Priorities Beget Purpose, Purpose Begets Passion

Priorities are the key to sustaining a healthy life - spiritual, mental and physical.  Priorities are what drive our purpose, and purpose is what drives our passion! 

I have often times said that my priorities are as follows: God first, my wife second, my kids third, other relationships fourth, ministry, etc. after that. For the most part that does sound pretty good, but my perspective has been changed lately as to why I still struggle in some of these key relationships in my life.

Here's the key - God must not only be first, but He must be second, third, fourth, etc...meaning, God must be at the center of all my relationships and priorities.  With God at the center of everything, our relationships are nurtured because we focus on our purpose...to love God and to love others. 

When we love God, we are devoted to Him as we are discipled by Him through His word, Prayer, and revelations from the Holy Spirit.  We develop a biblical worldview where we understand it is truly all about Him. We seek out relationships with those in whom we can be mentored, as well as those whom we can mentor.  A biblical worldview is attained by being a disciple and making disciples.  Loving God and loving others!

When we love others, we extend the same love we receive from God to those around us.  We build relationships where mentoring and discipleship can happen, and a biblical worldview is formed by the relationship being built with Christ at the very center.  Every relationship we have is a mentoring relationship...we have to choose whether or not it will have Christ at the center!

As our worldview is formed, and we keep God in the center of all priorities, we discover our purpose is to love God and love others (that means everyone).  When we discover our purpose is love, we can then choose to become passionate about that purpose, which results in Kingdom relationships. Passion follows purpose, and purpose follows priorities...we must choose to have God in the middle of it all!

Transparency, Integrity and Honesty Required

Over the years, God has been changing me from the inside-out.  One huge indicator of this is something I just recently began to realize from one of those revelatory moments God throws at us to see if we are paying attention...Transparency and Authenticity!

As I began to place Jesus at the center of my entire life, my struggles and failures, as well as victories, became an open book.  Being transparent is something I have no problem with anymore, and I attribute that to Jesus and the relationship He and I are building.  You see, being transparent about your life is easy when your focus is on Christ, and not on yourself! 

 Having a Biblical Worldview (seeing everything we do, say and see from God's perspective) focuses our thoughts on Him, thus allowing us to share things in our lives that may help others as they take steps in placing Jesus first in every aspect of their lives.  It's not giving advice, it's sharing in community building relationship and being authentic in who Christ has made you to be!

As you have conversations with the people around you, keep your mind focused on Jesus and let Him guide the conversation.  If He nudges you to share something from your life that may encourage or help someone else, no matter how embarrassing, un-Godly, or downright wrong it may have been, let go of your pride and become transparent, staying authentic to who you are in Christ!  Share your struggles as well as how you gained victory...if we never share our struggles, we have let pride (sin) rule our lives! 

"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me and for the gospel will save it!” Mk 8:35.  As God continues to mold you into the image of His Son, you will have opportunities to respond in transparency, integrity and honesty...after all, these are some of the traits of a person who is sold out for Christ and is placing Him first and in the middle of everything they say, see & do!