Setting your priority right

Life is a gift and every day is given for a purpose. Every given purpose is powerful in itself. Alistair Begg said: “There is no one who is insignificant in the purpose of God.” All that God demands of us is faithfulness to our life assigned areas of stewardship. This is the reason Mother Teresa once said: “Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.”

There are three unique words in our discussion and they are:
• Setting
• Priority
• Right
What Is Setting?
The word setting is from the word ‘set’ meaning put, lay or stand in a specified place or position. It could also mean to put or bring into a specified state. In Genesis 9:13, God said: “I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and earth.” Therefore, the word set means:
• To put or place to rest in a standing posture.
• To put or place in its proper or natural posture.
• To put or place or fix ‘God set the sun and moon and star.’
• To attach to.

Priority
The word priority means regarded as important as others. Cambridge dictionary defined it to mean: “Something that is very important and must be dealt with before every other things.” Sometimes what we prefer as the most important may be the less important. I saw this quote by Stephen R. Covey: “Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.” Life is not to be determined by pressure. Even in pressure, learn to do the right thing.

Right
The word right means what is correct, morally good, justified and acceptable.
The topic, Setting Your Priority Right,is a pointer to:
• There are services to render. Doing services may be different from doing it right. Our desire should not be to take up duties, but to carry out such duties.
•What we see as important may be out of pressure or pleasure.
• Life is not in what we get, but in what we give. What we give attention to may not have eternal value. Our value system determines how we react to life pressure.
• All things may be necessary, but not all things are important.
Doing things are not enough if we don’t do them right. Whatever we must do must be done according to the value we have.
For proper understanding, let us divide this into (1 Chronicle 29:1-9):
•The drive (vs 1-3).
• The donation – vs 4-8.
• The destination – vs 9.
• The drive (vs 1-3)

The king said: “The palace is not for man, but for the Lord God. In the context of our discussion, drive is the motivating factor, which urges you to push on and achieve the desired result.
To king David, every service is not to man, but to God. Whatever we do should have the God-factor in focus. What are these things we actually think belong to man, without realising they are God’s. (See 1 Peter 4:10-11)
•Our body – 1 Peter 2:5; 1 Cor. 3:16-17,6:15-20.
• Our time – Psalm 90:12, 91:16.
• Our talent – James 1:17.

When people are driven by the wrong motive they end up with the wrong result.

The Donation (vs 4-8)
What we value, we invest in. Your today’s gift will become your future treasury. There is no one that does not have what to give. What we take stays and vanishes with us, but what we donate outlives us. The capacity of one man differs from another; therefore, to whom much is given much is expected.

God gives time, talent, and treasure for contributory purpose of continuity. The greatest challenge to selfless contribution is greed and poor investment to things with eternal values.

The Destination (vs 9)
Every journey that begins has an ending. Our drive motivates our donation and our donation determines our destination; everything begins with our drive system. In life, some things can give temporary joy (happiness), while others can give eternal joy. Life is not about gain, but fulfillment. Money, marriage, mansion may give happiness, but not fulfillment. Greatest of men are those who invest on fulfillment than on gain. Ask yourself — what is my motivating factor in life?

What Is Influence?
This is defined as the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behaviour of someone or something or the effect itself. (Oxford Dictionary). Words similar to influence includes: effect, impact, control, sway, hold, power and authority.

Merriam Webster Dictionary have elaborate definitions and among all the definitions given, the following have a bearing with our discussion:

“The power or capacity of causing an effect is indirect or intangible ways: swaythe act or power of producing an effect without apparent exertion of force or direct exercise of commandcorrupt interference with authority for personal gain, one that exerts influencean emanation of spiritual or moral force. What salt is to man is what influence is to life.
Understanding the significance of living the salt kind of life

In life our productivity is measured by our in-put. Responsibility is the measure of our position; this responsibility is not judged based on the seat we occupy, but in the much, the same seat has impacted those around.

“And I will make of you a great nation as I will bless you, and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing (Genesis 12:2–3).

No man is remembered by how much he has taken, but how much he has given.

What Is Salt?
Salt is a mineral substance used since ancient times in many cultures as —seasoning, preservative and disinfectant. It was also used as a unit of exchange because of its value. In Biblical metaphor, it depicts performance, loyalty, durability, fidelity, usefulness, value and purification.
Salt is mentioned over 40 times in the Bible. Going through the scripture, you will discover that:
• In Leviticus, salt is added to the grain offerings – Lev. 2:13
• In Numbers, God made a covenant of salt with the priests – Num. 18:19.
• In Chronicles, God made a salt covenant with King David – 2 Chron. 13:5
• In Ezekiel, salt is seen as a covenant relationship reminder – Ezek. 43:23
• In Genesis, lots wife was turned into a pillar of salt – an irreversible punishment – Gen. 19:23-26;Lk. 17:32.
• In Matthew, the sermon on the Mount, the disciples were referred to as the salt of the earth – Matt. 5:13.
• In Mark, we see salt as the quality to possess during traits – Mk. 9:42-50.
• In Colossians, salt is linked to our speech – Col. 4:2-6.
Another name for salt is sodium chloride. It was viewed in ancient Greek and Roman as a sacred mineral used as a form of payment. The word ‘salary’ comes from the Latin word ‘salarium.’ Salarium was the name of the payment made to Roman soldiers to buy salt; it is from here you get the word: salary, stipend, allowance and pension. In some cultures, it was used as currency. In ancient times, salt was worth as much as gold.

As Salt And Having Salt
Every Christian represents nobility: nobility is the character of being ‘noble.’ Nobility was only acquired by service. In creation, the blood, sweat and tears from the human body has ‘salt.’ The fluids are salty because electrolytes is also known as ‘salt ions.’ These electrolytes create electricity that powers our brains and moves our muscles.

• Venerable Stephen Wolemonwu is the Rector, Ibru International Ecumenical Centre, Agbarha-Otor, Delta State