Luke 2:19 English Standard Version (ESV) But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.

The first thing Mary did was take it to heart. Care was indicated. Careful consideration is at the core of the pondering heart. Thoughts can run through our minds so fast that we don’t have time to give them a second thought. Then there are the curiosities. We all do love a good mystery. Maybe not, I can only speak for myself.

I had several candidates of scripture to choose from to begin this devotional. I was looking for this particular one and it was found. The reason for choosing this verse comes from the issue of the resident of our heart, the Spirit of Truth and our Lord Jesus Christ. We have taken them to heart and if we take those things we care about to heart, they will shine light upon those cares.

My pondering heart this morning considered the issue of innocence. It has been so long since I was innocent that I cannot honestly recall what it felt like. We define so much in our bible studies and it seems that we neglect innocence as a topic because we were in need of a savior. We are guilty. Our guilt is no longer an issue thanks to the work of the Cross of Jesus Christ. His sacrifice paid the price for our punishment but did not undo the deeds we have done.

Perhaps that is as good a definition of innocence as I can come up with. Innocence has not done it. What it is can be defined as the loss of innocence. What was done is irrelevant. Sin is sin and does not need to be qualified, categorized or marginalized. It is the awareness of guilt that places each of us in the category of needing salvation. How it comes and when it comes is personal to each of us. It happened so long ago many of us do not remember what innocence feels like.

I do know how it feels to be forgiven.

Ecclesiastes 1:9 English Standard Version (ESV) What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.

One of our human traits is forgetfulness. Yesterday I said we need to be consistent in maintaining contact with lost souls God has placed in our lives. Consistent behavior means making a commitment to our ministry. Naturally priorities need to be set and our time divided but we should not neglect our duty to witness. What goes on our list of priorities is important. That list can get long.

A doctor of theology repeated in every teaching, “Repetition if the price of knowledge.” That term knowledge would best be defined as memory. What value can be gained by reading only Paul’s epistle to the Romans? There is much to be learned there but there is so much more to learn. The more we read a thing the better it is for us to remember. The older I get the trickier my memory is in getting the facts right.

How high up on the list is reading the bible? How high up on the list is group bible study? How high up on the list is accountability counseling? Mentoring? Discipleship? Now it seems our time is being measured by Kingdom duties vs worldly chores. It is up to each of us to make priorities and to schedule our time. The difficult part is not losing contact because of priorities.

Reading Paul’s epistles you will note names of men that were faithful to help Paul in his duties. It might seem that they served Paul but in reality they served our Lord Jesus Christ. The lesson there is that we should not think that we have to do all the work of the ministry by ourselves. Introduce your salvation candidates to Godly people that can heighten their experience. Then they will have someone to turn to if you are out of town, sick, or tending to immediate critical needs.