I have been hearing a troubling theme as of late:
An ostinato has crept into the church today concerning life's priorities - that a Christian should put God first, family second and ministry third.
Not only is there is no such teaching in God's Word, but is the opposite of how we are intended to live. We were not designed to worship at three altars, or even two. We are to love the Lord with all that we are and have.
If we are fully His, nothing can be deliberately separated out. If I am putting the Lord first, I will want to learn to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit in everything from floor-sweeping and diaper changing, to leading the lost to Christ.
There is no formula. Such a list produces passivity and allows excuses for avoiding living by faith.
Soldier of The Cross, every minute is about Him. It isn't about you or me or our families or our ministry. Those expressions are gloriously released when we are willing to be alive unto Him and take up The Cross and follow hard after Him.
How can it be that someone could be a Living Sacrifice, let the Lord have full play in the heart, pray according to God's Word, yet be a jerk at home and a dud in ministry? It isn't possible.
He has called us to Himself. He wants to express Himself through us in word, thought and deed - all the time.
He wants the ground under our feet to be a place where He is revealed and glorified.
Only to be what He wants me to be, every moment of every day;
Yielded completely to Jesus alone, every step of this pilgrim way:
Just to be clay in the Potter's hands, ready to do what His Word commands;
Only to be what He wants me to be, every moment of every day.
(Norman J. Clayton)