My Managerial Skills: Give Christ First Place in the Whole Life
Christ deserves first place in more than our schedule. Let his authority guide the whole life, and let his grace give our effort its strength.
#346 — "My Managerial Skills"
Oct 28, 2024
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Who's directing the plan?
We can look well organized and still be unsure what's holding life together. Work gets done and the family stays busy, while time with God depends on whether everything else leaves room. It's worth asking what is really directing the arrangement. The problem isn't that every other pursuit is wrong. It's that the Lord can become one useful piece in a plan whose real authority is still ourselves.
An interview about the limits of managing our way to fulfillment left me thinking about those of us who already know the Lord. Are we depending on him, or asking him to help with a life we've decided to direct ourselves? Planning is useful, but it needs a faithful purpose. It asks who gives the plan its purpose, priorities, and moral direction.
Listen to what the calendar reveals
Saying Christ comes first isn't the same as giving him first place. If every optional commitment is protected while worship and care for Christians keep getting moved, the pattern deserves our attention. The erosion can happen without a dramatic decision to reject faith. We simply become accustomed to a pattern in which there is rarely room for what we say matters most.
In Mark 4:18–20, Jesus describes cares, riches, and other desires choking the word. We ought to ask what is competing for the attention our hearts need to give him. Necessary work and family duties remain genuine responsibilities, so the answer isn't to criticize every crowded household. Ask instead what is optional, what is repeatedly displacing obedience, and whether an arrangement deserves reconsideration. A calendar can't tell the whole story, but it can expose a pattern worth examining honestly. Look at a recurring conflict in the calendar rather than an unusually busy week. What keeps getting protected, and what keeps being asked to wait? If the same faithful responsibility always loses, the problem may be priority rather than surprise. Discuss it with the people affected and make an adjustment they can understand and depend on.
Let Christ govern the whole
Colossians 1:15–20 tells us who Christ is: creator, head of the body, and the one who deserves first place. His authority doesn't depend on whether we've found him useful to our plans. Christ's importance isn't created by our decision to make religion a useful part of life. He deserves the honor because of who He is and what He has done.
If Christ is Lord, honesty governs our work and love governs our relationships. We can't give one part of life permission to ignore him while calling another part religious. Recreation must fit within faithful responsibilities rather than determine whether they will be carried out. This doesn't require mentioning a Bible verse in every conversation or filling every hour with a formal religious activity. It means that no part of life receives permission to disregard the Lord simply because we've placed it in a separate category.
Enjoy gifts without serving them
We can receive work, learning, affection, and recreation with gratitude. The danger comes when a gift starts deciding what we'll obey and what we'll excuse. A worthwhile interest can become an authority we defend against correction. A relationship can become a reason to compromise truth. A career can begin consuming the attention and integrity it was supposed to help support.
Matthew 6:33 calls us to seek God's kingdom and righteousness first. That gives the other good things in life somewhere faithful to belong. You can enjoy a gift with gratitude while refusing to make it the final measure of obedience. Ask what the activity contributes, what it requires, and which responsibilities it affects. Sometimes the needed change is modest; sometimes a pattern must be substantially reduced or abandoned. The decision should arise from the Lord's teaching and the real circumstances, not from a blanket assumption that enjoyment itself is spiritually suspect. A gift can be enjoyed more freely when it doesn't have to supply our identity. We can put a hobby down for a needed visit or accept a modest opportunity instead of a dishonest advantage. Those choices don't express contempt for the gift. They show that we've received it within a life belonging to someone greater.
Watch for divided loyalty
Second Kings 17 describes Israel refusing the Lord's warnings and turning to idols. Later it describes people in the land claiming to fear the Lord while also serving their own gods. Those settings should be distinguished, but both expose the danger of trying to place the Lord alongside rival religious loyalties.
We shouldn't call every enjoyable interest an idol. But we should take divided loyalty seriously, because Jesus says in Matthew 6:24 that competing masters can't both receive our devotion. If Christ's instruction receives attention only when it agrees with what we already want, our professed priority needs examination. Don't begin by deciding which other family is too busy or too worldly. Begin with the part of your own life in which His authority has become easiest to negotiate away.
Stay with the vine
Jesus calls himself the vine and his disciples the branches in John 15:1–11. Apart from him, they can't bear the fruit that comes from abiding in him.
A branch doesn't treat the vine as an occasional addition. Jesus joins remaining in him with receiving his words, living in his love, and keeping his commands. Dependence therefore has a real response. Continue receiving His teaching and obeying it. The passage includes warnings as well as promises, so it shouldn't be used to suggest that a past profession makes continuing faithfulness unnecessary. The relationship is living and serious, with fruit arising from remaining in the Lord.
Yield your will and keep working
Yielding to Christ doesn't mean sitting still. It means giving up the claim that our preferences get the final word. You still make decisions, work, and carry responsibilities. You do so under Christ's direction, acknowledging that your strength and management can't accomplish redemption or make disobedience acceptable. The change concerns the source and purpose of the effort.
Ephesians 2:8–10 places salvation in God's grace and gives good works their place in life with Christ. Titus 2:11–14 shows grace teaching us to leave ungodliness and live faithfully. These passages keep dependence and obedience together. You don't build a flawless life to persuade God to offer help. You respond to His grace with repentance and faithful action. Where a decision has been wrong, surrender includes correcting it rather than merely speaking warmly about letting God be in control.
Bring one decision under Christ
Choose one recurring decision that shows where your priorities really stand. It may involve how you spend, what you watch, or whether you keep a commitment to someone. Read the teaching that governs it and ask what response is required. You may need to decline an optional commitment, protect an important responsibility, apologize, or restore a neglected practice. Keep the change concrete enough to recognize when it has happened.
James 4:13–15 reminds us to make plans humbly under the Lord's will. Ask for wisdom and help while taking the faithful step you can already see. Christ deserves more than a place on a crowded list. Giving Him first place allows the rest of life to receive a wiser purpose, one grounded in His authority, nourished by His grace, and expressed through willing obedience. If the decision affects others, discuss the change rather than imposing it without explanation. A faithful priority should improve the way you carry responsibilities, including listening to the people who share them and making arrangements that can be kept.
Take the idea with you.
- 01Where have I given Christ a place while keeping control for myself?
- 02What recurring decision needs to change under his teaching?
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