heart

God First

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re-post
This is stated in the Bible, not actually directly, but when you think upon it does say that. In Matthew (22:37), Mark (12:30) and Luke (10:27), Jesus states that He is adding to the commandment. For He states two things that He calls the greatest commandments. It is also important to state that Jesus said in Matthew 5:17 that He came to fully the law and the prophets not to replace them. This means that the rules that were established in the Old Testament still have power, just in some areas modified since Jesus Himself by dying upon the cross took the need for sacrifices away.
So what I am going to do in this article is define “first” and then I am going to break down the three verses in which Jesus states to place God first. I will then discuss the implication for follow this commandment.
First – Merriam-Webster – preceding all others in time, order, or importance.
Dictionary.com – being before all others with respect to time, order, rank, importance; before some other thing; in preference to something else; rather; sooner.
To be first is to precede and have more importance than anything else.
Matthew 22:37 – Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Love – agapao – to love – I love, wish well to, take pleasure in, long for; denotes the love of reason, esteem
Here is a quote from the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament:
“The possibility of love for God stands under a radical Either/Or:…… (Matthew 6:24). To love God is to exist for Him as a slave for his lord (cf. Luke 17:7). It is to listen faithfully and obediently to His orders, to place oneself under His lordship, to value above all else the realization of this lordship (cf. Matthew 6:33). It also means, however, to base one’s whole being on God, to cling to Him with unreserved confidence, to leave with Him all care and final responsibility, to live by His hand. It is to hate and despise all that does not serve God nor come from Him, to break with all other ties, to cut away all that hinders (Matthew 5:29), to snap all bonds except that which binds to God alone.” (p.45 vol. 1)
All – holos – “whole” or “all;” all, the whole, entire, complete. NTD – “whole,” “complete,” “undivided,”…. In the NT mostly with a noun, and to express its totality.
Heart – kardia – (Latin cor, “heart”); the heart; lit: the heart; mind, character, inner self, will, intention, center. NTD – The use of this word in the Greek agrees with the OT use and concentrates on the heart as the main organ of psychic and spiritual life, the place in man at which God bears witness to Himself…..
2. That the heart is the center of the inner life of man and the source or seat of all the forces and functions of soul and spirit is attested in many different ways in the NT.
Soul – psuche – life, mind, soul; the soul, life, self. (a) the vital breath, breath of life, (b) the human soul, (c) the soul as the seat of affections and will, (d) the self, (e) a human person, an individual. NTD – the “soul” is the part of the human trinity that was created by God to live beyond the body we now live within. In the Theological Dictionary fifty-two pages is spent discussing the various elements within the meaning in the word “psuche” and breaks it down to each usage within the NT, but this is the key element it boils down to.
Mind – dianoia – imagination, mind, understanding; intellect, insight. In the NTD the use of this word is used to signify the actual using of the mind to formulate a thought or decision.
These words are all used by all three gospels and so have the same meaning.
So Jesus is stating that we are to use our complete and undivided attention with our heart, our inner self; our soul that which is destine to stand in the presence of God; and our thoughts, our mind. To give anything, our complete and undivided attention means it is to be first and thus presiding anything else in our lives even in the exclusion of those things that would become more important than God.
This is what many do not wish to do. They wish to place themselves and their desires before God. They say we must change the teaching of Jesus to fit their definition of what they wish the Bible to say. They say if we do not do this we are the ones in the wrong and the problem.
Here is the problem with that mentality. These are the words of Jesus Christ Himself, and per them we are to place God above all and we are to do it completely. Those that follow this and insist it be followed for it is what Jesus Himself taught are the ones being honest to the Bible and following just as Jesus desired all willing to do so to do. So those trying to change the Bible to allow them to live in sin are the real problem and so we need to stay steadfast to the Bible and continue to follow its literal meanings. For to do otherwise would not place God first, but lower than first which is not where Jesus stated He is ever to be.
Placing God first prepares us for the eternal life that is to come. For God will be the center for all that choose to follow Him and His Son. They command we follow without question, even to the far side of the universe in His service. If you do not place God first you live in sin, for it is counter to the words of Jesus our Savior.

