OUT-OF-WHACK PRIORITIES
USA Today ran an article on October 25th, 1995 that is a great illustration about priorities. It reads...
"Ronald Warwick, captain of the luxury cruise ship Queen Elizabeth II, questioned a passenger who paid full fare for his dog to join them on an around-the-world cruise. (Accommodations ranged from $25,000 to $150,000.) 'Wouldn't it have cost less to leave him at home?'
"'Oh no,' the man said. 'When we are away a long time, the dog's psychiatrist fees are so high, it's less expensive to bring him along'" (Edward K. Rowell, 1001 Quotes, Illustrations & Humorous Stories for Preachers, Teachers & Writers (Baker Books: Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1996, 1997), 531).
When our priorities are out of whack, our sensibilities get out of whack. And when our sensibilities are out of whack we can waste a lifetime trying to do something but never accomplishing anything.
William Barclay puts it this way, "It is not the things which are obviously bad which are dangerous. It is the things which are good [which are dangerous], for the 'second best is always the worst enemy of the best'" (William Barclay, Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of Matthew, Vol. 2 (Westminster John Knox Press: Louisville, Kentucky, 1975), 61).
(From a sermon by Eric Lenhart, Seeds Among Thorns, 8/13/2010)