Where Do Your Priorities Lie?
By Alethia McBrayer
In our fast-paced society, we all tend to get busy. We fill our schedules with work, school, clubs, etc. We prioritize the things on our schedules, but where does God fall on the list? Priority? Second? Is He even there? In Matthew 6:33 Jesus says, “ But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”
I know it can be so easy to get caught up in these things. We need to work, the Bible says so (2 Thessalonians 3:10), but sometimes, especially as we grow older, we can start to worry about what we are going to eat, how we are going to be able to afford clothes, or if we are going to have time to finish our school assignment. Jesus talks about this in His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6. “Who by worrying can add a cubit to his stature” (Matthew 6:27)?
How much time do we spend worrying? Does worrying do anything for you? “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin…Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith (Matthew 6:28, 30)? God will take care of us as long as we are seeking Him first, but how do we seek Him first when it comes to work, school, extracurricular activities, and everyday life?
As we already said, jobs are a necessity and God expects us to work (2 Thessalonians 3:10). However, we don't need to make climbing the ladder of success our goal in life. We get so caught up in our jobs sometimes we neglect our one true purpose. Maybe climbing the ladder of success isn't our goal, but we think we need to be there every time the boss says, even when it is a Sunday or Wednesday. Sadly the same can apply to school. We get behind on schoolwork and it can be tempting to stay home. Sometimes, we might even do that, but is that putting God first? God said that we are supposed to meet together on the first day of the week to worship Him. He also said that we are supposed to submit to our elders (1 Peter 5:5), and when they set a time like a Wednesday to come together, we need to be there.
When we stay home instead of doing what God commanded, we are not putting Him first, and we are showing that we do not love Him. God said if we love Him, we will keep His commandments (John 14:15). When God said “Seek ye first,” He didn't mean “Seek ye first, if you have time,” or “Seek ye first if your boss says it's okay.” He didn't give another option. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you”(Matthew 6:33). Did you catch that last part? “And all these things shall be added unto you.” Like we said before, if we are doing God’s will He will take care of us. Remember what David wrote, ‘’I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging for bread’’ (Psalms 37:25).
There are many distractions and temptations in this world. So many things to keep us from the work of the Lord and His word. It is all too easy to pick up our phone and start scrolling. While it's fine to entertain ourselves, that is not our purpose. Anything can become an idol if we let it. Now, as this article has come to an end I have one last question for us to ask ourselves. Where do our priorities lie?