Set your priorities
2021-04-06Joshua 24:15 NCV
If we want to stay on God’s path, it’s a good idea for us to set out our priorities as soon as we can, and then make a conscious decision to maintain them every day. Here’s why:
1) It means we don’t have to keep re-establishing them. When we’re thinking about our priorities, we need to involve God and ask Him to help us set them. That way, we can make sure our priorities line up with His will, and we won’t need to keep changing them because we’ve chosen the wrong things.
2) It helps take the emotion out of our decisions. If we’re not careful, we can make a life-altering decision based on a temporary situation or feeling rather than God’s will. By setting out our life’s priorities first, we can make decisions without our emotions manipulating and controlling us. Plus, we’re more likely to set them with integrity. Joshua did that: ‘As for me and my family, we will serve the LORD.’
3) It makes managing our lives easier. Once we nail down what’s important to us, we can live based on those priorities. For example, someone who’s inclined to procrastinate or do their work half-heartedly might decide to break that habit by basing one of their priorities on 1 Corinthians 10:31: ‘Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God’ (NIV). Once they’ve decided to put God first in their work, they’ll find it easier to be enthusiastic about the tasks they need to do.
It takes prayer and perseverance, but once we decide and ‘commit [our] actions to the LORD…[our] plans will succeed’ (Proverbs 16:3 NLT). He’ll give us the strength each day to live by our decisions.