First Steps – October 12, 2020

As sinful creatures, we are shaken like wheat in a sieve. We are pulled this way and that by a seductive world. We can’t settle down. Christ can make a difference. A Christian’s mind and heart can be centered on the divine. Over a period of time this can free us from being sifted. It will bring us peace. We will live balanced lives.

You can easily determine your preferences. If your interest is in money, honors, power, or violence you will quickly give yourself to such things. This shows that you love them. What absorbs your interest? Is it clothes? Gossip?…Many different kinds of chains bind you to the earth. If you do not resist these objects of your affection, you are hindered in your ability to direct your thoughts to God.

Such wise words from a Syrian Monk, whose name is lost to history. Though written in the 4th Century, this sermon still has value today. What chains bind you? Where do your affections pull you away from God’s Kingdom? The answer is not hard to determine, simply look at what you love most.

Matthew’s Gospel records something similar:
Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”

Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:

“‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’”

Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.” (Matthew 15:1-11).

For Jesus, the heart was the key – what one loves the most is tied to the heart. If we want to know what is of highest priority, look inward and there you will find your answer.