Priority and Being Deliberate With Our Time
Today’s scripture reminds us how critically important it is to set priorities in our lives, and keep first things first. We have to be deliberate about how we spend every minute of our day. When we do something, we should ask ourselves if that is supporting one of our top priorities. If it is not, then we should probably save that activity for later, else we will likely never get to the really important tasks. We never get to the things that matter because we let distraction run our lives.
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Scripture:
“and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” – Acts 6:4
Observation/Application:
The disciples saw that “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.” So they chose 7 men from among the group who were full of the Spirit and wisdom. They could then focus on the most important matter that could not be neglected. Sometimes in this crazy life, we get so busy that we lose time and focus on what really matters, time with God in the Word and in prayer. They saw this, and prioritized the most important tasks first, allowing other tasks to be completed by others.
To spend our time doing things that are productive in driving us to the life that we want requires us to have focus. We need to first know what is most important to us. This is a pretty easy exercise really. Think about the future that we want, and who we want in it, then write it down. For more help on vision and goal setting, see my post from Dec. 31, 2018 called “Goal Setting Time”. But don’t ignore doing this. It is the first and most critical step in creating the amazing life that God intended for us.
Then we just need to align our daily actions with these priorities. We will increase our self-awareness about how we are spending our time. Question each activity, and ask, “is what I am doing right this second driving me toward the future that I envision. If not, then likely we should be spending our time doing something else. Many things that we spend our time doing are truly time-wasters and we have to stop doing them if we want to live a better life. Things like cruising around social media, watching television, talking and texting with others who just bring drama into our lives, disturb our peace of mind, and cause us to lose focus on things that we really should be doing – when we do these things we are actually making a decision to prioritize these things over the things that really matter in our lives.
Today’s scripture reminds us that it is all about focus. Let us spend our time doing the things that support God’s calling in our lives and the amazing future that god intended. The enemy comes to steal kill, and destroy. – (John 10:10) Let us not let the enemy distract us, stealing our time and destroy our lives! If we are not living the lives that God intended, maybe it’s time to look at how we are spending our time. And like the disciples, maybe it’s time to allow others to help us because we are not supposed to be doing this alone. God is always with us, and He puts people in our lives who can help us. We just have to be open to instruction and help when it comes.
Prayer:
Dear heavenly Father, we thank you for your Word today. Help us to be aware of how we are spending our time during the day. Give us strength to say no to the enemy who comes to distract us and steal our time and our joy. Break our chains and addictions. For we know the plans that you have for us, plans to prosper and not be harmed, plans for hope and a future. And we know what the enemy intends for harm you turn around for good. We surrender to you this morning Father God, and ask that your Holy Spirit overflow in us today. Guide our every thought, our every word, our every action. Let it be for good and in support of the life that you have planned for us. Let our lives be blessed that it will serve as a light for others to come to know You. We give you all the honor and glory and praise, in Jesus mighty name, Amen.
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