Good morning, Samara.
It was very good to hear back from you. I hope you don’t mind if I stick your welcome message on as an attachment for others to read.
Apparently you are aware of the messages Mama Becki is sending over to your dad concerning his Uncle Ray Wilson who is not doing very well at present. His old body is wearing out, and he doesn’t have much more time left. But we believe he is ready to meet his Maker. 88 years of age probably seems like really really old to you—like far far away. But I assure you, that age will be reached sooner and faster that any of us can imagine—if we live long enough. I talk to seniors all the time who say, “It seems like yesterday that…” Of course there are other seniors with various forms of memory loss who don’t even remember where their room is. One lady of about 90 told me recently that she remembered when I would pick her up for Sunday School when she was a little girl. Some memories work so well that they remember things that didn’t happen. I better not laugh too hard—I may be next.
I got kind of carried away with a long one today.
Have a great day. Love, Tua.
Let me try to put the main ideas of this verse in words that connect dots to other important Bible themes: “TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT BY LOVING GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART (Matthew 22:37-38) AND LIVING TO PLEASE HIM ABOVE ALL ELSE (Matthew 6:33) IS FAR MORE IMPORTANT THAN JUST DOING A BUNCH OF RELIGIOUS STUFF THAT PEOPLE SO OFTEN DO AS SUBSTITUTES FOR PERSONAL DEDICATION TO GOD” (…like going to church, singing in the choir, being baptized, putting money in the offering, taking Holy Communion, or even praying the “sinner’s prayer”). It’s clear to me that God does not care as much about your DOING as He does about your heart-level BEING.
This is causing me to remember back to when your dad was about 18 or 19—when we were living in the Western Solomon Islands at Noro on the Island of New Georgia. We attended a dedication service for a new Anglican Church building in that little town. It was a very unique town—full of lots of young people who left their village homes to work at the large Taiyo fishing port and cannery that was based there. With these young people not surrounded by their village and family rules and restraints for conduct, you can imagine how there could be a lot of illicit sex and drunkenness in the community. But with their common mindset that Christianity was just a RELIGION and not so much a personal heart-level RELATIONSHIP, I was saddened to see so many of the wildest youth in the community going up to the front at that part of the service to partake of Holy Communion—as though that ceremony was an act of compensation for their guilt of sin—making them to be “good Christians.” Presiding over the service was the Bishop himself. His message was very good. But I had reason to grieve the next day when I learned that the Bishop himself was carried back onto his official church ship in the condition of being stoned drunk. I had to reason that there was little wonder for these young people being so confused over their aligning DOING and BEING if the Bishop was also confused. That whole scene struck me as a sad but common perversion of substituting RELIGION (religious form and tradition) for heart-level RELATIONSHIP (loving God passionately and living to please Him). It seems silly to be so eager to dedicate a building to God when there is little interest in dedicating one’s life and personal lifestyle to God.
Please understand that I’m not attempting here to put down the Anglican Church. I know too many Anglican believers who demonstrate truly loving God. But I do want to put down COUNTERFEIT Christianity and hopefully promote the GENUINE. After all, if one pays careful attention to Biblical priorities, phony believers can be found just about everywhere—in every church. I’ve even encountered some phony religion-bound pastors and religion-bound missionaries. But that should never be allowed to discourage or divert us from the GENUINE—personal heart-level RELATIONSHIP with our Maker, Savior, and Lord. I hope you agree.
I love this quote from Proverbs 21. It’s an ABSOLUTE to live by.