Throw Away Your "To Do" List, Make "Priority Lists"

In an email I sent out to our community today I mentioned that I hope the life of Christ is being lived out in your daily routines. We need to be careful of falling into the trap of allowing the busy nature of our days to become separated from our lives in Christ and our greatest priorities.

I know it can happen because I have all too often allowed it to happen. Here’s how it works. We first commit to too many different things. That’s where it begins. But here is where it gets worse. Out of all the things we commit to, it’s the things that matter least in the grand scheme of things that end up monopolizing our time, making us tired, bitter, and even angry. If we were to prioritize our lives and all the things that demand time from us, there is a good chance that many of the things that are getting the most time are the things that would end up on the bottom of our priority lists. This is where the frustration sets in. We feel defeated, deflated, and buried.

Have I described anyone besides MYSELF??? I suspect that I have. The reason Christ gets separated from our busy-ness is because the things that make us feel “busy” are the things that are at the bottom of that priority list. I would venture to guess that most people who are reading this would put things like: time with Christ in prayer, time in God’s Word, time with family, time preparing and doing the ministry God is calling me to do, etc. at the TOP of our priority lists.

So now, imagine if all of those were getting the top priority, and everything else was sacrificed until you got those things in line. That doesn’t mean you couldn’t do all of the things on the lower half of the priority scale, but just think how much different you would feel as you are doing those things. You would not be feeling guilty. You would probably not be as tired. And you would probably see a “missional” purpose in all of those lower priority activities as a result of keeping the higher priorities in order.

Okay, I need to stop now because I am whipping my own behind. Let me know if I am not alone in this. I will pray for you as you are praying for me.

Comments

[Josh Lynch]

Word to your mutha. That's been plaguing me. If I don't reo-org. my brain and priorities every so often and check myself, I figure out that I'm not really living life to the fullest, and number one, glorifying God with my time. Just recently I had to overhaul after a long drought.