Setting Biblical Posteriorities
It is time once again for reflection on the year passing and for making resolutions for the new year. Right now, it feels like anything is possible in 2014. I did not do everything I determined to last year, but this is the year I will. I did not keep my resolution last year, but this year I will. I did not go back to school last year, but this year I will. I did not read through the Bible last year, but this year I will. I did not change my career path to something I enjoy like I said I would, but this year I will.
This is the easiest time of year to fool ourselves, isn't it?
I once heard it said that a goal without a plan is only a wish. So I wonder how many of us will set goals for 2014, and how many of us are just wishing things will be different this year...
This year, I plan to make some changes. In the past, I have endeavored to do this by setting priorities for the coming year, only to realize sometime in mid-February that nothing had really changed because I can't help but set too many priorities. I know you've all been there. You try to come up with the five or ten most important priorities, and it turns to twenty because, well, there is just so much to do. And of course, there are those other things that I will need to handle if they're going to get done. Let me add those to the list. Oh, and I will have to pick the slack for this one and that one because they can't get done what they need to do. A few more priorities can't hurt. And, after all, if I just stay focused on these (long pause to count the list)... fifty things this year, I'll be okay!
We do it every year. We make everything a priority, so nothing really gets done. And we try, how we try, to be faithful to the Word of God and set priorities in the most Biblical fashion. Jesus wouldn't want me to neglect being in the Word, but He wouldn't want me slacking off and getting to work late because what kind of testimony is that? And I can't let any of this other stuff get in the way of quality family time. God is all about family! And Jesus doesn't want me to burn out, so I need to make sure I set time apart each day to unwind, so even if I didn't get to pray today, there is surely nothing wrong with me playing a video game or watching some TV. And I am really tired from work, so I need to get to bed and I can spend time in the Word and praying tomorrow morning. I'm sure I'll pop right out of bed and not hit the snooze button tomorrow morning like I did today!
Here is the problem: when everything is a priority, nothing is. And maybe you don't have trouble fitting in time for Bible reading and prayer. But if we look back over the past year, I think most of us will realize that, best case, this is exactly what we've done: fit these things in around our other "priorities". It is time to get our priorities straight, and to do that, we need to stop listing our priorities and start listing our posteriorities (From the Latin for "things that come after" - I actually don't know if that is even a word, but I am going with it.)
There is an account in the Gospel of Mark (Chapter 1) where Jesus is in Galilee and He spends the day performing miraculous healings. He heals Simon's mother-in-law, He cast out demons, and we read that the whole town was gathered there to see Him and that Jesus healed many. Then, in the dead of night, He goes off alone to pray. But the people are still coming to see Him, so Simon and some other disciples find Jesus and tell Him that there are more people to heal. And Jesus gives this response:
Do you see what Jesus said? He could not heal any more people there because He had to get to the next towns to preach. He had a priority, which was preaching, so in order to accomplish His priorities, He had to put everything else in it's proper place, even healing the sick, by making them posteriorities.
And this is what we have so much trouble doing. It is so hard to pick out those things that don't need to get done and give ourselves reasonable goals. But it shouldn't be so hard, because God tells us exactly what our posteriorities are: everything but Him. There is nothing more important than knowing Christ more, growing in Him, getting to know His Word, and spending time talking with Him. We all know it, but most of us do little more than wish we did all of that.
So I am going to put my job further down on the list and honor Christ as number one not by working less so I can read and pray, but by reading and praying before and after I need to be at work. I am going to put my family down the list and honor Christ as number one by spending more time in the Word with my family and praying together. I am going to put relaxation time down the list and honor Christ as number one by finding God-honoring ways to spend my down time each day.
I will probably wind up with a lot of number twos on my priority list this year, but that's okay. Because none of them are going to be number one.
This is the easiest time of year to fool ourselves, isn't it?
I once heard it said that a goal without a plan is only a wish. So I wonder how many of us will set goals for 2014, and how many of us are just wishing things will be different this year...
This year, I plan to make some changes. In the past, I have endeavored to do this by setting priorities for the coming year, only to realize sometime in mid-February that nothing had really changed because I can't help but set too many priorities. I know you've all been there. You try to come up with the five or ten most important priorities, and it turns to twenty because, well, there is just so much to do. And of course, there are those other things that I will need to handle if they're going to get done. Let me add those to the list. Oh, and I will have to pick the slack for this one and that one because they can't get done what they need to do. A few more priorities can't hurt. And, after all, if I just stay focused on these (long pause to count the list)... fifty things this year, I'll be okay!
We do it every year. We make everything a priority, so nothing really gets done. And we try, how we try, to be faithful to the Word of God and set priorities in the most Biblical fashion. Jesus wouldn't want me to neglect being in the Word, but He wouldn't want me slacking off and getting to work late because what kind of testimony is that? And I can't let any of this other stuff get in the way of quality family time. God is all about family! And Jesus doesn't want me to burn out, so I need to make sure I set time apart each day to unwind, so even if I didn't get to pray today, there is surely nothing wrong with me playing a video game or watching some TV. And I am really tired from work, so I need to get to bed and I can spend time in the Word and praying tomorrow morning. I'm sure I'll pop right out of bed and not hit the snooze button tomorrow morning like I did today!
Here is the problem: when everything is a priority, nothing is. And maybe you don't have trouble fitting in time for Bible reading and prayer. But if we look back over the past year, I think most of us will realize that, best case, this is exactly what we've done: fit these things in around our other "priorities". It is time to get our priorities straight, and to do that, we need to stop listing our priorities and start listing our posteriorities (From the Latin for "things that come after" - I actually don't know if that is even a word, but I am going with it.)
There is an account in the Gospel of Mark (Chapter 1) where Jesus is in Galilee and He spends the day performing miraculous healings. He heals Simon's mother-in-law, He cast out demons, and we read that the whole town was gathered there to see Him and that Jesus healed many. Then, in the dead of night, He goes off alone to pray. But the people are still coming to see Him, so Simon and some other disciples find Jesus and tell Him that there are more people to heal. And Jesus gives this response:
Mark 1:38 And he said to them, "Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also,
for that is why I came out."
Do you see what Jesus said? He could not heal any more people there because He had to get to the next towns to preach. He had a priority, which was preaching, so in order to accomplish His priorities, He had to put everything else in it's proper place, even healing the sick, by making them posteriorities.
And this is what we have so much trouble doing. It is so hard to pick out those things that don't need to get done and give ourselves reasonable goals. But it shouldn't be so hard, because God tells us exactly what our posteriorities are: everything but Him. There is nothing more important than knowing Christ more, growing in Him, getting to know His Word, and spending time talking with Him. We all know it, but most of us do little more than wish we did all of that.
So I am going to put my job further down on the list and honor Christ as number one not by working less so I can read and pray, but by reading and praying before and after I need to be at work. I am going to put my family down the list and honor Christ as number one by spending more time in the Word with my family and praying together. I am going to put relaxation time down the list and honor Christ as number one by finding God-honoring ways to spend my down time each day.
I will probably wind up with a lot of number twos on my priority list this year, but that's okay. Because none of them are going to be number one.
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