Priorities
Here is a great question:
With all the areas we have to deal with in life, from God to kids to marriage to our employment to
family to ministry, how do we deal with it all without becoming overcommitted or burned out?
One could argue that each of our responsibilities would warrant our FULL-TIME attention.
Early in my life, I used to run a kind of relational ambulance most of the time-I would go from one relational 911 call to another:
Spend too much time at work…TENSION FROM SHEER NEGLECT WOULD ARISE BETWEEN GAIL AND ME…SO I’D TAKE OFF IN MY RELATIONAL AMBLANCE TO DO SOME EXTRA STUFF W/HER (things settled) …and then TENSION from sheer neglect would appear between/kids and me…911-RUN AND DO SOME STUFF W/THEM….GOD 911 = RETREAT…TENSION @ WORK 911…
Hopeless cycle.
Why?
I think it’s because I didn’t establish priorities in my life-I just reacted to life.
What is a PRIORITY…it’s something that you believe takes PRECEDENCE over other things…a priority is what’s MOST important.
It is what is able to precede OTHER THINGS
A list of priorities tell you what matters most in your life and will keep a lot of confusion out of your life.
1Cor. 14:33 - KING JAMES VERSION
If your priorities are clearly defined, it will make the daily decisions of your life easier.
Let’s say you’re planning something special with your wife tonight (anniversary dinner) and you told her you’d be home right after work and you know she’s really looking forward to it. BUT your boss approaches you and asks you to work late. You think: “Man, we could really use the extra money. If I’m a “go-to” guy for my boss, my job will be more secure. But my wife has really been counting on this (and I’ve already had to postpone this twice) and we could use a romantic shot in the arm.”
If your priorities are set, the answer will be there before the situation arises:
If your priority is to please the boss…you’ll stay
If your priority is providing an income…you’ll stay
If your priority is to protect and nourish your marriage, you’ll go home.
Let’s say you told your 8-year-old son, Johnny, you would go with him to the batting cages today after school…but Brother Harry calls you up and says he wants your counsel about a situation he has…
If your priority is to do ministry whenever it arises so that you’ll be seen as faithful and be promoted into the full time ministry…you’ll bail on Johnnie and go minister. If your priority is your son who is all jazzed about his dad spending a few minutes with him, you’ll go to the batting cages FIRST.
If priorities are set, decisions are made in advance and your life is simplified. (SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO BEND YOUR PRIORITIES …THERE ARE LEGITIMATE EMERGENCIES-SOMETHING BLOWS UP AT WORK…BUT WATCH OUT FOR PATTERNS!!!)
Again, our priorities tell us what’s most important in our life.
So HOW do you establish them?
3 general ways people do it:
#1 - many establish their priorities based on what others do or say
“Dad never let anything get in the way of work…so that’s what I need to do…my family just needs to understand a job is #1 to keep the family secure financially.”
“mom always put the kids first-her and dad never had date-nights…they always hung w/us kids.”
“Pastor says services are never to be missed…so I need to be here every time there is a service.”
“my boss says I should be available whenever he wants me to be”
“my friend Pete is involved with street ministry every night and he has FOUR kids…”
Paul warns believers about figuring out what’s most important by listening to OTHER PEOPLE…
2Cor. 10:12
Another very popular way of establishing priorities is BASING your priorities on HOW YOU FEEL.
We live in a “FEEL-GOOD” culture…do what you want.
Be honest with yourself…be honest with your feelings. Why? They aren’t honest w/you! Sometimes you feel like a nut…sometimes you don’t.
Feelings are like Oklahoma weather…very changeable.
I know people who base their whole lives on feelings, from how they treat their families to whether the keep a job…feelings…DANGEROUS THING.
I think the best thing you can base your priorities on is on what is given to us in Scripture.
2 Co. 3:16
Psa. 17:4 KING JAMES VERSION
Interestingly, the Scriptures iterate what is most important from God’s perspective.
We get to choose…do we want to buy into God’s priority list or determine priorities on our own…
Isa. 55: 8-13
Here is God’s priority list (get these by comparing verses in Scripture…which we don’t have time to prove this a.m.)
Priority #1
You and God
Matt. 22:37-38
Here is the thought…if things are messed up between you and God…your whole life will begin to enter the world of THE SUCK. IT WILL STINK.
Making God #1 in your life will bring order into your whole life!!
Just listen to Galatians 5:22
Gal. 5:22-23
This is the FRUIT of the Holy Spirit within the human heart:
love - referring to the unconditional love of God - which gives us the ability to set value and preciousness on a person irrespective of the way they act
joy - expectation of good things coming
peace - guarantee that NOTHING will stand between you and others in your life
longsuffering -the ability to put up with crud
kindness - a propensity or bend within to do favors for others
goodness - living by a motive other than selfishness
gentleness - helps you not to be an over-reactive critical punk
faithfulness - the ability to stick to your commitments
self-control - helping you control impulses/passions that would otherwise ruin you
KEEPING YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD AS #1 will cause the rest of your life to SHINE AND BE SUCCESSFUL!
