A Word from the Word

Setting Right Priorities

 

Psalm 90:12

Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.     NIV

What does that mean, “to number our days aright”? Well, let me ask you another question. If I were to ask you, “What is the thing in your life that you find hardest to manage? What is the thing that you so often find yourself short of, that you don’t have enough of?” What would you answer?

You might perhaps think money, but in my experience there’s one thing that’s much harder to manage than money, something that I’m much more often short of than money and that is time. I believe time is the hardest thing to manage properly in our lives. I believe that the stewardship of time is perhaps the supreme test of our discipline and our real Christianity. And so I pray like the psalmist, “Teach me to number my days aright.” Teach me to set my priorities aright, teach me to give enough time to the things that matter most.

You see, your priorities of time really indicate the values of your life. Things that have low priority probably will drop off the bottom of the list. If you don’t give high priority to the things that really matter, your life will be out of order. So you, like me, need to echo that prayer, “Teach me to number my days aright, teach me right priorities, teach me to manage my time.”