A NEW SET OF PRIORITIES
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
At the moment I have all I need—and more! I am generously supplied with the gifts you sent me with Epaphroditus. They are a sweet-smelling sacrifice that is acceptable and pleasing to God. And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:18-19 NLT
TODAY’S THOUGHT
Philippians 4:19 has been one of my life verses. I have quoted that to myself and others frequently— “My God will supply all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus” (I memorized in another translation). This morning as I read this passage I was hit with a new thought. In reading verse 18 I got a new perspective of the truth Paul is writing. He opens verse 18 with, “At the moment I have all I need.” Hit the pause button. Paul is in prison. He is facing a trial that probably will not end well. He is facing death. How can Paul say, “I have all I need?” The secret lays in the fact that Paul learned a great lesson about what we really need. Paul had traveled a lot and experienced a lot of tough times. He had been in prison, been whipped, beaten, shipwrecked, and left for dead. Perhaps all the tough times he had been through had helped Paul evaluate what was the most important. One of the benefits of difficulty is that it helps us re-evaluate the important things in life. While going out to dinner or the movies were important a few days ago, today it is not. Hopefully we re-evaluate and discover that some of our activity was not that important. When we have our priorities in the right place, we can be assured that God will supply all our needs. Yet we often get confused about what we need. God never promised to supply our wants and greed—He promised to supply our need. Perhaps the breakthrough God wants to bring into our lives begins with a new set of priorities. A clean slate that moves our relationship with God and others up to the top and the acquiring of stuff down.
TODAY’S PRAYER
Holy Spirit, I want You to guide me in setting my priorities right. This is the moment where I want to know that I am spending my energy on things that really matter. I don’t want to be wasting my time on frivolous things that are not as important as I thought.
“Scroll down to share what you feel God is saying based on today’s reading.”