There is, in our society, a lot of confusion as to what we should hold dear and spend our time pursuing. For many, their main Priority is money and its acquisition. To others, it’s love. To some, it is simply happiness. As usual, when it comes to something as important as establishing Priorities in life, I find myself turning to the Bible for the answer.

Interestingly enough, God provided us with what the top Priorities in life should be in the very first Book of the Bible – Genesis. As you read the first few chapters, you will find that those Priorities are established in order. There are four, and I will share with you what they are at this point.

Priority #1: God

We find this in Gen. 1:1, where we are told, “In the Beginning God….” There are numerous instances throughout the rest of the Word where my assertion that God should be our number one Priority is proven. In fact, there are very few Christians who would question my choice as this being number one.

When we consider the amount of suffering in our society it can safely be assumed that it is created by one simple statement: Man is trying to fill his God void with everything but God! Man will never be satisfied, and truly happy, until he corrects that trend and actually fills his God void with God!

Interestingly enough, the 1979 movie, STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE dealt with this very topic, though those who created it may not even have realized it. Following is an excerpt from the Wikipedia write up about the movie:

At the center of the massive ship, V’Ger is revealed to be Voyager 6, a 20th-century Earth space probe believed lost in a black hole. The damaged probe was found by an alien race of living machines that interpreted its programming as instructions to learn all that can be learned and return that information to its creator. The machines upgraded the probe to fulfill its mission, and on its journey, the probe gathered so much knowledge that it achieved consciousness. Spock realizes that V’Ger lacks the ability to give itself a purpose other than its original mission; having learned what it could on its journey home, it finds its existence meaningless. Before transmitting all its information, V’Ger insists that the Creator come in person to finish the sequence.

The part that shows how important a proper relationship with God is found in the simple statement that says: Spock realizes that V’Ger lacks the ability to give itself a purpose other than its original mission; having learned what it could on its journey home, it finds its existence meaningless. Before transmitting all its information, V’Ger insists that the Creator come in person to finish the sequence.

You see, like Voyager 6 (V’ger), our existence is meaningless until we are re-united with our Creator!

Priority #2: Our Life Ministry

We find Adam’s Life Ministry in Gen: 2:15 – And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. At first glance one might think that this was Adam’s job, but such is not the case. If you equate “job” to “work,” you will see that this was not a job, but rather a joy. Adam was in Paradise, where all he had to do was live and enjoy!

The question you are undoubtedly asking, or at least thinking, is, “Well, Floyd, how do I know what my Life Ministry is?” I think there are several parts to this answer:

• It is partially determined by your Spiritual Gifts.

• It will be known to you for God will put the desire in your heart to do it.

If God is the same “yesterday, today, and forever,” and He is!, then we know that He will tell us what our Life Ministry is just as he did Adam.

With me, my Life Ministry is to teach, exhort, and write. The first two elements are my Spiritual Gifts, the third a desire that God put in my heart. I know that when I fulfill my Life Ministry people will be Blessed, as I am pursuing it to further the Kingdom of God.

Priority #3: Family – Spouse then Children

The epiphany that Life Ministry comes before Family was quite a revelation to say the very least! In fact, I struggled with this until God directed me to Luke 14:25-27, where it says ²⁵ And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them, ²⁶ If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. ²⁷ And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. It is pretty obvious that our family cannot come before our Life Ministry!

It also in Genesis 2 that man’s next priority is introduced, 2:22 to be exact: And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, made He a woman, and brought her unto the man. Now, and I do not mean this facetiously: We know that our Priority is to our spouse and then our children because God made Eve first, not Cain and Abel. At this point in time procreation was not a concern, for Adam and Eve had been created to live forever. God had said, “It is not good that man should live alone,” and when He created Adam a companion it was a spouse, not children!

Priority #4: Our Job

Some might say that “Paradise was too good to last,” and, apparently, they were right! With disobedience to God comes sin, and the loss of immortality, as God takes the Tree of Life and replants it in Heaven. Now, nothing would ever come without a price, and in Gen. 3:19 God informs Adam, “In the sweat of thy face shall thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground.” At this point in time, it became Adam’s responsibility to care for himself and his family. This, too, is re-enforced in the New Testament, in I Tim. 5:8 – But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

So, there you have it – our priorities in life, in order!, per Genesis. As a quick review, they are:

•  God

•  Life Ministry

•  Family: Spouse then Children

•  Job

Where you go from there, I guess, is up to you. In my case, Baseball and Reading have to come in there somewhere!