What Matters

I am coming to realize that I am basically a principalist. I am not interested in acting out every commandment that the Bible seems to list, the list would quite frankly drive most of us silly. But rather I would like to look at what drives those commandments. What is behind the commandments.? What is God trying to tell us about Himself and His will for our lives? I think Jesus put it the most simply in what we refer to as the "Great Commandment" passage; just that everything boils down to loving God and loving our neighbors. Sometimes we refer to this as the law of love.
Obedience is something that God wants from us. We have lots of list of commandments that we can try to follow (under the old covenant and in the New Testament), in our attempt to show our love and respect for God, OR we can instead give Him our hearts and try to live obediently by the Spirit day by day.
Let me give you an example... unfortunately it is how I failed to obey, but still. We are encouraged in the book of James to give to widows and orphans, or rather care for them. On more than one occasion I have been walking along the boulevard when I felt like God was telling my by His Spirit to give all that I had in my pocket or wallet to an old woman who had caught my eye. Now on two of those occasions, I just happened to have a large sum of money and was on my way to either buy something or to pay someone for what I owed. So of course my response was "I can't give them my money... I need it to pay..." both times I walked past the old woman and missed a chance to obey God's higher call. I know from the Scriptures that God cares about the widows and the orphans and on many occasion I have given change or small bills out of my pocket to those who where begging, thinking I was showing God's heart towards these people. But I feel convicted by my passing by these other "grandmothers" or as they call them here babushkie. They were not begging for money. They were just sitting on a bench, and God had pointed them out to me. I pray that God will offer me other opportunities to be faithful and to share what He has given me to bless others with. I don’t want to look at the money I am entrusted with as mine but rather His. He provides for my needs and I in turn am to use that money to further His Kingdom and His purposes, not just to make my life easier or more comfortable.
The principle I see at work here is that God is more concerned about the state of my heart (The true inner man) than He is about the comfort of this fleshly vessel I reside in. I pray that my next opportunity will show that I trust God, more that I trust money.