The Path to extreme happiness

All of us can choose any path we want in this life, but the question about this is where would this path lead us? There are so many paths we can take, and all of them can lead us into having different kinds of lifestyle. Some could become successful, and some could even destroy their own lives. So let’s stop and ponder on to this question: Can the path I am taking now lead me to the happiness I desire? Well for me, I believe that there is only one path we could take which would lead us to the extreme happiness.

“After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.”

-Matthew 2:9

 

In the second chapter of the book of Matthew, it was the star that showed the path to the Lord Jesus Christ to the Magis. Now, this star represents the Word of God! It is the Word of God that will lead us back to Him! The path that the Word of God shows is the only path we should take in this life if we want to be with God, where there is happiness, and there is no other way. The other paths we could take in this life will only lead us away from God, His protection, and the extreme happiness, which would lead us to our own destruction. Even though some people had become successful in their lives, without the Word of God guiding them, they would never experience the true and extreme happiness. The only thing that could meet or even exceed the happiness we desire is the Word of God. Just like what happened to the Magis in the following verse.

“When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.”

-Matthew 2:10

The other paths we could take in this life could give us temporary happiness, and that’s just it. And at times, this temporary happiness could even lead us to our own destruction. So what path should we choose now?

As for me, now that I have seen the beauty of God through His Word, there is no way I would take the other paths other than what His Word shows me. Why should I ever exchange the eternal happiness I would get from Him to the other things that would only give me temporary happiness? The happiness or joy I would get from Him is just incomparable. That’s why I choose this path. The path that we all call the “Christian Walk”.


Original link for the photo: http://stellarhousepublishing.com/images/three-wise-men-star.jpg

Don’t look back! Look straight ahead!

I believe that gaining success in life is up for grabs for anyone. I think that it really doesn’t matter whether we are born in a rich or a poor family, for I have seen and heard that there are people who experienced the “Cinderella story” happened in their lives. No doubt, many had become unsuccessful, as it is very visible in our world. Now if anyone can be successful in their lives, then what keeps the people from gaining success?

What keeps people from gaining success in their lives, I believe, is the past. Well it is mainly because that is the only place where failures dwells in. We must know that our failures could greatly affect our future if we keep looking at it. Living in the past can make us stop from attaining our goal. Getting bombarded by our failures will hinder us from growing, learning, and living. Our mindset determines where we are going. And if we set our minds on failing, then that’s where we are destined to. But what should we do if we want to become successful?

“But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

-Philippians 3:13

We all know that Apostle Paul had become successful in his Christian life, and here in this verse, he shared to us the secret of his success. I believe that this secret is not just applicable to our Christian lives, but to any ministry we are in; whether in sports, or in our work, or in our studies. Well what are these secrets shown in this verse?

First is forgetting what is behind. As I have said earlier, past is the dwelling place of failures. If we really want to gain success, then we must leave that one thing that could hinder us from gaining it. Christ has already redeemed us from these failures, for he had carried them all when he was crucified. This is something that we must all remember: In Christ, we are destined to overcome, and not to fail.

Second is straining toward what is ahead and pressing towards the goal. To gain success, our goal must be clearly drawn and set to our mind. As I have said earlier, our mindset determines where we are going. And if we set our minds to become successful in our Christian lives, or in the other things we do, then that is where we are headed to. But setting our minds to the goal isn’t enough, though. We must work hard and strive to attain that goal. And these are the secret to success.


Original link for the photo: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4079/4806155694_db4b895d35.jpg

What should we boast about?

Being humans, do we have any rights to boast about our strengths? In our nature, we love to boast because we want other people to look up to us and get praises from them, but do we have any rights to do this? The truth is, we don’t. And for us believers of Christ, we must always take note of this.

As believers of Christ, we must always know that we only succeed by the grace of God. All of our strength came from it, and I personally believe that we have no rights to boast above anything, knowing that the strength we use for succeeding didn’t come from us. Also, being believers of Christ, we must not live by the flesh, for it’s very common to a man who lives by his flesh to be boastful about himself. But we must live by spirit instead, for in the spirit, we would know the will of God. And it is God’s will for us to not be boastful about our strength.

