Daily Dose 16: Top Priority

Allowing value verses to roll around in our minds for a bit, we (or at least I) sense an underlying theme of being transformed into the image of Christ, becoming Christ-like, making Christ known in every aspect of my life, and having Christ’s holiness, wisdom, and character replace the fleshiness of me.

How Can I Do That?

These ideas, in turn, lead directly to, “How can I do that?”, our go-to generator question for helping our minds translate an inspiring, but vaguely actionable value into a more practical priority for life. So, how can I do that? How can I become more Christ-like? How can I have His wisdom and character replace me?

God’s Word and Priorities

One means to achieve this end is to embed God’s Word in ourselves. Thus, an important priority for believers, perhaps even a top priority then, is to have intimate contact with the Word via Bible reading, Bible study, singing, prayer, memorization, meditation, and serving the Lord via declaring the gospel, edifying and training others, ministering to widows, poor, and orphans, meeting needs of the saints, and honoring the Lord’s Day.

Neglect, oversight, or disobedience in any of those areas hinders our overarching value to become Christ-like. And once we see intimate, continuing contact with the Word as a priority to help fulfill that value, it becomes even clearer how the natural activities tied to that priority can be developed into specific goals, implementation experiments and tangible doing of the Word projects that James indicates is so vital for genuine believers.

Whatever organizational efforts we undertake in our lives, those efforts will have their greatest benefit IF such spiritual priorities are flourishing and vibrant, regardless of how many other activities or responsibilities we have.  These are the priorities that most directly affect our honored standing as redeemed heirs with Christ. Whatever time, effort, discipline, and diligence is invested in their maturation in our lives will never be regretted or deemed unprofitable.

Meshing Biblical and Personal Priorities

Does this help you prioritize some of the items on your developing value and priority lists? Are you getting a better feel for ideas that are overarching life values, specific priorities, and the things you do (or should do) to make the values and priorities happen in your life? Do you have items that fit nicely into this top priority of developing intimate contact with the Word in your own life?