Priority
(Definition from Dictionary.com)
1.) the state or quality of being earlier in time, occurrence, etc.
2.) the right to precede others in order, rank, privilege, etc.; precedence.
3.) the right to take precedence in obtaining certain supplies, services, facilities, etc., esp. during a shortage.
4.) something given special attention.
–adjective
5.) highest or higher in importance, rank, privilege, etc.: a priority task.
Take a look at these definitions for the word priority. Now ask yourself…
Is God your priority, first thing, every day or do you put everything else ahead of spending time with him because “you’re just too busy”?
Well with our refreshed understanding of the word “priority” let’s take a test and see.
Is the occurrence of prayer the first thing on your agenda?
Does God precede all other people, events, and order in your life or do you ever say “I will pray later”…?
Would the Lord say you rank him first in your life? (*Remember- not because you ‘say so’ but by your actions, attitude, and by example)
Does God take precedence in your giving, thoughts, and ways? (*Basically do you discuss with God the plan for distribution and use of resources He has provided you? [money, house, land, personal property])
I love this one
Does God receive special attention each day from you? (Do you carefully strive to be in his will and favor even if it goes against your own?)
Is God of the highest importance each day of your life?
Well how did you do?
I’m looking at these myself and saying ‘Ouch!’ on a few.
If you run a business there are things you do to make sure you are running it well.
-You arrive early in order to make sure everything is clean and in order.
-You make sure the business is ready for production of goods or services as soon as the customer shows up.
-You make sure you are present when the customer walks in the door and ready to serve.
-You make sure to keep good accounting of the business financial records.
-You make sure to keep good inventory of your resources to run the business efficiently and effectively.
After all, if the customer is not pleased with your service, there is no reason for you bothering even to come in. Why would they want to use you as a vendor if your business is dirty, you do terrible upkeep, your goods or services are mediocre, you never open the door on time, you treat them like a bother, and you don’t keep anything in stock they can use? And you want them to reward you with their money?
Let’s look at another perspective…
Jesus is a king. Get religion out of your ahead. Religion let’s you fluctuate your level of service based on your emotions, how you feel, or what kind of day you have had. If He is king- then what gift are you bringing Him each day? Are you bringing Him an offering first, or a basketful of complaints? Sometimes we treat God like that only, a complaint department. A complaint department is a place we really dislike going, we feel we should not have to be there because the product -(life)- should have worked the way we thought it should, and we only finally go there out of last resort because we can’t deal with the problem any longer.
So here we are. Coming to God to pray -(complain)- about your life and God is thinking “I did not know they even came to this place.”
You ever lost a receipt and ‘thought’ you bought something from a store but after going to that business they scan the tag and tell you it did not come from there? Many times we blame God for our product… life.
But God says “I didn’t produce this. This has your brand on it- not mine. Oh and by the way I see the evidence of some horrible material in your design of the product” Who do you get your material from?” Hmmmm…
When we realize that Jesus is a king, and he is from a country (heaven), and heaven is a government -(kingdom)- then we will finally understand you cannot come to God and blame Him for a product He had no business with. It’s time to make a change in your day. It’s time for a reconfiguration of priorities. It’s time to put first things first. After all we plan then design, we discuss then implement, we get the blue prints then follow them.
God wants to put you at the head of everything you are involved with. He wants to establish you at the top of every field in life. He wants to assign you as the leader in each profession on the earth. But He only uses those that are good representatives of the kingdom. After all it’s His kingdom that is being represented through you. Are you a good representative of the kingdom? If you are taking on the role as an ambassador for Christ – are you fulfilling your reasonable duty and service with the up most standards and quality? or are you an example of an official who should be recalled?
I want to stay in right standing with my government.-(heaven)- I want to keep the lines of communication clear.-(prayer)- I want the government to be happy with my work.-(favor)- I want to have access to all of the benefits my government provides.-(covenant)-
I’ve got to keep first things first.
