Side-Tracked

The story is told of a farmer who one morning decided to plow the south 40 acres.  
His tractor needed oil, so he started for the barn to get it, but on the way to the barn he noticed that the pigs hadn't been fed.  As he headed to the corn crib to get some feed for the pigs, he spotted a pile of sacks near the crib, reminding him that the potatoes were sprouting.  On the way to the potato pit, he passed the woodpile and remembered that the kitchen stove was burning low. While picking up wood, he saw that one of his chickens was ailing, so he dropped the wood to doctor the chicken.  
And so it went all day long…. detour after detour, until the sun finally slipped over the horizon - and he STILL hadn't oiled the tractor or plowed the south 40.

Is your life like this trip to the barn?  Do you have a lot of things that you’d like to get done but don’t ever seem to get any of them finished?  Do you find yourself being distracted by "other things" so that you aren’t able to accomplish the things - especially the important things - that need to be done?

The KEY to accomplishing the most important things in life is setting the proper priorities.  The farmer in the story didn't have ANY priorities. He just flowed with the tide of events around him, causing him to live life in the "reactionary mode." And, it’s so easy for US to do, isn’t it?

OUR lives contain plenty of "pigs to feed," "wood to cut" and "chickens to doctor." But we must keep all of these things in the proper perspective. 

WE need to put FIRST things FIRST!

Jesus identified the most important "FIRST" in our lives:  "But seek FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and ALL these things shall be added to you" (Matthew 6:33).  In the context of Jesus' statement, we see that "these things" refer to the necessities of life, like food and clothing (Matthew 6:25-32).  "These things" are important!  But, we need to put the MOST important thing FIRST: seeking God’s kingdom and HIS righteousness.

"Seeking FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness" means that our FIRST PRIORITY is to submit our lives to the King.  Our submission requires trust (Matthew 6:30; Hebrews 11:6), repenting of our sins (Acts 17:30-31), confessing Jesus as the King of Kings (Romans 10:9-10), and being baptized (immersed) in the name of Jesus Christ so that our sins can be washed away (Acts 22:16) and we can be added to His kingdom, the church (Acts 2:38, 41; Colossians 1:13).  Then, as subjects in His kingdom, we must CONTINUE to put Him FIRST by continuing to trust and 
obey Him (Matthew 7:21).

When we put FIRST things FIRST, we avoid being "side tracked" - and we can then become PRO -ACTIVE rather than RE -ACTIVE to life's circumstances. 

On YOUR way to the barn today, remember to prioritize.  Seek FIRST the kingdom of God and HIS righteousness!

God bless you!

David A. Sargent, Minister 

Church of Christ at Creekwood 
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama  36695

To Subscribe to "Living Water" send a blank e-mail to:

                      HTML version:  subscribe-livingwater@lyris.dundee.net
                   TEXT version:  subscribe-livingwater-text@lyris.dundee.net

Follow this link to locate the church of Christ nearest you: www.churchsearch.org

Archived issues of "Living Water" can be accessed from our website at: www.creekwoodcc.org