Friday 18 May 2012

Priorities

What is most important in your life right now? 

This is a tricky little question - one that might prompt a different answer from many people than would actually be true.  It's actually a question that is worded many different ways: "What are your priorities?", "Where are you focused?" and "What is the meaning of your life?" all come to mind.  But the reality is, these are all rooted in the same question: What is most important to you? 

There is a very obvious answer:  God.  The Westminster Catechism states, "The chief end of man is to glorify God by loving Him forever."  The entire reason for our being is to glorify and love God. 

But it isn't so easy as reading that and going on our way, is it?

Things easily distract us in this feeble, fallen state.  Money, possessions, dreams and aspirations, self-improvement, careers, children, husbands... all of these things can creep up as the 'most important' in our lives.  And that's nothing short of idolatry. 

And while we know what the right answer should be, the actual answer for each of us can be revealed through the fruit of our lives.  We may say that God is the most important thing in our life, but how much time do we spend with Him?  Are we consciously working to glorify Him in all that we do?  Is He simply what helps us get through the day, or is He the very reason we get up at all?

The fruit produced from a life of idolatry is rotten and toxic.
Caring for our children is a wonderful duty, that we should delight in, and that we are taught to do by God's instruction.  But if our children become the most important things in our lives, other things will suffer: our health and well-being may decline as we constantly give of ourselves without yielding for the sake of our precious children, our relationships with our husbands will suffer as they feel neglected and we fail to serve them and submit to them lovingly, and even our children will be negatively affected, as their relationship with their mothers will become a burden, because they can tell how much is riding on them and the weight of such a charge can smother them. 
Likewise, if our husbands are the most important thing in our lives, when they fall short of perfection it can be devastating to marriages, because the foundation they were built upon was not solid.

But if God is truly the most important thing in our life, the fruit produced by our life will be sweet and precious.  God's desire for our life is unity in our marriage, that our children would be taught to walk in His ways, and that our lives would be blessed, according to His glorious will.  When our eyes are fixed on God, and our whole lives are about glorifying Him, our conduct, our relationships and our hearts will not go untouched; the good work He will do in us will show through to every facet of our lives - and it will all be for the better. 

"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness." 2 Peter 1:3


When our eyes are fixed on God, we will learn how to serve, how to persevere, how to work hard, how to steward our money, how to submit, and how to truly love - because these are all aspects of His good, pleasing and perfect will for our lives.  God instructs us to love our husbands, and to take care of our children, and we should do both of those to the best of our ability for His glory

Many of us try so hard to please God and to follow His commands - we work so hard to try to be good wives, good mothers, good servants... but all too often, our priority is not on glorifying God, but merely on "doing good".  If we want to truly honor God through our actions, and show our love for Him by following His commands, we must first seek Him with our whole hearts, and obedience will follow through our gratitude and through His grace.  And as it says above, everything we need for life and godliness will be given to us through knowledge of Him, and that includes instruction on how to be a good wife! 

Questions:
What is your #1 priority?

Does the fruit of your life reflect that?

Are you seeking God's glory, through your love for Him, in all you do?

Our prayers are with each of you this week as we each look at our priorities and pray for God's grace, and that He may, "bind my wandering heart to Thee!"

To God be the glory, forever and ever, Amen!

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