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PROGRAM D-8194
Did you make any New Year’s resolutions at the beginning of the year? If you did, do you even remember them? And, if you remember them, did you keep them?
I wouldn’t want to know how many resolutions I’ve made that just petered out after a while. I really meant to keep them—I started off with a strong commitment and a big push, but somehow the passion just faded with time. You too?
I’m talking about ruthless priorities—priorities that are so important, so vital, that we don’t let anything get in their way. We refuse to put ruthless priorities at risk. Do you have any ruthless priorities in your life?
I’ve discovered that one of the enemy’s most effective ways to defeat me is to make me remember what I should forget and forget what I should remember. If I don’t consistently remind myself of the ruthless priorities of my life, they will start to fade from my memory and pretty soon they’re on the back burner. We have to consistently recommit ourselves to what the main thing is, and then work to make sure the main thing remains the main thing.
As followers of Jesus Christ, the main thing for us should be to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and to love others as we love ourselves. Jesus gave us this ruthless priority, so it’s not optional for us.
What are you doing to love God more and love others like you love yourself? It won’t just happen. I was thinking and praying about this recently and asking God to help me love him more completely—with all my heart. It’s the main thing for all of us believers, but if you don’t make the main thing the main thing, you’ll forget and something else will crawl up on the throne of your heart before you know it.
Since Jesus told us to love God with all our heart, that means it’s possible to love God but not with all our heart—half-heartedly, if you will. How do we learn to love God with all our heart so that this is the ruthless priority of our lives?