The right to choose how we spend our time is called agency. Even though we are free to choose our priorities in life, we are not free to choose the consequences of our choices and actions. The consequences, whether good or bad, follow as a natural result of any choice we make. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting”. (Galatians 6: 7-8 in the Bible)
Jenny Davis Tells how Her Blogging Time Began to Change Her Priorities
“Shortly after I started our family blog, I found myself spending all of my free time updating it and thinking about how to make it more creative or appealing. I spent a great deal of time reading others’ blogs too.
Within a few weeks, blogging had taken priority over my daily scripture study and other reading. I couldn’t concentrate while studying, I didn’t want to read as much, and I felt a lack of the Spirit in my life. I had less patience with my children, and the time I should have been spending with them, I was spending on the computer.
It wasn’t that blogging was inappropriate; after all, it is a great way to stay in touch with family and friends. But since I could feel my focus shift away from things that would give me a strong spiritual foundation, I knew something needed to change. I started by admitting to myself that I didn’t need to blog every day and that I didn’t need to check other people’s blogs daily either. I decided I could still spend free time on the computer but only after I had finished my scripture study and other reading. By the time I got the most important things done, there usually wasn’t much time for blogging, but that was OK. I had reclaimed a lot of time—time that I was now spending caring for and playing with my children, reading, and studying. After just a few days of adjusted priorities, I noticed that I was feeling the Spirit more abundantly in my life again. I know that as I make a priority each day of doing what will benefit me spiritually, I will feel the Spirit more and more on a daily basis. I know that making time for studying the scriptures, reading Church magazines and other good literature, and thinking about things that matter eternally can help me be a better wife, a better mother, and a better member of the church.”
Obedience to the Commandments of God Should Be a Priority
One of the great lessons on obedience is found in the Old Testament of the Bible.
“Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper.”
The King of Syria sent Naaman to the King of Israel thinking he could cure him of leprosy, which he could not do. Elisha heard of the King’s distress and suggested that Naaman come to him, Elisha.
“So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, ‘Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.’ Naaman was upset because the answer was so simple. He felt it was beneath his dignity and rode away in anger. And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of od: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.” (2 Kings 5: 1- 14 in the Bible)
Benefits of Obedience
We grow closer to our Heavenly Father and Savior. (see Jeremiah 7:23–24 in the Bible).
The Lord counsels us, “If you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God” (Doctrine & Covenants 14:7).
The apostle Paul declared “But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor yet entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him” (1 Corinthians 2: 9 in the Bible)
The Savior’s priority Was to be Obedient
“Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.” (Hebrews 5: 8-9 in the bible)
Obedience should be a high priority in lives.