Lesson Sixteen: Prioritize Your Life

Somewhere along the way, I realized that every time my life felt chaotic, it wasn’t because I lacked time, money, or energy. It was because my priorities were out of order. When you do not decide what matters most, something else will decide for you. And it never chooses faith, strength, discipline, or purpose. It chooses whatever is easiest.

That is the truth most people avoid. We say our values shape our lives, but most days it’s our impulses and habits that drive our behavior. We say God comes first, yet many of us haven’t stepped inside a church in a year. We say our children are the most important people in our world, yet we give our phones more attention than we give them. We say finances matter, but investing only happens after a promotion or a windfall that never arrives. We say health is a priority, but discipline always starts next Monday.

We live trapped in the belief that life will improve once we have more. More time, more money, more freedom, more motivation. But the mindset of more has no finish line. If we cannot live with purpose when life is small, we will not live with purpose when life is bigger. The habit of postponing does not disappear with more resources; it grows with them. Peace is not found in abundance. Peace is found in order. Less often becomes the doorway to more.

It is not that people do not care. Most of us are sincere when we talk about what we want. The real problem is that everything meaningful requires effort. Faith requires obedience. Character requires sacrifice. Family requires patience. Purpose requires focus. Health requires consistency. These things ask something of us. Pleasure does not. Pleasure is always easy, always available, always within reach. It whispers that we deserve comfort, that discipline can wait, that tomorrow will be better. But when pleasure quietly becomes the default, it steals the life we were meant to live.

Scrolling is easier than praying. Sleeping in is easier than church. Comfort food is easier than discipline. Distraction is easier than purpose. And then one day we look up and wonder why life feels off-center. The answer is simple: lower priorities never ask for space. They just take it when we are not paying attention.

C.S. Lewis warned about this better than anyone: “The safest road to hell is the gradual one, the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.” Not a defiant rejection of what matters. Just drift.

The VA recently asked me, “What is the most important thing in your life?” Without hesitation, I said my family. In that moment, I believed it. I mean, that’s the right answer, right? But later I wondered if that was the right answer. Should it have been my faith? Should it have been God first, and family second? And even if it was my family, what am I actually doing to prove it? If someone asked me to produce evidence, could I? Could I point to my time, my habits, my presence, my discipline, and say, “This is where you see that they come first”?

That question has a way of cutting through excuses. Because if we claim something is our highest priority, yet our life shows no demonstrable proof, then it is only a theory, not a truth. And if you asked yourself the same question, would your answer match the life you are living? Or would it only be words? Most people do not need to change their beliefs. They need to reorder their lives so their beliefs show up in their actions.

I struggle with this as much as anyone. I believe in gathering for worship. I believe in tithing. I believe in giving my time and resources to something bigger than myself. And still, I catch myself guarding my time and guarding my money, even though I know the freedom that exists on the other side of commitment. Church feels hard when discipline is rare. Tithing feels painful when money becomes a form of security. Serving feels inconvenient when time becomes an idol. Yet every single time God goes first, something in life realigns. Character strengthens. Patience deepens. The home feels different. The heart feels different. The mind feels clearer. The rewards of discipline always outweigh the discomfort.

Saint Augustine said that a rightly ordered life is not about having no desires. It is about loving things in the correct order. Modern thinkers echo the same idea, whether they realize it or not. Jordan Peterson says meaning is found in responsibility. Naval Ravikant teaches that self-discipline is a form of self-respect. James Clear explains that habits are built on identity, not motivation. The ancient Stoics believed that freedom comes from self-mastery, not self-indulgence. They are all describing the same universal truth: freedom has a price, and the price is discipline.

When pleasure leads, life slowly collapses. Marriages weaken. Bodies decline. Purpose fades. Finances crack. Faith dries up. Nothing crashes suddenly. It just drifts. But when priorities lead, life strengthens. Peace returns. Confidence grows. Relationships deepen. Goals get accomplished. Life finally starts making sense. You do not need a new life. You need a reordered one.

You do not get peace by chasing pleasure. You get peace by building a life that deserves it.

When God comes first, everything else gains meaning. When character is tended to, your family can trust you. When your family receives presence and not leftovers, love deepens. When you honor your purpose, work becomes fulfilling instead of draining. When health becomes intentional, your body becomes an asset instead of an obstacle. And once those things are in place, pleasure changes. It becomes joy instead of escape. Restoration instead of numbness. Gratitude instead of distraction.

This is what most people never realize. When life is rightly ordered, pleasure becomes better. Rest actually restores you. Food actually nourishes you. Entertainment becomes fun instead of avoidance. Pleasure stops stealing from your destiny and becomes a gift.

So here is the truth worth remembering. If you do not choose what matters most, the world will. And the world will always choose comfort, distraction, and consumption. Your spirit is craving meaning. Your body is craving discipline. Your family is craving presence. Your soul is craving God.

Choose the hard things. Not because they restrict you, but because they free you. A well-ordered life produces peace, confidence, purpose, love, joy, and strength.

And that is the life you were meant to live.