Getting Our Priorities in Order

In the middle of my semester finals season, I was studying when I looked up and realized just how tired I was. I was burnt out, unmotivated, and overwhelmed by stress.

But I kept studying, kept doing what I was doing, because I needed the grades. That was my priority –studying nonstop and getting good grades. Because I made that my top priority during those two months of my exams, I ended up burnt out and feeling drained.

And that’s because my priorities were all wrong.

There are times where I’ve found myself making my tests my first priority instead of God. There are times where my writing has become my top priority over God.

Maybe you’ve found yourself doing the same as me, placing other things as your priority over God.

One thing I’ve learned during the past month is that God should always be top priority in our lives. Always.

Seek God First and Accept His Grace

God is the One we should rest in. He is the One we should look to when in trouble.

Proverbs 3:6 (ESV) says, “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.”

If we seek God first in everything, if we ask Him what to do when we’re in a hard or busy situation, and if we choose to rest in Him when tired and stressed, He will set our paths straight. He will direct our steps, showing us where to go and what to do next.

God won’t just leave us to figure it out on our own. He will be with us every step of the way, guiding us, and letting us lean on Him for strength.

This isn’t easy. It’s not easy to give everything to Him, to ask Him which path we should take. There are times we will forget to seek Him first and make worldly things our top priority. We will forget and put our family or hobbies first in line.

And that’s okay. Everyone sins. Jesus does not expect us to get it right all the time. His gift of grace is available to us at all times. We can always repent and confess our sins, and Jesus will take us in His arms, again and again.

Prioritizing God in the Face of Opposition

Even though we won’t always get it right, we should keep striving to put God first, seeking to acknowledge Him with every step we take.

It’s hard, it really is, but Jesus didn’t say our life as Christians would be easy. There are so many distractions Satan puts in our way to get us to place other things first. Satan is always working to pull us away from God, to stray away from Him. This continual opposition can be discouraging.

But Satan is not creative. He doesn’t have the power to be. He uses the same tactics over and over again, and we just keep falling for them.

So, how can we stop falling for Satan’s tricks, and make God our top priority?

1. Spend time with God

Choose to spend time with God every day, to rest in Him, and be in His presence. Psalm 46:10 (ESV) says, “Be still and know that I am God…” Take time to close your eyes, breathe, and realize that He is our God. He is our Father, and we are surrounded by Him.

2. God’s Word Before the World

It’s so easy to listen to what the world says. Its messages are everywhere. The world tells us things that conflict with what God says, and it’s easy to get swayed by them. This is why it’s so important to seek God’s Word first. To meditate on God’s Word and place His Word over what the world says. The world is fickle, but God is our rock. He will remain steady throughout all time.

3. Habits

Make a habit of reading the Bible, meditating on it, and praying. Pick a specific time every day and dedicate it to these disciplines. Either in the morning with your cup of tea or at night while in your bed. Ask God for help to build and maintain these habits. It takes more than two months to build a habit, so keep at it. God will always be with you in your journey of faith, so just keep at it!

Putting God first is not easy, and Satan will always try to distract us with worldly things. But if we persevere in the face of opposition and continually put God first, if we seek His will in everything that we do, then God will strengthen us and direct our paths.