There are only so many things you can accomplish—let alone accomplish with excellence. The problem? Too many options! You are completely surrounded and totally outnumbered by options. Good options even, which makes it even harder to say no. But “no” is where you will find the freedom to do what is most important to you.
Your Options
Most options can fit into 4 main categories:
- Necessary options – hungry (we eat), worn out (we sleep)
- Postponable options – dishes – change the oil in car, calling or emailing someone, playing with the kids
- Unwise options – hitting the snooze button, getting up and being grouchy at work, driving too fast, quickly eating an unhealthy meal
- Good options – reading, exercise, time with friends, but there’s always the possibility of too much of a good thing
The problem is that requests and possibilities will always exceed our resources. They did for Jesus as well. He had a limited amount of time just as we do. The crux? Doing good is imperative. Doing everything is impossible.
Jesus’s solution: Prioritize what is most important.
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it:
Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Loving God is first and foremost. Then loving neighbor is equal to it, because you can’t do one without the other. So it’s not one commandment—it’s actually two.
Identifying your personal priorities
To think through how to live out your specific priorities, so you can live relaxed normal lives while still discharging your biblical obligations to God and others, you can use this framework for sort through your responsibilities. I have adapted this framework originally from the book Balancing Life’s Demands (Amazon affiliate link). It includes listing out your priorities in the following areas:
- God
- Self
- Family
- Work
- World
- Church
- Government
FREE RESOURCE
Evaluating Priorities Worksheet– This FREE DOWNLOAD is actually a series of 3 worksheets to help you identify your priorities and discover where and how to invest your time in order to accomplish what really matters the most to you.
Photo by Victoriano Izquierdo on Unsplash