Please turn to the book of Revelation, Revelation 1:17-18.
And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead.
And He laid His right hand upon me, saying, Fear not;
I am the First and the Last, and the Living One;
and I became dead, and behold, I am living unto the ages of ages,
and have the keys of death and of Hades.
Turn also to Colossians 1:18-19.
And He is the head of the body, the assembly, Who is the beginning,
Firstborn from among the dead, that He might have the first place in all things.
For in Him all the fullness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell.
Finally, Matthew 6:33.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness;
and all these things shall be added unto you.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee for Thy amazing love towards us. We thank Thee for giving Thyself, Thy all, to us. We thank Thee that Thou dost love us, and love us to the very end. Thou hast not withheld anything from us.
Lord, we thank Thee for all Thy goodness and faithfulness. As we gather before Thee this morning, Lord, we just desire to hear Thy voice. Speak to our hearts. Reveal Thyself to us afresh. Draw us, that we may run after Thee.
Thou knowest each one of us. Thou knowest where we are. Thou knowest what we need. So, Lord, do show Thy mercy to us this morning. May Thy name be exalted. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
In the three passages that we have just read, you notice there is one word that appears in each of these passages, and that is the word first. So the burden that the Lord has laid upon my heart is on this matter of priorities—first place.
We live a very complex and complicated life on earth. Modern life is very complicated. There are so many things that we must do. There are great demands upon our time, and yet our time is so limited. We have only twenty-four hours a day.
And not only that, but even our lifespan is so short. Moses, the man of God, said in Psalm 90:10:
The days of our years are threescore years and ten;
And if by reason of strength they be fourscore years,
Yet is their pride but labor and sorrow;
For it is soon gone, and we fly away.
Now, that is how short our life is. Even with modern hygiene, people seem to be able to live a little longer. But, on the other hand, you find that it is being counterbalanced by the perplexity and complexity of modern life.
You know, those who lived in earlier days, their lives were much easier. There were fewer demands and fewer interests. They had plenty of time, as it were, to meditate. But modern life is so pressing, so full, that you hardly have time to think.
When we are faced with all these problems, and yet remember that our life and our time are given by God, one day we have to be before the Lord and answer how we have used His gift—whether we have used it wisely or foolishly.
Moses prayed, “Lord, teach us to number our days.” In other words, we need to have the wisdom to know how to spend our time—to spend it in such a way that it may be counted in eternity.
We may live seventy years, eighty years, or more. But how many days are really counted by God? That is a question we need to ask ourselves. How do we use our time wisely, according to the will of God? One day, when we shall appear before Him, how many days of our lives are counted, and how many days are just wasted?
This matter of priority becomes a very real, pressing question to every one of us—not just to those of age, but even to those who are beginning in life.
Now, of course, before we are saved, the god of this world has blinded our eyes. He has darkened our minds. During those days, our priorities in life were all distorted.
We could not see very far. All we could see was this life, this world, this limited time. During those days, our priority was set on the things of this world. How could we get the most out of it? How could we enjoy everything that the world could give us? How could we satisfy and gratify ourselves?
We were self-centered. We lived for ourselves, and we wanted the best of everything during this short lifetime. Now, that is where we were.
I remember a real story. Once there lived a couple. The wife was a devoted Christian; her husband was not a believer. Of course, the wife loved her husband, so she tried her very best to persuade him to turn to the Lord, but it was of no avail.
She did not know what to do, so she prayed, and the Lord gave her wisdom. Beginning from that time onward, she began to treat her husband so royally. She gave everything of the best to her husband. When they ate, she always gave her husband the best food. In everything, she always gave the best to her husband.
After a while, her husband began to wonder, “Why is it that you treat me this way?” So one day, he asked her, “Why is it that you always give me the best?”
The wife said, “Because that is all you can get. Your life is just for this world. You have no future. You have no hope. You have nothing. So I must give you everything while you can have it, because if you do not, then you miss it.”
And you know, that word touched his heart, and finally the husband came to the Lord. So, brothers and sisters, if you have only this world to enjoy, my advice would be: enjoy it to the uttermost. Eat and drink, for tomorrow you die. You have nothing else.
But unfortunately, it is not true. Our life here is just on probation. God gives us a certain number of days and years. We are on probation, and God wants to see how well, how wisely, or how foolishly we use our time.
Our time today is closely related to eternity. The way you spend your days today decides your future—your eternity. So it is not something that we can just throw away unwisely.
Brothers and sisters, we who have been saved by His grace, we who are God’s children, surely we should know better. How should we spend our days? Do we have a principle that governs us? How do we use our time? How do we divide our time?
