i show my priorities by my activities...

we are looking at the 6th beatitude of JESUS where HE says that we are happy if have a pure heart. and an area that shows if we have a pure heart is our priorities, what is important to us. so how do you know what your priorities are.

one way is to look at your activities. where do I invest my time and my money?

matthew 6.19 (ph) says, don't pile up treasures on earth ... but keep your treasures in heaven. for wherever your treasure is, your heart will be there too! wherever you put your investment that's where you put your heart.

i can ask "what is first in your life?" and you will answer "the LORD has first place!" but if you will let me look at your check stubs and your schedule i can see what really has first place in your life.

regardless of what we say is first place, where we spend our time and money determines what is first place. that's why the purpose of tithing is to teach us to put GOD first place in our lives. when i give the first 10% of my money back to GOD i remember that it all came from HIM in the first place. the first part of the day, the first part of my money, the first of every week goes to GOD. GOD is first.

i find it interesting sometimes the reason that people give to not being in church on sundays. they’ll say something like, well i had free tickets given to me so i had to go to the race or the tractor pull or whatever and i want to say but GOD gave his life so you could live, so you could be in church. doesn’t that count?

listen we do what we want to do so don’t make excuses. you aren’t in church because you don’t think it is more important than what you want to do.

there is a reason that our son brett and daughter stefanie are today in ministry in the church. it’s because not going to church was never an option to us. there never was any thing that was more important to us.

back when brett and stef were at home and they went to get jobs, working instead of going to church was not an option. but you say their car insurance is expensive and so is their eternal soul.

just a thought from the front porch…