Seek First: The Disciples Priorities

Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Matthew 6:31–33

As a child of God, know that it is your Father’s pleasure to meet all your needs. Jesus Himself tells us, “For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.” But God does not want you to seek after things. He wants you to seek first His kingdom. And when you do that, all the things that you need will be added to you!

So your first priority every day is to seek His kingdom. The word “first” in verse 33 is the Greek word proton, which means “first in order or importance, holding the highest place in all our affections.” My friend, God wants us to seek first His kingdom, and all things will fall gloriously in place.

We are not to seek after things the way Gentiles do. The word “seek” in “the Gentiles seek” (verse 32) is the Greek word epizeteo. It means “to seek with all their might with much sweat or with much stress”. However, the way God wants us to “seek” in “seek first the kingdom of God” is the Greek word zeteo, which means “to hunger, to desire to worship.” It is simply a hungering, a desiring for the kingdom of God, without any labor or toil.

But what is the kingdom of God? Romans 14:17 tells us that it is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. And the kingdom of God dwells within you because the Holy Spirit indwells you. So the kingdom of God is His righteousness, peace and joy in you.

Beloved, if you want to have peace and joy in the Holy Spirit flowing inside you, then seek every day to be conscious of your righteousness in Christ, not your own righteousness, but His righteousness given to you as a gift. Pursue Jesus first. Spend time with Him and listen to His Word. And when you do these things, you are seeking His kingdom and His righteousness, and all the things that you need will be added to you!

Simplifying Your Life: The Disciple And Time Management Part I

Do any of these testimonials sound familiar?

"My life is hectic! I'm running all day meetings, phone calls, paperwork, appointments. I push to the limit, fall into bed exhausted, and get up early the next morning to do it all again."

"I don't feel in control of my life. I try to figure out what's important and set goals to do it, but other people such as my boss, my associates, my spouse continually throw wrenches into the works. For every one thing I get done, I can think of ten things that didn't get done. And it makes me feel guilty."

"The hours in my day just slip away. Sometimes I finish a full and busy day and still end up with nothing crossed off of my 'To Do' list."

There is no question about it. We are living in fast-paced, complex times. Christians and non-Christians alike are facing heavier workloads, greater demands and higher stress levels than ever before. Not a week goes by that I don't talk to some harried, frazzled believer who laments his ability to spend time in the Word or get more involved in church because his schedule doesn't permit it.

Most Christians who are living this way know, deep down inside, that something isn't right. They know that something must change. They sense that living this way is costing them something, they're just not sure what and how much.

The hard truth is, having an overly-complex life will cost you more than you can imagine. I want to show you what God's Word has to say about this subject, show you the benefits of simplifying your life, and then give you some keys to doing it.

God has entrusted every person on earth with three primary resources: time, money, and relationships. And if you are to fulfill God's wonderful plan for your life, these three resources must be properly managed. Furthermore, it is the mismanagement of these resources that makes life so complicated.

Think about it for a moment. Mismanage the resource of money and your life can become very complicated, very quickly. Bill collectors, late charges, credit card debt along with the stress and worry that accompany these things is a prescription for complexity.

Manage the resource of time poorly and, once again, your life becomes unnecessarily complex. And nothing else in the world can complicate your life more completely than being a poor manager of relationships. (Ask anyone who has been unfaithful to a spouse how complicated their life got as soon as they started violating God's law of fidelity.)

Yes, it is nothing more than being a poor manager of the three resources with which we've all been entrusted that is making our lives more complicated. If the goal is a simpler life (and it should be) then we're going to have to become better stewards of these resources.

Managing Your Time
FDR once said, "Nine-tenths of wisdom consists of being wise in time," and it's true. Time is the most valuable resource a person can spend, and maximizing the use of it is critical to successful living. Look at what the Lord says in Ephesians 5:15: "See then that you walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise redeeming the times because the days are evil."

I like the way the Amplified paraphrases that verse: "Look carefully then how you walk. Live purposefully worthily and accurately not as the unwise and witless but as wise sensible intelligent people making the very most of the time. Buying up each opportunity."

Now to "redeem" means to buy back something that is lost. So God is saying this: Time is a precious resource. But, because "the days are evil," your time is lost and virtually unproductive unless you make an investment to buy it back.

We need to "purposefully, worthily and accurately" manage our time. We need to "buy up" as much as possible. Otherwise, it will be lost on something evil, something that doesn't line up with God's plan and purpose for our lives. We need to approach time management from this perspective.

Now, let me get very practical here. I divide time management into two phases (1) the planning phase and (2) the implementation phase. There are three components to the planning phase: meditation, selectivity and delegation.

Meditation
The first is meditation. Don't misunderstand, I'm not talking about the Eastern mystical, New-Age type of meditation. I'm talking about Bible meditation, the ability of the human brain to build imagery in the mind. "To mentally image." That's what meditate means.

