Why Faith in God Gives You More (not less) of the Good Stuff!

Many of us assume that we are too busy to strengthen our faith in God. The skills and strategies surrounding the all-but-forgotten virtue of prudence can help us to focus on what matters most – especially our relationship with God. Today, let’s take the first concrete step toward living the virtue of prudence. Virtue requires us to make some changes in our life. If our goal is to be like Martha’s sister Mary (see Luke 10:38-42) and focus our lives on “the better part,” we first need to know what the better part is. More importantly, we need to know why this should be the focus of our life.

So let’s go through a thought exercise. What is the most important thing in your life? Answer that question in the comments (if you’re willing to publicly declare yourself) and then [expand title=”click here to see the rest of this article”]Where did God fit into your answer? Are you smacking your forehead right now? Or did you say that God was your number one priority? As Catholics, we know that God is “supposed” to be the answer. But the next question is why?

Why It Makes Sense to Put Faith in God First

We so often think of holiness as being opposed to everything else in our lives. That’s one reason we put off working on our spiritual life. We don’t want to give up everything else – or we don’t think we can afford to. But here’s one “secret” for you. When Jesus is the center of your life, everything else falls into place in a balanced way. Jesus teaches us to seek first the Kingdom of God and all these other things will be given to you as well (Matthew 6:33)!

Holiness is primarily a relationship with God. But it’s a relationship with the God who is the source of all other goodness. To be holy means to perfect everything else, not to sacrifice it. When we’re out of balance, getting into balance may mean sacrifice (OK, it WILL mean sacrifice) of those things we’re obsessed with. But in the end it means putting all of the goods that God created into our lives in their proper context. Pretty cool, huh?

What a Mess We’ve Made!

That’s one reason that faith in God is the place we start when we talk about our priorities. We need to stop making God one good among many. We need to recognize him as THE good. Share on X We need to truly put him in the center of our lives. Father Robert Barron talks about this in his excellent “Untold Blessing” series. He uses two images from medieval art

– the “Wheel of Fortune” and the Rose Window. In each case, when Jesus is at the center, order emanates from him and brings order. I encourage you to invest in this DVD and watch his excellent analogies.

Our lives are a mess because we have placed something else at the center, and whatever that thing is, it is incapable of providing order for our lives.

The Greatest of These is Love

Second to our relationship with God is our relationship to each other. Human nature – being both physical and spiritual – cannot find true fulfillment in purely physical things. Many spiritual goods come out of our human relationships. God created us to be in relationship with him, but also to be members of his Family. So our relationships – family and friendships – should take second place among our priorities.

Our priorities guide our lives right down to our daily actions. So getting this big picture right is really important. In the full Planning for Grace course, we spend a lot of time talking about the why of our priorities, examining how well we’re actually living our priorities, and seeing how our priorities guide the rest of our life. Hopefully this article has given you something to think about. To drive the point home, here’s your homework for this lesson. Consider your daily activities, your daily thoughts and preoccupations, and your daily spending habits. If I were to look into your day planner and your bank account, what priorities would I see reflected there? Is God at your center – really? – in the way that you’re living now? Are your relationships really high on your priority list – really? – the way you’re living now? This is an important reflection.

If you’d like step-by-step help and a deeper dive into this concept of getting your priorities right, consider registering for the “Planning for Grace” course. This course takes you through each step of creating a well-ordered life and gives you the support you need to be successful. In the next article in this series, we’ll discuss how to get through our day without reacting to every “urgent” thing that comes our way. Learn how to take control of your time!

Brought to you by Jeffrey S. Arrowood at From the Abbey, dedicated to helping you rediscover the JOY of learning and living your faith so you can grow in intimacy with God.