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Last Thursday
morning, like some of you who live in the Asbury Road
area, we woke to find that there was no electricity.
Renee got ready and went to work and I had a meeting at
eight thirty AM. This was a meeting with fellow pastors
here in Hominy Valley. I was responsible for leading the
devotional. It was still dark so I decided to go ahead
and get ready and go to the church where I could at
least make a pot of coffee and could have the luxury of
being able to look over my devotional. I was very
careful in the dim candlelight to choose my shirt and
pants, making sure that the colors matched. Right down
to the socks everything matched. Renee would be proud. I
made my way to the church, enjoyed a couple of cups of
coffee and read over the devotion that I had prepared. I
felt like I had the world perfectly in hand.
I left for my meeting feeling completely confident that
I had made all the necessary preparations. I would amaze
my clergy colleagues with my stylish dress and deep
theological thought. No detail had escaped me. Or so I
thought. I arrived at my destination and just before
going in I did one last check: Bible, check; shirt and
pants are a match, check; socks match, check; OHHHHHH
NOOOOOO! With all the attention to detail, I had made
one little oversight; I was wearing one BROWN shoe and
one BLACK shoe. I wanted to go home and go to bed and
start over. All that attention to detail and I had
overlooked the obvious.
As Christians we often become obsessed with the details
that revolve around being religious and forget about the
thing that is absolutely essential. We can easily
transform our faith into a system of doing things and
completing a checklist. We develop the attitude that I
am a good Christian if I am able to complete certain
tasks. Church on Sunday morning, CHECK. Money in the
collection plate, CHECK. Sing or at least move my lips,
CHECK. Close my eyes during prayer, CHECK. Stay awake
during the sermon, well, four out of five isn’t bad.
One day a question was asked by a scribe, an authority
on the law, “Teacher which is the great commandment of
the law? Jesus said, you shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all
your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And
the second is like it; You shall love your neighbor as
yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and
the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:34-40)
What Jesus was telling them and us today is that love is
what is absolutely essential. Loving is what we should
be focused upon. If we will concentrate on the
essentials, loving God and our neighbor, all of the
other important things will take care of themselves.
Don’t spend all your time and energy in trying to be
something or do something. Allow the absolutely
essential law of love to clothe you in the likeness of
Christ.
Attention to detail is fine, but when you get dressed in
the dark make sure your shoes match. It is obvious when
they don’t. When we claim to be a Christian, it will be
just as obvious that we don’t love.
I love you all,
Fred. |
