Four Priorities That Will Transform Your New Year

Have you ever watched two dogs with completely different personalities try to walk in the same direction? "Bucky is an adventurous kind of guy...he can take a 20 minute walk and turn it into an hour. He sniffs everything. Every tree, every bush, every spot." Meanwhile, "Finn...he loves to just bolt. He is not necessarily a runner. He likes to finish the mission. He is focused, hyper focused." As I've walked our two rescue dogs from the local humane society here in Finley, I've realized something profound about priorities. "When they walk, I've got one going and wanting to finish the mission. And I've got one who wants to just lack a daily walk. And guess what happens? I get caught in the middle." This perfectly illustrates what happens in our spiritual lives when our priorities get mixed up. We end up pulled in different directions, caught in the middle of competing demands, never quite moving forward with purpose.

Why Order Matters to God

"Priorities are really all about order," and as I've learned in my own home, "order matters. Anyone who's married knows that order matters, right?" Whether it's loading the dishwasher or grocery shopping, "Order matters." But here's what's remarkable: "God is pleased by that. In fact, order is something that God set up, right? He set up order in the universe, even in the local church." Throughout Scripture, from the Old Testament to the New Testament, "God has and has put an emphasis on not just what we offer, but in the order that we offer it." Jesus made this crystal clear in Matthew 6:33 when He said, "seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you." The word "first" isn't accidental—it's intentional. God cares about the order of our priorities.

First of the Day: Seek God

The Pattern of Champions

When we examine the lives of those who truly walked with God, a clear pattern emerges. David, described as "the man after God's own heart," wrote in Psalm 5:3, "My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord, in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up." In Psalm 63:1, he declared, "oh God, thou art my God. Early will I seek Thee. My soul thirsts after Thee." Jesus Himself modeled this priority. Mark 1:35 tells us, "in the morning, rising up a great while before the day, he went out and departed into a solitary place and there prayed." For Jesus, "this time away wasn't just a time of resetting. It wasn't just a time of restructuring. It was a time of communicating intimately with the Father."

The Modern Challenge

"I think for us in here today, this very well may be one of the biggest challenges we face." Why? Because seeking God first "requires us to unplug, to sign off, to shut down, and to come apart early in the morning." The statistics are sobering: "According to a study done by IDC Research and reported by CBS News here in the last few years, between 70 and 80% of people checked their phone within 10 minutes of waking up." Even more concerning, "62%, that's six out of 10 people, reach for it immediately after waking up." "I struggle with that. Do you struggle with that? There are times when I, before I put my feet on the floor, have already picked up my cell phone, have begun to doom scroll."

The Power of Starting Right

"Why is it so important that we are to seek God early in our day?" Because "it's not just a task to complete. I believe, like Jesus, it's an intimate conversation that we have that we begin our day with, and it alters the rest of the day." Remember this truth: "A tree falls the way it leans. Be careful which way you lean." The way we begin our day determines how we lean spiritually. "When we choose to seek God at the first of our day, it helps us to align, to lean in the direction that God would have us for the rest of that day."

First of the Week: Worship

The Biblical Foundation

"As Christianity began, it began to kind of unmoor itself from Judaism and the trappings of Jewish patterns." The early church established a new rhythm. Acts 20:7 records, "upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them." Paul instructed in 1 Corinthians 16:2, "upon the first day of the week that every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him." The writer of Hebrews emphasized this priority in Hebrews 10:25: "not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but absorbing one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching."

More Than Attendance

"Here's a question that's never asked in our home...is the question, should we go to church? There's never a time where my wife and I look at each other, we look at our kids and say, hey there's do you want to go to church today? Just like we never say, hey, do you want to eat today?" But church attendance isn't just about showing up. "You cannot be the church yourself. We are the church together." Every believer has been given spiritual gifts, and "the reason why you've been given those gifts is to help bring unity to the body." When you come to church, focus on three things: "looking for people...encourage people...serving people."

First of the Month: Reflect

The Old Testament Pattern

In the Old Testament, God established monthly reflection times. Numbers 10:10 instructed, "Also in the day of your gladness, in the solemn days, in the beginning of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings." God wanted His people to "stop and reflect every month, to reorientate themselves back towards God."

The Danger of Drift

"One of the biggest problems we have ever faced as a people...is the problem of idolatry. Man has found every possible thing to worship in the place of God. Trees, mountains, the elements, the stars, people Their children, careers, cars, even pets." The tragedy is that we rarely drift suddenly. Like the Brazilian flight in the late 80s that ended in disaster because of a small navigational error, "just a little bit, just a little bit off can cause grave problems down the road." We "drift gradually away from Christ. We pursue our careers, we pursue comfort."

Three Essential Questions

Every month, ask yourself these three questions:

1. "Is there anything in the place of God in my life right now?"
2. "Am I serving God for the right reasons?"
3. "What do I need to change or to give up to focus more on Christ's mission?"

First of the Year: Fast

The Forgotten Discipline

"There's probably no spiritual discipline more neglected in our modern age than fasting." Many people misunderstand fasting, redefining it as simply "giving up stuff for a while." But Biblical fasting is much more specific and powerful.

Jesus' Assumption

In Matthew 6:16, Jesus said, "moreover, when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance." Notice Jesus didn't say "if you fast"—He said "when you fast." His assumption was "that his followers would be practicing fasting." "Fasting is praying with your whole body." It's "taking short, deliberate breaks, sometimes long deliberate breaks from nourishing your own body through eating so that you could passionately seek God."

The Purpose of Fasting

"We fast not to earn God's love. It isn't some kind of religious rite that gets us closer to God because we do it. We do it because we want to delight more deeply in our relationship with God." When you fast, "you get hungry. And then when you get hungry, it drives you and reminds you to seek God again."

Putting It Into Practice

As we step into this new year, consider implementing these four priorities: Daily: Start each morning seeking God before checking your phone. Read, memorize, and meditate on His Word. Weekly: Commit to faithful church attendance where you look for people to encourage, encourage others, and serve with your spiritual gifts. Monthly: Set aside time for honest self-examination using the three reflection questions. Yearly: Consider beginning the year with Biblical fasting—not as a publicity stunt, but as "humble, private, devoted dependence on God." "I believe that when we begin our day orientated leaning towards God's will and God's word as we seek God as we begin our week in worship and corporate adoration and corporate serving one another as we begin our month reflecting...and maybe even we begin our year in total dependence on God through practicing a Biblical fast we will see a spiritual year reaping great blessings not for us but for God's kingdom as we seek first the kingdom of God making God our number one priority in 2026." The choice is yours: Will you live pulled in different directions like two dogs on a walk, or will you establish the Biblical priorities that lead to spiritual success?