A servant's wholeheartedness in the obedience to his Lord is a pivotal part of his relationship to his master. Before the climax of this famous gospel story, this revolutionary gospel story, the Holy Spirit was not sent down to guide us toward holiness. There was an emptiness. And for all who has not yet still received the Holy Spirit, there will forever be a hole until they soften up, open up, and become vulnerable towards the very satisfying gift of Jesus Christ. The Spirit guides us into the holy life that God intended for us when he made men in his image. While still being in the flesh and still having been a fallen race, we will always desire selfishly and never cease to lean towards worldliness until we finally have been sanctified. The Holy Spirit transforms us through the very parts of the human flesh that are deciding factors in all areas of our self-controlled lives.
" And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." Mark 12:30 ESV
Our heart, our very emotional center, our mind, our very mental center, our soul, our very spiritual center, and our strength that comes from our body, our very physical center. The Holy Spirit fills every part of it while God waits for us to accept his will in our lives as we are transformed in every way. This transformation as we can see is a mutual relationship between the rebellious creation in response to the glorious and all-loving creator. Or at least, it has to be mutual for any sort of fruit to be reflected in life on earth. God does his part, while we accept his sovereign shaping and molding. Because of God's merciful sparing and gracious giving, any part of mutuality on our part is shown through our surrender of humane will to his supernatural, perfect will in order to follow his call. When we finally recognize that we need to surrender to his will with our lives as a living sacrifice to him holy and pleasing(Romans 12:1), the usual process that would happen in is first in speech. For it to be fully shown in any individual's life takes a lifetime of pursuit. As God speaks from his word - and in full and total truth, is speaking with is word as I am typing this very word - we begin to consciously begin to surrender to God's will through almost all of our actions aiming to build our brothers and sisters up. In every part of our lives, every part of our day, we begin to see the glorious riches of God freely as the Spirit begins to overwhelm us. Our only purpose on life now slowly begins to be living for the name of Jesus Christ and for the sake of the gospel. Does our life look like this? That in all things, we see God and his glory, that in everything, we seek to praise God, and lift up all worth he deserves? What are we leaving for ourselves that belongs to God?
Now comes the third and final part of our earthly process and progression, that is if we build our house upon a solid foundation and are always on careful watch, we will begin to unconsciously surrender ourselves to God and every slip of word that we say. In fact, we will not slip out any filthy, disgracing word when this part of our mental center becomes surrendered up to God fully because we will begin to understand and discipline ourselves to let God tame the beast. Do we always mean the prayers that we speak, or do we daydream about the amazing steak dinners or the restful sleep that we are about to have? Full surrender will not cut God short of what we can offer. Just as our physical motions reflect our mental interpretation of our heart according to our selfishness or spiritual devotion of our soul, our actions our ultimately stemmed off of our feelings that comes from our purpose and desire of our hungry souls. Full surrender is the reflection of the whole heart.
"Then Jesus told his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man to gain the whole world, but forfeit his soul?"
Matthew 16:24-26a
And we can only imagine what it would profit a man to gain his soul and forfeit the whole world. Live as to leave nothing behind and cutting nothing short of the fraction we can offer to God with everything we've got. Every motion, every word, every song, every prayer, every life, every second.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
ON OUR KNEES AS WHERE WE SHOULD BE
Day after day, we go through a great amount of schedules and in result of the work involved in these schedules, a great deal of stress. This is only in our school and business lives. In our interpersonal and intrapersonal relational lives, we go through a great amount of physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual toil. Many times we wonder why things are just not going our way, why a certain burden has to fall upon our shoulders, why God has planned for us His plan? We worry, sometimes unconsciously knowing, but many times consciously knowing that God's plan is the perfect plan; perfectly knit together in His sovereign hands. The thoughts that arise that leads us into confusion about each and every struggle shouldn't be our question of why we are dealing with such pain, but more why we are such worrywarts. God explains in Matthew 6 that as we focus our eyes on his grace surrounding our lives at every square centimeter of this big universe of ours, we see the birds and grass being clothed only by the glorious beauty of our God, why shall we still be anxious. And then Jesus says if he clothes that which will be thrown into the fire with such amazing grace, will he not clothe us, "O you of little faith?"
Bingo! That's what we are lacking. Faith, what Hebrews 11 calls, the assurance of hope for things unseen. When we are assured with something, it is, I can almost say, established. We don't think perfect is good enough. Afterall, God does promise us the perfect plan for our lives because He does know all of creation before its existence and has known all that is to come before it is to be.
