"Jesus saith unto him, if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me." John 21:22
There are little things in our life that engulfs us big time. Our troubled minds has corrupted our way of thinking. Then it becomes our way of life. The world is against us now, especially when we are in our deepest pit. But then that's how this world operates. We live in this world but we shouldn't be of this world.
How then must one be free from all these unimportant little things that beset us easily? How can we attain peace in every situation?
I for one am guilty of being greatly affected by little things in life. Sometimes this little things become the gigantic monster in my life that rubs off the joy in me. I worry about this and that. I get frustrated and disappointed when things don't hapen as I planned them to be. But as always I find answers to these hows in the Word of God. It never fails.
Being a Christian poses so much challenges. But one, among other things that I find such a challenge is the bewildering fact of a person who rejects the good news of salvation. We are commissioned to spread the good news of salvation to all mankind. This is not exclusive to religious people or people in ministries, but to all who have opened their eyes to the truth and there is no exemption. It boggles my mind why people reject to accept that Jesus paid it all (our sins) when He died on the cross and was buried and on the third day rose up from the dead. But as the Bible says, it is hid to them that are lost.
I was sharing a passage in the Bible one time and the person whom I am sharing it with disagrees in almost all what the Bible says, saying that I have interpreted the passage wrongly but what I was doing was merely reading the passage and just reiterating what was said. He has a different interpretation of what it means and it was interpreted in such a way that it will not contradict with how he practices his religion. Not accepting the fact that once we have compromised the Word of God to suit our way or our religion we have lowered God himself to our level of understanding. The Creator to merely as one of the creature.
This has somehow saddened me. It bugged me. And it burdened me that a man of intellect has refused to listen and learn and change. But as the Lord has said, what is it to me if he doesn't listen, or change or accept His free gift of salvation, the kind that secures us of an eternal life in Him? A gift that no man, and most especially God, can take back once given and accepted. Otherwise it should not be called a gift. The most important reminder that God reveals to me in this passage is "to follow Him" instead of being absorbed in my disappointment and frustration of not being able to lead them to Christ and of their situation, for "what is that to thee?" as Jesus said. I now realize that it is not for us to convert them but to share Jesus and to pray that they will be convinced and be persuaded by the Word of God to repent.
I am to follow Jesus and not the man-made ways of following His footsteps. How? As I have said before, the answers are in the Word of God.
(July 16, 2009 2:37pm, bedroom)
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Let go and let God
Isaiah 6:9-10 "And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make theirs ears heavy, and shut their eyes: lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed."
I have heard many people admit to me that they sometimes have difficulty understanding the Bible or that it is just not the book that is likeable to read. It seems like it is not natural to pick up the Bible and read it as to picking a bestseller novel out of a bookshelf. It is because the Bible is no other like any book out there. In order to understand and love the Word of God, one must be saved. Then there will be an innate desire for us to know God intimately and thus the Holy Spirit have a place within that individual's heart to convict him. But that should not be the end for the unsaved one. We, as saved Christian, must witness and share to them the Word of God. Just like the Ethiopian who asked Philip to guide him with the Scriptures (Acts 8:26-35)
It is sad when an individual, after having heard the truth and answered most of his questions, still fails to follow the truth that is revealed. It is because during those times of having heard the Word of God, he still chooses to shut his eyes, turn a deaf ear or simply try not to understand with his heart. He is so afraid that he might be converted and be healed if he chooses otherwise. There is a fear to admit that all along he is wrong. The hardness of his heart does not allow the light to illuminate because he wills it not to and he is lost.That is precisely what the god of this world wants them to do. He blinded them (2 Cor. 4:3-4). If there is a willing heart to seek the truth, then ultimately you will find it.As Jesus said, "ask, and it shall be given you; seek and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:" (Matthew 7:7). If you will let go of that guilt and stubbornness that rest in your heart, you will see light.If you will let go of your humanistic ways of following Jesus, then you will see the real Jesus and what He can do with your life. It takes an open and willing heart with a thirst for the truth to find it. The truth will set you free from your present bondage. Let go and let God.
