Priority Labels

I have a hutch in my dining room that contains our good dishes.
The dishes have a delicate green floral pattern around the rim.
Even though I love to use the dishes for special occasions, I never chose the pattern.
The dishes were my mother’s dishes and the pattern choice was hers.

That makes the dishes even more special to me.
I remember we used those same dishes when I was a girl.
I continued using them for my own family.
One day, they will probably be used by the next generation.

There is another cabinet in our family room that has a small sink and a wine rack.
The better glasses are found in those cabinets.
Unlike the everyday glasses in the kitchen cabinet, these glasses are for special occasions.
They have an intricate floral design etched in the glass.

Like the dishes, I remember drinking from these glasses as a girl.
They were brought out for special occasions.
They were hand washed and put away.
Since we did not have a dishwasher when I was growing up, everything was hand washed.

Now after a holiday meal, my girls and I load the dishwasher with the good plates and glasses.
The glasses go back into the cabinet in the family room until the next time we need to use them.
I went to that cabinet to get a glass vase.
I noticed the glasses.

The glasses that were put in the cabinet sparkling clean after our Easter meal did not sparkle.
They seemed to be duller than I remember.
I held a glass up to the light; it was as if there was a film over the glass.
How can glasses look like this when they are put in a closed cabinet sparkling clean?

I felt like I was in a dishwasher detergent commercial.
I saw spots on my glasses.
The glasses were not as clear as they should be.
The glasses need to be hand washed.

I looked at the enormity of the job.
There were eight glasses for each size and style.
There must be at least five different styles of glasses.
I calculated and realized that I would be hand washing forty glasses.

I decided that I would indeed hand wash them but not that day.
I put it off; I will do the job but not right now.
It was not the washing of the glasses that was the problem.
It was the transporting them to the kitchen sink and then back into the cabinet again.

I am not lazy.
I do not mind hard work.
However, this job was not a have to kind of job.
This job was a, will get to it when there is time, kind of job.

I went into my foyer and looked up at the ledge that is above each of the closets.
On that ledge I have old tins.
I love old things and enjoy seeing the vintage tins as I walk downstairs each day.
I love looking at the tins until I see the dust that accumulates on the ledge.

Dusting the high ledge is a, have to, kind of job.
That job requires a ladder since it is a two-story foyer.
I do not mind getting on the ladder.
I just want someone else in the house when I do, just in case.

As I looked up, the sun was shining through the large window.
I noticed a cobweb.
The cobweb was attached to the corner of one of the ledges.
I followed the cobweb with my eye and saw that it began at the corner of the window.

Getting rid of the cobweb is an easy to do job with an extension pole.
No ladder required.
No climbing necessary.
No one needs to be in the house with me, just in case.

We tend to put labels on the things we have to do in order to prioritize them.
There is a, I will get to it when there is time, label.
There is a, have to kind of label.
There is an, easy to do kind of label.

As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For He says, “In the time of My favor I heard you and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation. (2 Corinthians 6:1,2)

Salvation, coming to Christ in faith, is a have to kind of thing.
It is not a, get to it when I have the time, kind of thing.
It should be top priority in our life.
However, we think that we lots of time and can put off thinking about it until later.

We are mistaken.
Now is the time.
Today is the day.
It is not something you can put off in a Scarlet O’Hara kind of way and think about it tomorrow.

Cobwebs and spots on drinking glasses can wait.
Dusting the top of a high ledge is not a life or death situation.
We can prioritize daily tasks and not beat ourselves up if they don’t get done.
But our salvation is a different story.

Our eternal life is determined by whether we have trusted in Jesus alone for salvation.
Our eternal destiny is of utmost importance.
Put other things off, if you must, but do no neglect Christ.
He died for you so that you can have eternal life with Him.

Do you believe that?

Our salvation is important.
Our salvation should be our number one priority.
We do not have all the time in the world.
We cannot put our salvation off until tomorrow.

Leave the cobwebs if you must.
Hand wash the glasses later.
Dust the top shelf tomorrow.
Come to Christ today!