand where He wants us to focus our time. We are responsible to the Lord for our actions, and we need to be concerned about what He thinks rather than having our focus on what others may think. “Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand” (Rom. 14:4).

Conclusion
We are to prioritize matters every day according to the Word of God. While there are certain things that should characterize us, such as praying, reading the Word, meeting with other believers, obedience to God and serving others, we have to seek the mind of the Lord each day to help us prioritize our daily lives. We belong to the Lord and He owns our time. Our goal should be to seek Him and to utilize our time for His service until He returns.

By David Pickering