Getting to the Meat of the Issue

I was reading in Hebrews this morning and came across some verses in chapter 6, that many people including myself have read and heard many times, but as I read them today they challenged me in a brand new way. That is maybe one of the coolest things about the Bible, is you can read the same passage ten thousand times and still gain new insights from it. In Hebrews chapter 6:1-3, The writer of Hebrews continues a thought from the end of Chapter 5. He has just told them that they ought to be mature and teaching, ready for solid food, but instead they still need milk. He urges them and us to move past the elementary principles and lists: > WATER BAPTISM
> LAYING ON OF HANDS >RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD >JUDGEMENT OF THE DEAD. If you look at the issues that separate the different denominations, most of them come from beliefs on these issues. This raises the question to me, What are the weightier matters? What is it that we are to be progressing toward? I believe that the answer is our relationship with Christ. In the same way that Jesus criticized the pharisees for obeying the letter of the law but having their hearts far from him, we can make it all about believing the right things about our favorite pet issue, and totally miss the point of why we do those things in the first place. I am in no way suggesting that it is not important what you believe about those issues. I encourage everyone to study the bible and see God's answer to them and live accordingly, To work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. And move on grow closer to God each day, and do not let the fact that someone else interprets the scriptures on these issues differently then you, stop you from showing the love of our God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, which we can only show if we are living each day in a relationship with him.