The reason we are created is to glorify the Father in all things (1 Corinthians 10), to worship Him with everything we are (Luke 4:8), and to, in that way, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." Matthew 28:19-20a ESV This is what God meant when He said, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. We are lacking in faith, and lacking in the correct and holy intentions that God desires for us to obtain. It is only by our seeking of God, and therefore, branching down to knowing the will of God, that will lead us to a life of peace with God now until forever because we are already living in eternity once we've believed in the Son of God as our hope of salvation and our Savior who has redeem us with His blood. (John 3:16) Imagine that; a life of peace with God, forever. We can all get there if we know what our Savior wants for us.
"Do not be anxious in anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7
Surrender every part of your life to God, giving all you have before his feet, lifting any load on your shoulders to God. Understand that through that, his grace is sufficient for Jesus Christ has already lifted up every sin, every burden, yesterday, today, and forever up to God so that we might inherit a transcending peace, which makes us one with our Lord Jesus Christ as He intended for us. When we understand once and for all that we have to restore our relationship with the creator as his creation after falling into the devastation of sin, and when we understand that Jesus Christ has already provided a door for us to step into where there will be no more pain, no more suffering, no more tears, no more mourning, where the water from the spring of life will not stop being offered to our thirsty souls (Revelation 21), when we understand that this position of grace and peace can be entered into as we have our eyes solely on Jesus Christ and the kingdom where he is seated on the throne where he will soon exalt us to as we humble ourselves to become a servant to all, we will then recognize how great the taste is.
Let go of all pride in every way and keep your eyes locked where the treasure is sealed. As a wise man once said, "Let your passion overflow because of the love of Jesus, the gracious hand extended by Jesus, and the hope of glory only by our Savior, but guard your heart with humility. Even as you do so, do not let that keep you from speaking loud with your life and proclaiming His name."
Bingo! That's what we are lacking. Faith, what Hebrews 11 calls, the assurance of hope for things unseen. When we are assured with something, it is, I can almost say, established. We don't think perfect is good enough. Afterall, God does promise us the perfect plan for our lives because He does know all of creation before its existence and has known all that is to come before it is to be.
The reason we are created is to glorify the Father in all things (1 Corinthians 10), to worship Him with everything we are (Luke 4:8), and to, in that way, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." Matthew 28:19-20a ESV This is what God meant when He said, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. We are lacking in faith, and lacking in the correct and holy intentions that God desires for us to obtain. It is only by our seeking of God, and therefore, branching down to knowing the will of God, that will lead us to a life of peace with God now until forever because we are already living in eternity once we've believed in the Son of God as our hope of salvation and our Savior who has redeem us with His blood. (John 3:16) Imagine that; a life of peace with God, forever. We can all get there if we know what our Savior wants for us.
"Do not be anxious in anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7
Surrender every part of your life to God, giving all you have before his feet, lifting any load on your shoulders to God. Understand that through that, his grace is sufficient for Jesus Christ has already lifted up every sin, every burden, yesterday, today, and forever up to God so that we might inherit a transcending peace, which makes us one with our Lord Jesus Christ as He intended for us. When we understand once and for all that we have to restore our relationship with the creator as his creation after falling into the devastation of sin, and when we understand that Jesus Christ has already provided a door for us to step into where there will be no more pain, no more suffering, no more tears, no more mourning, where the water from the spring of life will not stop being offered to our thirsty souls (Revelation 21), when we understand that this position of grace and peace can be entered into as we have our eyes solely on Jesus Christ and the kingdom where he is seated on the throne where he will soon exalt us to as we humble ourselves to become a servant to all, we will then recognize how great the taste is.
Let go of all pride in every way and keep your eyes locked where the treasure is sealed. As a wise man once said, "Let your passion overflow because of the love of Jesus, the gracious hand extended by Jesus, and the hope of glory only by our Savior, but guard your heart with humility. Even as you do so, do not let that keep you from speaking loud with your life and proclaiming His name."
