Non-negotiables

A few days ago, I heard a brother share about his desire to maintain right priorities in life. More than just trying to balance all that he has going on in life, he wanted to prioritize what he had going on. And since hearing that, this has been on my mind.

A few weeks ago, I heard a professor and his wife (both formerly missionaries living overseas) share about how, when they moved back to the States, they made an intentional decision each year to allow each child in their family to participate in one activity (e.g. voice lessons, soccer, dance). They said that they did this in order to teach their children how to choose, how to make decisions, knowing that limitations in life (time, resources, opportunity) make it such that we can never have it all. And since hearing that, this has been on my mind too.

We live in a time and a culture of abundance - of choices, of options, of opportunities. And so the temptation is to choose as many of them as we can, as much as we can while maintaining balance. But my fear - for myself and for those around me - is that we might lose sight of the priorities, of the non-negotiables - in the midst of the abundant choices. One author writes:

... Jesus was never to be caught short on time. Because He knew His sense of mission, because He was spiritually sharpened by moments alone with the Father, and because He knew who the men were that would perpetuate His mission long after He ascended into heaven, it was never difficult for Him to say a firm NO to invitations and demands which might have looked good or acceptable to us.1

How do we find what those non-negotiable priorities ought to be in our lives? Are we asking God to reveal those things to us as we seek Him in prayer and study His Word? Are we willing to realign our lives according to those things once God reveals them to us? Will God honor our efforts to sift away the good things in life in order to make room for the absolute best?

"Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.'" (Mt 16:24-25)

1 MacDonald, Gordon. Ordering Your Private World. 77-78.