The proper priorities in our life

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

“The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.” (Mt 13,44-46)

With these words, Christ is telling us to have the proper priorities in our life. Nothing should have greater importance than our having an intimate relation with God. Everything else should be made only as a means, occasion or motive to pursue and keep that relation with God.

We should assume the same attitude of St. Paul who also said: “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ…” (Phil 3,8)

How important therefore that we realize that our first priority should be God and our relationship with him which should be sustained with the constant effort to know, love and serve him! We should be ready to throw away everything else that can stand in the way.

We need God first of all, and, in fact, all the time. He is our most important objective need, much more and infinitely more than we need air, food, rest, pleasures, etc. For without God, we are nothing. But with him, we can have everything. That is why, St. Teresa Avila boldly said: “He who has God lacks nothing. God alone is sufficient.”

We need to learn how to find God in everything we do or we see, handle or get involved in. In this, we have to be pro-active. We should not wait for some inspiration to come or some so-called favorable or conducive circumstances to take place. We have to actively look for him or create the occasion. We can always do this, because God himself empowers us to do so.

For this to happen, everyday we have to strongly set our mind to find, love and serve God. We may have to spend time meditating on this most important and objective need of ours, if only to know how to uphold this basic need amid the many other needs and likes that can undermine it.

It’s always recommendable that we try our best to carry a running conversation with God, even sharing with him our thoughts and feelings at the moment. We should avoid thinking, judging, speaking, doing things solely on our own. Everything has to be done with God. That is the proper condition for us in this life.

For this purpose, we have to understand that we should be willing to leave everything behind for the sake of God who will provide us with everything, including those things that we cannot anymore provide for ourselves.

In this regard, Christ was very clear. To the rich young man who wanted to be perfect, Christ told him in no unclear terms, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” (Mt 19,21)

Let’s work on having the proper priorities in our life!

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com