“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:33-34
I read once that ‘Life is a lot like a coin; you can spend it any way you wish, but you can spend it only once’. Choosing just one thing or direction over all the rest throughout our life is a difficult thing to do. This is especially true when the choices are so many and the possibilities are so close together.
To be completely truthful with you on this Tuesday, however, we aren't left with numerous possibilities. Jesus Himself gave us the top priority: "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you". He said, in effect, "This is your priority; this comes first."
If you, me and these Haitian school children are seeking first in my life’s path, God's kingdom and God's righteousness, then whatever else we do ought to relate to that goal: where we work, with whom we spend our time, the one we marry, or the decision to remain single. Every decision that we make should parallel His direction for each for each of us; our decisions ought to be filtered through the Matthew 6:33 filter: where I put my money, where and how I spend my time, what I buy, what I sell, what I give away, what I watch, what I listen to, what I read and who I root for on the weekend and the group I sit with.
Every garage sale treasure, everything that sits in the neighbors drive, every minute spent surfing the Internet and every hour spent searching for more needful things on this planet must be held loosely. Raise the bar.
Life places before us hundreds of possibilities along our journey. Some are bad but many are good. A few are, quite possibly the very best. But each of us must prayerfully decide, "What is my choice? What is my reason for living?" In other words, "What priority takes first place in my life?"
Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
May God be with you…Jay