~~~PRIORITIES~~~
IN WHAT WAY WOULD YOU ARRANGE
YOUR PRIORITIES?
~~~~
GOD, CHURCH, FAMILY
COUNTRY, NEIGHBORS
SELF, OCCUPATION
As you can see, most people have these in reverse order. It is natural to put self first. By habit most of us put God last. When God is neglected in our lives, church falls way down on our list of priorities. When God is neglected, family, also, falls down on the list, and neighbors are lost from sight. Do you think we should shake up our list of priorities, and consider their proper order of importance? What do you put first in your order? Where do you fit in this list? What are the main things in your consideration? My guess is that you have yourself at the top of the list, and every thing else falls out where ever it may. No real thought is given to what should be at the top of the list, and where these other things should fit in. If this be true, only God can help you to adjust your list of priorities. Some of the suggestions below can help you if you really want to correct your list.
I. SPIRITUAL PRIORITIES
Matt. 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
2 Tim. 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Matt. 26:41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Mark 13:33 Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.
II. FAMILY PRIORITIES
1 Tim. 5:8 But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.
1.) CARE FOR THE SPOUSE
Matt. 19:3 The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?
4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?
8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away
your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.
9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.
10 His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.
11 But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given.
12 For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.
Eph. 5:28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
2.) CARE FOR THE CHILDREN
Luke 18:15 And they brought unto him also infants, that he would touch them: but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them.
16 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
17 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.
Eph. 6:4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
2 Cor. 12:14 Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.
THE BRIDGE
An old man going a lone highway,
Came at the evening cold and gray
To a chasm vast, deep and wide.
The old man crossed in the twilight dim
The sullen stream had no fear for him.
But he paused when safe on the other side
And built a bridge to stem the tide.
"Old man," said a fellow pilgrim near,
"You are wasting your strength by building here,
Your journey will end with the closing day,
You never again will pass this way.
You’ve crossed the chasm deep and wide,
Why build you this bridge at ev’ntide?"
The builder lifted his old gray head,
"Good friend, in the path I’ve come," he said,
There followeth after me today
A youth whose feet must pass this way.
This chasm that’s been as naught to me
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be;
He too, must cross in the twilight dim.
Good friend, I’m building this bridge for him."
---Selected
III. PERSONAL PRIORITIES
Matt. 6:25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
Luke 28:10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Mark 10:31 But many that are first shall be last; and the last first.
IV. SOCIAL PRIORITIES
Matt. 19:19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Luke 14:7 And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them,
1.) SELF HONOR
8 When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him;
9 And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room.
10 But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee.
11 For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
2.) HONOR THOSE WHO CANNOT RETURN HONOR
12 Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee.
13 But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:
14 And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.
3.) JUDGE NOT, LEST YOU BE JUDGED
John 8:7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
