If you were to honestly assess your life, what would your priorities be? Would you be focused on your kids, your job, relaxing, paying your bills, or something else? The bigger question is this: are your priorities in line with the Kingdom? Most of us prioritize based upon what we perceive to be our basic needs. Jesus Himself dedicated a big portion of His Sermon on the Mount to this very subject (see below, Matthew 6:25-34). I can admit that sometimes, I perceive my need to relax, especially on my day off, to be a priority, and that day, my alone time with God takes a back seat, if I ever catch up to it at all. Such things, apart from the Kingdom, build unholy things: anxiety (my plans may not be working out as I hoped), depression (I'm failing as a parent/spouse/worker/friend/student/etc., I'm hopeless), fear (the stumbling block of many Christians, and an endless train of "what ifs" that never get realized), and things like these. Our priorities should not be about filling our bellies, paying our debts, or alleviating our fears. Instead, just as Jesus says, we need to seek first God's Kingdom, and His Righteousness. THEN the belly will be filled. THEN the priorities will be right. It is only in His will that anything truly ever works out. It is only near Him that there is peace and joy, even in poverty, pain, and tribulation of all sorts. Seek His Kingdom, His righteousness, then all of those things you need will be added to you, along with a peace that surpasses anything else. Matthew 6:25-34:
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
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