Take Time For What Really Matters | September 2021 Monthly Newsletter
Written by Ps. Nicholas Hung | Senior Pastor of Antioch Gospel Church
Hi Church,
We sure hope that you’re well with the favour and grace of God continuing to abound in your life, your family, your household and over all you do, especially as you continue walking in His ways according to His will.
In this month’s newsletter I want to touch on the idea of priorities – primarily because I believe the need is greater than ever for every believer to be intentionally allocating their time towards the things that really matter.
As a husband, a father, a pastor, a preacher, a church leader, an administrator, a public officer, a songwriter, a music producer, a writer, a friend and a whole lot more, I have a lot of duties, roles and responsibilities to fulfil. Of course I’m not alone – most likely you also have many arenas of life that are pulling on your time. I’m sure that you can relate with the fact that this life is often filled with many pressures, all demanding our focus and attention.
Frankly speaking, how to prioritise our time can be downright confusing at times. Oftentimes in the rush of managing all the things that seem so urgent, and dealing with the many pressing matters that each day brings it can be so easy to lose sight of what’s really important. But the simple secret to managing all those responsibilities is found in just one word … priority. We must understand priority and concentrate our lives on what really matters.
CONCENTRATE ON WHAT REALLY MATTERS
As a Christian, living according to priority is actually a lot simpler than we often think. Mary worked out what was important:
“There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:42 NLT)
In the midst of her many roles and responsibilities on this earth, Mary discovered the one greatest thing, and Jesus acknowledged her prudent choice. On that particular day she took time for what really mattered and Jesus Himself acknowledged her wise choice. Want to work out what’s important in your life? Then try this for moment. Stop running around. Slow down your reading. Stop being busy for just a moment. If you’re standing, take a seat. Take a deep breath and take some time to ponder on the fact that all of the most important things in life are rooted in God alone.
“LET YOUR ROOTS GROW DOWN INTO HIM, AND LET YOUR LIVES BE BUILT ON HIM. THEN YOUR FAITH WILL GROW STRONG IN THE TRUTH YOU WERE TAUGHT, AND YOU WILL OVERFLOW WITH THANKFULNESS.” (COLOSSIANS 2:7 NLT)
“EVERY GOOD GIFT AND EVERY PERFECT GIFT IS FROM ABOVE, AND COMES DOWN FROM THE FATHER OF LIGHTS, WITH WHOM THERE IS NO VARIATION OR SHADOW OF TURNING.” (JAMES 1:17 NKJV)
You see, in the interest of living the kind of life that God wants us to live, there are times when we must scale back or eliminate some things in order to pick up other more important things. Perhaps what you need is to refocus more energy towards reading and studying God’s word. Most of us could assign more time towards loving others and caring for others in practical and meaningful ways. Maybe you just need to slow up a little to take time to appreciate the little things. Like Mary, we must all make choices to sit at the feet of Jesus – and to really communicate with Him (by both speaking and listening).
Anyway we look at this topic of priorites, it’s certainly a good time to rethink our personal priorities and ensure that we’re really spending our days wisely on the things that really matter.
You’re in our prayers church and we’re believing for His grace to continue abounding more and more in your life.
Many blessings,
Pastor Nicholas Hung