Focus is the task of majoring in the “essentials” and not the “minors”
Acts 15:28 (majoring in the essentials)
S–For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to impose on you no further burden then the essentials.
H–there is already a temptation in the early church to become a bunch of rules and practices…..the exact thing that Israel was never able to live into through the law. But here the church makes a turn toward grace instead of works. This is a key moment. There is this sense that if can grab hold of the essentials that everything else will take care of itself. They choose to major in the majors instead of majoring in the minors.
A–so much of our lives are 
spent with structures and organization that major in minors. So often, the church majors in minors; we focus on what divides us instead of what unites us. My own denominational book of law and resolutions is probably double the size of the bible just to clarify these rules and regulations. I wonder what would happen if we all took this to heart; if we just focused on the essentials. What are the essentials? Seems to me its pretty simple: “love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul and love your neighbor as yourself.” My hunch is that if we majored in this that a lot of our other problems (if not all of them) would take care of themselves. My hope is that my life would reflect these essentials and that when my time has passed that the legacy I leave would be one of majoring in the essentials and not the minors.
P–Jesus, I want to thank you for this morning and giving me the grace to set aside this time to major in you. So often I find myself setting you aside and majoring in the minors. Please forgive me of that disobedience. It grieves my heart to think of how many opportunities I’ve missed of encountering your presence because I’ve majored in minors. I pray that you would empower Crossroads to be a community of faith that majored in the essentials and that you would protect us from spending our time doing things that don’t really matter. Amen.
E–Focus is committing to majoring in the essentials; the vision and mission empower this focus.
Peace, Pastor P
www.wedeiremore.com; chadpullins@connect2crossroads.com
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