Being humans we tend to fall in love with ourselves. In our thinking, words and actions, we normally put ourselves as priority.The problem with that is we are imperfect, we often missed the mark.Often times we are hard on ourselves.
So to fall in love with Jesus Christ is unnatural for us. Falling in love with Jesus involves surrender. We need to put love for ourselves second to Jesus Christ. Maybe you will say, that might lead to disaster. On the other hand it will lead to exciting life, something you and i never dreamed possible.
I believe everyone on this earth got involved in careful planning in one way or another. Whether it is starting a business, choosing a career, going abroad, planning a vacation, planning for retirement, where to invest, things to buy , where to get food, doing a job, meeting a deadline, taking a visa or work interview, clothes to buy, what to eat , applying for loan etc, entering into marriage, etc.
I believe or as the Bible says God planned carefully how He will save man knowing that His creation will fall. That Adam and Eve will disobey His command and that the result of disobience is death. God already planned a way of saving mankind.
Out of His own creation as the Bible revealed God carefully planned and performed the way of salvation. From Adam and Eve came Cain and Abel and other sons and daughters. Man continued to sin but Noah found grace in His sight. Out of Noah 's descendants came Abraham, lsaac, Jacob. Out of the twelve tribes of Israel came Moses, then Joshua. Later came David and eventually Jesus Christ. (For more details please refer to the Holy Bible)
Through Jesus Christ, God is providing man a way or the only way of salvation. God who is revealed in three Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit has been working since time immemorial.
God is revealing Himself , and His ways in the Holy Bible. He also reveal Himself in many other ways but I believe the Holy Bible provides the best way to know God.
Let us look at chess and football first. To those who love these games, these are serious and exciting games. Intense battles happen,the planning , the preparation, execution etc.Even for example watching championship games and documentaries of winning player, players or team, you can sense intense devotion, come from behinds, snatching victory from defeat. I guess these are true in other sports.
How about in Christian life ? The life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, for me seems to present greater excitement. The death of our Lord Jesus Christ seemingly presents the greatest tragedy in human history yet it turned out to be the greatest victory after the resurrection.
How about our Christian life now ?our Christian life competes with the attraction of this world. Let me ask you, how do you see the Christian life, your Christian life ? Is it worth it ? I believe when we actually see what the ultimate result will be, we will say , it is a life worth living.
If we ask this question to everyone living in planet earth today, what answers will we get ? Some will say who's God? what promises ? Could it be , we will receive 7 billion answers ?
So let me ask another question, have you read the Bible ? If yes, does the God of the Bible keep His promises ?
I do believe everyone has a God or god, even atheists. The one we listen to is our God or god.
If you have not read the Bible, may i encourage you to read it or at least ask someone who has read it.
Once again yesterday I was sorting my old notes and it brought back memories of yesteryears. I will have to throw away stuff because they are gathering dust and filling up spaces and have to make room for newer things.
Again the problem was which one to keep and which one to throw. By the way those are things how about events both pleasant and unpleasant. They say we can not dwell on the past, whether good or bad because we might forget about living in the present.
According to the Bible the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, they are new every morning. Great is God's faithfulness. Even sins that we committed and that we can not forget, let me ask you does God remember those ? According to the Bible when we confess them to the Lord , God remember those sins no more. And if we ask Him, He most likely say He does not remember those anymore. His Son Jesus Christ already paid for them. Does that mean we can go on sinning ? No of course, through repentance, confession , prayers and the help of the Holy Spirit, soon sin loses its grip on us. And as we get stronger, sin loses its power over us.
Let Jesus give you a fresh start, new life, and let new memories replace old memories. If old memories try to stay let the blood of Jesus Christ cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
My thirty years of work in power plant operation ingrained in me the importance of clear communication. Communication in a power plant usually means life or death or injury if a procedure is misapplied.
My almost forty years of reading the Holy Bible revealed that Jesus Christ is our only hope or our Blessed Hope.
Spiritual matters are far more important than life and death since they involve eternity.
In summary, I believe as we take care of our daily lives that we take the time of how we will face eternity. I believe having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is best.
According to Bible prophecy, Jesus Christ will someday rule . His government or kingdom shall have no end . This is written in Isaiah 9:7 and Luke 1:33.
As I understand Jesus Christ will have to return visibly as He promised. There is also a teaching that before He comes visibly, that He will gather His saints dead and alive secretly and without warning in an event called the rapture or the snatching away. The rapture will no longer be secret once there will be observed that millions of Christians will be missing. It is believed that the rapture will come in the twinkling of an eye or 1 thousandth of a second.
I believe this rule of the Lord Jesus Christ is about to come true. Perhaps at present time or in twenty to fifty years.
Let us get ready , by being busy in the Lord's work. Encourage and love one another.
What a subject for a blog. Another term is garbage dump. This is how the subject came about. I was doing clean up, sorting through accumulation in our backyard and garage. It is amazing that it is really hard to clean up as we look at things you used to love and keep. But yet some has missing parts or broken parts. So I started throwing things and even said some are not worth saving. Then seems I heard a whisper that says I did not say that with you.A thought came to mind that when God saved us, He did not say, i or we are not worth saving. Let me clarify that.
We as creatures of God are really worth much but when we sin or disobey God in essence we are turning our back to the One who gave us life. Or we become junks or garbage not because of God but because of our choices. But God loves us so much that He made a way to recover us or reclaim us by sending His Son to die for our sins.
Often we look at ourselves as worthy, good, righteous but without God we are really junks. Without God we are destined for hell or wasteland. But Jesus came that we may have life and have it more abundantly.
Is God into condemning people ? No He is not, but when we reject Him or pretend that we love or obey Him, He is not happy with that. Let us not wait for tomorrow to seek God, start today. And when we turn back to God, God will reverse the process from junkyard to the palace , from ashes to beauty, from death to life.
Eyeglasses are meant to help us see better for those of us with eye problem. But what if our glasses are missing. After about five years since my last eye exam, i decided to have a new pair of glasses. Tonight I woke up and i could not find my glasses. I have other glasses but I wanted to make sure I find this missing one because I want to make sure my memory is not failing me , that I could recall where i last put them.
Inspite of telling myself to relax and assuring myself that I could find them tomorrow morning, I could'nt settle down. So with the help of flashlight and super slow movement to prevent waking my wife up, I search all possible places where I last put them. This is aggravated by my aching body. Then after what seems forever I found my glasses, on the floor in our bedroom, it may have fell and it's good i did not step on it.
So what is the moral of the story. Too much clutter or activities in our life maybe causing us to not see or neglect what is important in our life. Also in a way the Bible can act as glasses to make us see life better. not having a Bible is to have less tool in life. Like the glasses that fell on the floor we could have inadvertently incorporated in our belief a fase doctrine that lead us to a wild goose chase.
According to my wife, the social media is filled with everything about mothers yesterday. Our church was packed too. I imagine there's a lot of happy mothers out there and their families.
So the day after mother's day, back to work or most of all back to strengthening our faith. Not to forget that mothers have a strong influence in our faith.
I wish there's also a Happy Jesus day, perhaps we can start one. Would you think every day should be a Happy Jesus day ?
