Keeping Life Simple Revisited-2

Jesus is the master of simplifying life. The laws of the Old Testament were many and complex but Jesus made it very easy to follow them (Matthew 22:36-40) 36“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” 37Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38This is the first and great commandment. 39And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” Jesus’ answers concerning life are always simple even though it may not always be easy to carry them out. Paul too had a quest to keep life simple in 2Corinthians 1:12, he writes, “For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward. Paul had a heart for following the Lord. He patterned his life after the example of Jesus (see 2Corinthians 11:3) The devil tried to complicate God’s simple instructions to Adam and Eve. He still tries today to complicate our lives by injecting thoughts into our minds.

We must choose to keep life simple! It’s our choice when things get crazy.
Sometimes our responsibilities and the pressures of life affect us in a negative way.

We see this in the story of Mary and her sister Martha. Luke 10:38-42 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, He came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to Him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what He said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to Him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” We all are faced with this choice so to help me keep my crazy world on track here are 18 steps I use to keep life simple when things are crazy.

1. Set your priorities! You can’t keep priorities if you don’t have priorities. If you can’t name your priorities by number at gunpoint then they are not how you order your life.
Arrange your events, tasks and duties by your priorities. My first 3 never change. My relationship with Christ, my relationship with my family, and my pastor’s problems. All other priorities in my life can change daily. I must be willing to make their choices on a daily basis. Could you make a list right now of your top 10 priorities?

2. Keep your priorities in order. As I said above this is a daily choice. The order of your priorities may be different at different times; this is where your leadership must become intentional. My favorite scripture in the whole wide world is Proverbs 28:2 “When a country is rebellious, it has many rulers, but a man of understanding and knowledge maintains order. Maintaining order is the missing element in becoming a super leader.

These 2 have keep me off the internet and working rather than writing. In setting my priorities building God’s kingdom is a much higher priority over building mine. It’s one thing to have a set of priorities it’s another to live by them dailey. This is where the rubber meets the road! Where are you on this process?

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Jim Wideman is an internationally recognized voice in children’s and family ministry. He is a much sought after speaker, teacher, author, personal leadership coach, and ministry consultant who has over 30 years experience in helping churches thrive. Jim created the Children’s Ministers Leadership Club in 1995 that is known today as "theClub" which has touched thousands of ministry leaders each month. Jim believes his marching orders are to spend the rest of his life taking what he has learn about leadership and ministry and pour it into the next generation of children’s, youth, and family ministry leaders.