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By Roger A. Scully, Jr.
Life, by its very nature, is an eventful activity. Even for the person who stays home eating, sleeping and
watching TV throughout the course of a day, these are still events, which define the life of the person who so
engages. For the average person there is work, school, homework time, dinnertime, etc. Along the way of the
norm there are other things that come about such as recreational activities, visitation, and the unexpected
doctor and dentist visits; not to mention time for entertainment. As life is naturally filled with events, it is, then,
that we are forced to prioritize, which is the concept of placing things in order of the most important to least
important. What is important to a person establishes his prioritization list. A huge sports fan will place “the
game” at the top of the list, and other things lower. The list of priorities varies from person to person. For
some the list is topped by their job or their children. For others it may be video games or recreation. But, for
the Christian the organization of the list is quite simple: (1) God, hence the church, evangelism, etc.; (2)
Family; (3) The well being of others; (4) and finally self. When God is placed at the top of the list, then the
Christian will find himself being the noble person he should desire to be in life. He/she will be the proper
father/mother, husband/wife, friend/companion, son-in-law/daughter-in-law, etc. Sadly, however, many
Christians fail to “seek first the kingdom” (Matt 6:33); thus their priorities are greatly out-of-order.
Far too many Christians are too busy for Bible study (cf. Ac 17:11), but have plenty of time for TV. Some
Christians are too busy to evangelize and visit (Mrk 16:15l Jms 1:27), but have plenty of time to attend dinner
parties and attend ball games. Jesus would suggest that when a person is too busy for the work in which we
are to be involved (Eph 2:10; Jms 1:21-25), then there is something in need of fixing (Matt 6:33; Jn 4; 14:15;
et al.).
How is your time spent (2 Cor 13:5)? Are you willing to wake an hour earlier to study God’s word, pray
and reflect on your life? Are you willing to stay awake a bit later for more study and reflection? Does your
family have plenty of TV time, but not enough Bible time? Do your children do their homework, but not their
Bible class work? Do you talk to friends and family about the weather, sports, news and children, but not
about the Bible? If these things are descriptive of you, then perhaps your priorities are out of place, and your
heart is not right with God. Changes are certainly in order.