The Order of Our Priorities
by Jeremiah Greene
The way we live our lives displays our priorities and in turn our attitudes. Our priorities must be placed in the correct order because others look to us as an example. The order of our priorities not only affects our own lives but it also influences the lives of others. Our priorities should have correct order and not wrong order. The things we do should be organized according to their importance. The way we coordinate our priorities decides our destination for eternity. Our choices and the priorities that cause us to make them determine what happens to us. When we do have our priorities in the wrong order, God will punish us and try to get us to repent. We should maintain right priorities if we hope to be able to enter into Heaven.
Right priorities should dominate our lives in every area. The word priority means, "something coming before in order or importance."1 The most important priority should come first. Jesus Christ should be first as our most important priority in life. The Bible says in Psalm 37:23,"The steps of a righteous man are ordered by the Lord; and he delighteth in his way." If we obey Jesus and listen when He tells us how to order our lives, we will live righteously before God. We must keep our priorities in the right order and let God tell us what to do. We must obey what Jesus dictates to us to do or our priorities will not be ordered by the Lord and we will not live like we should--righteously.
In order to live righteous we must put God first. Our whole life depends on Him so He lives as our most important priority. Everything in our lives must come after Him. Living righteous means to have our priorities in order. If we do something wrong or out of place we do not have Him first. We live as an example for others around us and if our priorities are not in the order that God demands of us in the Bible then they will not think us Christians. If we live the way we should, then more people will be influenced and pointed toward God. The organization of our priorities affects people.
________ 1. Doubleday & Company, Inc., "Priority," Thorndike-Barnhart Comprehensive Desk Dictionary, 1967 ed.: 618.
An example of someone's priorities affecting someone else aligns with the history of the Protestants. Because they had their priorities in the right order, they became hated and despised by many devout Catholic people. Their selfless attitude touched the hearts of many people. Many people were saved during this Great Awakening. The Catholic leaders saw that their popularity was decreasing so they decided to try and put a stop to it. The Protestant Church threatened the doctrines of man so the prideful leaders began executing as many true Christians that they could find. These leaders lived in disobedience t what God had said in the Bible. The Reformers priorities affected the leaders in such a way as to cause animosity. The order of their priorities influenced the leaders to wrath. The Reformer's right priorities resulted in persecution.
The lives of the Apostles exhibits another situation of right priorities causing persecution. These brave men were beheaded and stoned for the truth that they preached. They were "railroaded" out of some of the towns in which they preached, and even killed by the religious leaders. Men like Paul, James, Simon Peter, Silas, Barnabas, and John were vigorously persecuted and despised for their right priorities. These men did not quit when they were imprisoned, but when they were released, either by God or by pardon, they continued to spread the Gospel. Their priorities existing in the right order provided the stimulus for the pride and hatred in the religious leaders to surface. Their priorities followed the order God showed them and they were persecuted for it.
Wrong priorities can result in hatred also. An example of this was King Jehoiakin of Israel during Nebuchadnezzar's invasion of Egypt. This king did not have his priorities in the right order and did not have God in his life. Nebuchadnezzar, Prince of Babylon at that time, was going to Egypt to conquer it and Israel was located close by. Nebuchadnezzar conquered Israel, removed the king from off the throne, and took prisoners back to Babylon with him. Because of the king of Israel's wrong priorities, he was dethroned and some of his family was captured and taken to Babylon. No matter what the organization of our priorities is someone will hate us. Better to be hated for right priorities than wrong priorities.
The organization of our priorities should follow after the instructions God has delivered to us in the Bible. Because God lives as the most important priority in our lives, He must come first. If God comes first, all things related to Him must also. Things like prayer and reading the Bible constitute some of the most important areas that should be in our lives. Anything that has to do with God and our relationship with Him must come first in our lives. Prayer must be very important in our lives if we want to maintain an open and pure relationship with God.
