What is Most Important?

The most important thing in life is loving God. Christ stated that the most important commandment was to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength so that should be our greatest aspiration in life. (Matt 22:37) If we can really do those things, and I don’t mean half-heartedly do them in a human kind of way with a human kind of love (like the Greek word Philia); but with a God kind of (Agape) love every thing else will fall into place. This should be our driving ambition.

A natural outcome of loving God is loving those around us with that same kind of love. Jesus told Peter that if he loved Him, Peter would “tend to and feed His sheep.” (John 21:15-19) This is our calling as believers, and we do not have to be Pastors to accomplish it. For example, My wife and I dedicate our time and energy to this calling by serving and giving at our local church. We believe that the local church is God’s chosen instrument to change the world because it gives us the opportunity to partner with thousands of others in our own community to care for and meet the needs of humanity. With our help and the help of other members of our church we’ve been able to open up 14 locations in Zimbabwe to meet the spiritual and physical needs of a repressed people and feed thousands of children daily. Our giving has allowed our friends to travel to Swaziland and Mexico to spread the love of our God to a people desperate for it. In our own country, our partnership with two of our friends has helped them start a church in one of the worst neighborhoods of Detroit where they are meeting the needs of the community and encouraging racial reconciliation and dialogue. We have never been to any of these places, and will likely never meet the people who are being helped, but our financial support is every bit as crucial to their being cared for as the people who use the resources to provide the care. God has given each of us different gifts (Romans 12:3-8), and we are to use those gifts for His glory. Here I only describe the gift of giving, but know that whatever gifts God has given you, it is your calling to use those gifts for the advancement of the Kingdom. Everything we are is His (Psalm 24:1) so for us to give it back to Him is worship.

The worship of God and the pursuit of justice on this planet are synonymous. In Deuteronomy 16:20, God says "Justice and only Justice you shall pursue." Deuteronomy 24:17 says "you shall not deprive a resident alien or an orphan of justice." Whatever you believe about creation or the origins of the universe, I submit that it is impossible to imagine that the amount of disparity we see on this planet today was intended. It is simply impossible to think that it is right for eight year-olds in the U.S. to have ipods while 8 year-olds in Africa do not have anything to eat. Something is seriously wrong and it is our personal responsibility as followers of Christ to be part of the solution. We cannot allow this to continue. The solution starts not with government, although government is good, but with people who say that they believe in God and love Him reaching out to those who have been oppressed or are less fortunate. If every Christian person in the world could put aside their religion and with one heart love God as Jesus commanded, we could eradicate hunger, poverty, loneliness, and oppression. Let's love Jesus the way he has called us to. Let's join together with one heart and be leaders in a world so desperate for it. Let's feed His sheep! If we truly do this, the world will never be the same.