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Granbury, Texas, United States
I love God and His people; starting with Yvette, my wife since '77, our family, congregation, community, state, nation, and continuing around the world.

Thursday, April 20, 2017

PRIORITIES

First Things First
A CALL TO WISDOM

PROVERBS 24:27
Prepare your outside work,
make it fit for yourself in the field;
and afterward build your house.

     If paraphrased, this verse might read, “Prioritize your life by putting first things first, like developing a career and preparing for the future; after which, begin focusing on what comes next, such as starting a family and acquiring a personal household; because then it is a good time to do so.”

     Much pain and struggling could be prevented in our personal lives if and when we would get our priorities straight and practice good stewardship of the great many opportunities that are our's to oversee.  We need to always remember that we are responsible for being ready for the future; before making present comforts a priority. 
     With 86,400 seconds allotted to each of us everyday, how we spend them will determine how we live when we get older.  This is why our priorities today are so important.  If we get them wrong - for a long enough time span, - we will likely suffer in the long run.
     David prayed to God, “…teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”  PSALM 90:12
     He also asked, “LORD make me to know my end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail        I am.”  PSALM 39:4
     The issue of priorities is seen in the little story of the grasshopper who played around all summer long while the ant worked and worked; but when the seasons changed and the weather turned cold, the grasshopper was unprepared; suffering due to misplaced priorities.
     Persons with this “priority issue” are called sluggards in the writings of David’s son, Solomon.  He is not a fan, to say the least.
     In PROVERBS 6:6-8, he wrote,
“Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider her ways and be wise: 7) who having no guide, overseer or ruler, 8) provides her meat in the summer and gathers her food in the harvest.”
     In verse 9 Solomon continued, “How long will you sleep, O sluggard?  When will you arise out of your sleep?  10) Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: 11) so shall your poverty come as one that that travels and your want as an armed man.”
     In PROVERBS 13:4a he said, “The soul of the sluggard desires, and has nothing:…”
     In PROVERBS 20:4, he also said, “The sluggard will not plow because of the cold; therefore he shall beg in harvest, and have nothing.”
     When we consider these verses in light of our opening - PROVERBS 24:27 - it is clearly important that we get and keep our priorities right, even if it means hard work when we want to do otherwise.

Lord,

     Help me to never forget the value of priorities; including everything important, while keeping things in their proper order so that You are honored first always; nothing forgotten.