Rosen's Journal

Priorities

What is it exactly that prevents us from making a relationship with Christ out #1 priority?  I’ve asked myself this countless times and can never seem to come up with a legitimate answer.  It seems like something always comes up; I get distracted or, I have to do this first or, ughhhh I’m too tired to get up that early.  When it comes down to it, my excuse for myself is, “I don’t have time for God.”  And that’s such a kick in the face, but it’s true, God doesn’t always come first in my life when He should, and I’m constantly moving forward and working hard to change that.

So the answer to the question above, is that WE prevent OURSELVES from making a relationship with Christ our #1 priority.  What does that mean?  We are in 100% control of what we make our priorities in life!!!  WHAT?!  Yes, I said it, we are TOTALLY in control of our priorities, but sadly most of us make our relationship with God something we tap into only when we’re in trouble, or when there’s nothing to do…  Our relationship with God is at the bottom of our “to-do list”  Basically, we’re telling God “I’ll get to you eventually, I just have to get some more important things done.”  Ouch, you just blew off God, the One who created you and loves you unconditionally at all times.  And although God is almighty and ever-powerful, it breaks His heart to see that you’re choosing temporary things of this world, that don’t last over a relationship with God, which is eternal and isn’t limited by time.

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:33

My challenge to you and I is that we would set our priorities according to God’s word.

Blog #2 Action Steps

I’m going to start this blog off with a verrrrrrry direct question.

Have you ever became extremely motivated and promised yourself you’d do something to maybe better yourself or just something small, and found yourself down the road and realized, you never even made a step towards that goal???

99.9% (which really rounds to 100%) of you are thinking to yourself, yup.  Now I’m going to ask a second question…  It may be a tough one…

-WHY????-

Can you honestly answer this question???  Why do you think you haven’t reached your goal?  Maybe it’s smoking, you’ve told yourself that you’re going to quit, but you fell into temptation because you’re week was kind of stressful, or maybe because all of your friends lit up right in front of you, and I mean, cmon, you don’t wanna be the only one NOT smoking in a group of smokers right???  So you light up, and BAM!  Back to square one of addiction.

The theme of that scenario can be applied to just about ANYTHING.  We set a goal for ourselves, but we lack a plan, a plan that prevents us from falling into temptation and making excuses to lose progress.  Imagine a football game, but one of the teams has no plays, or direction from the coach.  What does that look like?  Chaotic, inefficient, unstable, and just straight up reckless.  Without a plan of action and support and direction from our peers, it’s a one sided game, we know who the loser is.

Here’s some action steps to help “up your game” and finally reach that goal.  You need a game plan if you’re going to win the game.

1. Establish your goal: This is the easy part, set the goal for yourself(a practical one), and envision the results you want to see.  Don’t settle for anything less than those results you’re looking for.

2. Create a NEXT STEP: This is the hard part, it’s that first step towards your vision.  It’s the most crucial portion because, well, without a first step you’ve got nothing.  For the smoker, that next step would be throwing out all of the cigarettes they have, distancing themselves from the friends that do smoke and support it, buy the patch, etc.  Something to get them started.

3. Create a system of support: Whether it’s beating a nasty addiction, or trying to push yourself to grow in an area of your life, you NEED support from peers.  The people you surround yourself with to choose as your support system should either not struggle with what you’re trying to stop or someone supportive who may excel in that area.  Become accountable with the select few that are the most supportive and the ones you trust the most with your development and let the CHALLENGE you to push yourself further towards your goal consistently.

4. Realize YOU WILL GO THROUGH DIPS AND SEASONS: Keep going!!!  You will encounter times where you will feel discouraged, overwhelmed, stressed, and fed up, but you can’t let that stop you.  Every new step we take will have these seasons, but the payoff in the end is totally worth it.  Keep your eyes on the prize and retain that vision you have.

5. NO EXCUSES!!!!: It’s so easy to let something so minor get in the way and halt our progress, or even prevent us from starting that progress.  Don’t make excuses, all it does is shift the blame, it does not remove the weight of self responsibility.  The more excuses you make, the more steps back you’ll take.

Looking at those points, I want you to ask yourself a few questions.

1. What’s one thing you want to improve on that will require action steps to keep consistent?

2. What actions steps do you need to take in order to reach your goal?

3. What things do you need to watch out for that will ruin your progress?

New years is coming up, and I know a ton of you will be making resolutions, get crackin’ on a game plan! ;)