This week I am sharing a post I wrote for the Global Staff Women of Cru who I worked with for 32 years. Dr. Bill and Vonette Bright founded Cru in 1951.
Dr. Bill Bright, Courtesy Cru Archives.
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Putting and keeping first things first was Dr. Bill Bright’s invitation to us as he stepped down as Cru President in 2001.
He did not know the timing of when he would go to glory, but he knew he had a terminal diagnosis. This gave him time to think, pray, and prepare what he wanted to leave with the staff—the people he loved. As he handed off to Steve Douglass, he gave the staff who were present a bonded leather study Bible and a bookmark.
It was not difficult to figure out what we would do with a Bible. After all, in our line of “work,” we make use of its content daily. However, the bookmark might seem like a trite throwaway to some.
What makes it so memorable, at least to me, is the fact that the Great Commission was only one part of one sentence near the end of the back side of the bookmark. This from a man who signed all his public letters for decades: Yours for fulfilling the Great Commission in this generation, Bill Bright.
Why would a man who spent most of his adult life invested in fulfilling the Great Commission, devote so little to it in his “last words” gift to those he led for decades in that endeavor? Because he recognized how small he was in light of eternity, and because there was one thing essential to fulfill the Great Commission.
He realized the real challenge was that “everyone is dying for a drop of love.*” With that, he understood that no individual had the natural capacity to love deeply enough, apart from Jesus. Only Jesus can provide the supernatural flow of Love needed to fulfill the Great Commission.
The Bookmark Is All About Relationships.
We love God first so we can love others:
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.” This is our vertical relationship with God, which Jesus repaired for us.
“A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Our horizontal relationship with people is exemplified by the Golden Rule, an important entrée to the Great Commission. The more deeply we grasp how we are personally loved, the more motivated we become to spread that love to all with whom we come in contact.
What happens when the first commandment is out of place? What if we try to fulfill the second commandment to love others before we fulfill the first commandment?
We quickly discover that we do not have sufficient resources. We strive and wrestle with our will to “do the right thing.” Paul tells us that does not work. “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Galatians 1:10
We do not lose hope, because John encourages us with his exhortation. “By this, we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.” I John 5:2-3
When we keep God’s first things first, everything else flows naturally from there.
Return to our first love
Dr. Bright constantly encouraged us to return to our first love. He understood the passion of the staff to “do the right thing.” I also believe he fully comprehended human nature, personally and through observation of others.
The most important thing to keep Cru “on mission” was to point us to the supernatural, circular reaction of receiving God’s love and loving God in return. He knew that we love only because God loves us first. 1 John 4:19
I invite each of us to ask the Holy Spirit to show us what would be helpful for us to readjust. To reveal what may have worked its way between us and our first love. It is as simple as exhaling, by giving those blocks back to Jesus to deal with. Then we inhale a fresh infilling of the Love of God.
I hope you can take some time to sit with the entire bookmark for a while. We can all be blessed with it as we meditate on this recommissioning. After all, they are not Dr. Bright’s commandments; first things first: They are our Abba’s heart’s desire for us.
May we experience, and never forget, the joy of keeping first things first.
*quote from A Little Drop of Love, Henrietta Mears, How she helped change a generation and you can too, P111.
