Decisions and Priorities

The decisions we make daily reflect our priorities. While this is a simple enough thought, most of us do not stop and think on it in the busyness of our day. Have you ever thought about what is truly important to you? How would you measure such a thing?

Someone once told me that to measure what is truly important to you requires your checkbook or, in today's world, your credit card balance statement. What you must do is take a tally of your expenditures for the month and totally them up. Once you get your total you merely look at what or who you are spending your money on most, and that is what is most important to you. Speaking from own experience, it works pretty well, and was pretty humbling for yours truly.

As Christians, it is a great way to take stock of where our priorities lie; do we spend more money on the things of our Lord or on the things of this world? Do we spend more money on the eternal things that will contribute to His Kingdom, or do we spend more money on accumulating things in this life for our little kingdoms? Money has a way of revealing who we really are, at least it does in my life. It took a while for me to discover that wonderful truth in scripture, "it is truly better to give than to receive."

There is a bumper sticker that states, "the one with the most toys at the end wins." Sadly, that is how many of us live. I remember being in college and being focused on the red BMW. I wanted to graduate college so I could buy one. How vain was I? I did not care about what I learned or even what job I would land... I just wanted that red BMW. Now, I am not saying that everyone who owns a red BMW is spiritually off-centered, but I am saying that that red BMW was my idol and made me spiritually off-center.

Each day we make decisions, and like it or not, they reveal our priorities. The biggest most important decisions we make in our lives have to do with money. It is just the way life is, at the moment. As you live out each day, I implore you to take stock of your priorities. Are you contributing to His kingdom or building your own? Blessings!