Main Things: Learning to Prioritize What’s Most Important | Northlands Church

Main Things: Learning to Prioritize What’s Most Important

February 05, 2019 | Brittany Deegan

Main Things: Learning to Prioritize What’s Most Important

by: Brittany Deegan

We have all been given a limited number of days to live on this earth. When we reach the end of our life, will the time we’ve been given reflect the priorities of God or are own agenda? How can we ensure that God’s priorities are ours too, and be intentional with the main things he asks of us?

Every believer was faithfully devoted to following the teachings of the apostles. Their hearts were mutually linked to one another, sharing communion and coming together regularly for prayer…. And the Lord kept adding to their number daily those who were coming to life. Acts 2:42-43 The Passion Translation

In today’s society, it’s hard to have your first cup of coffee without a thousand things vying for your attention. Between the pull of technology, numerous school activities, and the daily grind of life, we can easily race to the end of a day exhausted and still ask, what did I even do? In Sunday’s Sermon titled, Main Things, Pastor Greg Haswell addresses this dilemma and offers a strategy of prioritizing what’s essential first and using our days wisely. Our time is the most precious commodity we have to offer and we are ultimately responsible before the Lord for answering this one question, what did I do with my life?

Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow. (Psalm 144:4)

When meeting with a financial planner you are typically asked two questions: When do you plan on retiring and how much annual income would you prefer once retired? This strategy of planning backwards allows you to be strategic with your energy and resources in order to plan effectively and diligently towards an end goal. Greg Haswell suggests the same exercise when thinking about how to spend our most valuable asset, our time. Greg challenges us to imagine if our life continued on the same course it’s currently on what would we be remembered for at our funeral? Would others remark that our highest priorities looked just like God’s priorities?

Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.
(Psalm 90:12)

So what are the main things God is interested in and how do we know if we’re spending our time wisely and taking steps in the same direction of his interests? Here are the two main things we see throughout scripture that God is most passionate about ...

His Bride

God loves his bride. In fact, his bride is the apple of his eye, his prized possession, the one he’s coming back for. So it matters a great deal to him how we treat her. We can spend our time annoyed with her, arguing with her, neglecting her, or simply apathetic towards her, but in the end all of this is wasted time. In fact, Romans 13:8 says this, “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.” Loving God’s bride simply means choosing to serve her and growing in faith alongside her. This is done through corporate worship, acts of service, prayer, sharing meals, community groups, or any type of communal gathering that offers encouragement. When we commit ourselves to doing life with God’s people we are not only expressing the Father’s heart but also sharing in his highest priorities.

The Lost

Jesus was very interested in transforming sinners into saints during his ministry on earth and his agenda hasn’t changed except that he asks us to join him on that journey too. What a privilege and honor it is that he would trust us with such an incredibly important task! Proverbs 11:30 says it like this, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And he who is wise wins souls.” There is no greater joy than seeing someone come to Christ and discover who they are in him. The early church grew tremendously because they simply did community extraordinarily well. Acts shares that the apostles made it a habitual and intentional lifestyle to do Christian life together and as a result, “the Lord kept adding to their number daily those who were coming to life.”(Acts 2:42-43) God is in eager pursuit of the lost and he chooses us to partner with him in his passion for people.

When we study the scriptures and examine the life of Christ we find over and over again that God has always been most interested in two things, his bride and those who are becoming his bride. We can allow life to overrun us with its constant demands, distractions, and requests or we can determine that our highest priorities should also reflect that of the Father’s. Living life from this eternal perspective will not only deliver a life well-lived but a life well-loved.

Here is Main Things from Pastor Greg Haswell.
Questions for Reflection:

  1. What areas of my life do I need to reprioritize in order to ensure that I’m growing in my faith through Christian community?
  2. What do I need to say No to in order to make room for the Main Things of growing in community and ministering to the lost?
  3. How is Holy Spirit leading me to connect with people in my own community?

Prayer

Heavenly Father, show me your heart for people once more. Teach me to honor you with my life by growing in my faith through the family of Christ. Help me set my eyes on the prize of knowing you more and making you known because there is no greater aspiration in this life. Teach me to dwell in your love and to be a vessel of your kindness to the world around me. Amen.

© 2024 Northlands Church and Brittany Deegan. Permission to share so long as credit is given.