Indirectly, What I Think Should Be Most Important Priorities in Our Country and in the World

(by Bill Stevenson-- May 24, 1999)

1. My personal application translation of the “Golden Rule” indicated in most religions’ holy books is
“Think before I say and do anything, would I want that said or done to me?” How many marriage,
church, school, business, government, and other problems would not even happen if this question was
asked by each of us? What percentage?
2. What is the common cause of every sin? Selfishness!! What if each of us purposed to be less and
less selfish and more and more unselfish? What would happen to the daily amount of law and rule
breaking, lying, deceit, slander, gossip, arguing, controlling, nagging, political mistakes, adultery,
fornication, unthankfullness, superficiality, etc.? See Galatians 5:14-21 and 2 Timothy 3:1-5.
How does the following Scripture relate-- “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”?
(Galatians 5:22-23) With (a) Holy Spirit help and (b) understanding God’s desires for us found in the
Bible can we (a) think and do contrary to the “fallen sinful nature of mankind” and (b) experience the
God-proclaimed “good” human nature (Genesis 1:27-31) which was pure/righteous, thankful to and
trusting God completely. My personal translation of Proverbs 3: 5-6 is “Trust in God with all of my
heart, rely not on my understanding or past experience. In all of my decision-determining times and
actions I will acknowledge Him, and He will direct me what I should say or/and do.” Philippians 4:4-
8 is also helpful in guiding me too. How do you relate to those verses in Apostle’s Paul’s last letter?
3. What if the attributes of God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit were emphasized,
especially the following: God the Father being everywhere (not just in Heaven), all knowing, always
compassionate (concerned and able to provide for all of our needs), righteous and just. When in
human form, Jesus Christ was the best example of God-pleasing relating to others of the following
character traits-- attentiveness, availability, carefulness, compassion, consistency, contentment,
cooperation, creativity, decisiveness, dependability, endurance, faithfulness, flexibility, forgiveness,
generosity, gentleness, hopefulness, joyfulness, kindness, meekness, obedience, patience,
purposefulness, respectfulness, righteousness, thankfulness, thoroughness, thriftiness, tolerance,
truthfulness, wisdom teaching. The Holy Spirit is the believers’ reprover (or convicter) of sin,
comforter, encourager, and teacher (guide to all individually-needed truth). [See John 14-17.] How
might you share with others each of the things mentioned about the Godhead (or the Trinity)? How
would such sharing/teaching help our society and other societies?
4. According to Romans 14:17, “The Kingdom of God” for today is “righteousness, peace, and joy”.
We are only responsible for the righteousness part with Holy Spirit help; the other two are blessings
from God when we do 1 John 1:9 and the appropriate apologies, retribution if necessary, and
repentance (change or changes in habits of attitude and doing). How would you define righteousness,
divine peace, and divine joy? The three word list is in chronological order. Think about past
memories of resolved conflict or disobedience experiences for proof of the last statement. Also, look
at the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:3-11 as if they are in chronological order for the development of each
belief or conviction.
5. Where can you find qualities of God-pleasing relationships? Try looking at the whole Ephesians
Epistle for such. Do not think historically or theologically (the normal way in fundamentalist Bible
teaching churches); focus on discovering the attitudes and actions necessary to have God-pleasing
relationships. How can we avoid being modern-day Pharisees or religious judgmental snobs? Don’t
do the Ephesians study in one sitting; don’t do more than one chapter for each sitting. The best way
for such a study would be with a small group of such seekers.
After doing the just mentioned, think about how more and more Ephesians 5 marriages could help our
society and other societies. Many people have been turned-off to the traditional evangelistic outreach
attempts; how could Ephesians 5 couples interest such people “to try God or Christianity” again (or
for the first time)?

Note: I have Bible study tools and other helps for each of the above indicate priorities. I would be glad
to fill any requests, no charge (but hopefully, you might want to send an offering for
copying/printing and postage expenses determined by how much you are blessed).