05 May First Things First

As a dad, I get the opportunity for lots of conversations with my kids, of all kinds of varieties—interesting, emotional, gross, awkward, encouraging…the list goes on and on.

One I had this week was aimed at correcting a behavior pattern of one of them, who was consistently choosing to ignore responsibilities and put off work and chores. I know—shocking!

I then took the opportunity, being the opportunistic and strategic person that I am, to present the classic speech about keeping first things first, using the illustration of the whole rocks and sand and water concept (you know, if you begin with putting the largest element into a bucket or glass jar first—the big rocks—you actually create room for everything, including the small stuff. But, if you begin with the smallest things—water or sand—you end up pushing out room for the biggest things. Got it? Got it.)

This was actually interesting for this child, and attention was paid to dad’s illustration, offering me one more opportunity to teach, so I closed with the familiar statement as a punctuation mark on the whole proceeding. I said,

“What matters is keeping first things, first.”

And while that was and is entirely true for him about his responsibilities, it is also true of my life and yours, of course. And in a real way, there is no “bigger rock” than time with God in His Word.

When I became a Christian, I was fortunate to have a campus pastor encourage/pressure/force me to read my Bible every day. This discipline was ground so deeply in me that it’s rare for me to miss a day of being in God’s word.

I can honestly say that the hard-fought skill of creating time for God and His Word and His voice in my life has been the single most helpful thing to me over the years of serving God in and out of vocational ministry. When times get tough and the world goes crazy around me and the discouragement tries to creep in, I have come to know that no matter how I am feeling, if I will go “to the rock that is higher than I”, I begin to rise above my circumstances and emotions.

Friends, our souls were not made to run on emails or texts or screens, but our souls have need of Jesus and his Word to us.

I appeal to you—put first things first. Put the biggest, most important things in—it will actually create space for all the other things in your life. Or, as Jesus himself put it:

“Seek first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33)

Morgan