I attended Northwestern College for my undergraduate degrees and I often heard students complain about the required chapel attendance five days each week. For me, this requirement was the very reason I was at Northwestern. It showed me that Northwestern was serious about the spiritual vitality of its students.
One of the most important lessons I learned in my studies was from a chapel talk by Ted Engstrom, the late president of Youth For Christ and and World Vision. His life priorities became my life priorities that day:
- God. Put him above parents, bosses or governments that might contradict him.
- Family. Look after your family as your most important earthly relationships.
- Work. Scripture teaches that the one who does not provide for family is worse than an unbeliever, so work must be next.
- Ministry. Only after these other obligations are met does ministry find its place.
We are all familiar with awful stories of people putting family ahead of God or sacrificing family for their jobs or a pastor who neglects his family for his ministry. Work has its place, but it must be kept in its place.
