Where are your priorities?

Where are your priorities?

Local Commentary Have you ever just sat down and thought about where most of your priorities fall?

Sometimes, I think, “what would I think if this or that happened?” And when I really think something through, I amaze myself as to where I'm at on some things. The times when I start out to think about something I try very hard to let God be the starting point of my thinking, and then I go on from there.

I read where a few days ago a story about little Prince George in England happened to let his dog have a lick of his ice cream cone that he was eating, and what followed kind of threw me for a loop. Now let me say this: I love animals, especially dogs. Now I don't have any today, but I had them for many, many years while my two girls were growing up and mostly today, I don't want to trip over one at my age.

Oh, by the way, did I say I love dogs? (I know that I have already said that but just wanted to make sure that you knew that I don't hate animals before I go on with my thinking). To tell the truth, I have never been a cat lover simply because you never own a cat, because they always own you, and no bigger than they are, it just don't sit well with me.

But when little George let his dog have a lick of his ice cream, it seemed that the whole world exploded with breaking news around the world. It was on Facebook and YouTube and being put on satellite all over the world. I read where 20 Christians were beheaded in the Middle East and yet we seem to say, “yes, I saw that, but did see where that little boy give his dog a lick of his ice cream? And furthermore, his parents should pull at least ten years in the pokey for ever letting that happen!”

I mean, it was on every news show on almost all the channels and it took about 24 hours for it to calm down. I'm still trying to find out how bad they beat little George and how long he will have to be in the hospital for his wounds to heal.

Now, you know that I'm just carrying on some with the whole story but in reality it was a major story on almost all the major networks for a good part of 24 hours. You sign on the Internet and the first picture you see is the dog taking a lick of ice cream. So, this got me to thinking about just where our priorities are in our everyday life, and I got to thinking, if people think this much about a dog taking a lick from a kid’s ice cream cone, then why in the world wouldn't these same people get just as much or more upset over the arm or leg of one of God's precious little babies as they were being torn from its little body as it was being aborted, and all those silent screams that are going all the way to heaven and ringing hard on God's ear?

I know that a lot of people that might read this are saying that it is the right of a woman to choose this terrible thing because there was a law that was passed years ago, and because of that law there have been over 50 million of them destroyed. But let me say this: It might be man’s law, but it is sure not God's law, and when you stand before God — whether you were one of those that did it or not or because you didn't have a problem with it taking place — it won’t be a good answer for God.

Because of so many different ways that so many people look and understand the Bible, they think that everything is OK to do something, regardless of what that thing is, and especially if the pastor of your church happens to say it was OK, and don't worry about it. One thing that we have to look at today is people that claim to be a Christian but do all sorts of things that are totally against what God's teaching says in the Bible. But from the day that you were saved and the Holy Spirit was put into your heart — just like Jesus said would happen — then from that day forward, you are to strive to live like Christ, and with that flesh still hanging on, I know it's not easy a lot of the time. But he says to try, and letting a dog lick an ice cream cone is not the same as one of his babies being torn apart, so keep that in mind when you try to figure out just where your priorities are. And when that time comes and you stand before him you will be glad that you did choose the right way, and then you will hear those beautiful words, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

So God bless you and yours and may God help you to put those priorities in the right place for your own peace of mind and that day in front of the Supreme Judge.

Bill McFerrin is a West Memphis man with some things to say and a certain way of saying them.

By Bill McFerrin