First Priority.....

For the next ten Sundays my blog is going to modeled after the sermon series at church by my wonderful pastor, Byron McWilliams. At some times I will use his words and notes, but mostly I will be sharing my thoughts on the sermons as well as how the sermon has spoken to me specifically. I will also be titling my blog posts with the same title as the Sunday's sermon, as to keep them in order.

Byron's sermon series is on "Family Fitness - 10 Exercises to Strengthen Your Family". The 10 excesses are based on the 10 Commandments. I don't think this sermon series could have come at a better time in my life. Last Sunday I talked about getting in step with God. God knows better than anyone that I have not, in the past, been in step with Him nor have I been faithfully following his commandments. Well on to the sermon.

Anyone that knows the 10 Commandments knows what "First Priority" means. The first commandment that we are given by God "You shall have no other gods before me" (Exo 20:2). God wants us to put him first in our lives. The first exercise that we were given by Byron is "Give God first priority every day in every way". Sure, it sounds easy, but really how easy is that? I have the hardest time waking up early enough just to get to work on time, much less early enough to do my quiet time and pray. I mean a hearty quality time and a good, meaningful prayer. I hit snooze so many times that I am usually late to work. That is in no way making God my first priority of every day. That is making sleep my first priority and wow, that sounds bad and looks bad seeing it in black and white. I worship sleep!!!! Oh my, I justified it to myself by saying rest/sleep is good for me. Surely God will understand that I need sleep and be okay with it. Yes, God does require us and wants us to be well rested. Our bodies and our minds depend on sleep. However, I doubt God is okay with us sleeping when we are making it a priority over him. God is NEVER okay with us making anything, and I mean anything, a priority over him. That includes work, family, spouse, children, food, tv, the newspaper, school and so on. We lead such busy lives today that most of the time God gets put on the back-burner for when we have "more time". No wonder this world is the way it is today. No wonder kids have no respect for adults and no respect for themselves or anyone else in this world. Most kids today haven't been taught to respect and obey God. Where did this world go so wrong? When did we stop turning to God and start turning to people?

It was hard this morning when I realized that while I said God was my first priority, my actions don't say that. It breaks my heart to know that I have put the one love in my life who will always be there for me no matter what and will always love me for me, aside for other things. The worst part is I didn't even realize I was doing it. I have become so numb to the ways of the world and it scares me. What kind of example am I setting for my nieces and nephews with my actions? What kind of example am I setting for believers and non-believers with my actions? Does it even show that I am a believer in Christ and that I do love Jesus in my actions? The answers are not a good example at all and no. I don't believe people can see the love of Jesus in me nor in my actions. Talk about swallowing a huge piece of humble pie. Byron gave us five areas that God wants to have first priority in.....Finances, Interests, Relationships, Schedule, Troubles. (it spells out first) Its amazing to see how God speaks through Byron.

While Byron was talking about making God the first priority in your life, I asked myself "how do we know that he is or isn't" and wouldn't you know, Byron gave us the greatest example ever. He talked about being in love with his sweet wife. He talked about how when he couldn't get her off his mind and he would do anything to make her happy he knew he was in love with her. God wants us to be in love with Him. He wants us to have Him on our minds all day every day. He wants us to be anxious to talk to Him, to spend time with Him. He wants us to be so excited about Him and so in love with Him that we talk about Him with everyone we see and know. Think about the person you were/are in love with. Think about how you felt/feel about that person. For me personally, when I fall head over heels for someone they are all I can talk about. In high school at our Senior dinner I was awarded the "Jay-bird" award because all I could do was talk about my boyfriend, Jay. To hear someone talk about that person they are head over heels for is normal, we expect it. However, when we hear people talk about God all the time, we are almost put off. It freaks us out and makes us shut down. People, believers, whom talk about God/Jesus/Christ like that are labeled as "religious" people, like they are the plague or something. However that is exactly how God has called us to be. We should be FANATIC about God and I pray that is the label I begin to get. I pray that people see me as FANATIC about God. What a testament to God. I would be honored to be considered a fanatically, religious person.

I also learned a great lesson over the weekend about me and relationships with men. The most important thing I finally figured out is the biggest red flag that says this is not the right person for me. A man that is sold out to God would respect my wishes and not say anything or do anything that was inappropriate. I will not have to explain what is inappropriate because a man sold out to God will already know what is inappropriate and will NEVER cross that boundary. Oh why couldn't I have figured this out when I was 18, how it would have saved me a world of heartache and hurt.

I have been blogging about my journey with Christ for only a week now and I have already learned so much. I look forward to what lies ahead!!!

Blessings to all, Feather