May 2, 2025 Brethren Letter
Dear Brethren,
Last week, I began a series on having “right priorities.” Have you ever felt like you’re on a treadmill that moves faster and faster each day, and you just can’t seem to get off? I have. All of us are faced with making decisions. Some of our decisions will be right ones, others will not.
When I was a teenager, a fellow employee working in a restaurant with me said something I still remember. He came to work one day so tired that he could barely keep his eyes open. He had been working every single day for quite a few weeks. One day, he looked at a few of us who were standing nearby and said, “I think I’ve been putting in too many hours. I’m exhausted! My body is starting to feel like I’ve been run over by a Mack Truck.” His comment was said in a somewhat of a humorous way at the time, so we all chuckled afterwards. But, in reality it wasn’t as funny as it seemed. The truth is, he plainly wasn’t getting the rest he needed! YES, there are physical laws that govern radiant health. If we break them, our bodies WILL pay a penalty through sickness, disease, or even shorter life.
Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong wrote the following paragraphs about laws and penalties in a Plain Truth Personal, dated March, 1970.
Nature has set fixed laws. There are natural laws set to maintain the proper ecological balance to maintain life in our soil, in our water, and our air. Man, in his educated ignorance and greed, upsets that balance.
There can be no LAW without a PENALTY. There are also inexorable moral and spiritual laws governing human relationships and human happiness, prosperity and abundant well-being.
Man seems always bent on BREAKING all such laws, whether physical, chemical, moral or spiritual. The laws begin to enforce automatically their PENALTIES. It is a matter of CAUSE and EFFECT. SO what has humanity been doing for thousands of years?
Breaking the laws — CAUSING the effect — the penalty of broken laws. Then what does man do? He tries to treat of the EFFECT. And what does that mean? It means, whether realized or not, man’s effort is to prevent nature’s laws from exacting their PENALTIES.
God’s Word plainly shows us how we should be behaving both physically and spiritually.
For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s (I Corinthians 6:20)
Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers (III John 1:2)
God intended that we live our lives properly BALANCED. Now, the question is, how do we achieve that balance? Don’t we live in an extremely complex society? You may begin to think, “I have so many bills to pay, obligations to meet, a family that needs my time, a lawn that should have been mowed a week ago, prayer, and Bible study… How can I have the time to be balanced? You’ve got to be kidding.” No, God isn’t kidding!
The first part of the equation begins with SETTING RIGHT PRIORITIES! Do you have the right priorities? That’s something to ask yourself.
A Worldwide Church of God minister explained to his congregation many years ago that the two top priorities Christians should have in their lives is to put GOD first, and then, FAMILY. By putting God FIRST in our lives, means that we are to be devoting SIGNIFICANT time to our daily contact with Him. This should always be our number one priority in life! Then, by putting our families next after God, we’re building the relationship God intended families to have.
On the first point, (God being our top priority), Mr. Armstrong asked some important questions in a brethren letter dated February 1, 1960.
Are you still DILIGENTLY seeking God every day? Do you go to a private place and PRAY EARNESTLY at least three times a day? Do you devote at least an hour a day to BIBLE STUDY, seeking to learn GOD’S WILL, and to LIVE IT? That is what we must all do! Is your heart and your life simply FILLED with JOY? Do you simply radiate smiles and JOY to others all day long? YOU WILL — if you seek God more earnestly — seek FIRST the Kingdom of God, and HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS — forsaking your own thoughts and ways. Your personal blessings will multiply. I know by experience!!
Yes, blessings will begin to multiply by seeking God first!!! Next time, I will continue further. Have a wonderful Sabbath!
Your Brother in Christ,
Gary Liebold