DONKEY BEFORE THE CART

Servant was resting in the evening, reflecting on God's order of things. How often servants get it all mixed up or even worse, don't even consider it. Envisioning Jesus appearing for supper one night servant began to look at what the Lord had laid out in his word and would no doubt share were it asked of him. Would not "commandments" trump everything? Most likely, and all the servants knew what they were...oh, they might not know them in order or exactly by heart, but most knew the substance of them and that was what most mattered...that they knew enough to have their heart convict them if they strayed. But then, Jesus had said there was a "greatest" commandment...see Mt. 22:35-40. It was to love God and your neighbor. He had said everything else hung on that! If we love God and our neighbor we WILL obey the others. We are all sinners saved by grace, and we will stumble & fall (SIN) but it will not be our "lifestyle", for when we accepted Christ as our Lord & Savior we became new and began a process of change that would go on for the rest of the journey. Because of the Holy Spirit operating in us, if Jesus were at supper with us he would tell us we are to be a growing reflection of him, and consider our neighbor above ourselves servant concluded.

From love, Jesus would tell us, comes obedience and that is how we do not violate the other laws. No matter what religion we are associated with, or church we attend, we are all ultimately responsible for our own correct adherence to what the Lord asks of us. This requires understanding and wisdom, so servant thought that Jesus would say to always ask for those things when reading the Father's manual for life. Jesus left the ordinances of baptism and The Lord's Supper and clear instruction about what they meant. One was to publicly declare our allegiance to him, having once asked him to live within us. Mt. 3:2 "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand"...servant thought that it really didn't get much clearer. The order was there...from love for God repentance comes, and from that same love declaration to the world of salvation follows. John was sent to baptize the new "believers"...those who had accepted Jesus as Savior & Lord of their life, which required understanding. The other ordinance was meant to call our attention regularly to the sacrifice Christ made for us. A wise man once told servant some things are "you don't have to, but you get to" and that seemed to flow with the love/obedience order of ordinances as well as commandments.

Servant wondered about the principle of tithing. Was it a "have to" or a "get to"? Jesus had once said that he loved a cheerful giver and that there were matters more important than the tithe! Mt. 23:23 The Father had also said we could test him in this. Servant pondered that perhaps knowing man's innate greediness he allowed a test because man's wisdom would kick in and then his love would take over and he would "cheerfully" give the tithe. Sounded like another "get to" and that the Father knew love was more important than money ever could be, and love would also propel servants to tithe. It is a principle set forth by the word of God, but more importantly it is a love response inspired by the love of God for us. Giving out of love for God is far more rewarding than giving out of legality servant thought, and he reflected that the Father probably felt that way too. So there is the order of things servant surmised...love comes first, then giving to God.