NTD = Theological Dictionary of the New Testament

Confessions of a screwed up middle aged man: I find it astonishing

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“What is it you find astonishing?” asks you the read.
How those that feel they are up holding Christianity, in their eyes, gleefully supporting a person like Donald Trump.
As has been fully established Mr. Trump is a mere human being with flaws and sins of his own to account for.
But those that call themselves “Christian” and oppose Mr. Trump are not doing so out of hate, nor are the majority of them attacking or judging those that do support this mere mortal.
Here is how I see it from my own personal viewpoint.
I have shown within the Bible that from all that has been shown and seen that Mr. Trump is of the world. I have seen no change in this whatsoever. In fact it has been proven more and more that this is the case. The Bible makes it clear that we are to avoid people like this, especially if we are seeking to have them lead us.
The Bible also shows what we are to look for in a leader that does follow the Bible. This again is fully shown not to be how Mr. Trump acts. If you seek further details look through my past articles to get a more detailed look into these points. I will not bother to restate them now for it will distract from where I am trying to get to with this article.
I will say this. Yes there is a divide that has been made very clear within this election. I strongly and wholeheartedly feel it is due to the coming judgment that is approaching this nation and possibly the world itself.
God has sought in the past to see where those that say they followed Him stood. The uniqueness of this nation’s ability to vote for our leaders is also a tool made by God Himself to judge where the heart of this nation’s people stands. The vote shows where people’s hearts and minds are. Where their understanding of God and the Bible stands. (Those that question that God established how this nation picks its leaders has already shown they know nothing of God so I will not bother to explain my belief in that any further for again that is a distraction.)
When the people of Israel were to make account of themselves it was through prayer, supplication and adherence to the Torah. Time and again they failed at this, turning to live in and of the world and each time God punished them till finally in A.D. 7 0 the destruction of the second Temple and the scattering of the nation throughout the world took place. Ever since Reagan left office each Presidential election that has followed we have progressively gotten a choice of ever worse candidates till we have reached the present selection. The worst of them all to have ever run for this office.
In the last election God made it very clear we had an out, but 54,000,000 people that professed to be “Christian” stayed home mainly due to the fact that a Mormon was the candidate. This nation is now suffering the price for this decision to stay home. Everything that has happened in the last four years is on all the heads of those that stayed home, just because the Republican candidate was not “Christian” in their point of view. Yet they have not repented. They have not turned to God and asked for His forgiveness.
Many here will now protest what I have just stated, especially those that are the ones that call themselves “Christian” and have rallied behind Trump.
Here is the thing.
The mere fact that they have rallied behind this man of the world shows they have no true understanding of the Bible or of salvation itself. Their eagerness to run to this man has shown to not only the world, but to God. That they are blind to the truth. That they are hypocrites and they wonder why the Millennials are turning to Socialism and rejecting God.
What the real problem is, is that neither those that call themselves “Christian” nor the Millennials, for the most part have been shown the real image of “Christianity.”
True Christianity does not seek after wealth or rewards upon this earth. True Christianity does not horde the wealth they have for themselves but willingly share it with those in need, not through taxation or allowing the government to do it, but they do it themselves and willingly. This is the very thing that Millennials are seeking to do by running to Socialism, but they have been lied to on what will come from Socialism. Most are not aware that more humans were killed under Mao and Stalin (over 100,000,000) then have died under any of the forty three President of the United States put together. I am not counting wars. I am counting killed just for not agreeing with those in power.
This is the road that the Millennials are heading us down all due to those that think they are “Christian” when in reality they are not.
What needs to change is that all need to come to a true discernment of who God really is. They need to come to a true understanding of who Jesus Christ died for. They need to came to the point of comprehension that true Christianity is not becoming rich and powerful but living modestly and humbly, placing those in need before themselves, which Socialism may promise by its designed to do, but never has nor ever will achieve, because one main element is missing from Socialism………. GOD.
Whenever humanity seeks to control humanity by stating it can only be achieved by humanity, tyranny, famine and death result all due to what comes from within a human being:
Mark 7:20 – And then he added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you. 21 For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. 23 All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.”