"The Least of These." -Too

"The LORD that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion." (Psalms 134:3)

  Okay, so there are some things that connect the three of these Psalms together; obviously, the last Psalm started with that same beginning, "Behold," as this one; but the next starts with the word, "Praise," three times in the opening verse. Interesting enough, I heard a message yesterday that actually made the point I was trying to make, ever so slightly, that we must be Spirit led; living our lives in the way that puts others first and not taken easily to being offended. It is hard, but it is what we must do! If ever there was something that we must put into practice, 'Others First,' is the thing that we must be about, regardless of how we might feel; even if we don't like doing it, we pray for God to help us do it! The message I heard was based upon the parable Jesus spoke about after He said, "But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first." (Matthew 19:30) It is commonly called, 'The parable of the Laborers,' which is based upon the vineyard owner who goes out early and hires people to work in his vineyard; and then keeps hiring other people throughout the day; even up to the very last hour. Then, we he starts to pay those he hired, he begins by paying the last, giving them the full days wage; which caused those that were called first to expect to be paid more than they were originally promised. I think you get the point; but the connection is given by what happened before, when Peter asked, "Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?" It might surprise you to know, James was more familiar with what he said, "The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy," then you might otherwise think. For most of his life, he had grown up not respecting his brother Jesus; not believing He was who He said that He was, and even saying that He was a little nuts. That said, there was a drastic change that had come over James after Jesus rose from the grave; enough to keep him on his knees! This is about not loving this world, but loving God! Jesus spoke of this by saying, "No one can serve two masters," which was in reference to serving money and God. James makes reference to this in the beginning of his Epistle, saying, "Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: but the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away." (James 1:9-10) For those that might not know what, "flower of the grass", means; it is that little yellow flower, which many refer to as a weed, a dandelion to be exact, that spouts up out of your perfect lawn. Wow...

"For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts." (1 Thessalonians 2:4) NLT