Prayer constitutes an essential part of the Christian walk. The most important thing we can do is to communicate with God. Prayer means, "communication to a God or deity."2 Communication with God must come first in our priorities. If we do not pray to and talk with God then how can we know what He wants us to do? Obviously we cannot. If we do not know God's will, then it's impossible to do it. When prayer holds little value in our lives, we end up in sin because we don't do God's will. Prayer enables us to hear what God has planned for our lives.
To have a relationship with God, we must not be disobedient and do His will. God's will should come first in everything that we do and say. Right priorities place God first and when we do not do His plan, He does not come first in our lives. God then does not come first in our lives. God not first means we have our priorities in the wrong order. Every time when we do not put God first, we sin; furthermore, our lives become chaos and we get messed up. Every time we sin and disobey Jesus Christ we will have to pay the consequences of our actions.
The story of Moses and the Promised Land shows the consequences of not having right priorities. The wandering Israelite nation began to complain about water shortages in the camp. When Moses went to God to pray and ask Him what to do, God told Moses to go and speak to a rock and water will flow out of it. When Moses went out to do as God commanded, the people began to complain and he lost his temper. Instead of speaking to the rock, Moses beat it with his staff and water flowed. Because of his sin and allowing anger to come into his priorities, Moses was banished from the Promised Land and would not be allowed in. God will punish us like children when we do not obey Him. Paul wrote in Galatians 6:7, "...whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." When we have our priorities in the wrong order, we will get the consequences.
The story of Cain and Abel displays the consequences of wrong priorities. Cain did not put God first in his life and rebelled against Him by putting fruits and vegetables on his altar to the Lord. When Abel's sacrifice of a lamb was accepted and his own was not, Cain gave his heart over to hatred and jealousy toward Abel, his brother. When they were alone in a field, Cain murdered Abel and then ran away. God punished him severely and turned him into a beggar and a wanderer. This story proves that you can not get away with anything. The Bible says in Like 8:17, "For nothing is secret that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad." God sees everything and other people will find out what we did sooner or later. Cain could not hide from the Lord. God will punish us when we have our priorities in the wrong order.
__________ 2.Funk & Wagnalls Inc., "Prayer," Funk & Wagnalls Standard Desk Dictionary, 1974 ed.: 523.
The nation of Israel, when it was a theocracy, showed God's judgment on sin and priorities that were not in the right order. When the nation would sin, God would send one of their enemies to conquer and punish them for a time. The people began to think that because they were a theocracy that all these things happened to them so they begged for monarchy. This choice ended up proving worse for them then if they had remained under the rule of God. When we sin, Jesus Christ will always punish us one way or another.
Because we are His children, God punishes us like a father would on earth. If we sin, God will send the Devil to punish us in hopes of bringing us back to Him. We will always face the consequences of our sin, and we never can hide from them. God wants us to have our priorities in the right order so He lovingly punishes us. Jesus never chastises us beyond what we can bear, but only gives us what we need. His Spirit convicts us of our sin and our job is to obey that conviction. The Bible says in Genesis 6:3, "And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man..." God will only deal with us up to a certain point, and when that line is crossed, He allows the Devil to come and threaten us. We must give in to the Holy Spirit and listen to the conviction that He places on us. We must give in to the convictions of the Holy Spirit and have Godly sorrow about our sin.
Godly sorrow constitutes the first step to organizing our priorities. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 7:10, "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death." When we commit a sin we must have godly sorrow about it. Without being truly sorry and regretting doing it we can never repent. Getting our priorities back in the order God intended must start with Godly sorrow. If we are sorry just because we got caught (worldly sorrow), then we cannot be forgiven. Our sin we remains if we cannot be forgiven, which means we will not get our priorities in order and won't be able to get into Heaven. It's impossible to repent if we are not even sorry for what we did.
Repentance is very important in our walk with Jesus Christ. Repentance determines so much in our lives, such as whether we go to Heaven or not and how long we remain a Christian. Repentance means, "to turn from sin; to regret doing something wrong."3 In order to repent, we must sincerely regret sinning. The Bible tells us to "bring forth fruits meet for repentance." One of the proofs that we have repented is getting our priorities back in order. Without repentance, once we sinned we would never again be able to have right priorities and get into Heaven. Repentance has much value in the order of our priorities.