But even though we have no rights to boast about our strength, we must know that there is still this one thing that God allows us to boast about.

What is this one thing that God wants us to boast about?

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

-2 Corinthians 12:9, NIV

Like what Paul said in the verse above, we can boast about our weakness. Why should boast about our weakness? Because it is where the real strength comes from! If we are broken enough every time we do anything, accepting with all our heart that we are nothing and we can do nothing without the help of God, then that’s the time where God’s grace will move into us. And this grace that moves into us becomes our own strength that will help us to overcome in every obstacle in our lives! This power that God has granted to us through His grace is the only thing we could ever boast about, and in this, I believe.

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.

-2 Corinthians 12:10, NIV

So with this, we must rejoice every time, whether when we are strong or weak, for by God’s grace, we are made overcomers. This grace that has been granted is something that we should rejoice for, for without it, we are nothing.

Original link for the photo: http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/mmo/lowres/mmon365l.jpg

Live by FAITH!

“Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.”

-2 Corinthians 5:1, NIV

As believers, we must know that life here on earth is just like a small period compared to that in eternity. The truth is God just let us experience this life in flesh for the preparation of what is about to come. This earth is not really our home, just like what Paul said in the above verse when he compared this planet to a “tent”. Only our flesh is what belong to this world, for we came from dust, but our soul came from the breath of God, which shows that our real home is in God.

God entrusted us this life on earth to see if we would be obedient to Him. This serves as our test before we enter eternity. Now that answers why problems and temptations enters our life! All of these happened so that we would be prepared before the eternity comes. But only those people who would pass this test, I believe, would be the only ones who would be granted with eternal life. This means that we should not be relaxed in this life, and we must take this seriously. We must not think that this earth is our real home, for this planet will pass away.

What should we do so that we would not be attached from this world?

“Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight.”

-2 Corinthians 5:6-7, NIV

It’s not that easy for a man to lose his attachment to this world, for his body came from it. But we must know that only our body came from this world. It is this world and our flesh that separates us from God. So if we want to come back to God again, where our soul came from, then we must stop living by the human standards. In human standards, we live by what we see. But by God’s standards, we live by believing in Him.

So if we don’t want to be attached from this world, then we must live by the spirit, and not by the flesh. We must live by faith, in Him who created us, and not by what we see, which only man has created. We must set our eyes with an eternity with God as our goal. Only by this, that we would remove our bond with this earthly tent.


Original link for the photo: http://thesaintmarcus.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/faithsign.jpg

Beware of the false gods!

“The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is in the image of God.”

-2 Corinthians 4:4, NIV

Though there are many religions existing today that talks about Christ, we still cannot say if all their members are “real believers”. It could be because that the other gods that exists in our generation is blocking them from knowing the real and only living God. Being a member of a religion that believes in Christ doesn’t mean that you’re already a real believer. Most of the time, these religions only becomes a label to the people, for they believe more and follow on other gods more than the real God, Himself.

So what/who could be the god/s of this generation that blocks men from knowing the real God? For me, I believe that these gods could be in any form that a man idolizes. For example, a man who is hooked into pornography. This man spends all of his time and money watching porn. This man has now made pornography his god, for it blocks him and blinded him from knowing the real God. Another example is the love of money. A man who loves money disregards all of Christ’s teachings, especially on giving to the poor. His love for money blocks him from knowing the real God. There still are many other gods that exists in this generation, but these few examples gives us the picture on why many are blinded from the light of the gospel.

So with these many false gods that exists in this generation, is there anything we could do so that we would not be blinded by them?

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

-2 Corinthians 4:6, NIV

Now for us believers who were already taken out by God from the darkness into the light of the gospel of Christ, we must guard ourselves so that we would not be taken back by the gods of this generation. Now that our eyes are widely opened, we must not let ourselves be taken back to blindness. We must stand firm and be strong to our faith, set our eyes and our heart to the gospel of Christ.

