"First of All"
Posted by: ba <ba@...>
http://www.forthright.net
Straight to the Cross
COLUMN: Field Notes
"First of All"
By Michael E. Brooks
"Therefore I beseech first of all that
supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving
of thanks be made for all men" (1 Tim. 2:1)
"I must work the works of Him who sent me while it
is day; the night is coming when no one can work"
(Jn. 9:4).
Last week I called Brenda, my wife, from
Bangladesh. We have long since decided to limit
calls to only a few per trip, but to make each
call satisfyingly long. Our telephone system in
Bangladesh limits calls to a maximum of thirty
minutes, but it is not uncommon for service to be
interrupted and for callers to be cut off
unexpectedly. Since we do not usually keep exact
time, we are never quite sure just how much time
we will have to talk, or when the call will end.
If we have not completed necessary business, of
course, we can always call again, but if the call
has lasted for several minutes we usually do not.
On this most recent call, after a few minutes
Brenda mentioned that we might get cut off soon so
she had certain "important" things to say, such as
how much she missed me, etc. This simple, everyday
expedient caused us to relate the same principle
to spiritual things and realize how often we fail
to practice spiritually what we do automatically
in much less important arenas. That is simply to
make sure that we do the most important things
first, while we know we have the opportunity. The
other, expendable matters can wait until later,
and if they don’t get done at all there is little
or no real loss. On the other hand, if we do them
first and fail to "get to" the essentials there is
great, irredeemable loss.
The Bible acknowledges certain essential
priorities. These include communication with God
(1 Tim. 1:1), "justice, mercy, and faith" (Matt.
23:23), love of God and man (Matt. 22:37-39),
"working the works of God" (Jn. 9:4) and obedience
to the Gospel of Christ (2 Thess. 1:8). These we
must do, or fail to enter the eternal Kingdom of
God. Life is uncertain. We do not know how long we
will be on this earth. Procrastination is
tempting, but may cause loss of our souls
eternally. We can continue to apply this principle
to good works such as helping others, preaching
the Gospel and all other types of service to God.
These are so much more important than the self-
serving material things we tend to spend all our
time on, reasoning that eternal things can be
taken care of later. There may not be a later. We
may be cut off at any time. Let us do and say the
important things now, while there is time.
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