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3. Merriam-Webster Inc., "Repentance," Franklin Electronic Dictionary and Thesaurus, 1994 ed.
The story of King David and Bathsheba shows a man who had repentance in an important place in his priorities. David gave into the temptation of his flesh. When David found out that his sin would be discovered, he tried to cover it up. God told His prophet Nathan what had happened and sent him to David. Nathan approached David tactfully and told him a parable. When David said that one of the men in the story should be beheaded, Nathan pointed at David and called him that man. Instead of reacting in anger, David realized his sin and repented. Because of God's anointing on Nathan's words, David put his priorities back in the correct order. David organized his life and put God first, and this showed through in his life for he never did the same thing again. David put his priorities back in the order in which they should be.
The organization of our priorities shows what the most important thing in our lives is. In the order of our priorities God must always come first. Jesus is our most important priorities; therefore, He must always take first place in our lives. Our family must take the place as our second priority. If we have our priorities out of place then our family suffers. Our jobs and work must be reserved for third place. Recreation, fun, and physical pleasure must come last in all cases. If fleshly desires come first in our priorities, other important priorities like God, family, and jobs will be neglected and we will make a mess of our lives.
Priorities must be grouped according to importance and not according to want, as with our finances. The things we want must be placed after the things we need. If we purchase something that we want then we might not have enough for what we really need. The order of our priorities has an impact on every thing around us. It is our choices based on our priorities that causes most things to happen. The consequences of what we choose and what our priorities are, is what constitutes "real life." If we put what we want before what we need, the things that must get done never do. Our needs must be placed before pleasure in our priorities.
Physical enjoyment and recreation must be placed last in the order in which we put our lives. If play comes first then what we need to do will never get done on time. The most important things must come first in our lives. God, family, and our jobs must come before our vacations. If recreation comes first, God will be left out and we will sin, our family will suffer, and we will get fired from our jobs. Because we do not have our priorities in the right order, other people around us will think us untrustworthy since the things that should get done never are done. The order of our priorities affects everything and everyone.
Our priorities influence the actions of everyone we come in contact with. Right priorities can affect others so that animosity arises within them. A true example of people being persecuted because of having right priorities is the believers in the beginning of the Church. The Early Church was hated and despised by Jews and Gentiles alike. Men of God were beheaded, stoned, and imprisoned because of their putting God first in their priorities. Men like Stephen, James, Peter, and Paul were tortured and killed for the cause of Christ. The order of our priorities can influence people to many extremes.
The example we as Christians lead influences people many different ways. Other people can persecute us or they can come to Christ because of us. Our priorities show our attitudes and what kind of person we actually are. Other people see this and tend to follow our example. When we live hypocritical lives, we do not lead a good example. If our example is not a holy one then others that we could have witnessed to and won to the Lord will go to Hell. The people that they could have witnessed to will go to Hell also and the list will be endless. We must live a holy life and not a hypocritical one.
Because others follow our example, we should lead a holy life with our priorities in the right order. If we do not live the life of a godly witness, we will be guilty of the people that could have been saved and went to Hell. All the people that could have been saved by the ones we could have won to Christ will go to Hell because of us. We live as examples to everyone around us and if we do not live up to what God says in His Word then many more people will be going to Hell. Our example shows what kind of person we actually are.
The Bible tells us that what we think and do in our hearts shows in every aspect of our lives. If we have our priorities in the wrong order, no matter how hard we try to make ourselves "look good," others will see our true attitudes. We cannot call ourselves Christians when we have our priorities wrong and we try to hide it. Our lives will be displayed in the things we do. God's Word tells us in Matthew 7:20, "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall Know them." Our "fruits" are our actions. Our actions show the order of our priorities. If we commit sin then our priorities exist in wrong order. We must put our priorities back in proper order in our hearts and place God first.
