Devotion:
A firm and dependable focus of committed care or attention. (Romans 12:10)
What is your heart devoted to? (God, your job, family, friends, hobbies, sports, TV, phone,etc…?) Go ahead and make a list of your top three or four priorities or passions. On what or with whom do you spend the bulk of your time? What about your finances? To what do you devote your money? Be honest with yourself. Our time and money reveal something about our devotion.
Matthew 6:21 says: Where your treasure is (What you are devoted to) there your heart will be also. With this scripture in mind, how does your list of what you are devoted to line up? Maybe a little eye opening? (It is for me!) If so, that is not a bad thing but a great opportunity to practice devoting your time, talents and money where, when, and to whom you want to be most devoted.
If you have been around church awhile you may have heard that the order of our devotion should be:
1.God
2. Family
3. Church
4. Job
5. Friends(outside the family)
How often we get those confused, right? We don’t even mean to! We may tend to do whatever pressures us the most. But, God’s voice can often be a whisper and He will never pressure you into spending time with Him. So, it is quite easy to make the smallest whisper, less of a priority if other things/people are screaming loudly for your attention. But Oh! If you take the time to be still and quiet…how God’s voice roars!!!! Make God a priority. Spend daily time with Him talking, worshiping, listening , singing praise, and reading His Word.
Our family/friends need our devotion, don’t they? Do you spend quality time actually looking eye to eye and listening heart to heart with those you love most in this life? I know you may have heard this a million times, but how often do you go out to dinner and see a whole table of people on their phones. It is such a lonely, sad scene! Don’t you think? Those around your table, in your circle of influence, your spouse and your kids – they need you in their lives. Be fully engaged as much as possible because moments slip into years and life then slips away. One way to make your family/friends a priority is to make specific times a “no device time.” Devote that “no device time” into being fully present with one another.
What about Church? This is where it can get a little fuzzy! We desire to help, lend a hand and serve God by working and serving within our local church. These are all wonderful things but not when they steal you away over and over again crowding out your first two priorities. Sure we think we are putting God first because we are serving in The Body, but God wants your relationship with Him more than He wants your service. (Though that is important) I must admit- I often let this happen and I have to pull back and re-prioritize.
Devotion takes making choices constantly towards what is your heart ‘s desired priority. It is OK to say NO when you KNOW what you want your priority devotion to be. If you struggle with saying NO, I highly recommend this study: Boundaries by Dr Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend.
Practice These Priorities:
- Having Fresh Encounters with Jesus may be our best choice for maintaining healthy priorities and being devoted to what is best. He had / has His priorities in order. Did Jesus have fresh encounters with God, His Father? Mark 1:35 reveals Jesus’ greatest devotion. How about you and me?
- Let’s walk in the light of “Doing the Book”. Would you pray Philippians 1:9-11 asking the Father to help us “choose what is excellent”- what is best rather than focusing all our attention on what should be a much lower priority?
- Walk in the light of real fellowship with believers in Christ (Matthew 5:14-16 makes it clear that you and I are lights too)! Please ask a family member / friend what they really hope will be their top priorities and things/people to which they are most devoted. Everyone needs to make adjustments at times. After all, having great priorities is actually the process of evaluating and adjusting current ones. Don’t you think?