When it comes to setting our priorities, it is easy to fall into extremes. On one side, we can fall into a "que sera sera" approach by simply taking each day as it plays out. But we all know that God has internally placed within us the motivation and desire to meet a set of standards in life to serve Him daily. Bottom line, we need short term goals to get things done.
Someone once said, "If you aim at nothing you will hit it every time." As Christians, we don't want to aim at nothing... we want to aim for Jesus! We need to always think about our eternal target... WHO (rather than WHAT) should be most important to us? How has Christ called us to live as we run this race? What do we need to change in our walk to be consistent with that goal?
On the other side of prioritizing - we can get caught into a "legalistic" approach and be driven by religious obligation and/or our own perfectionism. Of course, in this approach we may never meet expectations and thus experience unnecessary frustration and guilt.
Some women have such an intense compulsion to set and live out their personal goals that they can't enjoy present moments. They are unable to relax when a goal is achieved, because there is always MORE to do. Remember the story of Mary and Martha?
As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"
"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her." (Luke 10:38-42)
Think about Martha. She was so caught up in her works and what needed to be done that she was unable to see the balance between focusing on earthly matters vs. heavenly things (everyday to do's vs. spiritual concerns). No, she wasn't wrong to want things accomplished, but her priorities were reversed because she was placing her goals and self-driven obligations before being with God... BEFORE BEING WITH GOD!
So again, how often do YOU make "sitting at Jesus feet" the top priority in your life?
The biblical approach to our priorities lies balanced between the two extremes mentioned above. God has a plan for our lives - both long and short term. He wants us to look at our to do's with an eternal perspective. He has shown us the big picture and also gives us instruction on how to live daily. It is key to understand that because of our sinful nature, as long as we are on earth, we will fall short of God's ultimate standard. But thankfully, by His grace we are able to move forward in running the race of life and committing our efforts and time to His glory.
God has made us with the capacity and drive to set goals and priorities. He's given us the Holy Spirit to enable us to live such goals and priorities out - both for our good and His glory.
Lastly, He wants us to enjoy the journey... praising Him with each day and in each experience (good or bad). Remember, every occasion is an opportunity - a gift - to become more like Jesus. It is so difficult to rethink how things should be because our sinful nature is in contrast to the mindset that all things...all events are a blessing from God and used for His wonderful purpose. As we become new each day in Christ, we must relearn what truth really is concerning this matter and plan our goals from that perspective.
Ladies, our first priority in every day should always be worship and devotion to the Lord. After that, we can attend to the duties at hand. Let's remember not to confuse these two important aspects of the Christian life or place them in reverse order.
God should always be #1.
Blessings!
Victoria
© The Devoted Woman | Victoria Anderson
As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"
"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her." (Luke 10:38-42)
Think about Martha. She was so caught up in her works and what needed to be done that she was unable to see the balance between focusing on earthly matters vs. heavenly things (everyday to do's vs. spiritual concerns). No, she wasn't wrong to want things accomplished, but her priorities were reversed because she was placing her goals and self-driven obligations before being with God... BEFORE BEING WITH GOD!
So again, how often do YOU make "sitting at Jesus feet" the top priority in your life?
The biblical approach to our priorities lies balanced between the two extremes mentioned above. God has a plan for our lives - both long and short term. He wants us to look at our to do's with an eternal perspective. He has shown us the big picture and also gives us instruction on how to live daily. It is key to understand that because of our sinful nature, as long as we are on earth, we will fall short of God's ultimate standard. But thankfully, by His grace we are able to move forward in running the race of life and committing our efforts and time to His glory.
God has made us with the capacity and drive to set goals and priorities. He's given us the Holy Spirit to enable us to live such goals and priorities out - both for our good and His glory.
Lastly, He wants us to enjoy the journey... praising Him with each day and in each experience (good or bad). Remember, every occasion is an opportunity - a gift - to become more like Jesus. It is so difficult to rethink how things should be because our sinful nature is in contrast to the mindset that all things...all events are a blessing from God and used for His wonderful purpose. As we become new each day in Christ, we must relearn what truth really is concerning this matter and plan our goals from that perspective.
Ladies, our first priority in every day should always be worship and devotion to the Lord. After that, we can attend to the duties at hand. Let's remember not to confuse these two important aspects of the Christian life or place them in reverse order.
God should always be #1.
Blessings!
Victoria
© The Devoted Woman | Victoria Anderson
I really liked this - thank you - I am implementing it immediately, keeping them on my outlook - so I see it everytime I look at my computer at work. God is Awesome!
ReplyDeleteCathy