There are two things that are often undervalued in our culture: age and the experience that comes with it. Because evolutionary philosophy has permeated every aspect of our world’s thinking, we live with the subtle idea that if something is older, it must not be as good as what is new. In the world of technology, this is often true, but in many areas of life, it is very false. What helps people succeed has really not changed much over the centuries. Those who have learned to resist being ruled by the urgent and have learned to take care of the important things have always been the most successful people. 

We live in a world where everything is instantly at our fingertips. When I was a young pastor in the early 90s, I would look forward to reading the newspaper on Monday morning just to catch up with what had happened over the weekend. Today, we have 1 million articles at our fingertips at all times. Three-hour-old news is old news, and often we fall into the rut of thinking that if we’re not checking our phones every few minutes, we are somehow getting behind with what is happening in the world. I’m as guilty of this as anyone else. 

With all the noise in our world, I have decided over the last few years to prioritize really big, important things in my life. Let me simply list those in order of importance.

My Relationship with God.

I know this sounds cliché, but it is my first priority because I have discovered that if I am not centered in Christ, everything else quickly falls out of order. What does this look like? 

Every day I soak my mind in God’s Word. For many years now, I have read through the Bible from beginning to end each year. I confess that there are days when I don’t take the time to ponder and glean what I should, but as I habitually read God’s Word, it shapes my thinking in every area of life. I also pray throughout every day and often start with an extended prayer time in the mornings.

I fast on a regular basis. I’m no spiritual hero, but about 13 years ago, in a desperate situation, God invited me to fast and pray. He has continued to inspire me and bless me in this discipline. I don’t often have ecstatic experiences in prayer, but I seek the face of God and let Him know that I am completely reliant upon him when I fast and pray.

I am faithful to worship with the body of believers God has called me to be a part of. Again, this might sound cliché, but church attendance is a high priority in my life. I travel a lot, but when I am home, I go to church whenever the doors are open. I want to be held accountable by the body of believers at the church we attend. I don’t want to be a lone ranger Christian because I can never be the Christian I should be without the body of Christ in my life.

I care for other people that God calls me to care for. I am very busy and don’t have time to serve in many of the ministries in my church, but God often assigns me an individual or family to look out for in special ways. This is such an honor, knowing I’m supposed to care for others in a very unique and intentional way. 

Lastly, but certainly not least, I share the hope of Jesus and the Biblical worldview everywhere I can. This happens over and over again on airplanes and other places where I interact with people. I send all kinds of people books and resources after meeting them in one of these situations. 

When I come to the end of life, knowing Jesus and following His plan for my life will be of great significance. Whatever I have to cut out of my life now, to make that a reality, will have been a great decision.

My Family. 

Anything that gets in the way of me leading, loving, and providing for the physical and spiritual health and well-being of my family must go. This doesn’t mean that I’m with them every day or that I don’t miss a few important events occasionally. However, it does mean that I make it a super high priority to be present in their lives and shepherd them as much as I can. Right now, our oldest daughter and her family live about six hours away from us. Our youngest daughter and her family live about 15 minutes from us. We take every opportunity within reason to be with them and our grandchildren.

Recently, I took my oldest grandson, who was six at the time, to a speaking event with me. I was speaking in a large church auditorium, and at the last minute, Marshall informed me that he wanted to sit on the platform while I spoke. I thought about it for a second and said, “Alright, let’s go.” Other than crinkling up a water bottle during my last speech, he did amazing. In that moment, building an incredible relationship with my grandson was far more important to me than what the audience thought. We should never elevate our families to a level where we disobey the Lord in order to serve and please them, but they are one of the “Big, Important” things we should take care of over many other urgent things that scream for our attention. 

My Calling.

The calling to give children a biblical worldview burns in my heart and mind every waking hour of my life. I must do everything in my power to fulfill this sacred call God has graciously placed upon my life. Anything that will in any way hinder me from fulfilling this call must not be allowed in my life. Even good things must not be allowed if they get in the way of fulfilling this call. 

To fulfill this call, I often have to be up super early and go to bed really late. This past fall, in one week, God asked me to speak 18 times in three different states over the course of 10 days. I’m thankful He doesn’t ask me to do that every week, but it was okay because this is a high priority in my life, and personal inconvenience and discomfort cannot be allowed to stop me from fulfilling this call. 

Because I live in the biblical worldview and apologetics world, I must constantly be growing and learning. A little over two years ago, God led me to start reading/listening to a book every week. With my crazy schedule and the fact that I have never been one of those people who love curling up with a book and reading for hours, I didn’t think I would be able to keep this commitment. But I had this sense that, in order to fulfill my calling, I needed to be learning at a much higher level than I had been. Shockingly, I have now read or listened to 109 books in the last two years and a few weeks. To do this, I made a commitment to never turn on the TV to watch a ball game or anything else if I was behind on my book-reading schedule. It’s amazing how much you will read in order to watch the national championship game. I’m embarrassed by the fact that, for many years as a leader, I was doing well to read five books. In those years, I allowed the urgent things to dominate while I should have been more focused on the important things that would have brought lasting fruit to my life. 

What dominates your time and thinking?

I am now working on a couple of new disciplines that I haven’t yet conquered. Maybe someday I will tell you about them. In the meantime, though, what is God saying to you as you read these thoughts? What are some things that dominate your time and thinking that aren’t really that important in the grand scheme of things? 

What is one area of your life where you could cut out some of the noise this year and really focus on something big and important? Life is a marathon, not a sprint, so we don’t need to try and do everything at once. Spend time in prayer and follow the Holy Spirit's leadership. When He leads, and we surrender, we don’t find bondage; we find joy.