Priorities

 This morning I preached on Haggai chapter 1.  Haggai is a book that actually has a great story and an even better end to chapter 1 - the people obey God and God promises His presence with them because they align their priorities to what they should be - obedience to God.

I wonder if we will take a moment to align our priorities in the same way.  God calls us to seek first His kingdom.  He calls us to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice.  He calls for us to obey over and over and over again.  And yet we so often forget to align ourselves with His will for our lives and instead look to align His plan with our will.  We want to tell God what He ought to do and what He ought to expect of us.  We have no business or ability to address God in this way.  We ought to recognize that we are completely and totally dependent upon Him and that any obedience offered is one directional - vertical and starting from our place on earth in humility and moving upward to the God who created us.  

In other words, we need to consider how well we are obeying God.  Look at your life and ask how much of it is lived in obedience to the commands of God.  If you see a part that is out of line, align it and prioritize obedience of God as top priority!

Idols

 I think that far too often our money and time reveal who and what is really God to us.  I think that this could be demonstrated through a number of different idols.  If my idol is myself, my time and money will all go to all of the things that I want.  If my idol is my happiness I will spend my time and money on the things that make me happy.  If my idol is my car, I will spend my time and money on my car.  If my idol is the approval of other I will spend my time and my money on seeking the approval of others.  If my idol is status. . . well you get the idea.

I think that we often think about things backward.  So often we think about idols and assume that since we do not have any little figurines in our homes we do not have to worry about it.  The reality is that we need to think a lot more about how we spend our resources, and what they reveal about our priorities and what things we really think are the most important.  

So what are your idols?