{"id":4597,"date":"2013-12-04T07:07:17","date_gmt":"2013-12-04T07:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/?p=4597"},"modified":"2015-02-16T10:27:19","modified_gmt":"2015-02-16T10:27:19","slug":"god-family-friends-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/friends-of-cvm\/god-family-friends-church\/","title":{"rendered":"God, Family, Friends, Church"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ever seen one of those lists, the one where you list your priorities in order. Often for the Christian they look like this:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>God<\/li>\n<li>Family<\/li>\n<li>Friends<\/li>\n<li>Church<\/li>\n<li>Job<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>But if we were honest they\u2019d probably look like this:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Family<\/li>\n<li>Friends<\/li>\n<li>Church<\/li>\n<li>God<\/li>\n<li>Job<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Maybe not exactly but you get the idea. Didn\u2019t Jesus come to free us from this kind of mindless legalism? Have we missed a trick by promoting this kind of priority style list? I mean we all know that God should be number one, but is a list the best way to motivate us? And how does this work out on a day to day basis? Like a to do list? Can we tick off the God part and then move onto our other priorities? Because if that\u2019s the case isn\u2019t it actually our jobs that comes out top? How do we balance God with these other important parts of our lives?<\/p>\n<p>What if instead of making God a part of a list we made him the centre of our lives instead. What if we got rid of the list and instead let God flow into those other areas, if we recognised that God is intricately interested in every minute detail of our lives. If we made God central and placed everything else around Him, would we even need to talk about priorities in the same way? Jesus does say put God at the top of a list. In John 15 he says:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cI am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father\u2019s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Out with the list and in with the remaining.<\/p>\n<div class=\"linkwithin_hook\" id=\"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/friends-of-cvm\/god-family-friends-church\/\"><\/div><script>\n<!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 897245;\nvar linkwithin_div_class = \"linkwithin_hook\";\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png?w=750\" alt=\"Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...\" style=\"border: 0\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ever seen one of those lists, the one where you list your priorities in order. Often for the Christian they look like this: God Family Friends Church Job But if we were honest they\u2019d probably look like this: Family Friends Church God Job Maybe not exactly but you get the idea. Didn\u2019t Jesus come to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<script>\n<!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 897245;\nvar linkwithin_div_class = \"linkwithin_hook\";\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png\" alt=\"Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...\" style=\"border: 0\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":5869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[20,820,435,399,39,45,87,821,301,101,110,822,1168],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/friends-blog-640x360.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7PoLK-1c9","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4607,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/friends-of-cvm\/it-is-not-all-about-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":4597,"position":0},"title":"It is not all about Jesus","date":"27 November 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"It struck me the other day that we sing an awful lot about Jesus being everything, that it\u2019s all about Jesus. And let\u2019s face it they are both excellent sentiments but do they tell the whole story? I mean I know we should give our entire heart to Jesus and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Friends of CVM&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/friends-blog-640x360.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4776,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/friends-of-cvm\/it-is-all-about-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":4597,"position":1},"title":"It is all about Jesus","date":"20 November 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I have never been that good at setting aside regular time to read the Bible and pray. It\u2019s not that I haven\u2019t tried \u2013 I have. I have tried when I wake up, when I go to bed, before I eat and so on. Every time the same thing happens,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Friends of CVM&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2169,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/first-time-i-was-afraid-i-was-petrified\/","url_meta":{"origin":4597,"position":2},"title":"First Time I was Afraid, I was Petrified&#8230;","date":"11 January 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The first time I entered a church for a \u2018typical\u2019 Sunday service, I was scared. Don\u2019t get me wrong; I had been to weddings, christenings and remembrance services before, but going to church for no reason was something different. It all happened around eleven years ago, and by this point,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Team CVM&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/team-CVM-blog-640x360.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9627,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/friends-of-cvm\/sport-principle-22-hearts-minds\/","url_meta":{"origin":4597,"position":3},"title":"Sport Principle 22: Hearts &#038; Minds","date":"26 October 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"About the Sport Principle I love rugby league. But this hasn\u2019t always been the case. It took my youngest son joining a local club, and then his coach to organise a trip to watch his club, Wigan Warriors, followed by an international at Anfield, for us to be hooked! We\u2019re\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Friends of CVM&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/mind-BLOG.jpg?fit=610%2C291&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9008,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/friends-of-cvm\/have-i-told-you-lately-that-i-love-you\/","url_meta":{"origin":4597,"position":4},"title":"\u201cHave I Told You Lately That I Love You?&#8221;","date":"8 September 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Have you told God lately that you love Him? At our Men\u2019s Breakfast recently we\ufeff\u00a0started talking about\u00a0\u2018strange times\u2019\u00a0and how some of us were not feeling very spiritual (in the absence of church and communion). Others were reviewing their values\/priorities (i.e. family as top priority). It was suggested that our current\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Friends of CVM&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/emmanuel-phaeton-ZFIkUxRTWHk-unsplash.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1475,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/friends-of-cvm\/habit\/","url_meta":{"origin":4597,"position":5},"title":"Habit","date":"27 April 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cI figured you\u2019d ask me where I\u2019m at with God stuff so I spent a few hours last night thinking about the answer to that question.\u201d I didn\u2019t expect Matt to come out with that. I didn\u2019t realise I was so predictable. We only had an hour or so for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Friends of CVM&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/friends-blog-640x360.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4597"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4597"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5540,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4597\/revisions\/5540"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}