We need guidance. As you go to the Word of God, you find that one of the names of God is, “I am the First.” “I am the First” is God’s name. His name is the First.
But it is not just a vain name, because that name represents a reality. He is the First. He is not only the First in creation; He is the First in redemption. He is the First in love. He is the First in giving. He is the First in everything.
It is not just a name; it is a reality. In other words, He is the First in your life. Now, is it true with us? Can you say that God is the First in your life?
Are there many other things that seem to occupy the first place, while God is somewhere in the last place? That should not be, brothers and sisters. He is the First.
It is the will of God that His beloved Son should have the first place in all things. Not only the first place in creation—and that is the reason why all creation was created in Him, by Him, and for Him—He is the First in redemption.
He is the Head of the body of Christ, the Firstborn from among the dead, the beginning of the church. And He is to have the first place in your life. That is God’s purpose. God’s purpose is that Christ would have the first place in your life. Is it true in your life?
God’s Word says, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
Now, in our seeking, are we like those who have no heavenly Father—those who are anxious about what to eat, what to drink, and what to be clothed with? These are the necessities of life, and we need all these things. But are we so anxious about them as if we have nobody to take care of us?
Where is our heavenly Father? He knows what we need, and His command is, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness.” If your priority is right, all these things shall be added unto you. They will follow.
So, brothers and sisters, this matter of priority is something that we need to decide at the very beginning of our Christian life. Of course, it is not too late if you have not done that and have already been a Christian for a number of years. It is never too late.
We need to set our priority as to what we really see as the most important thing in our life.
You know, this life is so short, and our days are so restricted—only twenty-four hours. There are many necessities. There are many events. There are many legitimate needs.
We need rest—eight hours of sleep. We need to work—perhaps eight hours of work. Now you see more and more that life is such that maybe you will be asked to work ten hours instead of eight, perhaps even twelve. And you need to eat, perhaps two hours.
So there is not much left. You have a family to take care of. You have children. Or, if you are in school, you have lessons and many other extracurricular activities. Of course, you need recreation. You cannot be under tension all the time.
You find that you are crowded with all these demands, and every demand seems to want your full time and your full strength. Now, what are you going to do?
You know, our enemy is very wise. He is that old serpent. When Moses came to Egypt and said to Pharaoh, “God says, ‘Let My people go, that they may serve Me,’” what was Pharaoh’s reaction?
Pharaoh had already put the children of Israel to hard labor, making bricks and building cities for him. But when Moses said, “God says, ‘Let My people go, that they may serve Me,’” Pharaoh said, “These people have too much free time for themselves. That is why they want to go and worship.”
So Pharaoh said, “Increase their labor. They have to produce the right amount of bricks, but do not give them straw. Let them go and find straw.” In other words, if you make them fully occupied, they will think of nothing spiritual.
Everything will be just for this physical life—nothing spiritual. That is what the enemy says, and that is what the enemy has been doing. That is what the enemy is doing today.
Everybody who is working complains that formerly there were only eight hours of work; now you have to work ten hours, perhaps twelve hours. If not, you are fired. Brothers and sisters, that is the old trick of the enemy.
On the one hand, we are faced with the necessities of life. On the other hand, you find that the enemy is trying very hard to take away all your time, so that you will have no time to think about God, no time to worship, no time to read your Bible, no time to pray, and no time to meet.
Now, what are we going to do under that kind of circumstance? The only solution is that you need to set your priority.
If you do not have a priority, and everything is equally important, you know what will happen. You will just be driven by outward circumstances. When one demand comes, then you go for it, and it begins to consume your time and energy until you are exhausted. Then another demand comes.
In other words, you have no life principle. You have no purpose in life. You are just being swayed and changed by outward powers and outward forces. You have no meaningful life.
Of course, you do not want to live that kind of life—having no meaning, no purpose, just passively driven by outward demands and outward circumstances. But if you set a wrong priority, then you will be going in the wrong direction.
Think of Lot. He came out of Ur of the Chaldees with his uncle Abraham. He traveled with Abraham. He was blessed by God with Abraham. But then he set a wrong priority.
He wanted the world. He had been in Egypt once, and whatever was like Egypt attracted him. The plain of Sodom and Gomorrah was like Egypt. So he made his choice. He moved his tent closer and closer until finally he stayed in the city of Sodom.
This wrong priority led him to a wrong end—a pitiful way. The right priority sets you on the right path and gives you a right living. So, dear brothers and sisters, it is extremely important that we set our priority right.
We need to make a choice. With all the demands of life—not to mention the illegitimate demands—there are many legitimate demands upon us. When we are crowded with all these pressing demands, we have to make a choice.