Like what Paul has said on the verse above, this light of the knowledge of God’s glory that is displayed through Christ will keep us away from being pulled back into darkness. With this knowledge of Christ, by being consumed by the Word of God, we will always be on guard from every false god of this generation. Thanks be to God that He has given us the knowledge of Christ. Amen.


Original link for the photo: http://i.annihil.us/u/prod/marvel//universe3zx/images/thumb/4/4f/Blindfold442.jpg/406px-Blindfold442.jpg

What does Jesus’ death means for us?

It’s Holy Week 2012, and we are commemorating the death of Jesus this whole week. But have you asked yourself what does His death means for you? What is the sense of commemorating this event? Can it have an impact on our way of living now? Or you are just doing this because it is a part of your religion’s tradition?

In case you don’t know, Jesus’ death, His sacrifice on the cross is the best thing that happened and will ever happen to you! It is an event that shouldn’t be remembered only once a year, but in each day of your life! Now let’s see why this event is very important for us.

Number 1: Jesus cancelled all the traditions that are done in the Old Testament

Did you know that in the Old Testament, the Israelites are required to give sin offerings so that their sins would be forgiven? Can you imagine if this tradition is still being done now?

First, you need to offer a goat or a lamb. Then second, you need to give this to the priest for them to slaughter and burn. In their time, men had no direct access to God. They have to go to the mediator, which is the priest. Only the priest can make atonement for their sins.

But can you see? Asking forgiveness for your sin is supposed to be this hard. But with Jesus’ sacrifice, you don’t have to this every time you commit sin! Jesus had become the sacrifice and at the same time the mediator between men and God!

Jesus’ death is an event that is very much worth remembering. We don’t have to those things that are done in the Old Testament, Jesus has already done all of them for us!

Number 2: Gentiles were given the chance to have fellowship with God

In case you didn’t know, in the Old Testament, only the Israelites are considered God’s people. If you are not from the line of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, then that means you’re a Gentile. It means that many of us were really not originally God’s people!

But thanks be to God, after Jesus’ ascension, He didn’t forget about us. We must be very thankful that He has commissioned Saul, or now known as Paul to preach the Gospel for us Gentiles. This event changed the entire course of all the beliefs, especially of the Jewish. We are taken as God’s children because of Jesus’ sacrifice!

Number 3: Eternal life is granted to everyone

Romans 6:23 says “For the wages of sin is death”, which states what our reward should be with our sinful nature. We deserve to be punished! We deserve to die. We deserve to be eternally separated with our Creator! But you know what? God love us so much that He doesn’t want us to taste this punishment!

In case you don’t know, in the Old Testament, God has punished all those who did evil in His eyes. An example of this was in the time of Noah. In this time, God has flooded the earth and spared only Noah’s family and the animals that are inside the ark. God showed His wrath against all those who didn’t walk in His ways and preserved only those who loved Him, where in this case, Noah.

God doesn’t want to do this anymore and He wants to preserve all of us. That is why in the continuation of Romans 6:23, apostle Paul said “…but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”

God loves us so much, that is why He gave up His only son for our sake. It should have been us that was hanging on that cross, but not. It is stated in John 3:16 that because God loved us so much that He gave up His only Son! God, being a father should have been really hurt when He gave up His son! But that is how he loved us.

Thanks to the sacrifice that Jesus has done, now all of us can live a life without fear of death. Now, we know that in Jesus Christ, we have an eternal life waiting after our life here on our earthly tent.

So guys, I want you to reflect on these things this whole week, or if you could, for the rest of your lives. Be very thankful on what Jesus has done for you. And if you want to know more about what He has done for you, pick up your Bible and start reading it. God bless everyone! Shalom! 

Original link for the photo: http://kayequintero.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/cross.jpg

Love people and grow spiritually!

There comes a time for every Christian where we become spiritually weak. That time comes when we are bombarded by problems, or we can’t just feel any movement in our spiritual life.

