Making First Things First by Ps Jim Jung

Light speed. That’s how I feel life is whizzing by. At the speed of light. The problem with light speed is that details are easily overlooked. Everything is simply blurred by the rush of activity and the beauty of contemplation has long been dragged through the slipstream. If I remain in this state for too long I realise that many of the fundamental tenets of my existence slide into the blurriness created by the speed of light. And it is at this moment that we so easily make minor things major, and secondary values primary ones.

So many of us put second things first instead of having the first things as first. Every successful ministry, organisation, and government must have a set of core values that become their foundational bedrock to build upon. If they don’t, then as impressive as everything may seem, one day the whole thing will come crashing down because of the instability of those core things; the first things. The same is true for our lives.

The word first in the Greek means:

·         First in time and number

·         First in rank and value

·         In other words, the most important.

In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus speaks on seven different occasions about the first things we need to have secure in order to ensure we build our lives with His standards in mind. In other words, making first things first. Frank Domazio helped me with this through his book The Power of Spiritual Alignment, where he encourages us all to:

1.      Seek first the Kingdom of God (6:33) – aligning our priorities

2.      First be reconciled to your brother (5:24-25) – aligning our relationships

3.      First remove the log from your own eye (7:4-5) – aligning our attitudes

4.      First bind the strong man (12:29) – aligning our authority

5.      First, the greatest commandment (22:36-38) – aligning our heart with God’s

6.      First cleanse the inside (23:26) – aligning our inner world

7.      First day of the week (28:1) – aligning with his body

If we’re running at light speed, how clearly are we seeing our priorities, or relationships, attitudes, and our inner world align with the Father’s standards? Or have all of those things simply become stardust in the trail we leave behind as we speed through our days? First things are the most important. Jesus wouldn’t have bothered to reiterate them if He didn’t think so.

Pause for a moment. What sits at the forefront of your thinking each day, like a prized trophy sitting on the mantelpiece for all to see? Is it a first thing or should it be downgraded to allow you to again put first things first?