First Things First 2

1Cor 6:12 "I have the right to do anything," you say—but not everything is beneficial. "I have the right to do anything"—but I will not be mastered by anything.

Freedom is good. But there cannot be absolute freedom. There are times no one puts any impediments in your way to act. But you yourself must refrain from certain acts if you want to succeed. The mark of adulthood is to be able to take decisions with the future in perspective. This again will depend on your priorities.

There are a lot of things that we can do legally. No one will punish us for such actions, but we may be harming ourselves with such actions. Before you jump to action, you need to know the effect of the particular action on the rest of your life.

Food is good, but eating certain foods will be dangerous for you. This is not just about dangerous foods and good food. The food could be good in all sense of it. But eating it could lead to a lot of problems for you.

Those who are focused on achieving their goals know when to do certain things. They are not swayed by the immediate thrills offered by such things. The future and their goals are more important to them than the momentary happiness.

Be wise today. Choose well what you do. Self discipline is the best kind of discipline. If you discipline yourself, no one will discipline you. You must be ready to give up certain pleasures today for greater benefits in the future.

You are blessed.

First Things First

Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

The above verse is usually interpreted in relation to the kingdom of God. And most of us are fully aware of the need to put God first in whatever we do. That is what will guarantee our success. However, I want us to look at it in a different way which might be a bit removed from religious talk.

We need to set our priorities right in order to succeed in our endeavours. There are certain things that are basic for us to succeed; others only add glamour to the success. We must set our priorities well so that we are seen doing more of the basic things. Then the glamour that is associated with it comes by itself.

In a football tournament, every team plays to win the cup. The moment a team does this, there is a lot of excitement. But that excitement is the result of scoring goals. A team whose members spend a lot of time on the field dreaming about how they are going to lift the cup certainly ends up at the losing side.

Another example is about scoring a goal in a football game. What is necessary is the ball crossing the goal line within the post from a non offside position. Whether it was beautiful or not, a goal is a goal.

You are on the playing field. You must do what you have to do – play hard, really hard; score goals, and lots of them. Your priority should be the basic things that make you score the goals. That means if you have a task to perform, choose the simplest legal means of achieving your target.

What is necessary should be done first. What is not necessary can wait for the right time.

HAVE A NICE WEEK

Be Smart, and Not Necessarily Fast

Ecclesiastes 9:11 I have seen something else under the sun:
The race is not to the swift
or the battle to the strong,
nor does food come to the wise
or wealth to the brilliant
or favor to the learned;
but time and chance happen to them all.

Every day of our lives we have to make decisions which affect the rest of our lives. The choices we make determine how successful our future will be. That is why we must be smart in these choices.

Now, being smart has nothing to do with being fast. You can be fast and yet unwise. For example, when a fish sees a bit of food in the water around, it only wants to get it as fast as possible. But that bit of food might well turn out to be bait. The race is not for the swift. It is about making the best choice.

There is no need rushing to take a decision whose consequences you can’t tell. It is smarter to pause for a second to consider the pros and cons of that decision before jumping. Let’s consider this example.

There are two offers, one worth $1000 for one month and the other $200 a week for six months. The fast person will go for the $1000 because $200 a week makes 800 a month. But the smart person will go for the $200 a week because he will be making a total of $4800. There is no guarantee that you will the $1000 offer will continue.

Let us consider the decisions we make on a daily basis very well. Patience is a virtue. When opportunities come, we must look at the carefully before making the choices. The race is not for the swift. Watch out for the opportunity that is yours.

Fear Not

I Sam 17: 8 – 11 Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, "Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us." Then the Philistine said, "This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other." On hearing the Philistine's words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.

There is nothing more fearful that fear. When you are afraid, you cannot do what even a child can do. But if you are courageous, you will overcome even the fiercest of the enemies. In the story of David and Goliath, the tactics the enemy (Goliath) used was fear. His appearance alone was so fearful to scare the king away. All the men of Israel took to their heels when they heard Goliath speak.

It was so surprising that they could not see that Goliath, because of the sheer weight of his armory was more vulnerable than any person around. Goliath was just a moving mass of iron, as useless as the word. Yet his appearance frightened kings.

