Priorities

One of the enjoyable things in the Gospels are the miscellaneous details.  An example would be the 153 large fish in the disciple’s nets in John 21.  One of my favorites isn’t a number it’s an aside in Luke 8.  Jesus had just raised Jairus’s little girl from death and He instructed her parents to get her something to eat.   I realize it is no big deal, especially in comparison to her resurrection, but it tells me so much about Jesus’ care for people.

Real religion isn’t about taboos, food and ceremonies.  Paul wrote in Romans 14:17, “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”  Real religion is what Jesus’ brother James wrote in 1:27.  “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”  I once witnessed one of the “saints” (?), who would die before he touched a ham sandwich, tell his daughter she had to get out of their home.  Talk about missing the point.

Some are going to be so surprised to meet people in heaven who never ascribed to any list of doctrinal points.  They “merely” loved, cared for and fed people around them.  “Merely?” I wonder if WE also have missed the point with our list about the Trinity, baptism, state of the dead, etc.  Lest I receive emails regarding this I do think beliefs are important.  My point is priorities.  Paul does say scripture is profitable for doctrine.  It’s just how much importance we place on such.

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 11, 2012

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org