In our priorities we must always put God first in our lives. Jesus lives as our most important priority in our lives. When He does not come first, we cannot call ourselves righteous. Everything in our lives must line up with what Jesus demands of us. Paul wrote in Romans 12:1 where it says, "I beseech you brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." When we do not put God first, our priorities are not in order and we rebel against Jesus and the Bible.
Not having our priorities in the correct order and not wanting to do anything about it, constitutes rebellion. The word rebellion means, "resistance to authority; a conscious choice to do the opposite of what one is told."4 The Bible says in 1 Samuel 15:23, "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry...." Having priorities that exist in the wrong order is like the sin of worshipping Satan. It shows how disgusting rebellion is in God's sight. Wrong priorities do not put God first, if God isn't first then it must be Satan. We cannot have our priorities in the wrong order while still claiming to be Christians.
The Christian walk consists of having God first in everything that you do and having right priorities. If Christians do not put God first then they are not really Christians. The Bible tells us in Ephesians 1:4, "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:." In order to be Christians we must be holy and have our priorities in the right order. If we sin and do not ask for forgiveness and truly repent, we begin to backslide and soon we are not Christians anymore.
God does not want anyone to backslide and go to Hell. Jesus Christ wants us to have right priorities and live holy lives. He does not want us to have our priorities in the wrong order and to go to Hell. The Bible says in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." God wanted us to have our priorities in the right order from the beginning of the world, but since Adam sinned, we became unholy and an abomination to God. Jehovah loved us so much that He sent His son to pay the consequences for the sin of the entire world. It is now possible to reorganize our priorities and live for Him.
Living for Jesus Christ exists as the most important thing we can do in our lives. Being a Christian and having our priorities in the right order insures Heaven as our reward when we die. If we have our priorities in the correct and Biblical order, we live for God. Jesus will bless us as we go through life and maintain proper priorities. One of the blessings that He gives us is the right to approach Him with any need that we have--prayer. Prayer exists as an open line of communication with God; therefore, it should come first in our priorities. If we claim Jesus as the ruler of our lives, He should come first in everything, and no choice should enacted without praying to Him first. In all things that happen in our lives, Jesus must come first.
________ 4. P.S.I. & Associates, Inc., "Rebellion," New Webster's Giant Print Dictionary, 1993 ed.: 214.
The order of our lives must have Jesus as the first thing. When he doesn't come first, we sin, and, without heeding the convictions of the Holy Spirit, can go so far as to persecute those who do have Him first. The relationship of Saul and David exemplifies the hatred and persecution that results from a person who has not minded the warnings and convictions of the Holy Spirit. Because God blessed David for keeping Him first, Saul gave his entire life over to pride, hate, and jealousy. King Saul came to hate and envy David so much that he spent his life trying to kill and destroy him. When someone removes God from his or her life, anything can happen. Jesus must come first and not envy and other sins.
If we have envy as our first priority, then we have become thieves and should be imprisoned just as those who have committed the act. Matthew 5:28 says that what you do in your heart, you have already committed it. When we want something that another person owns so bad that we think about stealing it, we become as guilty as a thief that has already done the act and is in prison. What we think in our hearts and imagine, we have already done it on the outside. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 10:5, "...and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." Every thought that we have must align itself with God or forgotten. If we think about the wrong things, we have sinned and rebelled against God. Our priorities in our thoughts must be organized. Everything we think about is already done. We should continually contemplate the things of God and not the things of man.
We should not become concerned about natural things, but rather the spiritual and Godly things. The Bible says in Colossians 3:2, "Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth." Natural things can wait; however, our relationship with God can not. If we spend our lives on getting natural things, things that can be stolen or destroyed, then we will not be able to go to Heaven. Jesus Christ states in Matthew 16:26, "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" What is the use of worrying and coveting worldly things when we can go to Hell forever? Spiritual things must come first in our priorities and not physical things.
