Have you ever wondered what makes life complicated ? The answer is sin or sin nature. You may ask how ? Sin or sin nature makes us want more than we need.Sin is what makes us disobey God and do harm to our neighbors or others by coveting what others have. Sin creates fear. You may say how ?We fear that others will do harm to us or others will steal what we have. Or we fear we will get caught when we sin.
Where did sin come from ? It came from Lucifer who became Satan/the devil or the serpent or dragon who enticed Adam and Eve to take the forbidden fruit. (Please see the Bible or the book of Genesis for details)
Let us say you want a solution. The solution is the One who conquered sin or the power of sin. He is Jesus Christ , He is God who came to earth in human form to die for our sins. By repenting of our sins and believing in Jesus we become born again. God gives us a new nature.
The new nature will give us the desire to obey God and love our neighbors.What happen to our sin nature ? our sin nature is defeated but it likes to fight back. It wants to bully the new nature but our new nature should eventually win over our sin nature.
Is life still complicated when we believe or trust in Jesus Christ ? life will become clearer and challenging but God promised He will be with us and help us along the way. Stay close to Jesus and see the salvation of the Lord.
Is this blog about Jesus worth sharing with others ? I hope so, even so come Lord Jesus.
Survival food and expiration dates and the New Year.
I was putting my renewed proof of insurance in my car when I noticed the survival food(energy bar) and water in my glove compartment. I decided to check its expiration dates and I found out it expired in 2010. Needless to say I had to throw them out.
You may say what is the point of blogging it ? The point is this made me think about Jesus, He is our Survival but He has no expiration date.
As the year 2016 is about to pass or expire, let's welcome 2017 with renewed hope in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
May God's grace,mercy, love and peace surround and fill us this coming year as He did the previous years.
Holiness must increase and worldliness must decrease
Maybe the title of this blog is a bit strong but for the good of our soul that's the way it should be. Apostle John wrote in 3 John 2 Beloved I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.
How are you this Christmas ? Did you feel relaxed or stressed out ? The pressure from this world is greater than the pressure or desire to please God, is it not ?
Let us see what Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30" Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
When I came to America in 1980 I was able to land on a job as an entry level position which led me to be a journey man power plant operator. In simple words I concentrated more on operation of big equipments like steam generating units, pumps, turbines,generators, transformers etc. Fast forward to 2010 in which I retired.
Upon retirement, one of my hobbies is to catch up on maintenance skill. So I bought an electric drill and bought also drill bits. I was used to manual screw driver that I never thought much about it.
A few days ago something clicked in me that maybe my drill set will also work as a driving or driver set. I checked the instruction on my drill set and drill bits and find out it is also a driver set and the drill bits also include driver bits.
Clearly I have overlooked the basics. I laugh at myself now and maybe you laugh at me too. But let us consider....this could be true in our life.
What this got to do in a Christian blog?. Here is my point, many Christians have been living along not bothering to know the basics or not making sure they are saved or that they are going to heaven when they die. They don' t spend some time to ask or read what the Bible say and end up missing heaven.
I am hoping you the reader will not take this life or Christian life lightly. Jesus is very serious about our salvation that He was willing and went to the cross to die for our sins.
Let us make sure we are ready to meet God or Jesus at any time. Besides Jesus could come at any time.
I did not expect myself to be writing a blog with this title. Till yesterday I am somewhat lamenting the fact that i am getting old. I am losing body movements, my memory starts to fade etc. etc.
What made the change is when I realized that now I am more dependent on God. That's it, the more dependent on God i become the more joy I should have. Crazy ? is it not ? But let us look at the Bible.
God told Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9 "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.
Then Paul wrote, therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then i am strong.
pedcomments: as I get older I realize that I am getting more dependent on God and I believe i can rejoice for that. Hallelujah ! Praise the Lord !
I opened the hood of my ten year old car to check something and I noticedthe drive belt or serpentine belt has cracks or frayed on the surface. Less than a year ago I had it replaced and so I did not expect that to crack or fray.But now I have to have it fixed or replaced because if it breaks there will be nothing to drive my water pump, alternator, power steering or in other words my engine could overheat, and I could be stranded or other bad things could happen.
This is same situation in and with our soul. We have problem called sin which is disobedience to God. Left unresolved we will go to hell when we die. But the good news is God provided us with the answer. He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins. By believing in Jesus, we receive His righteousness and He pays for our sins (this is revealed in the Bible). God also sent the Holy Spirit to be our Helper in living for God.
Let's take care of our soul through Jesus before it is too late or come to Jesus while we are alive. Today is the best day for us, because we do not know about tomorrow.
I noticed being saved is still being debated at this time. Let me offer a possible explanation. Salvation is like Jesus giving you a car. First it is a expensive car that no one can afford, it can only be given by God through Jesus Christ. So salvation is a free gift, through faith in Jesus Christ.
Now salvation like a car has to be lived or enjoyed. We have to own it or receive it. Like a car we have to register it,insure it, learn to operate it, and maintain it.
You may say looks like we are working for it but the truth is we still need Jesus and the Holy Spirit to own it,insure it, operate and maintain it.
In other words salvation is absolute dependence on God. You may say what if we neglect it or not use it, then maybe we do not have it .
Briefly, we celebrate Christmas by giving gifts to our loved ones(that is one way). I wonder how other people celebrate Christmas. Perhaps to others December is just another month .
If we are not careful, we could forget why Jesus came or why He was born.
This Christmas let us ponder about Jesus. He came to give us life and have it more abundantly. He came that we may have everlasting life. But everlasting life may be hard to understand for some with other needs.
As Christians, let us listen for God's voice and how we can share with others.
I wish I or someone could talk to you in person about Jesus.
I have been writing about Jesus for quite some time but I wish I or someone could talk to you in person about Jesus.
But how about you (people who have not met me personally) ?would you like to talk about Jesus with the purpose of knowing Him more ?
If Jesus is not true then we Christians are of most people miserable. But if Jesus is true then we should know Him. Not only know Him but also have Him in our thoughts, heart and in our deeds.
But here is another more important question, does Jesus knows us ?
The Bible says in the future (perhaps after we die) we will see Jesus, are we going to wait for that time to find outif we really belong to Him ?
If you are sure you know Jesus, then let us rejoice! Do I know about Jesus ? May God allow me to know Him more. Let us know Him more and more.
Tradition has it that our Lord Jesus was born in Dec. 25. Some claim that it was a warm month probably not December because the shepherds who saw the baby were out in the fields. Anyway let us celebrate that Jesus our Savior came to earth as a baby to save us from our sins on a certain day and month about 2,000 years.
Briefly He came , lived, presented the Kingdom of God, was crucified, died , resurrected, stayed around 40 days and left for heaven.
According to the Bible , He is supposed to rule and reign or in other words to be our King. To do that He has to come back, but when? I found a possible clue in the Bible 1 Corinthians 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump : for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed.
Comment: President elect Donald Trump will be serving at least four years, could Jesus be coming back within that time frame ? Trump was mentioned in the Bible " at the last trump" could that be a clue ? maybe not but I just hope our Lord Jesus could come back very soon.
Revelation 22:20 says... Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
