What Is Your Priority? (Not Priorities)

Have you ever felt “lost in the throng”?

Most of us know what it’s like to be in a large crowd – it’s loud, chaotic, and all too easy to get distracted. It can often make you feel disoriented.

The same is true with overused words in a book. Words such as that, so, anyway, just, and some are examples of commonly overused words. And the worst part is, most of them aren’t even needed. They’re simply fillers.

It’s actually quite the same in life. All too often we let thats, justs, and somes into our lives. While there’s nothing wrong with having a few of those, it begins to turn into a problem when there’s so many of them that they overrun your life. When they push aside what really matters. God.

Many people struggle with “fillers”.

Things like sports, music, exercise, work, and phones, while not being inherently bad, can lead to problems when they start pushing the more important things aside. When they become your priority instead of what really matters – Jesus, and the Great Commission.

And those “filler words” quickly begin to accumulate and bog down your life. Filler words distract you from the actual story, waste your time, and lead you down side-trails.

What is your priority?

In the film Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, after their run-in with a troll, Harry, Ron, and Hermione return to the common room. Hermione chastises Ron and Harry about the consequences that would’ve followed if they’d been caught out after hours. She tells them how they could’ve gotten killed – or worse, expelled from Hogwarts. She storms from the room, prompting Ron to say, “She needs to sort out her priorities.”

In reality though, can we have multiple top priorities? Can you prioritize training to be both an athlete and a doctor? Sure. But at the same time?

We should only have one top priority.

It’s the same with multi-tasking. We think it’s faster, but in reality, it’s not. We devote half our brain to each task, and the result is a cheaply made project.

Leading back to what I was saying before, most of you will know that books stuffed with unnecessary words will not get published. But are you aware that the same is true in peoples’ lives?

God put you on this earth for a purpose.

He designed your story. Are you letting it proceed down the intended path, or has your story become riddled with fillers: things that distract you from your goals?

What is your top priority? The world, or God?

This is something I’m thinking through and I’d encourage you to consider doing the same. What is your main priority? Is God still first in your life, or has busyness begun to drive Him out?

Eliminating redundant words and patterns is hard, yes, but not impossible. With diligence and perseverance it can be done. I try to do my part when editing my own writing, but is there something you can do as well?

Is there a thing in your life that seems to be siphoning all your efforts, and turning your eye from the One who deserves your full attention? Is there something you need to give up for the greater good of a relationship with your loving Father?

What do you want the highest priority of your life to be?