Are You Living Your Priorities?
by Cheryl R. Carter

Recently, I read a book in which the author gave the most convincing reason I have ever heard as to why he would not become a Christian. Indeed, how he arrived at this conclusion is almost as intriguing as the conclusion itself.

 It seems after visiting different churches with his family, he noticed all of them spoke about Jesus, but none of them could relate their Christianity to their day-to-day life experiences. Therefore, he concluded Christianity could not be real.

To be sure some, would argue, needlessly so, with this man’s assertions.  Yet if we can push past our own prejudices and accept this man’s challenge to make our Christianity authentic, we might be surprisingly enlightened.  You see the reality of our relationship with God should be reflected in our daily choices, or our lifestyle.

The apostle Paul admonished us to be living epistles read by all men. Our relationship with God rests solely on this point-the daily choices we make. The varied choices we make daily should reflect God. Yet most of us in the crunch for time, take God out of the daily equation then govern our lives accordingly.

Tragically, many times in our quest to accomplish more, we do not realize we have removed God in the hubbub of our busyness. We end up doing more but feeling empty inside. This emptiness occurs when our beliefs or values, those things most important to us, and our schedules are in conflict.

Many times, we are not aware of this conflict until it is too late.  I once asked a time management workshop attendee to list the things most important to her. In classic Christian style she listed
(1) God
(2) husband
(3) her children
(4) ministry responsibilities
(5) job

 However, to her amazement when she tallied her time she found most of her free time was spent in church activities rather than with her husband or children.  This realization forced her to make radical scheduling adjustments based on her real values.

Have you tallied your time this week? Are you doing what is really important to you. It is still not too late to change. Our Christianity is in vain if it cannot be reflected in our lifestyles.

Copyright © 2008 Cheryl R. Carter

About Cheryl...
Cheryl R. Carter is the author of Chasing God and the Kids Too and Getting Organized and Staying Organized, A Practical Guide for Christian Mothers. Visit www.Momtime.net for more organizing tips.