Least, Last and Lost
“SELFISHNESS AND GREED DESTROYS. THEY THREATEN SPECIES, BALANCE OF NATURE AND THE BEAUTIFUL DIVERSITY OF ALL THAT GOD HAS CREATED. SCRIPTURE REMINDS US THAT WE HAVE TO OVERCOME OUR TENDENCY TOWARDS SELFISH LIVING."
A sermon by my former pastor, Rev Chris Heckert, Morrow Memorial United Methodist Church, seem to shed some light upon what will be required of us to make for a more harmonious relationship among ourselves. The answer is simple, our God and each other.
His sermon began: “least, last, and lost is often used in succession. . . first we see this word (least) in the Hebrew scriptures, (Genesis 25) at the birth of twins – Jacob and Esau. Their mother Rebecca has a prophecy made while the babies are still in the womb, ‘the greater shall serve the lesser.’ Here begins this relationship with God and the lesser and the least. It’s much more than rooting for a team than is fighting against the odds, it’s about creation. God has a stake in how creation works together and sustains itself. The primary sin of humanity – selfishness – keeps this from being our priority. We’re more inclined to think about ourselves than of those who are not related to us.”
“Selfishness and greed destroys. They threaten species, balance of nature and the beautiful diversity of all that God has created. Scripture reminds us that we have to overcome our tendency towards selfish living. We have to remember our own feeling of being the “other, the stranger, or the least. When selfishness causes violence, oppression, exclusion, injustice and harm to others, God weeps.”
Finally, my simple advice comes by way of Matthew 22:37-40, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all you mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Selfishness will retreat and be defeated by injecting a spirit of love into our heart. It will instinctively convey love’s addictive influence to our head; from here it multiplies…
https://www.amazon.com/IRONY-Theophilus-Nicholson/dp/1520964846