Day 95: High Priorities

 Reading: Psalm 41:7-13

It can go unsaid that by now that we know David faced many worries and struggles. We also read over and over again how he cries out to God in the midst of these struggles and praises God when he sees Him work. We also have read, especially today, about how he seeks God's presence constantly. Our main priorities as followers of Christ should be to seek out His presence in our lives continually. When we lose focus of Him, we tend to fall off the path. We can claim we are followers, but if we don't show it with His direction in our lives, we are no different than anyone else in this world. But when we proceed to keep Him center of our lives, no matter the circumstances, we will be putting Him on display everywhere we go. Don't let His presence slip from your life.

Reading: Luke 10:25-11:4

Jesus is our prime example of setting our priorities straight in our lives. When He is asked what the greatest commandments are (or greatest priorities), He replies with putting God first, then loving your neighbors. He takes it a step further in telling the story about the Jewish man who was beaten and robbed, left on the side of the road. A priest and a temple assistant both came by at different times, but did not stop for him. Two men who are highly looked up to in the religious world both neglect to help a neighbor in need. There may have been many reasons these men wouldn't stop. Maybe they were late for church, or didn't want to become unclean as it made you unclean to touch a dead body in that day, thus not being allowed to enter the temple. Perhaps they didn't want to take the risk of the other robbers being around. Whatever the reason, they had one. I find myself sadly relating to this as many times I'm running off to church meetings or need to get to work (at church), and find myself too busy to help someone who needs it, or who calls. There's always a reason not to help someone, or to do something. 

Finally a Samaritan, a race despised by the Jewish people, stops and helps the man. This man not only stops, but takes him to a place to stay and get well, paying for it all. Now this is truly loving your neighbor and setting your priorities straight. 

Another example we read about is that of Jesus visiting with Martha and Mary. Mary sits and listens to Jesus as Martha rushes around, getting angry that Mary isn't helping her put a feast together. Jesus' response to this, however is that spending time with Him, as Mary was doing, was the right thing to do. This just goes to show us that spending time with God before we get into any of the busy work of this world is the highest priority we should have. One of my favorite quotes is "if you're too busy to open your Bible, you're more busy than God intended you to be." Jesus teaching His disciples how to pray is another example of the importance of spending time with God. 

Keep God number 1. Before work, before sports, before school, before anyone else in your life. Then love others, no matter how much you despise them. These are our priorities, according to Jesus.

Reading: Deuteronomy 2:24-4:14

As we read through the records of the people coming into the Promised Land, we can really begin to see that God neither cared about the land or His laws, but about having a relationship with the people that would carry on for generations to come. The laws are a proclamation of God's love for us, as He longs to have us near to Him, and our obedience to the laws are our response to Him in what He has done in our lives. God intends our relationship with Him to be a highly visible face in this world. We are to be set apart and only in this world, not of this world, and following its ways. Our priority should be to put God on display. This comes when we have His presence in every aspect of our lives, when we spend time with Him, and when we help our neighbors, no matter who they are. Make these things a high priority in your life as a follower of Christ.

Priorities are an important part of life, especially in a world as busy as ours. As followers of Christ, our example is laid out in Jesus. Today, we read about putting Christ center of our lives by keeping His presence in every aspect of it. Also following the greatest commandments of putting Him first, then loving our neighbors whether we like them or not. Putting these things on high priority in our lives will put God and His love on display for the world to see.