Life and priorities..

All people have priorities in life. Guess the main difference is whether you are a Christian or not. Non-Christians will tend to put it on studies, career and family. Underlying the non-Christian's world-view is usually a search for success, happiness and pleasure based on what the world-system values highly; money, success, power, prestige.

"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world - the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever."
1 John 2:15-17

For Christians our goal should be to know God better every day through personal time with Him in the Word. This includes knowing one's spiritual gifts and determining the ministry God has called each one of us to. As responsible Christians we usually will need to get a job to support ourselves. If married, we have a responsibility to our families that is always high on the list of priorities. We can not serve God very well if we don't know what He is like and what He is doing in the world.

No matter what ministry are we in, the most immediate ministry that God has pre-destined us with is our family. There is no point being heavily involved in church and neglect your family. We can't have split personalities. Behaving a way in church and another when we are at home.

If a preacher has a wife, and his wife is seriously ill, its only right for him to stop preaching temporarily, and put full attention to take care of his wife till she recover. In a family, having a healthy prayer life is very important. It is essential for growth and for tuning in to what God is doing in the world. Prayer is God's way of drawing us closer to Him.

God only gave us 24 hours a day. 8 hours is spend for sleeping. We spend the rest of the 16 hours doing many things. We can't be doing everything. We have to know which areas in life to focus in. Studies and career should never come in the way of God and our family which includes church. Not enough time and too busy is just an excuse. If we find that we are too busy, then its time for us to forsake some areas in life. We can never juggle with too many things at a go. There is family, studies or work, ministry in church and God. If we try to juggle them all, the end result is that nothing will be done in the best way.

God never promised the ride wouldn't be bumpy, but He did promise that He'll sit right beside us the entire way. Things may not get better today or tomorrow, but slowly, little by little, God will make sense out of it all and set us back on the right path. The trick is to stay focused on the right priorities.