Priorities, priorities, priorities. Most of the time, most of us don't give a lot of thought to what our priorities are. For the most part our lives are lived day to day following the pattern that we've established over the course of our lives. In other words, we just do what we're in the habit of doing. We wake up, get up, wash up, dress up, eat up and head off to work. At work we do what we're assigned to do and at the end of the workday we head for home. Some days we add a stop at the grocery store to our homeward commute so that we'll be prepared for our evening routine of dinner preparation, light housework and relaxation, after which we head to bed. Small decisions were made along the way but for the most part we progressed through this familiar set of tasks pretty much on autopilot, relying on the success of past day's decisions to streamline our journey through today.
But Jesus calls us to be more intentional regarding the choices we make every day. "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness," (Matthew 6:33). With these words Jesus directs us to prioritize our citizenship in the kingdom of God above the demands of the world we live in. With these words Jesus is reminding us that we have a heavenly Father and our relationship with Him ought to take the first consideration as we begin each day and then should remain our primary motivation as we move through each day.
This means that beginning each day with personal worship and prayer should be our habit. This means that having regular and frequent times to study the Bible for ourselves, so that we can deepen our knowledge of Christ and His kingdom, should be the norm for us. This means that having a time for quiet meditation and prayer, where we reach out to heaven as we yearn for more and more of Jesus, should be a part of each and every day.
"Get you priorities in order," Jesus bids us. "Put first things first! Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness."