By Mercy Odu
Many a time, we find ourselves overwhelmed, frustrated and unfulfilled because we have not achieved the goals we set for a given period of time.
This could be due to lack of enough time, money, strength or support from people we expected to get us to a desired point.
Priorities are about choosing what is most important to us. Setting priorities is about how we allocate the limited resources God has given to us.
It is important for us to remember that God created each one of us for a unique purpose and destiny. As such, our purpose on earth is to do the will of the Father.
The Bible says in Ephesians 2:10: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do…” It means, therefore, that we each have work to do and that should be our priority.
Making the right choices
When we are clear about our individual purpose, then we understand we ought to dedicate our resources, which are limited to pursue purpose. Today, the world presents to us numerous choices and alternatives that are alluring to our senses but are not necessarily beneficial and thus, may lead us to a path of wasting our most youthful and productive years in life. We must have the wisdom and discipline to make the right choices based on the most important things of our lives.
In Genesis 2:15-17, after God placed man in the garden of Eden, He instructed man saying: “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in that day you eat it, you shall surely die.”
God tells us to choose life. Not everything that was created belongs to us; so, we need to be able to separate the ‘must’ from the ‘must not’ as we set our priorities.
To stress this further, the Bible lends some guidance on setting our priorities in Mathew 6:33, which calls us to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all the rest will be added to us. So, seeking God and His righteousness should be first. Should be our priority.
We need wisdom
To be able to set the right priorities, we need wisdom. According to Proverbs 4:7, wisdom is significant. What is wisdom? Wisdom is the correct application of knowledge. It is possible to have knowledge about a lot of things in life, but not be able to properly apply it in life? It is possible to know but not understand. So, it is important to know, understand and apply.
Wisdom is understanding that we have limited time to accomplish the important things when we don’t prioritise, we lose time and opportunity that cannot be recovered.
The Bible teaches in Psalms 90:12: “So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” From this, we learn that our time on earth is limited and that we need to seek wisdom and make the most of it.
Discipline and self-control
The Bible, in Ecclesiastes 7:29, says that God made man upright but they have gone after many schemes. Putting a spin to this verse, it means that because of lack of discipline and self-control, we are unable to set and stick to the priorities we set for ourselves.
For us to be able to set priorities and stick to the right choices, we need discipline. Proverbs 1:7 says: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise knowledge and instruction (discipline)”.
When we understand how finite the resources are, we hold ourselves to a higher standard and might prioritize better.
The writer is a Youth and Discipleship leader at House of Revival Church, Kisaasi