It took a teenage boy to see what others did not see. This teenage boy, David, used the simplest of weapons and old huge Goliath died like a miserable bird.

That is how your challenges are. You don’t need sophisticated weapons to overcome them. All you need is a simple strategy. Tackle the problem from where it is easiest to do. David hit Goliath on the forehead which was not covered. That was the easiest spot.

Have the faith and courage of David as you face the challenges. No matter how big they are, there is an easy spot. Focus on this spot and begin from there. You will overcome.

Take Up Your Challenge

2Co 12:7 - 9 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

There is no glory without a cross; there is no success without a challenge. Every position we occupy in life comes with its own advantages and disadvantages. Accepting the advantages will mean accepting the inconveniences as well. Refusing to accept the challenges will mean denying the opportunities and the benefits.

That is why you must always accept to face the challenges that come your way. There are certain challenges that will not go away as we will want it. You can only manage them. That is what the thorn in the flesh mean.

These kinds of challenges are there to make us humble in the successes we make. Without them, there will be no meaning to life. Success in itself creates negative pride which leads to destruction. The challenges that come with success are guard rails that hold us in check so that we don’t go overboard.

Every leader has his own Judas Iscariot, in one way or the other. If you discover your Judas, then know that you really are in leadership. Just as Jesus did not throw out his Judas, but kept him in the fold even though he (Jesus) knew very well that Judas is the one going to betray him, you must also accept your challenges and move along with them.

Don’t lose hope

Romans 8: 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

There is a place for disappointment in our lives. Disappointments are not pleasant for anyone. No one will ever wish to be disappointed in any way, but disappointments (whether we like it or not) come.

What we need to know is that disappointments are ways through which God directs us to new grounds and fields we might not have thought about. We all have planned our ways to go in certain directions, but we hit the wall and are forced to go in a new way.

There are a lot of us doing jobs we didn’t consider in our school days. And we realized that despite everything, the jobs we do now are the best for us. Another aspect of our lives where disappointments are greatly felt is in terms of relationships. We put our hopes in certain people as the only ones who would guarantee our future happiness. But it was when such people left that we found the right persons.

That is what Romans 8: 28 is saying. All things, especially unpleasant ones contribute to making our lives better. Success makes us excited only to make serious mistakes later. Disappointments make us sober leading to better decisions in our next endeavours.

Have you had any disappointments in the past weeks, take advantage of them and make this week better.

Have a blessed week.

You Are the Head and Not the Tail

Deuteronomy 28:13 And Jehovah shall make you the head, and not the tail. And you shall be always above, and you shall not be beneath, if you listen to the commandments of Jehovah your God, which I command you today, to observe and to do them

You are born to make a difference. You are a leader whether you know it or not, whether you like it or not. There are a lot of people who look up to you for direction. This is a special blessing from God. He says you will be the head and not the tail. Let us take a look at some of the functions of the head.

Reason
The head is able to analyse situations very well and make the right decision. All the decisions the head makes affect the rest of the body. There is no other part that decides for the head. If you truly must be the head you are, you should be able to critically examine situations so that you can make the best choice.

Vision

Apart from touch, all the other senses of the human body are on the head. The eyes that give sight, the ears that hear sound, the nose that smells scents, the tongue that tastes flavours are all on the head. In the same way, you being the head must be able to see far beyond what everyone sees, listen more than all others, investigate things thoroughly, and examine what comes to you. A leader must have vision.

Direction

The head points to where the body goes. You must all the time provide a positive direction to all those who follow you. Whether they are following you by their own accord or they are compelled by circumstances, you must provide a good direction. People follow others basically for direction. They want to follow footsteps that lead to success. Examine the direction you are pointing to as head.

A head is not a sign post; sign posts provide the direction but they never move from where they stand. The head provides the direction and gets there with the rest of the body. If you are truly the head, you will get to the destination with your followers.

Finally, being the head does not necessarily mean being first. It is about function, being above the rest in positive influence. Function as the head at all times.

You are not a tail, you are the head.