Fulfilling God's Purpose For You Series

What happened to Jesus’ priorities? His first priority was to embody the kingdom of God, and he did that by healing the man. His unique priorities were to teach his disciples and spread the good news, and Jesus was focused on that when he warned the man to keep quiet about his healing. Jesus was not interested in fame or adulation from the crowds; he would gladly give that up to accomplish his purpose.

When the man did not cooperate, Jesus had to deal with the consequences. It made things harder, but not impossible. Although staying out of the towns of Galilee made his life more difficult, it also may have helped him teach his disciples in private.

It was not always easy for Jesus to live a purposeful life, and it is not easy for us either. Many activities and commitments compete for our time and attention, and we have to make choices.

Jesus shows us that “interruptions” are often “opportunities” to embody the kingdom of God. The person who interrupts your concentration at work, the relative who needs a phone call or a ride, the call for help from a Christian in need—not interruptions, but opportunities.

Yet we must not allow the demands of other people to override our unique, God-given purpose. People make demands on our time, and good causes ask for our time and money. Fun times and fulfilling activities beckon us. If we don’t say “No” to some of those things, we will not be able to say “Yes” to more important things: family time, significant ministry, time alone with God, God-given dreams for his kingdom.

If we do help people, we can set boundaries. We can limit our availability, define the limits of our commitments, refuse to be manipulated or used. Jesus set a boundary for the leper: “Don’t go out and tell everybody.” The man did not respect his boundaries, and Jesus dealt with that.

Living by priorities was not easy for Jesus, and it will not be easy for us. We need God’s help to make choices and stay on track.

After a late night, Jesus felt a need to get up, go away alone, and pray about his purpose and priorities. If Jesus needed to work through his purpose and priorities with his Father in heaven, how much more do we need to pray about these things and live out the priorities God has for us!