Pastor’s Corner: “Lost In The Weeds”
Matthew 22:36-40 (NLT) – 36 “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” 37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
I just read an article about how being technically “overweight” might not actually, in and of itself, carry a higher mortality risk. It discussed how previously established governmental standards of healthy, “normal” weight might have sprung more from our society’s visual obsession with thinness, than with any inherent physical dangers of weighing more than your neighbor. The real problem isn’t a number on a scale. Perhaps we’re missing the big picture of health and wellness and zooming in too close on the raw numbers of weight.
I would venture to say that we do that in our spiritual lives as well. We can easily get lost in the weeds of life, even church life and miss what is most important to Jesus. We may have our daily checklists including our Good-Christian checklist endeavoring to fulfill standards we have made up for ourselves. Just like weights on a scale we are constantly measuring our successes based upon our lists and we end up going around in circles and not gaining any ground at all.
The religious scholars of Jesus’ day were experts at making religious checklists. Not only did they measure themselves and others based upon their checklists and standards, they were constantly adding new ones to their checklists. In Matthew 22:36-40 they were again trying to trap Jesus. Because they were so lost in the weeds, they missed the Messiah Himself. Jesus answered them this way: everything we learned from the Law and from the Prophets could be summed up like this: Love God. Love other people. Could it get anymore simple? JESUS IS ASKING US: how are you loving me? How are you loving the people I have placed in your life? Everything else is weeds.
John 5:39-40 (NLT) – 39 “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! 40 Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life. The religious experts had all the knowledge and understanding of scriptures and yet, they missed Jesus. Is it possible that we can do the same? What is our main focus in our Christian walk? Are we like Martha or Mary?
Luke 10:38-42 (NLT) – Jesus Visits Martha and Mary – 38 As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. 40 But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.” 41 But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! 42 There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Rather than focusing on the Good-Christian-checklist of your day, ask a trusted friend or mentor whether your life truly could be described as loving God and loving people unselfishly.
In His Grace,
Pastor Hamilton