Chapter 2: Establishing Proper Priorities

You are at a fork-in-the-road, in one direction is the road leading to truth, light, salvation, and unknown blessings; in the other direction is the road leading to sin, idolatry, and eventually spiritual death. Which road would you choose? I think the choice is rather obvious here, but in real life, it is not so obvious when our sense of direction gets muddled with fear, desire, people, and our priorities.

This week I was forced to re-evaluate my priorities. Chapter two begins with the biblical story of Orpah, in the book of Ruth, and the choice she made to return to Moab instead of continuing on to Bethlehem with Ruth and Naomi. A section in Balancing Blessings and Obtaining Order reads:

“Wedge between two decisions, I have no doubt that the choice she made to return home was a very difficult decision to make. With pressure from Naomi to go back, and the fear of the unknown in her heart, she did what most of us would do: return to the comfort of home, even though our spirit is restless with the decision.”

Whether we realize it or not her decision was based on what was important to her (her priorities); as much as she loved her mother-in-law and her sister-in-law, getting married again was important to her, having children was important to her, and I imagine being close to family and friends was also important to her.  All these things she desired were good and they were probably things that God desired for her, but when a person fails to insert God in the equation, things don’t turn out quite as well (or should I say, “quite as miraculously”).

Establishing godly priorities (or a clear direction for our life begins with putting God first, but it also requires us to examine our current priories to gain some measure of insight as to what is really important to us. Using the books list of common priorities on page sixty one of chapter two, helped me quickly discern where the majority of my time was being spent, what my values were, and whether they aligned with God’s will for me.

Ruth put God, love, dedication, service, and commitment high on her priority list, and she still got all the things in Bethlehem that Orpah returned to Moab for. The section concluded the commentary by saying:

“Daily you will venture to the fork-in-the-road where you will have to make those crucial choices that will either take you closer to Bethlehem (to Jesus Christ) or closer to Moab (away from Jesus Christ). The vehicle to getting to either of these places, and the focus of this chapter, is your priorities.”

For many months now I have deviated from being a Martha, to being a Mary to being a Martha again. Re-evaluating my priorities this week help me once again determine where the majority of my time was being spent—especially at work. I may spend nine hours at work, but was I meeting my goals and objectives or was I allowing interruptions to drive me off course. The most important question for me this week which concluded the chapter was: “Am [I] making all that [I] do count for the Lord?”

Next Week's Goal: Review Chapter 2 or Step 2, and finish chapter questions.