We cannot treat everything equally. We do not have the energy, and we do not have the time. What are we going to do? We have to make the right choice. That is to say: what do we consider to be the most important thing in our life?
Who do we consider should have the first place in our life? That should be the principle that decides all the rest of things.
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” In other words, if you set the right priority, all the other things will fall in. You will find that everything that needs to be taken care of will be taken care of. Do you not believe that?
What is your priority? Strictly speaking, as God’s people, there is only one priority that we can set. What else can you say?
Can you say that your own life is most important? Your life is not your own. You are redeemed. You belong to Someone else—to the Lord.
If you say, “My family is my first priority. Everything has to be given to my family. When my family demands, I give it all,” is that right priority? Or even if you say, “My church is my first priority. I give everything to the church,” is that right, if you neglect your family and neglect your work? Of course not.
Who should be your first priority? The Word of God is so clear: God is the First. God’s will is that His Son has the first place. His command is, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness.” If we love Him, we keep His commandment.
So, brothers and sisters, what about you? What is your priority? What is the principle of your life? What is the guide to the use of your time?
It is not just a matter of the amount of time; it is also a matter of the quality of time. Now, how do you set your priority?
You remember Moses. In Hebrews 11, we are told that Moses, when he grew up, had grown up in the Egyptian palace. He was a prince there, adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter. When he became great—great in two senses—he had grown up, and he was forty years old. According to tradition, he had also become a great general in Egypt.
But then one day he had to make a choice. He had to set his priority right. Was he going to enjoy all the riches of Egypt? He might have been Pharaoh one day. Was he going to seek all the pleasures of sin that Egypt could give? Or would he rather choose suffering with God’s people and the reproaches of Christ?
He had to make a choice. What was his priority? He made the right choice. He would rather forsake all the riches and pleasures of Egypt. He chose the sufferings and the reproach of Christ, for he had seen the invisible—the unseen.
Brothers and sisters, the visible, the seen, is all that we can see. Do we see the invisible, the unseen?
Think of Daniel. In his teens, he was taken as a hostage to a foreign country. Yet he was unexpectedly given the best opportunity that any young person could ever dream of. He was chosen to be educated and nourished for three years, that he might stand before Pharaoh. What an opportunity!
But this teenager purposed in his heart that he would not be polluted with the wine and food of Babylon. He wanted to keep himself pure for God. What a choice! It was not easy, but he had faith, and God answered his faith.
The result was that God gave him great wisdom and understanding. And what a future he had—not for himself, but for the glory of God. Brothers and sisters, that is Daniel.
I knew a brother. He was a banker—not only a banker, but one of the greatest financiers in China. He became a millionaire. He was a wicked man.
But one day, the Lord got hold of him and turned him completely around. He used to smoke seventy cigarettes a day, just one after another. When he was eating, his servant would hold a cigarette for him.
But on the day he believed in the Lord Jesus, that was gone. He put a Bible on his desk in the office. Whenever people came in, he would talk to them about the Lord.
He went to the meetings not only on Sunday, but on other days—for prayer, for Bible study, for different things. Whenever there was a meeting, he would have no entertainment.
You know, in banking, there is entertainment every evening—entertaining people or being entertained by people. But after he believed in the Lord, he made a point: if there was a meeting, there would be no entertainment.
Of course, his fellow bankers were surprised. They said, “Now, people worship only on Sunday. Why is it that you worship on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday? Why do you do that?”
He said, “According to the Chinese—you need to be Chinese to understand this—the way we call every day is worship one, worship two, worship three, worship five, worship six, worship Sunday. So every day is worship. That is Chinese. If I can eat, I can worship.” So he said, “Worship every day.”
Brothers and sisters, that is priority. By the grace of God, he kept it. How important it is that you have your priorities right. Otherwise, your life will just be drifting—a waste. What a pity.
Forgive me to say a few words to young people who are still in school—maybe in high school, maybe in college. By the grace of God, He saved me when I was in high school, and I went to college.
I was not as fortunate as many young brothers and sisters today, who have spiritual companions. By the way, when you choose your college, how do you choose your college? Is there a priority when you choose where to go?
Is it only the best college you could go to that makes the criteria? Have you ever thought, if you go there, is there a group of believers there with whom you can fellowship? Are you thinking about your spiritual needs, or do you just neglect all these things? This is a point you need to remember.
I did not choose my college, because my father chose it for me. I was sixteen then, and in China we are taught to obey our parents. I did not want to go, but he wanted me to go.
