This is a question that Christians should be regularly asking themselves, yet don’t. Worse then that, there are many Christians who don’t even think about their priorities and tend to just let their life flow in whatever direction it takes, like a ship being blown and tossed around on the waters with no one at the helm.
I once was a workaholic and no you haven’t misread it, I do mean someone addicted to work and everything attached to it. Yet I had a family and a newly burgeoning faith. Without a doubt my priorities were not in the right place. Certainly having time with God was definitely not in the right place in my life and I wasn’t being the Spiritual leader of my family.
My very wise pastor highlighted this to me by pointing out that I was living my life out of order. He pointed out that it was work first, family second, and time with God when I had a chance, which usually meant just on a Sunday. Fortunately that was 20 years ago and since then and with his help, some outstanding training, coupled with my burning ambition to change the situation, I transformed my life. I now put God first, then my family and to achieve this I had to bring my working week from 70+ hours a week down to 40-45. If family isn’t second to God then you will not be as efficient at work as you could be, as your brain does not have the right incentive in place.
To reduce my working week by 40% required me to learn a completely new set of skills to apply in the workplace, drastically improving my levels efficiency and effectiveness at work. There were techniques I had to learn, tools I needed to use, improved management skills that needed to be developed and, ultimately, all led to me being more effective and efficient in everything, in work and outside of work. Soon people were asking me how I did it and I had to develop a programme that I could teach to others and I will be highlighting some of tools over the next few months which come from my course “Finding time for God”.
The most important tool starts from the premise that you have to have a reason to change and the way to do this is to set your priorities in the right order (1. God first 2. family 3. work 4. church 5. everything else)and then to develop the goals that you can use to achieve them
What are your goals? Scripture tells us:
“I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” Philippians 3:14
If we want the higher calling of God in Christ Jesus then we should press on toward the “Goal” which in turn means we will receive the prize.
This inspired scripture shows an understanding of our nature which has the capacity to achieve far more then we thought possible as long as we have set it as a goal.
Think of the times in your life when you have set your mind on achieving something. It may have started as a child when you saw something you wanted and you did not rest until you got it. Perhaps it was the pursuit of something academic like qualifications which you set yourself early in the process of study and did not stop until you achieved it or it could have been in your relationships where you set your heart upon someone and pursued them until you had fulfilled the goal of engagement or marriage.
Perhaps, like me, you mistakenly set your highest priority on goals to further your career, and the progression you craved with it. In some cases this may even have overtaken you and become an overwhelming focus of your life. Whichever example came to mind, one thing is certain; all examples start with setting a goal or challenge for you. This is therefore the key to achieving more in your life.
People often say they are too busy to do anything else in their life. But the truth is they do not really know as goals that people set can take on a higher importance to those tasks they are currently undertaking. The joy when you achieve something that has a greater meaning attached to it can outweigh most of what we are currently achieving and time alters in its perspective to allow for it.
We do not want to end up looking back on our life with regret saying phrases like “I wish I had…..” Instead we have the opportunity to sets goals now to achieve life changing projects and concepts.
These goals could be in your social life, or perhaps your health and fitness; what about your education, are you happy with the qualifications you have achieved? You could set goals for the family and your leisure time, and of course there should be both Spiritual goals and business goals, as you cannot do without God in your life and money to pay the bills. You just need to ensure you get the balance right between your goals.
What would you like to look back on your life and be proud you had achieved? Write it down now (they never seem to happen until you have committed them to paper), and set them as goals to achieve. You will be so glad you did.