1 Timothy 4:8
PRIORITY #2 [may surprise you],
It is you and you
Matt. 22:37-39
YOU WILL NEVER TREAT PEOPLE BETTER THAN YOU DO YOURSELF.
You’re going to have to fall in love w/you!
Psa. 139:13-14
Rom. 5:5
“God don’t make junk.”
Others of you love yourselves too much…repent from that as well.
PRIORITY #3
Is your spouse if you are married (notice it is not ministry, not children, not your job…your spouse)
Over the years…many of us have watched major ministries model the idea that a devoted follower of Jesus is to commit his/her whole lives to ministry…
IT WAS A LIE!
-many have lost their marriages
-lost their kids
We have assumed that God is most concerned about the word being preached. However, ministry is actually #6 in this biblical priority list…
THAT MEANS YOUR Marriage matters in God’s economy.
Eph. 5:21-32
PRIORITY #4
Is you and your CHILDREN [if you have them]!
Note: children are more important than ministry but not more important than your marriage
PRIORITY #5
Is you and your church
Not necessarily the ORGANIZED church…like PC…but your connection w/other believers…LIFE ON LIFE SHARING-I don’t catch all that much about my life: my weaknesses/strengths…God…the devil…I need help to see clearly.
But church relationships ARE less important than your relationship w/God, spouse, kids…but more important than job, ministry or extended family (parents, siblings)…
PRIORITY #6
Work/ministry
PRIORITY #7
Your extended family
PRIORITY #8
The world-at-large
How do priorities work?
NOT TIME ORIENTED…RELATIONALLY ORIENTED
Wake up disconnected w/God…wife is mad…kids are screaming…out of relationship w/other believers…in trouble at work and your mom is mad at you…
RUN TO GOD FIRST…
IF OK W/ GOD AND REST OF THE WORLD…BUT YOUR SPOUSE IS MAD…OPEN THE DOOR FOR RESTORATION ON YOUR WAY OUT THE DOOR…
PILOT FRIENDS…CHECKLIST…
IF OK…SPEND MOST OF THE TIME IN AIR….
#1 RULE WHEN TALKING ABOUT PRIORITIES:
TENSION DEMANDS ATTENTION!
Any priority out of line = a god.
ONE MORE THING:
Add more priorities = will determine what God speaks to you
STEVE CLOUSE…6 KIDS…BUSINESS OWNER-ATTORNEY-POLITICIAN…
Here is a great question:
With all the areas we have to deal with in life, from God to kids to marriage to our employment to
family to ministry, how do we deal with it all without becoming overcommitted or burned out?
One could argue that each of our responsibilities would warrant our FULL-TIME attention.
Early in my life, I used to run a kind of relational ambulance most of the time-I would go from one relational 911 call to another:
Spend too much time at work…TENSION FROM SHEER NEGLECT WOULD ARISE BETWEEN GAIL AND ME…SO I’D TAKE OFF IN MY RELATIONAL AMBLANCE TO DO SOME EXTRA STUFF W/HER (things settled) …and then TENSION from sheer neglect would appear between/kids and me…911-RUN AND DO SOME STUFF W/THEM….GOD 911 = RETREAT…TENSION @ WORK 911…
Hopeless cycle.
Why?
I think it’s because I didn’t establish priorities in my life-I just reacted to life.
What is a PRIORITY…it’s something that you believe takes PRECEDENCE over other things…a priority is what’s MOST important.
It is what is able to precede OTHER THINGS
A list of priorities tell you what matters most in your life and will keep a lot of confusion out of your life.
1Cor. 14:33 - KING JAMES VERSION
If your priorities are clearly defined, it will make the daily decisions of your life easier.
Let’s say you’re planning something special with your wife tonight (anniversary dinner) and you told her you’d be home right after work and you know she’s really looking forward to it. BUT your boss approaches you and asks you to work late. You think: “Man, we could really use the extra money. If I’m a “go-to” guy for my boss, my job will be more secure. But my wife has really been counting on this (and I’ve already had to postpone this twice) and we could use a romantic shot in the arm.”
If your priorities are set, the answer will be there before the situation arises:
If your priority is to please the boss…you’ll stay
If your priority is providing an income…you’ll stay
If your priority is to protect and nourish your marriage, you’ll go home.
Let’s say you told your 8-year-old son, Johnny, you would go with him to the batting cages today after school…but Brother Harry calls you up and says he wants your counsel about a situation he has…
If your priority is to do ministry whenever it arises so that you’ll be seen as faithful and be promoted into the full time ministry…you’ll bail on Johnnie and go minister. If your priority is your son who is all jazzed about his dad spending a few minutes with him, you’ll go to the batting cages FIRST.
If priorities are set, decisions are made in advance and your life is simplified. (SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO BEND YOUR PRIORITIES …THERE ARE LEGITIMATE EMERGENCIES-SOMETHING BLOWS UP AT WORK…BUT WATCH OUT FOR PATTERNS!!!)