If you say that you believe what the Bible says and yet you put your religion and its practices above the teachings of the Bible then there is hypocrisy in your heart. If religion keeps you from seeking and following the truth then you must see that as a warning signal. If your life is lived like those scribes and Pharisees described in the Bible, that doesn’t bear fruit and leads people to damnation then the wrath of God is upon you at the day of the judgment for we are without excuse on the day of the judgment to say that we have not heard of the gospel and the teachings of the Word. If you are like them who are hearers of the Word and not doers of the Word then all that you believe in is vanity.
Nowadays, there are still so many of this people who are so stubborn to follow Jesus. They are so comfortable doing what they are used to that seeking the truth is too much work and it is not innate in them to go in the light since they have been in darkness far too long that they can't differentiate one from the other. They are lost. Still they have an option. Still they can choose. Still they can will it. It is never mentioned in the Bible that God wants partials of us but it is either all or nothing. So, it is either you want to follow Jesus' teachings or your religious books. It is either you love Jesus or your religious rites and rituals. But it can never be the both.
You have the option to choose and get save and follow Jesus.
(original:September 23, 2008, 9:37pm)
I have heard many people admit to me that they sometimes have difficulty understanding the Bible or that it is just not the book that is likeable to read. It seems like it is not natural to pick up the Bible and read it as to picking a bestseller novel out of a bookshelf. It is because the Bible is no other like any book out there. In order to understand and love the Word of God, one must be saved. Then there will be an innate desire for us to know God intimately and thus the Holy Spirit have a place within that individual's heart to convict him. But that should not be the end for the unsaved one. We, as saved Christian, must witness and share to them the Word of God. Just like the Ethiopian who asked Philip to guide him with the Scriptures (Acts 8:26-35)
It is sad when an individual, after having heard the truth and answered most of his questions, still fails to follow the truth that is revealed. It is because during those times of having heard the Word of God, he still chooses to shut his eyes, turn a deaf ear or simply try not to understand with his heart. He is so afraid that he might be converted and be healed if he chooses otherwise. There is a fear to admit that all along he is wrong. The hardness of his heart does not allow the light to illuminate because he wills it not to and he is lost.That is precisely what the god of this world wants them to do. He blinded them (2 Cor. 4:3-4). If there is a willing heart to seek the truth, then ultimately you will find it.As Jesus said, "ask, and it shall be given you; seek and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:" (Matthew 7:7). If you will let go of that guilt and stubbornness that rest in your heart, you will see light.If you will let go of your humanistic ways of following Jesus, then you will see the real Jesus and what He can do with your life. It takes an open and willing heart with a thirst for the truth to find it. The truth will set you free from your present bondage. Let go and let God.
If you say that you believe what the Bible says and yet you put your religion and its practices above the teachings of the Bible then there is hypocrisy in your heart. If religion keeps you from seeking and following the truth then you must see that as a warning signal. If your life is lived like those scribes and Pharisees described in the Bible, that doesn’t bear fruit and leads people to damnation then the wrath of God is upon you at the day of the judgment for we are without excuse on the day of the judgment to say that we have not heard of the gospel and the teachings of the Word. If you are like them who are hearers of the Word and not doers of the Word then all that you believe in is vanity.
Nowadays, there are still so many of this people who are so stubborn to follow Jesus. They are so comfortable doing what they are used to that seeking the truth is too much work and it is not innate in them to go in the light since they have been in darkness far too long that they can't differentiate one from the other. They are lost. Still they have an option. Still they can choose. Still they can will it. It is never mentioned in the Bible that God wants partials of us but it is either all or nothing. So, it is either you want to follow Jesus' teachings or your religious books. It is either you love Jesus or your religious rites and rituals. But it can never be the both.
You have the option to choose and get save and follow Jesus.
(original:September 23, 2008, 9:37pm)
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