²⁴ But I consider my life of no value to myself; my purpose is to finish my course^[a] and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of God’s grace. (Acts 20:24 CSB)

I think most of us hold some form of value in our lives. We may be proud of our personal accomplishments, of our families, of our physical capabilities or any host of other things. But how many of us put our purpose in Christ at the top of our list.

You may say, I am no pastor, no priest or missionary, so how can I put God’s purpose top of my life. I must make a living, care for my family, take care of my responsibilities. To be sure, doing a good job in all of these areas is important.

Yet, how much better would be be at all of these things if God and His mission were our top priority. This does not necessarily mean going out and taking on a ministry role. It may mean your ministry role is within all of the other things you are responsible for.

We put God on top of all of the other things we are doing, when we put Him first, making Him the center of our lives. Then everything we do is a ministry. We exemplify God’s grace through His connection to our lives. We become ministers to others through our words and actions.

We find value is derived from putting first things first.