Balancing Life's Demands - How to Keep First Things First, Part 1
Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram Daily Podcast
Living on the Edge
4.9 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 8 August 2025
⏱️ 29 minutes
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Summary
Whatever happened with those New Year’s resolutions? Still working out? Still on that diet program? Well, getting started is one thing, but soon the real question is: “How do you keep it going?” Join Chip and find out how to keep first things first.
The Problem: Many start well, but few finish well.
The Answer: Biblical Accountability
- Definition: Biblical Accountability is enlisting the support of those who love me to help me keep my commitments to God.
- Its Power: Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
The Need: Why accountability is essential for spiritual success
Five Reasons:
- Because we never outgrow the need for PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY. -1 Corinthians 9:34-27
- Because past successes are no guarantee of FUTURE FAITHFULNESS. -1 Corinthians 10:1-5
- Because we constantly underestimate the power of our own SINFUL PASSIONS. -1 Corinthians 10:6-11
- Because we constantly overestimate our ability to handle TEMPTATION. -1 Corinthians 10:12
- Because we naively believe our struggles and temptations are UNIQUE. -1 Corinthians 10:13
Summary: "Therefore, my beloved, flee from IDOLATRY!” -1 Corinthians 10:14
The Means: “How to” develop accountability in relationships:
- It begins at HOME.
- In an atmosphere of LOVE.
- It must be voluntary and by PERMISSION.
- It must be SPECIFIC, not generic.
- It must be REGULAR, not sporadic.
- No more than 4 PEOPLE.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Most of us are working on something in our lives. You know, some of us is a diet, others it's |
| 0:06.9 | working out. For others, it's family devotions or getting into God's word or praying more deeply. |
| 0:12.6 | But what I know is true about all of us is that we start off well and we make these commitments |
| 0:18.4 | that are very sincere and then we seem to fade quickly. |
| 0:23.2 | If you want to learn how to not just put first things first, but keep them first, stay with me. |
| 0:30.6 | Welcome to this edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. |
| 0:34.7 | We are an international discipleship ministry devoted to helping Christians |
| 0:38.6 | worldwide live out their faith for the glory of God and the benefit of all people. Thanks for |
| 0:43.9 | joining us as Chip continues our series, Balancing Life's Demands, with his message, how to keep |
| 0:49.5 | first things first. Because, you know, making something a priority is one thing, but being able to keep it that way is always much harder. So keep listening today as Chip digs into God's word to help us learn how to better safeguard our priorities. Okay, if you're ready, here's Chip with today's talk. |
| 1:08.0 | Putting first things first is one thing. Keeping first things first. Now that's a whole other thing. |
| 1:14.5 | So we're going to talk about, well, how do you keep first things first? The problem is many start well, |
| 1:19.8 | but few finish well. It's one thing to make a commitment and to really mean it. It's quite another |
| 1:26.2 | thing to keep it sustained over a significant period of time so that |
| 1:31.3 | those things that you know you want to do, you know God wants you to do, you find yourself |
| 1:37.1 | little by little by little putting a week together into a month and a few months, into a year, |
| 1:42.7 | and a few years, into a decade and a couple decades. |
| 1:46.0 | And that's how you leave a legacy. |
| 1:48.6 | I mean, that's how life really plays out. |
| 1:50.6 | It's what I'm doing today with a view to God's calling, his purpose, and legacy in my life. |
| 1:57.2 | And, you know, whether it's scanning, you know, you can look, read the characters in this book, |
| 2:02.6 | and a lot of them start well. |
... |
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