Priorities

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."
-Matthew 6:33
      The past couple weeks have been very difficult and stressful, both mentally and spiritually. School has been getting harder, and now that finals are right around the corner, I am very worried. I'm worried for the obvious reason that I have to take finals soon, but I am also worried that I've already entered the "summer break mode". It's very hard for me to find that sense of urgency for school, even though I know that finals are very near. I believe that this in part due to my spiritual life suffering. I haven't reading the Bible or spending quality time with God. I feel far from God, and I know that it is causing me to lose my sense of purpose in life.
      Earlier today I was listening to Pastor Tony Evans on the radio on the way home from the gym. He was talking about reconciliation, and how there is both a vertical and horizontal reconciliation that we must understand. The vertical reconciliation is between us and God. Jesus has already done His part to reconcile us to Himself, we just have to accept Him. The horizontal reconciliation is between us and other people. Tony Evans stressed that we must have a vertical reconciliation before we can even begin horizontal reconciliation. He later talked about how our spiritual condition affects every part of our life.
      One of the main ways we can see our spiritual condition is by taking a look at our priorities. I once wrote about stress, where I touched on the topic of priorities. Our priorities dictate much of what we do in our day to day life. For many people like myself, the top priority is to do well in school to ensure that their future will be comfortable. People with this priority tend to spend a lot of time studying, doing homework, and going to school. Once they begin to do bad in school, they begin to worry about their life. This is because they've placed their hopes into school, and they believe that by doing well in school later in life they will be fulfilled. Unfortunately, placing our priorities in school will only bring a lot of stress and worry.
      The verse Matthew 6:33 says to "seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you". What is this verse telling us? It's saying that if we prioritize God our lives will begin to fall into place. We will have a new sense of purpose and fulfillment. Do you know what precedes Matthew 6:33? Jesus telling us not to worry. This is not a coincidence. Where we place our priorities will affect the rest of our life. If we don't prioritize our relationship with God, we will always worry. Putting God first places everything in perspective, and He will give us peace.
      I've been meaning to write about a couple different topics on my blog, but I've been struggling to find the time and energy. I decided to write about this today because it's been on my mind and I wanted to re-prioritize my life. It's been hard letting God take first place in my life, because I've been so distracted by other things. I realize that this is having a negative effect on my life and is causing me to become lazy. I pray that God would help us to put Him back in the driver's seat of our lives.
-Smart