No 37

(Prioritizing in the Life of a True Christian)

The dictionary defines prioritize as “arrange in order of importance”.  The Bible has, without actually saying so, set a list of priorities for the life of a Christian to fall back on when activities become difficult to choose which one takes precedence over the other.   This list is not an exhaustive one, but it gives us good parameters to follow:

1) Our relationship with God.  I don’t think any one would argue with is this one; it is, by far the most important – Jesus said “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.”  (Mark 12:30)

 

2) Our relationship with our family.  This one must be broken down into two parts:

a)  Our spouse.  Our spouses take the second spot.  It is so important to have a solid relationship with our spouse that Jesus said “..For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’ (Matt 19:5) echoing Genesis 2:24.  We become one person; this is definitely our most vital earthly relationship.  Mr André Adoul, a French Christian author says in his book “Our Children” – Give your children the spectacle of loving parents.  (Translated)

b)  Our children.  Next, come our children and if you were to ask them what they want in life, they would probably not have a clue, but Mr Adoul says it perfectly.  Parents and especially fathers tend to get this one mixed up.  When the father comes home from work, he wish is to “liberate” the mother from the burden of the children and begin playing or talking with them; error!  He should instead, sit down with his wife and find out how her day went; the children are not forgotten, they are close by.  This is another one of Mr Adoul’s principles.

 

3) Our jobs or how we put bread on the table.  Paul gives us a stern warning in his 1st letter to Timothy, chapter 5, verse 8 “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.”

 

4) Our church and other Christians.  Here is a grey area in which we could ask ourselves which is more important – going to church or being with our family?    Hearing the Word of God and applying it to our lives refers back to the #1 priority and even being with other Christians is of the utmost significance.  Paul said in Acts 2:42:  “And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.”  So, why do I place this last on the list?  Being with other Christians is very important but not as important as being with our family.                                                                                                      Once there was a man who attended a conference on parenting given by Dr James Dobson and he told a story of a man who had missed out on some of the pleasures of being with his son when he was young. Several times, the son would ask his father to go fishing but the father in the story was too “busy” with church work.  The son never go to go fishing and eventually grew up and got married.  So, one day the father asked his grown-up son to go fishing and his son answered that he couldn’t because he was too “busy” with his church work.  This story truly hit home with the man attending the conference and from that point on, he made sure that he took his children fishing, camping and many other activities.  In his heart, he had to convince his children, by his acts that they were more important to him than his “church work”.   Oh, by the way, the man attending the conference was me.

 

Now, if there is any doubt in your mind as to this list, let’s do it backwards.  We can always find a church but we cannot always find a job; we can have children; but we cannot always find a wife; we can always find a wife but there is only one God.