Are you responding to pressures or priorities?

‘He shall … wear out the saints’, Dan. 17. 25.

One day a caterpillar met a friend at the psychiatrist’s office and asked, ‘Are you coming or going?’ His friend replied, ‘If I knew that I wouldn’t be here!’ Satan’s goal is to wear you out until you don’t know whether you’re coming or going! He does it by weighing you down with things that aren’t necessarily sinful but drain you physically and emotionally. Daniel says that in the last days the enemy will ‘wear out the saints’. If you doubt it, look at the pressures you face everyday; work, finances, church commitments and family. No wonder you’re frazzled!

The apostle says, ‘Let us lay aside every weight and … let us run the race that is set before-us’, Heb. 12. 1. Knowing what to pick up and what to set down is your job – not God’s. Establish priorities and then discipline yourself to live by them. Nobody was more dedicated to God’s work than the Lord Jesus but even He needed time alone with His Father. One of the first priorities set out by the New Testament church leaders was to dedicate themselves to God’s word and prayer. How? By assigning others to handle the administrative load, see Acts chapter 6.

Learn firstly what to offload, then what to delegate, and finally what not to pick up in the first place. Saying, ‘I don’t have time’ just doesn’t cut it. Everybody gets the same twenty-four hours to respond to either pressures or priorities. Decide what to set aside for now and what to unload for good. Don’t get so involved with the work of God that you neglect the God of the work!

Taken from Word for Today.