First things first...

Neglect is a powerful force... Terry Dashner (www.ffcba.com) Is there a good way to destroy a garden? You can drown it with too much water, or burn it up with too much fertilizer. You can plow it, chop it up, burn it up, or pull up all the plants by the roots. But why all the sweat? Just leave it alone, and the weeds and insects will do it for you. Is there a good way to destroy a friendship? You can telephone everyone you know and spread malicious rumors about you friends. You can make false accusations directly to your friend. You can borrow from her and fail to repay. You can write her insulting letters. But why all the sweat? Just leave her alone, and neglect will kill the friendship. Act as if she doesn't exist. Forget her telephone number. Look the other way when you meet her. Is there a good way to destroy a church? You can vandalize the building by breaking the windows, shredding the hymnals, painting obscenities on the walls. You can disrupt the worship services, be rude to visitors or tell all the leaders what a miserable mess they are making. But why all the sweat? Just live as if your church doesn't exist. Ignore it. Don't go around it. Don't give to it. Don't visit it. And it, too, will go away. I think you get the point. Yes sir, neglect is a powerful force. May I ask you if there anything in your life that you're neglecting? Maybe you should do an inventory of your life, assess what is important and what is trivial. What about spiritual things. Shouldn't spiritual matters be important enough to make the top of your list? Jesus said that we are to seek first the Kingdom of God and then the other things will be added. It's true. Life for the believer is all about aligning our priorities. When we take care of the "first things" the "second things" will follow naturally. Remember, Jesus created us to thrive in life. He has given us abundant life in Him. It should be a natural thing to put Him first? But I'm afraid we neglect Him too much. We neglect God by failing to pray, do our Bible reading, support our local church by attendance and tithing, failing to help our neighbors in time of need, and so on and so on? These things are important too. Joy stands for J-Jesus first, O-others second, and Y-yourself last. The only way to spell joy is to put the "J" first------JESUS! As we get involved in 2006--another new year--let's not neglect the important stuff. Your relationship with God, family, and friends is priority number one. Keep the faith. Stay the course. Jesus is coming soon! Pastor T (Matthew 6:33)