"Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Matthew 6:33

Here is a practical illustration to reinforce the idea that God's will, what He wants us to do, should take precedence. When it does, there will be time enough for all the activities that ordinarily mark our daily lives. It's a matter of priorities.

Take a jar and fill in three-quarters full of raw rice. Then fill a second jar with Ping-Pong balls. The rice represents all the daily activities that take so much of our time. The Ping-Pong balls represent those things our Lord would have us do. Try pouring the balls into the jar of rice. Not many will fit. There isn't room. Now reverse the process. Put all the balls into the jar and pour in the rice. Isn't it amazing that when we get our priorities straight, the Lord's business first, we have room for all the things we deem important?

When we confuse priorities, God's will so often comes up short. But when by God's grace we put His will and His desires first, there's room for those things that ordinarily constitute our lives. We need to ask the Holy Spirit to help us keep our priorities straight and put first things first.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, help us to put Your will before our own; in Jesus' name. Amen.

(Devotions from "The Abundant Life" copyright 1998, CPH. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be printed, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of Concordia Publishing House. Permission is granted for one-time e-mailing of this link to a friend. For information on other devotional material, please contact CPH at 800-325-3040 or visit CPH at www.cph.org.)

Today's Bible Readings: Psalms 119:89-176    2 Thessalonians 1

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