BBD 07.03.07 First Things First
Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>
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07.03.07
First Things First
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the
other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot
serve God and mammon. - Matthew 6:24.
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these
things shall be added to you. - Matthew 6:33.
Have you ever paid $305 for an empty can of dog food? Perhaps you frequently
pay $51 for empty Coke cans? Or, do you pay $152.50 to buy a used envelope?
In a recent eBay auction, those were the prices actually paid for those
items. It is almost incomprehensible until you connect those items to the
name of.Paris Hilton. Yes, all those items once passed through the hands of
Paris or at least that is what is claimed by hollywoodstartrash dot com.
There are people actually willing to pay extreme amounts for the trash of
the famous.
Our society in this country is obviously focused on.I guess you could say
the trashy and the trash of the trashy. On eBay, a search for Paris Hilton
turned up 1103 hits while Billy Graham had 200 and his son Franklin only had
26. Using the Google search engine it was even more disproportionate with
Paris receiving 67 million search items and Billy just getting not quite two
million. Thankfully, God still has the most search returns on eBay with
8,407 and He beats even Paris on Google with 341 million.
If someone were to ask you what the focus of your life is on - what would
you say? Would you say God is first? Most Christians would automatically put
God at the first of the list because we know that is what we ought to say.
However, there are other ways of determining your life focus. Time can be
used to help in determining our focus. How much time do you spend with God
every week? Church, prayer, Bible reading, singing praises, serving.? Then,
how much time do you spend on things like soap operas or romance novels? For
us men it could be golf, football, hunting, or just watching the news. What
is your focus in life? Where are you spending your time? Is it where God
would have you to be? How are you spending your time? Is it how God would
want you to be spending your time?
Another method of determining the focus of our lives is to consider how we
spend money. Do we use it to buy Paris Hilton's empty can of dog food for
$305 or do we use it to provide the food for 38 children for a month (Feed
the Children). Do we pay $51 for an empty Coke can that was once in the hand
of Paris or do we take that $51 and place it in the hand of our Lord to
spread the Gospel?
Most of us can do better. I know I can. Let us commit ourselves to putting
first things first as in the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Instead
of seeking pleasure from the world, "Delight yourself also in the Lord, and
He shall give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4)."
Copyright © 2007. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
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