When I was a new Christian, I enjoyed doing my devotions everyday, going to the church and our cell group meetings regularly, and bringing friends into the church. Everyday, I felt that my spiritual life was growing very fast. But the time came to me where I felt so weak spiritually. At that time, I really don’t know what to do. My spirit was so down, and though I am doing all the stuffs a normal Christian do, I felt deep inside me that something is still missing. I thought all these stuffs are enough for me to grow in my spiritual life, but I was proved wrong. Another factor why I went down in my spiritual life is that my friends that I invited to go our church can’t come with me for some for their own respective reasons.

I felt like I was drowning, especially every time I hear our youth pastor say that we should “win souls and make disciples”, and we should not be lazy because it’s already time for harvest. Of course, every Christian MUST win souls and make disciples. I’m doing the best that I can, but every time I invite a friend to go to our church, I almost always got rejected. And also, those people that I have already brought to our church came out backsliding. This makes me feel so spiritually weak, in addition to the pressure that I should bring people to the church.

I believe that being spiritually weak is the reason why many are backsliding from the church. But I don’t want to backslide, and I don’t want to stay feeling like this forever. I need to do something. So even though I was drowning from this, I searched for something that will make my spirit alive again. I read again some of the Christian books I bought before, but they weren’t really a big help to me. It’s just like they have refreshed the things that I already know. Then I went to the mall, entering all the bookstores I know, searching for a book that would be great help for me, and then I found this book called “Holy Fools” by Matthew Woodley. The title sounds intriguing to me, but when I read its overview, I think that this was the book I was looking for. The book didn’t fail me, it has met my desire of knowing what the missing thing is for my spiritual life to grow again. The point in the book that really struck me deep into my heart is that the people doesn’t care of what we know, or how much we know about the bible. What they care about is our LOVE.

The “holy fools” mentioned in the book came out from the “ghetto walls” of the church and went outside, pursuing the lost. They lived with the lost people, embraced them, loved them, and because of this, they grew in their spiritual lives amazingly. With this book, it was revealed to me that the love for people is the secret of growing spiritually. Very true, and with this being revealed to me, I just felt inside of me that the spirit is growing very strong again. It was the missing ingredient.

The revelation to me in this book also pulled me back into skimming the gospels again, where I saw the ultimate “holy fool”. There, I thought of what a Christian really is. “Christian” simply means “a follower of Christ”, and with this, I asked myself, “Am I doing all the things that Christ does? Am I following all His ways?” I believe not, nor most of the Christians. Christians all around the world wins souls and make disciples, but still, something is missing for us to be really called a follower of Christ. Love for others is still missing. I know some of us bring our friends to the church for the church’s sake, but are we following Christ’s ways? This is our way of bringing the lost back to God, but do we care to know what Christ way of bringing them back is? Why don’t we just follow His ways?

“So what is Christ way of bringing back the lost?”

At first, I thought bringing people to the church was the only way of bringing back the lost to God, but then I found another way. I thought preaching to these people, convicting them for their mistakes was the only way for them to go back to God, but the gospels proved me wrong. Jesus preached, yes, but if we skimmed the gospels again, he did more of helping others, loving people, and embracing the lost. Jesus broke the “ghetto walls” of religion in His time and pursued those who are in need of love! Jesus didn’t bring them inside the synagogue to hear more preaching, He simply met their needs! Jesus went everywhere, seeking for anyone who needs help, and gave them just what they needed! This is what we, Christians must do. We are called followers of Christ right? Then we should follow His way.

We must know that we are apostles. We are called to be “sent out” and not to be kept in. We should get out of the “ghetto walls” of our religion or church and go out to love others! We must stop talking of what we know, and start listening to them, because that is what love is. Just always remember what Jesus does to someone who is in need. Jesus does not preach to them. What He does simply listened to them and gave them what they needed.

Of course, we still need to do the church stuffs and read our bible, but we must do it hand in hand with loving other people. This is what God really wants from us. I believe that if the whole Christian community go out from the “ghetto walls” of the church and seek the lost outside, many people would be touched by God and this world will be transformed.

Original link for the photos: 

http://thedistractedsoul.blogspot.com/2011/12/it-happens-so-often-that-you-feel.html

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