The Power of First Things First

Not long before his death, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to the congregation at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church:

If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don't want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. Every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize; that isn't important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards; that's not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school. I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to love somebody.

Martin Luther King put it in perspective.  In the end, the awards, accolades, and achievments mean far less than the thing that should have been first all along -- tell them I tried to love somebody.  Can it be true that life comes down to something that simple.  I believe it can ... and does.

If you can't recite your life mission in one sentence then you're making it too complicated. Figure it out. Sweat over the details of who God created you to be.  If you're still breathing HE has something for you to do.  Find that something ... and then cling to it for dear life.  Don't let anything deter you from it.  Hold on to it.  Like Jacob with the angel -- wrestle it down and don't let go -- eventually, it will bless you.

There is an accumulative power when you find the one thing God created you for and then order your life according to that one thing.  When you place the competing values of your life in the right order they begin to feed each other and grow into a power that cannot be stopped.

The secret to Nehemiah's success was just this:  He knew the ONE THING God called him to do.  And he never let anyone or anything take it away from him.  Powerful.  Simple.  But never easy.
 
A lot of people have asked me for the commitment we read aloud last Sunday.
So here it is ... enjoy:
 
I will do more than belong – I will participate.
I will do more than care – I will help.
I will do more believe – I will participate.
I will do more than be fair – I will be kind.
I will do more than forgive – I will forget.
I will do more than dream – I will work.
I will do more than teach – I will inspire.
I will do more than earn – I will enrich.
I will do more than give – I will serve.
I will do more than live – I will grow.
I will do more than suffer – I will triumph.
(source: unknown)
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