When Ezra was charged with rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem, he started with the altar, the center of worship. In the beginning there, Ezra demonstrated his priority to restore worship. He didn't get lost in the project or allow other issues and details to make him forget his most important responsibility. His priority was worship, and he showed it by making it job number one.
What are your priorities? How often do they get lost in the busyness of everyday life? If you struggle with giving priority to the things that are truly important in your life, you can take steps to correct the problem.
The best way to overcome busyness is to prioritize. Identify the things in your life that are more important than others. If the most important things do not take priority, then your time and energy invested in other matters will fail to produce the desired results in your life. After you identify the priorities that are most important to you, make them part of your daily and weekly routine. Remember, if your priorities are not reflected in your schedule, they no longer remain priorities.
Take time to pray and ask God to...
Show you what your priorities really are, based on the amount of time and attention you give them.
Help you realign your priorities so that they honor Him.
Take more time to discuss and reflect on these questions:
When people ask what your priorities are, what do you say?
Based on the amount of time you give each area of your life, what are your actual priorities?
What steps can you take this week to begin realigning your priorities?
Consider these passages for further study on priorities:
Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before[a] me.
Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will.
Ezra 3:1-6 When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, the people assembled together as one in Jerusalem. 2 Then Joshua son of Jozadak and his fellow priests and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his associates began to build the altar of the God of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings on it, in accordance with what is written in the Law of Moses the man of God. 3 Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening sacrifices. 4 Then in accordance with what is written, they celebrated the Festival of Tabernacles with the required number of burnt offerings prescribed for each day. 5 After that, they presented the regular burnt offerings, the New Moon sacrifices and the sacrifices for all the appointed sacred festivals of the Lord, as well as those brought as freewill offerings to the Lord. 6 On the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, though the foundation of the Lord’s temple had not yet been laid.
It always puts things straight when we put our priorities straight. When the Lord is first, everything aligns. Great points of Gary Chapman. Keep finding ways to evaluate your priorities to set things straight with the Lord.