Friday, October 26, 2018

 

Most of us wake up each day having many things to do and not enough time to do them all. Every day affords us 24 hours; the problem however is that we have 36 hours worth of things to do. There are bills to pay, work to be done, kids that need to be taken to school, and deadlines to meet. For the majority of us, 24 hours in a day is not enough time to accomplish all that we need to accomplish. Our initial reaction to this dilemma is to think that we need to do a better job of managing our time. It is impossible however, to fit 36 hours of things to do in a 24 hour day no matter how well a person manages their time and this is a problem. Therefore, because it is not possible to squeeze 36 hours worth of work into a 24-hour day, then we need to prioritize to make sure the important things are done first.

 

In life, priority determines capacity. For example, if you are traveling by car, you first want to pack the larger and more important items into your trunk, then, the smaller and less important items will fit in the spaces left in between. If you pack the smaller, less important items first, you will not have enough space to pack the larger more important ones. The reason for this is that priority determines capacity.

 

Roughly, two thousand six hundred years ago, Daniel and his friends decided that God was their priority and they were not going to allow anything to alter that. Their challenge was the same challenge most of us face today, more things to do than time allows for and more things to pack and not enough available space. Daniel and his friends were chosen to serve the King in the royal palace. Part of their training required them to give priority to the pagan Babylonian gods by eating the foods offered to the false gods. At the risk of losing their jobs and risking their very lives, Daniel and his friends decided to not eat the foods offered to the pagan Babylonian gods. They decided that God was their most important priority and they were not about to let the Kings orders change that.

 

When the training period ordered by the king was completed, the chief of staff brought all the young men to King Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked with them, and no one impressed him as much as Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. So they entered the royal service. Whenever the king consulted them in any matter requiring wisdom and balanced judgment, he found them ten times more capable than any of the magicians and enchanters in his entire kingdom. – Daniel 1: 18-20 NLT

 

Daniel and his friends became ten times more capable in comparison to everyone else because of their decision to prioritize God in their lives. We too must learn to give God priority in our agendas. Yes, there is more work to do than time to do it all, but if something falls off your agenda let it not be God. This is why I start my days, each morning, on my knees in prayer. Every night I am back on my knees thanking God for the miracle of fitting 36 hours worth of things to do in a 24-hour day. When you prioritize God, you end up becoming ten times more capable.

 

To walk in Daniel’s shoes is to make God the most important priority in your agenda and every day life.