Priorities

What’s really important in life? There’s probably a hundred different ways that people can answer that question. Family, friends, career, money, sports, cars, religion, shopping, material possessions… I’m not saying everything on that list should be important, but I imagine those are things that people would say.

It’s said that you can tell a person’s priorities by looking at two things: how they spend their 1) time and 2) money. Two of the most important resources that we have in life. One, we only have so much of, and the other, we work hard to get more of. In the end, though, we don’t have either.

As I was reading through the reading in Mark this morning, I was struck by something: Jesus’ priorities. It’s early in the gospel, but already Jesus has been hard at work, proclaiming the kingdom of God, healing the sick, etc. However, in Mark 1:35-38, we start to see Jesus’ true priority. The reason why he does what he does.

It’s early in the morning and Jesus goes away to pray for a while. In this time of prayer, Jesus has an opportunity to spend time with God and refocus on what’s important. When Peter and the others find him, they say, “Everyone is looking for you.”

I don’t doubt that the reason why they are looking for Jesus is because they want to see more healings. The sick were still hanging out, hoping to be made well by Jesus. But what does Jesus do? He focuses on his priorities. I believe that Jesus cared for the people who were there to see him. I also believe that he would have spent the rest of his life in that place healing people if that’s what he was there to do. However, it’s not.

Jesus says, “We must go on to other towns as well, and I will preach to them, too. That is why I came.” We can get caught up in the excitement of the immediate results, and we want to stay there. But it doesn’t take long before we end up forgetting our purpose in the first place.

The lesson that Jesus teaches us here is that there is always going to be more to do. There are good things that need to be done. But are they the best things? Focus on your purpose, and you’ll be that much closer to accomplishing it.