Putting First Things First

There’s an old story about a farmer who one morning decided to plow the north forty. His tractor needed oil, so he started to the barn to get it, but on the way he noticed the pigs had not been fed. Near the corncrib was a pile of sacks, reminding him that the potatoes were sprouting. But on his way to the potato pit, he passed a woodpile and remembered that the kitchen stove was burning low. While picking up wood, he saw that one of his chickens was ailing, so he dropped the wood to doctor the chicken ... and so it went to the end of the day, and he still had not oiled the tractor or plowed the field.  

Is your Christian life like this trip to the barn? Do you have grand visions of great service that never gets done? Have you found too many “other things” to do that interfered with your goal of being a productive servant in God’s kingdom? 

The only way you and we will ever “get to the barn” of Christian service is to get our priorities in order. The farmer in the story did not have any priorities. He just flowed with the tide of events around him! 

Our life contains plenty of “pigs to feed,” “wood to cut,” and “chickens to doctor.” But we can’t allow these to get in the way of serving God. If we make the commitment and focus our effort on God’s goal, God will make a way for us to “get in the barn!” 

John 9:4- We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. 

Luke 19:10- For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost                                                Tom Moore  ( edited )