The purpose of meditation is to give God time to impart to you the ability to functionally arrange the events of your day. The psalmist said, "I have more understanding (organizational ability) than all my teachers. Why? For thy testimonies are my meditation" (Ps. 119:99).

So as you plan, incorporate God's testimonies, the principles and concepts of His Word into the arrangement of your activities. Mentally build a picture of your day based on the goals and objectives God has for your life. When you do this, you will redeem, or buy back, time that would have otherwise been lost to evil.

Selectivity
The second major contributor to successful planning is something I call "selectivity." It's a fact of life that there will never be enough hours in the day to do every good and needful thing that presents itself. So you're going to have to become selective.

If you recall, Martha discovered that although serving Jesus was a good thing, it wasn't the best thing she could have done with her time at that particular moment (Luke 10:38-42). Her decision to serve cost her an opportunity to spend time at the master's feet.

The end result was that Martha began to lose her peace and joy. Her life started to get complicated. Had she employed the principle of selectivity, she would have made a good choice like Mary did. She would have been seated at the feet of Jesus enjoying the presence of God.

It has been said, "The key is not to prioritize your schedule, but to schedule your priorities." When planning your day, week or month, it's important that you keep God's priorities at the forefront of your mind. When you do, your plan will focus on the activities necessary to accomplish what God has for your life.

Delegation
The third essential element to a successful planning stage is "delegation." To delegate means to appoint or assign responsibility to another individual on your behalf. The best time manager will be the individual who can best delegate time-consuming tasks to other individuals.

In so doing, you are accomplishing two things.
First, you are training others to grow and accept more responsibility.
Second, you are freeing up your time to address issues of higher priority. The worst thing you can do is try to do everything yourself. Your life will get very complicated, very fast.

Remember what Jethro told Moses when he found out Moses was spending all his time judging over the people? "This thing that you do is not good" (Ex. 18:17). His instruction to Moses was for him to delegate to others those matters of lower priority, and reserve himself for issues of greater importance. I'll say it again: the best managers are the best delegators.

So, the three essential elements to successful planning in time management are (1) meditation building a clear, accurate picture of your day; (2) selectivity prioritizing your schedule based on God's plan for your life; and (3) delegation learning to assign lower-priority tasks to others.

Simplifying Your Life: The Disciple And Time Management Part 2

The second phase in time management presents a different challenge. Once you have a well-prioritized plan, you must implement it. As with the planning phase, I divide this second phase of time management into three essential steps: being single-minded, conserving energy, and walking in the light.

Be Single-Minded
The first major contributor to successful implementation of your plan is to be single-minded in the pursuit of it. You can't allow yourself to be distracted. You need to be absolutely determined to accomplish that which you have planned to do. No interruptions or detours will get you off course.

As James 1:8 says, "A double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways." Double-mindedness produces instability. It's impossible to hold your course and fulfill God's plan for your life when you are in a condition of instability. You must remain single-minded.

For many of us, staying focused in the midst of the distractions that bombard us everyday is a big challenge. You need to recognize distractions for what they are: interruptions with the potential to get you off course.

They are opportunities for you to get sidetracked from your plan. You need to stay focused. Be single-minded. And in the end, you will have accomplished your plan.

Conservation of Energy
The second essential element to a successful implementation phase is what I call "conservation of energy." Beyond the tendency to get side-tracked, another reason you might not execute your plan is, very simply, you may not have enough energy to stay focused and productive through an entire day. You can simply run out of steam before the day is over.

Of course, the greatest energy drain in your life is tension and stress. Much study has been given to this topic in an effort to reduce work-related stress and increase the overall efficiency and productivity of today's workforce. Well, for the Christian, the answer is a little bit more supernatural than the world's.

Isaiah 40:28-31 gives us God's solution for dealing with weariness: The Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not, neither is weary He giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might, he increaseth strength.

Even the youth shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint.
(Isa. 40:28-31)

This is God's answer for the energy drains that are so common in the human experience today. God says, "cast your care upon Me and I will give you the energy or strength needed to complete your plan, to finish your day."

You need to look to the Lord to give you the strength to get through the day. When you do, you'll find that your strength will be replaced with God's. You'll cruise through your day with all the energy necessary to fulfill your plan.

Walking in the Light
The third major contributor to implementing your plan is, I think, the most important. I call it, "walking in the light." Being single-minded and conserving your energy are natural requirements; they optimize natural resources. Walking in the light, however, taps into a supernatural way of finding enough time in the day to do what you need to do.

There is a connection between time and light. For us to fully optimize our time, we need to gain insight into how time and light relate to one another. As part of Einstein's special theory of relativity, introduced in 1905, he said two things concerning light.

Summary
It is virtually impossible to achieve God's ultimate plan for your life without godly wisdom to help you do it. This means gaining the understanding that can only come to those who have simplified their lives. And to simplify your life, you must become a master of managing the resources you have at your disposal namely time, money, and relationships.