Again, our priorities tell us what’s most important in our life.
So HOW do you establish them?
3 general ways people do it:
#1 - many establish their priorities based on what others do or say
“Dad never let anything get in the way of work…so that’s what I need to do…my family just needs to understand a job is #1 to keep the family secure financially.”
“mom always put the kids first-her and dad never had date-nights…they always hung w/us kids.”
“Pastor says services are never to be missed…so I need to be here every time there is a service.”
“my boss says I should be available whenever he wants me to be”
“my friend Pete is involved with street ministry every night and he has FOUR kids…”
Paul warns believers about figuring out what’s most important by listening to OTHER PEOPLE…
2Cor. 10:12
Another very popular way of establishing priorities is BASING your priorities on HOW YOU FEEL.
We live in a “FEEL-GOOD” culture…do what you want.
Be honest with yourself…be honest with your feelings. Why? They aren’t honest w/you! Sometimes you feel like a nut…sometimes you don’t.
Feelings are like Oklahoma weather…very changeable.
I know people who base their whole lives on feelings, from how they treat their families to whether the keep a job…feelings…DANGEROUS THING.
I think the best thing you can base your priorities on is on what is given to us in Scripture.
2 Co. 3:16
Psa. 17:4 KING JAMES VERSION
Interestingly, the Scriptures iterate what is most important from God’s perspective.
We get to choose…do we want to buy into God’s priority list or determine priorities on our own…
Isa. 55: 8-13
Here is God’s priority list (get these by comparing verses in Scripture…which we don’t have time to prove this a.m.)
Priority #1
You and God
Matt. 22:37-38
Here is the thought…if things are messed up between you and God…your whole life will begin to enter the world of THE SUCK. IT WILL STINK.
Making God #1 in your life will bring order into your whole life!!
Just listen to Galatians 5:22
Gal. 5:22-23
This is the FRUIT of the Holy Spirit within the human heart:
love - referring to the unconditional love of God - which gives us the ability to set value and preciousness on a person irrespective of the way they act
joy - expectation of good things coming
peace - guarantee that NOTHING will stand between you and others in your life
longsuffering -the ability to put up with crud
kindness - a propensity or bend within to do favors for others
goodness - living by a motive other than selfishness
gentleness - helps you not to be an over-reactive critical punk
faithfulness - the ability to stick to your commitments
self-control - helping you control impulses/passions that would otherwise ruin you
KEEPING YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD AS #1 will cause the rest of your life to SHINE AND BE SUCCESSFUL!
1 Timothy 4:8
PRIORITY #2 [may surprise you],
It is you and you
Matt. 22:37-39
YOU WILL NEVER TREAT PEOPLE BETTER THAN YOU DO YOURSELF.
You’re going to have to fall in love w/you!
Psa. 139:13-14
Rom. 5:5
“God don’t make junk.”
Others of you love yourselves too much…repent from that as well.
PRIORITY #3
Is your spouse if you are married (notice it is not ministry, not children, not your job…your spouse)
Over the years…many of us have watched major ministries model the idea that a devoted follower of Jesus is to commit his/her whole lives to ministry…
IT WAS A LIE!
-many have lost their marriages
-lost their kids
We have assumed that God is most concerned about the word being preached. However, ministry is actually #6 in this biblical priority list…
THAT MEANS YOUR Marriage matters in God’s economy.
Eph. 5:21-32
PRIORITY #4
Is you and your CHILDREN [if you have them]!
Note: children are more important than ministry but not more important than your marriage
PRIORITY #5
Is you and your church
Not necessarily the ORGANIZED church…like PC…but your connection w/other believers…LIFE ON LIFE SHARING-I don’t catch all that much about my life: my weaknesses/strengths…God…the devil…I need help to see clearly.
But church relationships ARE less important than your relationship w/God, spouse, kids…but more important than job, ministry or extended family (parents, siblings)…
PRIORITY #6
Work/ministry
PRIORITY #7
Your extended family
PRIORITY #8
The world-at-large
How do priorities work?
NOT TIME ORIENTED…RELATIONALLY ORIENTED
Wake up disconnected w/God…wife is mad…kids are screaming…out of relationship w/other believers…in trouble at work and your mom is mad at you…
RUN TO GOD FIRST…
IF OK W/ GOD AND REST OF THE WORLD…BUT YOUR SPOUSE IS MAD…OPEN THE DOOR FOR RESTORATION ON YOUR WAY OUT THE DOOR…
PILOT FRIENDS…CHECKLIST…
IF OK…SPEND MOST OF THE TIME IN AIR….
#1 RULE WHEN TALKING ABOUT PRIORITIES:
TENSION DEMANDS ATTENTION!
Any priority out of line = a god.
ONE MORE THING:
Add more priorities = will determine what God speaks to you
STEVE CLOUSE…6 KIDS…BUSINESS OWNER-ATTORNEY-POLITICIAN…
posted by salt tv at 5:37 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home