Priorities (Trading Stupidly)
-tf[You can’t have everything, and do everything, so if you don’t get your priorities right, you will be trading stupidly.]
priority, n.; pl. priorities, 1. the state of being prior, or of preceding something else; precedence in time, order, importance, etc.
The word is not in the bible, but the concept is:
Proverbs 23:23 "Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding."
LAWYER JOKE: A man comes to a young lawyer with an offer, "I will give you financial success, political power, women, and the honor of men; and then in the end you give up your soul." The lawyer says, "So, what’s the catch?"
QUESTION: What’s the lawyer’s problem? (No, I’ve never known a stupid lawyer.)
(1) The deal seems too good to be true. (The "wise" of this world know there’s always a catch to a "good deal.")
(2) He doesn’t think "his soul" is worth anything.
(3) He thinks the things offered are worth a lot.
[Here’s another offer:] Isaiah 55:1 "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price."
QUESTION: What’s wrong with this offer according to the wisdom of this world?
(1) The deal seems too good to be true.
(2) These "waters," "wine and milk" are not worth anything.
(3) What you would have to "give up" for this free offer is worth too much.
Jeremiah 8:9 "The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord; and what wisdom is in them?"
ESAU’S BIRTHRIGHT TRADED FOR JACOB’S SOUP
Genesis 25:19-34 "And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?"
Genesis 27:1-34 "And Isaac . . . said, . . . and he [Jacob] shall be blessed. And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry. . . ."
Isaac’s Judgment of the Matter:
v. 35 "And he said, Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing."
Esau’s Judgment of the Matter:
v. 36 "And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times. . . ."
(supplant, 1. to trip up. [Rare.] 2. to take the place of; to supersede, especially through force, scheming, or treachery 3. to remove or uproot in order to replace with something else.)
God’s Judgment of the Matter:
Romans 9:13 "As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."
THE KING OF KINGS TRADED FOR A PIPE DREAM
1st Samuel 8:1-5 "Then all the elders of Israel . . . came to Samuel . . .and said unto him, . . . make us a king to judge us like all the nations."
v. 7 "And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them."
THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE WORLD’S GREATEST PROPHET TRADED FOR A FEW BUCKS
2nd Kings 5:1-27 "The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow."
HOW IT SHOULD BE
Matthew 13:44-46 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it."
Revelation 3:18 "I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see."
ABRAHAM IS GRACIOUS AND KEEPS THE IMPORTANT THINGS (And the Lord is with him.)
Genesis 13:1-15 "Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left."
22:1-18 "And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son."