We as Christians live as an example and standard for all of the people that we come in contact with. We must put God first in our list of priorities. When we do not have God first in our lives, our example shows others that we lead an unholy life. When others see that we do not have our lives in order, our witness to them will be ruined. If all the people that call themselves Christians would live as a Godly witness then hundreds more would be going to Heaven. Our example should show others what Jesus is truly like. In order to live as a good witness to other people, we have to live a holy life. If we do not live as a righteous example for others, then we have sinned and will pay the consequences.
When we sin, just like a faithful earthly father, God disciplines us. Jesus Christ lets the Devil near us to punish us. The Holy Spirit also comes and convicts us of our sin. We must repent when we sin or very soon the Spirit of God will stop dealing with us and the Devil will be loosed. Satan will have freedom to do what he pleases with us. God sends the Devil to punish us in hopes that we will turn our lives around and put our priorities back in order. Repentance must become our first priority when God begins to punish us. We must keep our priorities in the order of importance or need.
In our employment, we must keep our priorities in the right order. If we do maintain correct priorities, our bosses will think us worthy of their trust and dependable. We cannot expect increases in salary and promotions if we do not prove ourselves reliable. If we do not have right priorities in our jobs, we might get demoted and less salary. Our family will suffer when we do not have our priorities in the right order on our jobs. Our priorities affect everyone in our lives in one way or another. Having priorities in the right order helps make life easier because you will be liked and trusted by people.
In order to have people like and trust us, we must prove ourselves worthy of their confidence by having our priorities in the right order. If we do things correctly and on time, other people will come to think us dependable. Other people will like us and our witness to others will more like Jesus Christ. If we show ourselves righteous, we will better be able to witness to them. Others will see Jesus in our lives and that their priorities are not in the right order. They may want to become a Christian or they may want to do evil against us. We can not control the actions of other people. Living for Jesus Christ constitutes the only thing we can do. Our priorities arouse the attitudes of others, and we will know what kind of people they are by how they respond to the truth.
We can know people by how they act and react to certain situations. Jesus told us in part of His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:16-19, "Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree can not bring forth bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire." The trees and fruit talked about in these verses relate to people and the way they act. If our example does not manifest Jesus then we become a corrupt tree. All corrupt trees will be thrown into the fire--Hell. "It is useless to call ourselves Christians unless we practice the things that Jesus taught in this Sermon on the Mount."5 We can know who people are by the works that they do. The order of people's priorities tells others if they are Christians.
________ 5.Henry H. Halley, "Matthew," Halley's Bible Handbook, 24 ed.: 435.
To become a Christian one must organize his priorities and put them in the proper order. To have our priorities in the right order, we must put God first. When we do not place God at the head of our lives, we transgress the commandments in the Bible. One of the Ten Commandments says, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." When we do not have Jesus first, we have another god in our lives that we worship. The Bible also says that when we have broken one law we have broken them all. We must remove everything that comes between God and us. In everything, God must take first place.
When God does not take first place, we can get into serious trouble. The history of the Israelites and the golden calf shows what happens when people do not have their priorities in the right order. When Moses went up on Mount Sinai to pray and have fellowship with God, the Israelites "threw" Him out of their priorities and built an idol of gold in the form of a calf. They spent their time in drunkenness and revelry. God became so angry at the sight of their idolatry that He was going to completely destroy the entire Israelite nation. Moses pleaded with Jehovah and He withheld His wrath. It is impossible to comprehend the extent people can go to without having God as their first priority.
The order of our priorities must have Jesus first and we must obey Him. The organization of our priorities should follow after the order told to us in the Bible. Prayer makes up an essential part of our walk with Christ and should come first in our lives. Disobedience must never enter into our list of priorities. It is impossible to live for the Lord and rebel against Him at the same time. After we rebel we must have Godly sorrow over what we did; otherwise, we will never be able to repent and we will have no hope. Misplaced priorities will cause others to suffer and not just ourselves. Our priorities should be grouped according to what our most important need in our life exists as.
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