When I went there, I discovered that the whole atmosphere was so hostile to my Christian life. It was supposed to be a Christian college, but unfortunately even many of the professors, missionaries from this country, did not believe the Bible. They did not believe Jesus is the Son of God. I was shocked.
So I withdrew myself. My only comfort and strength was that every day I knelt before the Lord, read my Bible, and prayed. In the dormitory, there were others in the same room, but I did not care. I never neglected my Bible and prayer. That was the only lifeline to maintain me before the Lord.
I loved to study, and I felt, as a student, what is my priority? My priority is to live for God, to glorify Him. I need to study well, not for my own sake, not for my parents’ sake, but for the glory of God. So that was my priority.
But in God’s arrangement, when I was a junior in college, the Lord began to raise up a company of believers. Even though I was so young, I was responsible for that meeting, and the demand of time upon me was so great.
When the Lord began to gather us in that city, we were under great persecution—not from the world, but from the Christian world. In a sense, responsibility was put upon me. I spent much time, not only in the meetings, but also visiting. Because we were under great persecution, it took much of my time.
Just to tell you how faithful God was, I had almost no time to study. I spent all my time in serving the Lord. But I always remembered that I had to study for the glory of God.
And you know what happened. When I put God first, He repaid me a hundredfold. Oftentimes, when I came back late at night, I tried to study while lying on my bed with my books, and I fell asleep. At midnight, my mother would come and cover me.
But the Lord multiplied it a hundredfold. When I had time to study, I prayed, “Lord, I do not even have time to cover the whole book. Give me wisdom.” And the Lord answered me. Every time I sat in examination, the answers were there.
Brothers and sisters, I say this to encourage you young people. Even when you are a student, do not think that you are just students and that your priority is study. Your priority is the Lord. Study, yes, but not even for yourselves—for the Lord.
So, brothers and sisters, seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
Now, just a word of warning. If you think, “Well, that is fine. Then I will not study anymore. I will just go to meetings, and the Lord will give me a hundredfold,” you will try it and you will fail. It is a matter of your heart. It is a matter of priority. It is a matter of what the Lord has ordered in your life.
What is your priority? When demands come, how do you decide? Do you really put God first, or yourself first, or your family first, or your church first? Who gets the priority? Who has the best of your time?
Who decides which is more important than the others? Brothers and sisters, if we put God first, all these things shall be added unto us.
Now, how are you going to go about it? This matter of setting priority is not a legalistic thing. It is not a decision that you make legalistically or mechanically. No. It is a spiritual exercise.
In other words, you need to exercise before the Lord on this matter of priority. You need to go to the Lord and lay this matter of your life, your time, before the Lord. Lay all the demands of your life before the Lord.
Ask the Lord to give you an understanding from above. In other words, that the Lord may show you Who He is, what His heart is, what He wants you to do, and what His will is for you.
If you can see that He is the First, that He should have the first place in your life, and that He wants you to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, then, as your heart is moved by Who He is and what He is, make your decision. Give Him the priority. It is a spiritual exercise.
After you have given Him the priority, then ask Him to give you wisdom as to how to distribute your time.
You have work to do—it is for the glory of God. You have a family to take care of—it is for the glory of God. You have lessons to study—it is for the glory of God. You need recreation—it is for the glory of God. You need to assemble with the saints—it is for the glory of the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, lay these things before the Lord and ask the Lord to give you wisdom to distribute your time.
It may change from time to time, but as the Lord leads you, if you set your priority right, then the Holy Spirit will lead you and guide you in your daily life into all truth.
In other words, as you go through your daily life, events begin to come to you. You begin to be faced with different events, and you have only this time. What are you going to do? To what demand will you give your time?
Brothers and sisters, the Holy Spirit will bring to your mind and apply the principle that you have set, and He will work it out in the distribution of your time. It is a spiritual thing. You know, it is not mechanical or technical.
When you are daily guided by the Spirit according to the principle that God has set in your life, brothers and sisters, your spiritual life will grow. You will be nourished, and you will find that in your decisions, God is honored.
Now, it is true that your flesh may suffer. It is true that sometimes you may even be misunderstood. But thank God, He is with you, and that is the most important thing.
So, brothers and sisters, do not just let your life drift. Your life needs to be governed by this one principle.
May the Lord help you to set your priority right as early as possible. Oftentimes, we who are older regret that we did not see and did not set our priority early enough. Many of our days are wasted; they will not be counted before God—lost forever.
May every moment count in the eyes of God. God bless.
Dear Lord, our life is Yours. Our time is Yours. Give us wisdom to set our priority right, and guide and lead us throughout our life, that we may walk in Thy will.
Bless Thy people. Keep Thy people. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.