Only one week of school holidays left, so enjoy! As life begins to pick up speed again so many things will start to fill our days, our weeks, our calendar’s, our minds. It’s hard to decide what’s most crucial?

What are the most important?

During a visit to Brazil, the late US Senator Robert Kennedy was taken to the interior to observe some of the tribal life. Through an interpreter, he was introduced to a native Brazilian who had recent-ly been converted to Christ. Kennedy told the interpreter to ask him what he enjoys doing the most. The native Brazilian’s surprising reply was, ‘Being occupied with God.” The senator, expecting the man to say something like fishing or hunting, was convinced that something had been lost in the translation. So he repeated the question, only to hear the same reply: “Being occupied with God.”

What an interesting way to speak about our basic pursuit or purpose! How would you have answered Kennedy’s question?

Jesus reduces life to its raw basics in this question from a man who had a PhD in religious studies; “…Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than the-se.” – Mark 12:28-31

Christian professor and writer Dale Bruner’s states: “The purpose of living is the adoration of God and the cherishing of human beings.” Unfortunately we make life far more complicated than this – at least until tragedy strikes. I clearly remember the day a close friend of Tiiu and I was shot in the head while on duty as a police officer, he was taken from the crime scene to the hospital by helicopter. We met with his wife Candice, his mother, brother, in-laws and friends in the waiting room outside the Inten-sive Care Unit were we prayed and hoped for a miracle. In that moment all they had was hope in God and the love of family and friends. Frankly, nothing else mattered. Job promotions were the farthest thing from their mind. Planning their next getaway hardly mattered. They couldn’t have cared less whether they had a new addition on their home or the latest model car. Life had been reduced to the God they loved and the significant people in their life. This family’s state of mind may not have been centred on the most important commandments, but they certainly reflected its essence. (Extracts taken from ‘The Essential Commandment’ by Greg Ogden)

1 John 4:19, ‘We love because he first loved us.’