Catching Idle Butterflies

And the greatest of these . . .

NOTE: I make no claim on the wisdom of the following words. These from the sermon at church this morning, given by Pastor Pete.

Pete is not someone you first see and think, “pastor.” He’s in his late 20s, married with two young (1 & 3), rambunctious sons. He dresses slightly “grunge,” sports a nose ring, and has a mustache and goatee. But, he’s incredibly knowledgeable in Scripture, well-read, and has a heart for youth, a longing to see them grow in Christ, and have them in turn bring others closer to Him.

He began his sermon speaking about the subtleties of Satan. “Sometimes,” he said, “Satan convinces us to do ‘good’ things. Why? Because then we are so busy doing ‘good’ things, we don’t do ‘great’ things.”

He then highlighted Matthew 22:36-40: “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

and Matthew 28:16-20: Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him—but some of them doubted! Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Many Christians (me included) spend much of our time concerned about the details of our faith. We scream at the ‘heresy’ of the DaVinci Code. We argue over whether or not Evolution, Creationism, or Intelligent Design should be taught in schools. While these are all good goals, they, as Pete puts it, “Miss the mark.”

God implores us to do the good things, but do we do them at the expense of doing great things? Do our actions, our passions direct us to bring the lost, the desperate, the despairing into God’s loving and merciful arms? In the end, that is our goal, our Great Commission. Anything else detracts from that, and could very well do damage to those seeking God.

Anyway, that was my lesson for today.

On a side note, Pastor Kermit mentioned that in the next few weeks, people taking the Disciple course will be talking to the congregation about what we’ve learned and experienced. Two new classes will be starting up in September, and this will be a way to encourage people to join. While I haven’t been asked, I anticipate it. Therefore, I will not only be thinking about what these 34 weeks of Bible study has taught me, and how I’ve grown closer to God, as well as other effects this has had on me and the people around me, but likely bouncing my thoughts around in here.

To all you fathers, I wish you a terrific Father’s Day!