Prioritize

We all know the famous King David; the one anointed by God after King Saul had disobeyed the LORD. All that the prophet Samuel knew was that the next, new anointed king was one of the sons of Jesse. So off Samuel goes looking for the new king, and in the process this is what happened:

"But the LORD said to Samuel, "Don't judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The LORD doesn't make decisions the way you do! People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at a person's thoughts and intentions."

~1 Samuel 16:7

Samuel had thought that Eliab, a son of Jesse, was surely the anointed one; he was tall and handsome, I suppose. But well, all that really meant absolutely nothing to God. Instead, He focuses on people's thoughts and intentions. And from my understanding, that's what really counts. So as much as we spend our time looking into the mirror, we should also spend, if not more, an equal amount of time examining our own thoughts and intentions. Sure, this whole thing about outward appearance being not-so-important is very familiar and a part of our knowledge already, but it's the obvious things that we often tend to overlook too.

Next, we move on to the story of Mary and Martha. Yet another familiar story, right? For the benefit of those who do not know, I'll briefly summarize it here. Jesus and his disciples had arrived at Mary and Martha's home. Martha, wanting to make sure they would have a full, sumptuous meal, is worrying about whether she was able to prepare it in time and she sees her sister lazing around - sitting at Jesus feet, listening to what he taught. How is it fair that while she sweats it out preparing dinner, her sister does nothing at all to help her? And so she complains to Jesus, hoping He would ask Mary to go and help her out.

"But the LORD said to her, "My dear Martha, you are so upset over all these details! There is really only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it - and I won't take it away from her.""

~Luke 10:41-42

Not exactly what Martha wanted to hear, but notice in Jesus' reply that she had focused on the wrong thing altogether - though she had good intentions.


Would we be willing to sacrifice the few hours of looking for the sleek leather shoes, shopping for the chic clothes, and looking into the mirror to check our own thoughts and intentions? Or perhaps you're more comfortable with the statement 'The clothes make the man.'? Living in this modern age, all too easily we tie ourselves down to so many commitments and responsibilities that we find ourselves too busy and start to worry whether we would be able to cope and keep up with the work - like Martha. But, are those details really all that important?

Think about it.