Priorities, priorities, priorities...are a huge topic of discussion lately. I sometimes hear people older than myself telling me about how when they were my age, things weren't quite as hectic. I suppose they are right. Look at how we are constantly trying to fit in as many activities in our already over-scheduled lives: family, work, school, kids, sports, meetings, social gatherings, business trips, etc. Last time I looked there were still only 24 hours in each day and we like to maximize each one of those hours. I mean seriously, I'm writing this at 11:32pm! But with all these distractions, just where does God fit? Does He get shoved onto the back burner in your day-to-day priorities? If I asked you to write down your life's priority list, what would it look like?
Maybe your priority list looks something like this; Or perhaps like this one;
Family God
Career Family
Health Career
God Health
Money Money
Recreation Education
Education Recreation
Politics Politics
Charity Charity
One of my favorite sermons my Pastor preached about was Prioritizing God. The main point of the sermon was that we shouldn't put God at the top of our priority list. He should “BE” our list. Everything on that list needs to be centered around God. Everything. The risk of “prioritizing” God (even if you put him at the top of the list) is that if something really important came up, God stands the risk of being bumped down the list. Perhaps it would be a family illness, a loss of a job or severe financial stress. We then tend to lose focus on Him, spend our time and energy on the circumstances of the situation and therefore bumping God down our priority list. But by keeping Him at the center of everything on our list, the order can fluctuate, and He remains our source fo strength and firmly at the center.
family
career charity
health God politics
money education
recreation
Priorities = distractions
When a person has too many priorities, each is getting only a fraction of that person's attention. Again, we still only are given 24 hours in a day. Each priority acts as a distraction from the other priorities. These multiple priorities and distractions are causing people to be too overscheduled and busy day and night. The distractions are the things that take you away from what's really important, your personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Think about it, if you lived on a deserted island with nothing more than a loin-cloth and banana leaves for shoes, you'd get to know God real quick. With all of our modern distractions having been vanished away, you'd be able to focus completely on Him.
So now we've established that priorities will yield distractions which can then weaken our relationships with God. But what enables these distractions? The great enabler for managing our busy lives (priorities) these days is our devices and the technology surrounding these devices: Smartphones, iPads, iPods, Playstations, Xbox 360s, wifi, 4G, streaming video, Netflix, Google, Facebook, GPS and apps. You name it. So where does God fit into all of this stuff? Maybe God needs an App. How can we find Him amidst the chaos of technology and our busy overscheduled lives? Since everything else in our lives is taking up our attention, we can easily lose focus on God. There is a good scripture about this very situation. Let me paraphrase, Matthew 14:22-32. Peter was in a boat with the other disciples when they saw Jesus walking on the water. Jesus told Peter to come to him. Peter got out of the boat and started to walk towards Jesus. But then he saw the wind he became afraid and began to sink. Jesus then reached out his hand and grabbed Peter. When Peter looked away from Jesus, he got scared and lost his way. He saw the wind, looked away from Jesus and sank. Perhaps wind could equal anything that is taking your focus away from Jesus (aka a distraction)
This past summer I went camping, my wife and our two boys (5 & 8). First time ever, we loaded up our little truck and set out for a tenting adventure. TV, iThings, phones, computer, internet, cable, housework, laundry, yard work, job stress everything was left at home. We went mid-week when almost no one else was there. We set up our tent and our site, and then spent time enjoying the park. We went hiking, fishing, walking in the creek, finding crayfish, bugs and fossils. Later we roasted hot dogs over the open campfire. Of course we had s’mores for dessert. After telling silly stories around the fire (versus telling scary stories) we all climbed into the tent. With little light, we improvised our normal bedtime book reading time with telling Bible stories to our boys. Everyone shared their favorite Bible story. When we were finished, I saw that it was only 9:45pm...which is certainly not my regular bedtime! Let's just say that it I had a rough time falling asleep!
3:14am is an actual time
I really dislike tent camping. My theory is that I don't work all year just so that I can spend my vacation sleeping on the dirt. But, as a parent, you have to make sacrifices sometimes! I finally fell asleep somewhere around 11:00 - 11:30pm. At some point in the night/morning a cold, clammy finger tip was poking my forehead..."Daaaad" I heard my oldest whisper to me, "I have to go to the bathroom." My clock indicated the time was 3:14am. Yes, a.m. I fumbled around for the flashlight, then took him for a short walk to the bathroom area. After he was finished, we headed back towards the tent. That's when I noticed the night sky. It was amazing! It was completely full of stars and a magnificent full moon over head. The air was warm and humid and the sounds of crickets and cicadas overwhelmed me. We walked slowly back towards the camp on that stone park road. I stopped and pointed to the moon and said to him, "look at that moon tonight, it's gorgeous...aren't those stars incredible?!" My son looked up and said, "Wow!...it's so bright out but it's nighttime!" We were both enjoying the fact that we could see our shadows on the road from the moon's light. The fishing pond was like a sheet of glass and the meadow was covered in dew and fog. We spent the next few minutes in awe of creation. We were in awe of all of it all. We stood in awe of God. We talked about God and how he made all this beauty. What a humbling experience for the both of us. All of life's distractions were gone for those few moments. It was just me and my son in complete amazement of the Father's creation. It was unforgettable.
Sidebar
Kids get this. They get God. Their lives haven't been muddled up with distractions, skepticism, negativity, sarcasm, and doubt. If you ever get a chance to talk to a child about God, I recommend it. They have a faith that is so pure that you'll be amazed at it's simplicity and their unfaltering devotion. Jesus knows this...
“...Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” - Mark 10:14-16
Pump the brakes!
In case you’re wondering where the inspiration for this blog post came from, it came from God’s word…
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
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