Someone asked Emily Post, “What is the correct procedure when one is invited to the White House and has a previous engagement?” She answered, “An invitation to lunch or dine at the White House is a command, and automatically cancels any other engagement.” ¹ The issue is one of priority. There are life’s situations which take precedence. What about God and His Kingdom? Is there a priority we need to observe in the realm of the Spirit? The word ‘priority’ is not a Bible word but the concept is. It is epitomized by the word ‘first’ in such passages as Matthew 6:33. Many in our generation are experiencing the pains of an overload. We overcommit and overprioritize. Practicing the concept of ‘first things’ is a sure way of helping you navigate the maze.

[Tweet “Taking take care of your family is a responsibility, not a calling. There’s a difference.”]

• Bill Cowher took over as coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1992.
  • He quickly showed himself to be a man with a future.
  • The Steelers made the playoffs each of his first several seasons as coach and went to Super Bowl-XXX in 1996.
  • One thing that made Cowher an effective coach was that he focused on his priorities. In Sports Illustrated Tim Crothers writes:
  • After almost every game, every practice, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Bill Cowher drives straight home to his wife, Kaye, and their three daughters. He doesn’t do ads for cars or frozen yogurt. He exists inside his two passions, family and football, exclusive of everything else.
  • Cowher is so focused that one afternoon he was seated next to a woman at a civic luncheon and politely asked, “What is it you do?”
  • The woman responded, “I’m the mayor of Pittsburgh.”
  • Granted, it’s a good idea to know who your mayor is, but Cowher shows us one essential truth: A person cannot focus on everything. A person with priorities must let some things go by the wayside. The more we focus on the Lord, the less we focus on the unimportant things of this world.²

Calling Versus Responsibility

• Let’s clear some road for a minute.
• Everyone is supposed to take care of their families.
• You are not doing anything noble by doing what you ought to be doing.
• That’s your responsibility, not your calling.
• There’s a difference.
• Bill Cowher took care of his family.
• That was his responsibility.
• But football was his passion and he made his passion his priority.

Priority Not Priorities

• The word priority means the right to precede others in order, rank, or privilege, something given special attention.
• The origins of the word date back to the fourteenth century.
• Originally the word was singular.
• It meant the very first thing.
• It stayed singular for 500 years.
• The word went from singular to plural in the twentieth century.
• Our generation put an ‘s’ on the end or rather ‘ies’ and start talking about priorities.³
• Or ‘multiple first things.’

The Bible Word is ‘First’

• The word priority is not, as it stands, a Bible word but the concept is.
• The Bible uses another word, the word ‘first’.

Matthew 6:33 (ESV) — 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

• The word ‘first’ is an adverb in this sentence.
• In the Greek, it means before anything else.
• If it’s before anything else than the word priority would fit as a synonym.
• Believers in Jesus should never struggle with trying to ‘establish priorities’.
• The concept is singular in the Bible, not plural.
• There is only one priority, the Kingdom of God.
• Filmmaker Walt Disney was ruthless in cutting anything that got in the way of a story’s pacing.
  • Ward Kimball, one of the animators for Snow White, recalls working 240 days on a 4-1/2 minute sequence in which the dwarfs made soup for Snow White and almost destroyed the kitchen in the process.
  • Disney thought it was funny, but he decided the scene stopped the flow of the picture, so out it went.
  • When the film of our lives is shown, will it be as great as it might be?
  • A lot will depend on the multitude of ‘good’ things we need to eliminate to make way for the great things God wants to do through us.⁴
• Spend time thinking, exploring, listening, debating, questioning, and brainstorming ways you can put God’s Kingdom first.
• Get specific about it.
• That is, get serious about knowing what your place is.
• Search for it.
• It’s easier to find than you realize.
• Ask questions like ‘what am I really passionate about?’
• What is it that stirs my heart.
• What issue is it?
• Is it a specific area?
• I know helping people grow is the area for me.
  • For years, I would pass by church buildings being erected or remodeled and get happy.
  • It was so exciting to me to see a church building under construction because that meant growth, that meant progress.
  • That was a clue to me.
  • I enjoyed seeing animals grow, plants grow, trees grow.
  • I had a fish tank for a while and I watched the fish grow.
  • It would thrill me to see little children grow and develop into young adults.
  • The same feeling would come when I watched adults overcome an area of concern.
  • When they would do as the scripture said, ‘lay aside every weight’.

Hebrews 12:1–2 (ESV) — 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

• Progress is a beautiful thing.
• Getting happy about it for other people was a clue to me.
• It’s how I knew what my area was.

Call to Action:

• Clue into what excites you.
• Hone in on what thrills you, what pushes your buttons.
• Yielding to your area of priority, the area of your passion is your way of putting the Kingdom of God first.

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