“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you” (Matt. 6:33).

Imagine you’ve decided to sell vegetables at the farmer’s market next spring. You spare no expense on a tiller and other equipment, carefully plant seeds, research organic pest control, reserve a market booth, and blast the news on Facebook. You leave out only one detail: watering your garden each evening. You’ve got only so much time and energy, so you omit this one 45-minute task. After all, you’re not Superman, and you surely can’t be expected to do everything.

A month later, you’ve exhausted yourself getting all your ducks in a row, but your vegetables are failing. In fact, most are dead. The project is a flop.

Surely, no one would be so silly as to refuse to water a garden and then wonder why he had nothing to show for it. But aren’t we just as silly when we try to juggle all the details of life while ignoring the One who holds it all together?

When the Lord said, “Seek first the kingdom,” He wasn’t kidding. No matter how inventive we are, we won’t find an alternate way to live a successful life. When we try to buy ourselves enough time to tend to our problems and responsibilities by excluding God, we end up more distressed than ever.

Stop buying into the lie that you don’t have time for God. Not a single moment in history spent in the pursuit of God was ever wasted.

Today, get your priorities in order. You’ll discover that many difficulties resolve themselves when you put first things first.