Thursday, September 10, 2009
GLORIOUS BEYOND ALL GLORY
God being the maker of the heavens and the earth, the stars and the moon, and everything in the universe. The Creator of Adam and of Eve; both being in the image of God. And all of us, being descendants of Adam and Eve, also made in the image of God. We are but a reflection of God's character, but a reflection of God's grace, but a reflection of God's glory. What does that mean though? Organ after organ He has created, face after face, nerve after nerve, psychology after psychology, personality after personality. And each one of these personalities and known and gripped tightly in the hands and the mind of God; this omniscient mind. This holy, sympathetic, loving mind knows us all by far more intimately than anyone in the universe may ever know us; I mean, who can know us better than our creator anyways?
But, how does that tie in our being made in his image? Does he call us to know each mind as he does? Surely not, because the power of our sin limits us in every way; from the way we think to the potential ways that we can act according to our obedience to God. A man feeding a homeless beggar on the street is an image of compassion, but is not the only image. As an image of God, we show a glimpse of his character and are to live to show a glimpse of his glory. That is also why we are in pursuit of his holiness because we will never cease to be amazed by his perfection in every way, and in his omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience. We are pursuing constantly, in his image to understand personalities at every level. God calls us all to sympathize/empathize with all personality in a constant pursuit to understand him more. Is it necessary? Speaking in terms of our free will, what is ever necessary to us? But, speaking in terms of God's grace and the reflection of our love according to our reverent fear of God, it is definitely necessary to honor him. This is the same as asking the question, is glorifying God, whether in this way or that, necessary? As Paul has exhorted the Corinthian church, in personal testimony - "To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I may win those under the law. To those outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people that by all means I might save some. I do this all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings." (1 Corinthians 9:20-23) - he shows us that whoever he is among (and even those he might not be among) he was willing to sympathize with these people for the glory of God because he was made as an ambassador of Christ and in the image of God. And even before this, he says that he does this to become a servant to all.
Afterall, how are we to edify the body if we do not understand our body of believers individual by individual. In this, Paul encourages to unite us as a body of believers in order to edify each other in our ways of thinking, our perspectives of our faith. So in this way, we become qualified to spur in other and push each other toward loving Christ in the image of God in order to become a servant to all in unity with all servants under God and under his children(only being a mental standpoint and not the truth) so that we might give God all the glory for the grace and peace he's poured on our lives that we are now sinking in.
But, how does that tie in our being made in his image? Does he call us to know each mind as he does? Surely not, because the power of our sin limits us in every way; from the way we think to the potential ways that we can act according to our obedience to God. A man feeding a homeless beggar on the street is an image of compassion, but is not the only image. As an image of God, we show a glimpse of his character and are to live to show a glimpse of his glory. That is also why we are in pursuit of his holiness because we will never cease to be amazed by his perfection in every way, and in his omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience. We are pursuing constantly, in his image to understand personalities at every level. God calls us all to sympathize/empathize with all personality in a constant pursuit to understand him more. Is it necessary? Speaking in terms of our free will, what is ever necessary to us? But, speaking in terms of God's grace and the reflection of our love according to our reverent fear of God, it is definitely necessary to honor him. This is the same as asking the question, is glorifying God, whether in this way or that, necessary? As Paul has exhorted the Corinthian church, in personal testimony - "To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I may win those under the law. To those outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people that by all means I might save some. I do this all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings." (1 Corinthians 9:20-23) - he shows us that whoever he is among (and even those he might not be among) he was willing to sympathize with these people for the glory of God because he was made as an ambassador of Christ and in the image of God. And even before this, he says that he does this to become a servant to all.
Afterall, how are we to edify the body if we do not understand our body of believers individual by individual. In this, Paul encourages to unite us as a body of believers in order to edify each other in our ways of thinking, our perspectives of our faith. So in this way, we become qualified to spur in other and push each other toward loving Christ in the image of God in order to become a servant to all in unity with all servants under God and under his children(only being a mental standpoint and not the truth) so that we might give God all the glory for the grace and peace he's poured on our lives that we are now sinking in.
Monday, September 7, 2009
OUR REPONSE TO GOD'S GRACIOUS GIFT
Being surrounded by the presence of a mixture of beautiful trees deeply rooted and bearing such rich fruit and trees of the same size, yet bearing bitter tasting fruit is a strange feeling. The reason for the word "strange" and not "bad" is because it is an unexplainable feeling. I can't even call it bittersweet because it is not good or bad. It is a feeling of being stretched, being able to empathize, being able to sympathize, being able to serve, being able to love; in the truth of the word of God, Paul the apostle calls us to be lights of the world in Philippians 2:12-18 right after speaking of the LIGHT of the world. This refers back to when Jesus calls us all to be the light of the world, made to shine in Matthew 5:14-16. What does it mean to be a light of the world? And to tie light's partner in crime in this; what does it mean to be salt of the world?
