We’re inundated by the huge variety of points of view, opinions, practices, teachings, values, principles, and life-styles of our day.
Almost overwhelmed by them, we are tempted to question the who, what, where, and why of our lives—and what’s right and what’s wrong.
It’s important not to forget the grounds on which our lives have been founded, the solid bases for our judgements and actions. Once we start to drift away from them, we’re confused, at sea, and miserable.
Here are some of those grounds that probably are a part of your foundation—and, if not, that could be integrated into it:
• Matthew 22:36-40: “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
• John 13:34: “I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.”
• Matthew 25:40: . . . “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.”
• Acts 17:28a: For “In him we live and move and have our being,” . . . [St. Paul quoting the poet Epimenides of Cnossos]
• Romans 14:7-8: For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord; so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.
• Lucius Annaeus Seneca: “You must live for another if you wish to live for yourself.” (Roman stateman, first century, AD)
• Declaration of Independence: We hold these Truths to be self-evident: that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness . . .” (Second Continental Congress, July 4, 1776)
• Abraham Lincoln: “It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us . . . that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. (Gettysburg, November 19, 1863)
• Baltimore Catechism: Why did God make you? God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in heaven. (Question 6 of Lesson I, April 6, 1885)
• Pledge of Allegiance: I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. (August 1892 and later modified)
Beware of becoming unfounded, drifting away from the values that formed you! Sort the wheat from the chaff! Stick to your guns! Have courage! You have the guiding Spirit and power of God within you!
21 June 2020