What Matters More?

God has a funny way of bringing me back to Him. Every time I'm struggling to keep up with my life, He reminds me that putting Him first makes everything else fall into place. 

There is only so much time in a day. We are given 24 hours to do whatever we want. However, when we keep adding things to our plate, we quickly fill up those hours. At that point, we must decide what we like best and keep making time for those things.

Keyword here: making time. 

I play many different roles in my life. College student, Christian, sister, daughter, tutor, employee, friend etc. I want to do my best at preforming those roles. It takes time to do those things!

Let me put it this way. If I have twenty-four hours in one day, let's take out the time required for the things that I need to do. I'll start with absolute necessities. So, eight hours comes out for sleeping time (although I could sleep for probably ten hours if I had a day off). Now I have sixteen hours left. I have to take at least three of that for eating time, so now I have thirteen hours. I spend on average four hours daily doing some kind of school work, so we can subtract that from my time. That leaves me with nine hours. I easily spend two of that doing something with my dog--playing outside, giving her a bath, going for a car ride, whatever. (Once again, this is on average.) So I can take that out of my time, giving me seven hours. I can spend up to three of those hours on my computer doing something, unfortunately. Usually I am doing homework of some kind, but I like to play TERA and listen to music. I can eliminate three hours from my day, giving me four hours left. I am supposed to help my sister with her math, but lately I haven't made enough time for that. I can eliminate one hour for that chore, leaving me with three hours left in my day. Notice that I have yet to include any time for God? Unfortunately, by the time the rest of that is finished, I don't want to do anything but relax for those few hours. I end up talking to friends or doing extra-curricular activities. The One who deserves all of my attention has just been put to the bottom of my "to-do list."

The problem is, God shouldn't be included in a to-do list at all. We ought to focus our attention on Him because we want to, not because it is just another thing on our list.

I have an entry in my journal from about a month ago. It deals with this topic directly. In it, I made a list of what the world had to offer me. Well, what the world had to offer me when I didn't put God first. It goes as follows:

• I have lost my sense of self. 
• Depression. 
• Loss of desire for God. 
• Poor decision making. 
• Other such things. 

 I wrote this Bible verse along with it:

"But I myself said: I have labored in vain,
I have spent my strength for nothing and futility;
yet my vindication is with the Lord,
and my reward is with my God." (Isaiah 49:4 HCSB)

That last line there really hits home. "My reward is with my God." That reminds me that if I put Him first, then everything else will fall into place. Let me put it another way...

What matters more? God, or _______________?

 It doesn't matter what you fill the blank with, the answer is the same. "My Reward is with my God," and I trust him to take care of me. In all 24 hours of the day. But I need to prove that by putting Him first, and actually making time in my day to give to Him. He deserves all of my attention, not just what I have left to give. I have to remember that He gave me everything. So all of those things I spend my time with/on/doing are gifts from Him. I was reminded by that verse at that point in time to "stop putting the gift above the giver." 

Since then, I have been putting God first in my life. And, as expected, everything else is falling into place.