A top priority refers to something of greatest importance. While attending Seminary, one of my professors introduced me to the Triangle Theory. Based upon time management, a triangle diagram is used as an aide to analyze how you spend your time outside of sleeping. When you do an honest assessment of your day-to-day activities, the average hours you invest in this or that will highlight what your top priority is at this moment in time.
And in the morning, long before daylight, He got up and went out to a [u]deserted place, and there He prayed. 36 And Simon [Peter] and those who were with him followed Him [[v]pursuing Him eagerly and hunting Him out], 37 And they found Him and said to Him, Everybody is looking for You. 38 And He said to them, Let us be going on into the neighboring country towns, that I may preach there also; for that is why I came out, Mark 1:35-38.
One of Paul’s missionary helpers, John Mark, recalls a story told to him by one of Jesus’ disciples. While the disciples slept in, Jesus got up early in the morning to go walking in the wilderness. After finding a quiet place, Jesus prays to his heavenly Father. Based upon the words above, Jesus top priority to begin each day was seeking guidance from God to determine where He wanted Jesus to go and what God wanted Him to do.
But seek ([z]aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness ([aa]His way of doing and being right), and then all these things [ab]taken together will be given you besides. 34 So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own. Sufficient for each day is its own trouble, Matthew 6:33-34.
Perhaps, the Sermon on the Mount provides an introduction to Jesus’ prayer life. This insight begins with the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:1-15. After fasting is touched upon, Jesus concludes this section of his message on what Christians should strive for: hunger and thirst for righteousness. When God becomes your top priority, your mindset changes from earth toward heaven. The apostle Paul lays this out in Colossians 3:1-17. May these passages of the Bible inspire you to make Jesus Lord of all in 2023.
by Jay Mankus
ExpressYourself4Him 