"You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."
Matthew 5:13-16 ESV
To be a light is to shine, to be noticed, to be radiant in brightness. To be a light is to be impossible to be unnoticed because a light that shines its brightest will cover up all darkness. It will be greater than any darkness when it is at its highest potential. Salt is pure and is made to be salty. We ought to be salty, if we are not, we are of no use. If we are not aiming for holiness, what are we aiming for? Jesus says in John 8:12 that we are light because he is THE LIGHT of the world and when we bear witness to him, his light will be in us. It is by the holiness of Christ, the absolute, undeniable perfection of Jesus Christ that we are put in stewardship to be a light; to shine. It is because we've seen his compassionate heart to heal the invalid, his forgiveness towards the Pharisees for challenging the plan of salvation, his grace extended to those who came to kill him, his humility on the cross while being mocked by those he came to save, his loving sacrifice for generations after generations of undeserving people, and yet still the glory in the Father's sovereign plans in our lives that we bear witness to this light, and this lamp unto our feet.
What kind of light shall we be then? Over and over again I read in 1 Thessalonians as Paul exhorts this Thessalonian church, "walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more.", "have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more", "Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing." More and more, you're doing it, but do it more and more and more. Why? "This is the will of God, your sanctification"(1 Thessalonians 4:3). " Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Thessalonians 5:23) That we be without blemish. Without blemish. SPOTLESS. WITHOUT BLEMISH.
When God calls us to be humble, he doesn't say be humble when you're comfortable to be because surely Jesus was humble even when he was not comfortable to be. When he calls us to love, he says love until it hurts and keep loving until it hurts because it is in my will for you to undergo affliction for the sake of the glory of my name. And surely, as affliction comes, God is the God of ALL comfort(2 Corinthians 1). Yes, you have been humble, yes you have been loving, yes you have held on tight to your integrity, yes you have been sober and been children of light, children of the day, yes you have been bearing richly tasting fruit, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. Because God says, I expect more. This is what you ought to do. Because you only get to be a light that bears witness to my name because I have graced you with life. It is because of me, so now it is up to you.
"You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."
Matthew 5:13-16 ESV
To be a light is to shine, to be noticed, to be radiant in brightness. To be a light is to be impossible to be unnoticed because a light that shines its brightest will cover up all darkness. It will be greater than any darkness when it is at its highest potential. Salt is pure and is made to be salty. We ought to be salty, if we are not, we are of no use. If we are not aiming for holiness, what are we aiming for? Jesus says in John 8:12 that we are light because he is THE LIGHT of the world and when we bear witness to him, his light will be in us. It is by the holiness of Christ, the absolute, undeniable perfection of Jesus Christ that we are put in stewardship to be a light; to shine. It is because we've seen his compassionate heart to heal the invalid, his forgiveness towards the Pharisees for challenging the plan of salvation, his grace extended to those who came to kill him, his humility on the cross while being mocked by those he came to save, his loving sacrifice for generations after generations of undeserving people, and yet still the glory in the Father's sovereign plans in our lives that we bear witness to this light, and this lamp unto our feet.
What kind of light shall we be then? Over and over again I read in 1 Thessalonians as Paul exhorts this Thessalonian church, "walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more.", "have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more", "Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing." More and more, you're doing it, but do it more and more and more. Why? "This is the will of God, your sanctification"(1 Thessalonians 4:3). " Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Thessalonians 5:23) That we be without blemish. Without blemish. SPOTLESS. WITHOUT BLEMISH.
When God calls us to be humble, he doesn't say be humble when you're comfortable to be because surely Jesus was humble even when he was not comfortable to be. When he calls us to love, he says love until it hurts and keep loving until it hurts because it is in my will for you to undergo affliction for the sake of the glory of my name. And surely, as affliction comes, God is the God of ALL comfort(2 Corinthians 1). Yes, you have been humble, yes you have been loving, yes you have held on tight to your integrity, yes you have been sober and been children of light, children of the day, yes you have been bearing richly tasting fruit, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. Because God says, I expect more. This is what you ought to do. Because you only get to be a light that bears witness to my name because I have graced you with life. It is because of me, so now it is up to you.
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