Even If i Walk Alone

Instructing and encouraging you to live your life as a disciple of Jesus

priorities

Too Busy?

by

I read an article the other day that was talking about the new phenomenon of “funemployment” (http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009906070348). The article described the “funemployed” as people who had lost their jobs, but instead of getting depressed are finding immense joy in their newly found freedom. They are rediscovering balance in their lives, realizing there is more to life than work. They are realizing that they had allowed work to dictate the priorities in their lives. I think there is a great lesson to learn here.

For those of us who profess to follow Christ, who or what are we allowing to dictate our priorities? To follow Christ is to give all. That pretty well settles the question of priorities. What should be our number one priority? Our number one priority should be, must be, to follow Christ and to do so by serving others. Is that our number one priority today? If not, what have we allowed to move into first place? Are we too busy at work? Do we have too many balls in the air; are we wearing too many hats? Do we have too many social commitments, regardless of how noble those may be? Worst of all, would we simply rather be doing something else?

The Christian life is not for those lacking discipline. Don’t forget, Christ’s followers were called disciples, not merely people with a passing interest. To follow Christ requires self-discipline, dedication and a passion of the pursuit. This isn’t a game, not something we can do half-heartedly. If we are to follow Christ, we must go all in. If Christ isn’t our first thought in every situation, if He isn’t our motivation in every action, then our priorities are wrong.

We must never allow ourselves to be too busy to follow Christ. We must never find ourselves in the situation where we are trying to make time for Christ. Christ comes first; everything else must fit in the time remaining, or it must be cast aside. Don’t wait for something dramatic to happen in your life to make you realize you’ve allowed yourself to become too busy. Renew your commitment today to put Christ first in all things.

Hats

by

If you’re like me – and chances are, if you’re reading this, you are – then you wear a multitude of hats on any given day. For those unfamiliar with the analogy I simply refer to the various responsibilities we each have. I have my day J.O.B., run my own business, am trying to launch a new career as a writer (how am I doing?), I’m a financial counselor for my church, have family responsibilities, house and home duties, Bible study and prayer time. I somehow need to squeeze in friends and, perhaps maybe, just a little down time for myself. As I write this I am thinking of additional hats I wear, but for now I think you get the picture. The world has become a crazy busy place, and it is nearly impossible to not play along.

My dilemma, beyond the obvious, is how little time there is for God. I suspect most of us struggle with this. One fact we cannot escape from is the fact that the amount of time we make for God is totally up to us, a choice, plain and simple. I think it is a subtle and brilliant plan of Satan to continually add to the busyness of our lives. Is it merely coincidence that the busier we have gotten as a nation, the further we as a people have drifted from God? Satan’s best moves are indeed the subtle ones. He rarely uses blatant tactics, but rather takes something inherently neutral, perhaps even helpful, and twists it ever so slightly in a manner that takes our focus off of God.

Having a job, pursuing your passion and serving others are all worthy tasks. But when they start piling one on top of the other, what are the first things that get squeezed out? I think more often than not, God is the first to go in our busy schedule. After all He’ll love us regardless and He knows how we feel about Him anyway, right? As a side note, the next thing that tends to get removed from our schedules is exercise. Soon we become flabby and depressed and focused totally on our appearance rather than on God and the needs of others. Satan wins; he has removed our focus from God and that is all he wants to do. The easiest way to save money is to pay yourself first and pay your bills with what’s left. Might I propose the best way to serve God with your time is to spend the first hour of your day with Him? Take care of everything else with the time you have left. We need to guard our lives from becoming too busy. We need to recognize the subtle ploys of Satan. When it comes to spending our time, we need to pay God first.