Sorting your priorities for 2020 …

The closer we get to a New Year, the more serious many get about making plans for it.

What to do in 2020?

To have the best year possible, you’ll need to prioritize what you give your time, attention, and resources … but that’s been our weakness in the past, hasn’t it?

We’re much better at reaching for the cheap and easy than we are to be satisfied with, and steward well, the more precious things in life. An example of this is found in a story an unidentified pastor told that was originally reported by CNBC in 2013:

Things bought at garage sales don’t usually end up on the evening news, but a Chinese bowl bought by a New York family in 2007, became famous in April of 2013. The new owners paid just three dollars for what turned out to be a bowl from the Northern Song Dynasty that was more than one thousand years old. Until someone told them what they really had, the family had the bowl stuck on the mantle over their fireplace. When they placed the bowl with Sotheby’s Auction House for sale, it was estimated to go for approximately $200,000. Instead a dealer from London purchased it for more than $2,000,000!

Why would the first owners sell something so valuable for just $3? The answer is that they didn’t appreciate what it was worth. We may shake our heads at that, but the truth is that every day men and women give up things far more valuable than money could buy for something that is ultimately worthless.

The pastor commented on the story …

When a woman sacrifices her integrity to steal from her employer to be able to buy something she wants or a man sacrifices his purity to commit immorality to satisfy his lust, something of great worth is being given up for something very cheap. This is a clear indication of misplaced values. When parents ignore their children’s need to further a career (or even a ministry), they are giving up something that cannot be regained for the sake of something that will not last.

JESUS HAD SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT THIS …
When it comes to setting priorities, Jesus spoke bluntly about what ours should be, which is opposite of what ours usually are. Most of us widdle away our days consumed with the things of daily living — paying our bills, the food we want to eat, entertaining ourselves, expanding our wardrobe, getting the latest trendy electronics, etc. — and most of us don’t have ANY kind of plan, strategy, or priority of our serving in, and contributing to, the Kingdom of God.

Like I said, backwards of what Jesus said our priorities should be:

“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life — whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? So don’t worry about these things, saying, “What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?” These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need,” Matthew 6:25-33.

If you were to take this teaching of Jesus seriously as you plan for 2020, what would the coming year look like for you? How would it change your life?

Scotty