Keep Your Priorities in Place

As a boy of 12, Jesus said, ‘I must be about My Father’s business.’ During His ministry He said, ‘I must work the works of Him who sent Me...’ (John 9:4 NKJV) Before He died He said, ‘I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.’ (John 17:4 NKJV) Jesus knew His purpose and priorities, and He lived by them. The question is, do you? You can’t have it all. You must understand your God-given purpose and keep it in front of you continually. That way you will know what you must sacrifice, and what you must give yourself to. Only a clear picture of who you are and where you want to go can help you prioritise what you need to do. We all make choices. The question is: are you going to make choices that bring you closer to your goal or take you further away from it? If you don’t understand your life’s purpose you won’t be capable of making the right choices. Clarity of vision creates clarity of priorities. Speaking to pastors, Vance Havner said: ‘It is one of the ironies of the ministry that the very man who works in God’s name is often hardest put to find time for God. The parents of Jesus lost Him in church, and they were not the last ones to lose Him there.’ Ray Ortlund said: ‘We must first be fully committed to Christ, then to one another in Christ, and finally to the work of Christ in the world.’ The best way to keep your priorities in place is to make prayer and God’s Word your top priority.