Quote from Forum Archives on July 15, 2002, 4:45 pm

Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>

Dear friends,

I believe that deciding what's urgent, then considering what's
most important, are critical things. The telephone is an urgent
thing, but answering it is not always the most important thing.
Same with Email. Same with many other things.

I'm a work in progress. I've learned a lot, yet I still make
some of the same old mistakes that have plagued me through the
years. How do I ever get past that? Well, today's message
addresses what's really important, as far as I'm concerned.

Over the weekend, we visited the church from my wife's home town.
The pastor there has been preaching a series on The Sermon on the
Mount, Jesus' preaching to the crowds. (You can find the Sermon
in Matthew 5-7), which includes the Beatitudes, "Blessed
Are...", The Lord's Prayer, "Seek first...", don't worry, "Ask,
Seek, Knock..." and several other key principles. Of course, the
"Golden Rule" is there: "In everything, do to others what you
would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the
Prophets".

All of this stuff ties in with what I think are the most
important verses in scripture: Deuteronomy 6:5, "Love the Lord
your God...", Leviticus 19:18: "...Love your neighbor as
yourself...", Matthew 22:34-40, The Great Commandment, (in which
Jesus sites these two laws), Luke 10:25-27, (another account of
the Great Commandment), Romans 12:1-2, the idea about offering
ourselves continually to God, renewing our minds as we do so,
Romans 13:9-10, a restatement of the law of love mentioned above,
and Galatians 5:14, a very concise restatement of the same thing.

When you tie these in with the passages I've recently been
stressing, Romans 12:1-2 and Philippians 4:4-9, a picture of what
God is like, completely loving and forgiving, and what we are to
think about, and, by God's grace, become ourselves, is Christ
like - loving one another, forgiving others, no matter what.
This is liberating, peaceful, joyful thinking. No wonder the
apostle Paul could rejoice as he was in prison writing letters to
those he loved. He wasn't worrying about anything at all, though
he was deeply concerned for the well being and eternal souls of
people, especially his fellow Jewish brothers, who just could not
understand Christ. His desire to draw people to Christ is what
consumed and drove him - above all, just as by love, it caused
God to come to us as a man, Jesus Christ, not to be accepted, but
to live among us. Some did accept Christ, but many accused Him
and sought to destroy Him, even though He came to seek and save
His people.

All of this just reminds me of how much I need Christ. On my
own, I keep going back to my old ways. I have to remain in Him -
just like a branch on a vine (as Jesus illustrated in John 15).
I pray that you're able to remain in Christ, no matter what is
going on in your life.

May God continue to renew your mind and your spirit this week as
you remain in Him.

Your Brother in Christ,
Brian

=====
--
Brian Masinick, mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
Home page: www.geocities.com/masinick/

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