Our Five Priorities

Recently a friend preached on what he believed our priorities should be as set out in Ephesians 5 & 6. This is his list of our five priorities as Christians:

First Priority: Our Relationship with God. Be ye therefore followers of God (Eph 5:1, KJV). Most Christians would agree that this goes without saying!

Second Priority: Our Marriage Relationship. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands ... Husbands, love your wives ... (Eph 5:22-25, KJV). If you're not married, you can disregard this priority, but if not, then this is for you.

Third Priority: Relationship between Parents and Children. Children, obey your parents ... Honour thy father and mother ... (Eph 6:1-2, KJV). This is for everyone. Even if you don't have children, at some stage you have had parents, and if they are still living, you still have a responsibility toward them.

Fourth Priority: Responsibilities of Employment. Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters ... With good will doing service as to the Lord ...masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening... (Eph 6:5-9, KJV). Replace servant with 'employee' and master with 'employer' and you can see that those in employment have responsibilities as regards their time and energy.

Fifth Priority: Spiritual Ministry. Finally ... be strong in the Lord ... put on the whole armour of God (Ephesians 6:10-20, KJV). Interestingly, this one was placed last. I'm still getting my head around that. For some who do not have children or a spouse or are employed, then this one may rank higher on the list. Like the apostle Paul, you are free to give much of your attention to spiritual ministry. But for others, they must ensure that there is a balance between this priority and the others.

I'll be honest: at times I struggle to keep my priorities in their rightful order. At times I've experienced guilt for not doing more in the church. I've felt guilt when I've had to say 'no', knowing that I must conserve my time and energy for my family. Yet why should I feel guilt? God has given me my husband and my family and these are my important ministry areas.

For what shall it profit a woman if she should gain recognition or be successful but lose her own children? (Jules' paraphrase of Matthew 16:26). If I put all my time and energy into a career or into running the children's programme at church or into several different ministry areas, yet my children grow up in rebellion against the Lord, what have I gained? If I spend every night at church or ministering to the needy yet my marriage falls apart for want of attention, what have I gained?

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

And so I pray:

Lord, may my priorities be right and pleasing to You.

Comments

SchnauzerMom said…
It looks to me like you have your priorities in the right order!
Unknown said…
It is hard to keep priorities in the right place in this day and age. I sometimes go through phases where I feel like I am being more of a Martha instead of a Mary because I am spending so much time doing things instead of just being with God or just being with my family. That is a great list to help us remember where our priorities should be.