God’s Priorities

~ Things of Primary Importance to God ~

Seek First The Kingdom Of God  ~  Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matthew 6:33-34). 

Clean First That Which Is Inside  ~  Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.  Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also” (Matthew 23:25-26).

First Cast Out The Plank In Your Own Eye  ~  Jesus said, “Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye;’ and look, a plank is in your own eye?  Hypocrite!  First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:3-5).

Learn First To Show Respect At Home  ~  “Honor widows who are really widows.  But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show piety at home and to repay their parents; for this is good and acceptable before God.  Now she who is really a widow, and left alone, trusts in God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.  But she who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives.  And these things command, that they may be blameless.  But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Timothy 5:3-8).

Judge First The House Of God  ~  “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?  Now, ‘If the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?’” (1 Peter 4:17-18).

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW

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Solomon’s Priorities

~ Just the Facts! ~        

Someone has remarked that you can accurately determine a person’s real priorities by examining their checkbook register and their credit card statements. In 1 Kings 6-7 we find an accounting for Solomon’s building of God’s house and a similar accounting for Solomon’s building his private residence.

Construction Time 

Temple  ~  “And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its details and according to all its plans. So he was seven years in building it” (1 Kings 6:38).

Residence  ~  “But Solomon took thirteen years to build his own house; so he finished all his house” (1 Kings 7:1).

Comparison   

Solomon completed his temple in seven years.

Solomon completed his residence in thirteen years. 

Size of Structure

Temple  ~  “Now the house which King Solomon built for the Lord, its length was sixty cubits, its width twenty, and its height thirty cubits” (1 Kings 6:2). 

Residence  ~  “He also built the House of the Forest of Lebanon; its length was one hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits, with four rows of cedar pillars, and cedar beams on the pillars” (1 Kings 7:2).

Comparison   

Solomon’s temple was approximately 90’ x 30’ x 45’ high  or 121,500 cubic feet.

Solomon’s residence was approximately 150’ x 75’ x 45’ high or 506,250 cubic feet. 

Additional Comment 

It is well worth reading all of 1 Kings 6-7 for a more complete overview of Solomon’s building projects and his priorities. 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW