Seek Ye First the Kingdom

Church was really good today. Our youth group had a visiting missionary, Brad, talk about priorities. He is a missionary with Navigators who works with Colorado college students; I forget which particular campus. Brad related really well to our age group - he was very funny and seemed to understand what issues we were facing. He certainly knew his audience very well. When he first got up he spoke about three sentences (each of which made us laugh) and then asked a question. We liked him enough in that short time that two or three people raised their hands immediately. I wish I was that friendly and persuasive as a speaker...

If his talk could be boiled down to one verse, it would be Matthew 6:33 "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Exactly what I needed to hear. He talked about priorities, and making the Word of God THE foremost thing in our lives as Christians. Brad encouraged me to put off childish things, and do what God desires first. He told a funny, but true story about his time in the army. On the military base there was free bowling, and since in his tiny hometown he couldn't afford to go to the bowling alley, he took it up in the army. Every Thursday night he would go out and bowl; that is, until his spiritual mentor asked him to come evangelize in the barracks on Thursdays. After Brad voiced his objections, his mentor asked, "Do you think God want bowlers or evangelists?" And so he preached the gospel on Thursdays.
It's so much easier to see this type of wasted time in other's lives, when often I do it in my own without realizing it. Today, I have a lot of work so I pray to God that I may work diligently and do his things first.

Two comments the speaker made that don't fit anywhere else in this blog (but hey, that's the nature of a blog, isn't it?):
1) When you lead people to Christ, at first all they see is you. Eventually, you are a conduit to Jesus and then they know Jesus for themselves. Right at the beginning, however, you are all they see.
2) Most pastors study all week in order to say something clever on Sunday, sound good, and keep their job. Exemplary pastors study the Word of God, apply it to their lives, and then preach from that overflow. They truly keep kingdom things first in their own lives, and therefore are more effective teachers when instructing others.