Five Minute Friday - Important

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One word. Five minutes to write about it. This is the idea behind Five Minute Friday and this is today's free-writing post.

important information

the important thing

most important

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When I saw today's prompt, I had just finished reading a devotional shared by a friend that discussed the mistake the Pharisees made by focusing on the nit-picky little details of the Law, but failing to practice God's love and mercy. As the writer of the devotional put it, "It's the equivalent of nitpicking over commas while disregarding words altogether."

We do have trouble, sometimes, discerning what is really important. Or perhaps more accurately, we sort of forget or get distracted from the truly important things. We know what's important, we would agree that love is the most important thing, but when we are just going about our daily routines we might not even realize that we've missed the point or missed an opportunity.

We shake our heads at the Pharisees for making rules about exactly how many steps one could walk on the Sabbath before it was 'work' or for counting out the last grain of their spices so they could tithe accurately. Or as Jesus rebukes them, "You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel." (Matthew 23:24) It seems ridiculous and we wonder how it's possible they didn't get it. And yet. Do we make sure we round up our tithe check to the next dollar in order to make sure we don't shortchange God, yet never throw anything above our tithe in the offering plate? Never support other ministries or charities? Do we congratulate ourselves for doing the right thing by showing up to church on Sunday, but fail to let the preached Word change us? Do we mentally check off Bible reading off our daily to-do list after skimming the assigned chapter but don't have a Scripture-informed word of encouragement or comfort to share with a friend? Or worse, we don't even notice when those around us are in need of comfort or encouragement. Or we talk about how they should have done this or that the 'right way' rather than extend grace and pray for their healing.

We could all use an occasional reminder that our daily lives should highlight our focus on the important things. Live the important things - the important things are why we do all the things.

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices - mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law - justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former." ~Matthew 23:23

To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices. ~Mark 12:33

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This post is linked at Five Minute Friday for the word prompt "Important".

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