Prioritize 2012

We are Christians, and therefore, we need to make sure we don’t set Jesus as our #1 priority in 2012.

I know you’re probably thinking that the above sentence doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.  That was my first reaction when I read it, too.  But when you think deeply about your life and your list of priorities, I think the meaning of that thought becomes clear.

We are good at prioritizing our lives.  We might not think so at times, but somehow, we all tend to put our 1st things first.  When we look back at how we have lived and what activities have filled our days, it’s pretty easy to figure out the things we value most in this life.

The problem is that when we look back, our actions might not have been congruent with the list of priorities that we thought we had.  I’m sure that we would all want to put God / Jesus at the #1 spot on our priority list, but I’m not sure our lives reflect that.  A quick test to see where you stand on this would be to take a look at your calendar and see where you spend most of your days.  If you’re like most of us, you spent a lot of time working, and when you weren’t on the job,you were probably trying to spend as much time with your family as possible – and those aren’t really bad things.

Somewhere in there is the problem with putting Jesus at the top of our priority list.  If He’s at the #1 spot, then we essentially put Him out on an island by Himself.  And if He’s on that island, then He really has no impact on the rest of our lives – our families, careers, recreation, etc.  So there’s the problem, and here’s the fix to it: instead of putting Jesus at the top of your priority list, why not put Him in every priority you have?

We don’t have to isolate Jesus to His own little corner of our lives – it might be a big corner, but it’s still a corner.  In fact, the more I read about His life and His interactions with other people, I think He’d prefer to be at the center of everything we do – not just at the top of the priority list.

The tough part is figuring out for ourselves how to put him in the center of all that we do.  How can you put Him at the center of your career?  Your family?  Your free time?

I can’t answer those questions for you, but I know that if you get it right, 2012 will be a great year for you.