Right Priorities
What if the life you’re living isn’t yours — but one the world assigned to you? Some of us wake up one day and realize we’ve built our entire lives on the expectations of others. Careers we never questioned. Lifestyles we can’t afford. Priorities we never chose.
“Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
Galatians 1:10 NIV
Passively influenced
The world’s messages are loud and clear: Get richer. Stay busy. Look successful. But God asks a different question: Are you living for the world — or for Me?
What if peace isn’t found in doing more — but in doing what. matters most? In rediscovering the priorities God actually created you for? The Bible provides clarity to this in what we refer to as The Great Commandment.
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”
Mark 12:28-31 NIV
Love God with your entire being
We’re instructed that our top priority and highest objective in life is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Each of these can be better understood in today’s world as loving God by committing all aspects of our life to Him: Spiritually, Emotionally, Intellectually, and Physically. We are not to be one-dimensional, but multi-faceted.
If married, love your spouse in the same way Jesus loves you
Jesus stated that the second most important commandment was to “love your neighbor as yourself.” John, another gospel writer, captured Jesus words in this way: “In the same way I have loved. you, love your neighbor.”
“A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”
John 13:34-35 NIV
Like the ripples that come from throwing a rock in a pond, the onoe closest to the source should obviously be the first affected. For those of us who are married, this would mean that the first individual we are to love in the same manner Jesus loves us would be our spouse.
This does not however exclude the married man or woman from their responsibility to love their neighbor as themselves. God’s will is. that loving others never supplant prioritize loving the one closest to you.
Scripture goes into much greater detail as to what this is to look like in passages such as Ephesians 5:21-33 and 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. But suffice it to say, our first human love shuld be reserved and protected for our husband or wife.
If single, love your neighbor as Jesus loves you
Obviously there are many people who live life individuallay as a single person. Jesus’ teaching is no different for them than for the married person — love your neighbor in the same way I have loved you.” But the “neighbor” of a single person is not singularly defined. Which would mean there is no limitation or exclusiveness of who they should prioritize in loving with the love of Jesus.
I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how he can please the Lord. But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife— and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband. I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.
1 Corinthians 7:31-35 NIV
Love is always the correct priority
Whether married or single, as a disciple you are commanded to love others in the same manner Jesus loves you. Love is always the motive. Who we share that love with is the variable.
Christian counseling can help you process past hurts and to release the heaviness that may be holding you back from loving the Lord and your neighbor. Life Training Christian Counseling offers online sessions for men and women of all backgrounds and from across the country.
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