• Dwight Eisenhower once said, "I do many things that are urgent but few things that are important." What a most revealing statement from one who successfully served his country as a general and president. It would be good to make it a question for each of us as we enter 2011: How do I separate the urgent from the important?
• Or should we begin with the question: What is the difference between something that is urgent and something that is important?
• Something urgent suggests I must give my immediate attention to an event that is happening now! Important, on the other hand, means that something of significance, value or consequence to me is occurring. I quickly answer a ringing phone because it is annoying and gets my immediate attention. I answered it with urgency, but the call was unimportant.
• Our Scripture for today talks about the difference between urgent and important. The Rich Fool was overly concerned about wealth and was in a hurry to expand his financial worth. But Jesus said, "Guard against greed and focus on your relationship with God."
• As we enter 2011, we need to make certain that our number one priority as Christians is our relationship with God. We must constantly focus on Him and closely follow Him every day by communicating with Him daily.
• Prayer: I ask Father that in Your power and through Your strength, You will always be first in my life. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
• Scripture: Luke 12:16-21: And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' "Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry."' "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' "This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God."