God is the Goal

img source: http://wykobet.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/dad.jpg

How we view God will determine how we relate with Him, with others and how we deal with both the prosperities and adversities of life. How we view him is therefore everything because it will affect not only our life on earth today, but most especially the life after it (even this view is influenced by my own view of God).

 Some people sincerely believe they are “godly” because they are doing “godly” things: giving to the poor, helping others in need or even leading prayer meetings and bible studies. Yet, the essence of having a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ is determined first of all by the direct fellowship of a person with God - how and how often he connects with Him by praying, reading the Bible and joyfully following it. Doing “godly” things is therefore just an offshoot of a vibrant, living connection with God. Otherwise, we are just making ourselves feel and look good or merely going with the popular flow of trying to do good things for no reason at all, or for reasons we don’t understand or reasons we will never associate with God. I am convinced that when we do good things based on our faith in Jesus, then that is true godliness. Again, otherwise, we are just being secular. I would even say that any activity is more spiritual (as long as it is not sinful) if it is done for the glory of God than a “spiritual” activity done for the glory of man.

 If God is number one in our life, we are hitting many birds with one stone. If we become so full of God, we couldn’t help but give “some of Him” to others; we couldn’t stand watching people waste their lives away; we would encourage them, pray for them and help them with their needs. Then again, helping others is found at the last part of this relationship equation. God first, then others. The true Christian tries his or her best to be on God’s side all the time – God’s partner, God’s friend, God’s messenger and this is a powerful statement but yes, God’s confidant and God’s lover. Now that I am married, I experience the wonderful blessing of being able to listen and share thoughts and feelings with my husband on a regular basis. Life becomes easier to handle and I feel guided in a certain way. But did you know or have you forgotten that the Church is the Bride of Christ? (Revelation 21:2) Our commitment and devotion to the Lord must come to a point when we can feel and know deep in our hearts that Jesus is the lover of our souls. And I’d like to emphasize the reality of that statement. It is not superficial at all. Experiencing God as a lover is possible – it’s as real as two people falling in love with each other or as real as the emergence of the selfie generation.

 Once we view God this way, God becomes the center of our life; he becomes not only our means to an end; he becomes both! We begin to do things with God and for God. That is because God has become our dream and our aspiration. If so, everything we do will be about pleasing Him and it will become easier to praise Him through both our victories and trials. If God is our goal, we can easily believe in His promises. But then again, if God is our goal, He will be more than enough. Time spent with Him will give us joy, peace and satisfaction. If God is our goal, I can only imagine what other goals we can achieve – but that is not the ultimate goal – God is.

My Journey to Womanhood

Before I was able to receive the love of a man who happened to be my husband now, and before I was able to reciprocate that love well, there was a God who loved me first, who unleashed the woman in me, a Father who affirmed that I was beautiful, worthy to be cherished and wooed. God of course didn’t appear to me physically or spoke to me with a loud voice, but He relayed with me through His Word and Spirit. By the help of very special Christian friends, I was led to join counseling. I know counseling can invoke many negative thoughts and I am aware that most people are scared of it. The most common reaction is “I don’t need it.” Well, that’s what I thought too. But I am not ashamed now that I went through it. I will never be ashamed that I was a broken person, found by the grace of God and was pruned and went through the furnace to make me the person that I am now. I will never be ashamed to say that it was God who worked in me to make me realize my worth, to make me love myself, to receive His love so I that I can be free to love myself and others well. One very important testimony I will ever share is that I have learned that it is one thing to love people, but it is totally another to love them well.

 I can sincerely say now that I love my husband and that I am feeling the joy of being a wife to someone. I just remembered a seemingly ordinary day when I realized that I had built walls around me. I wailed in deep desire for them to shatter. Comfortable as they may have been, I knew in my heart they were not supposed to be there. Those were some of my most vulnerable moments – when I took off all my masks before Jesus in deep cries and through fervent prayers.

I didn’t know how to heal my wounds so I had to let God do it. True enough, He embraced me in my surrender, spoke to me gently in my silence and healed me through my stillness. It was the closest I could have been to Him. Then as the days went by, new energies sprung.. like winter turning to spring.. flowers sprouting out and blossoming everywhere and streams of water appeared – almost from nowhere. The Lord renewed me and made me see who I really am – a woman; a beautiful one He will always cherish; one He will always pursue; the bride He has been waiting for. (April 21, 2014)

Be Yourself

img source: http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/tags/fire-yourself

We often hear the statement, “Be yourself”. In fact, it has been considered by many as a liberating thing to say to make others feel good about themselves. I am however convinced that it may not be the best advice we can give to someone if “being one’s self” means being selfish, arrogant, impatient, ill-tempered and the list goes on. If you tell me to “be myself” a few days before my period, anyone will easily become my enemy. I’d probably smash my laptop whenever my internet connection slows down or when I have just read the Facebook rant of a friend or relative against me. Whenever I refuse to “be myself” in any of these situations, I find myself rejecting my first impulse - choose to be quiet instead, take a deep breath and pray. When I am “myself” however could mean the exact opposite. It could mean putting my needs first before others, fighting for my right even if it means hurting God and other people, saying whatever I want to say to destroy others instead of build them or generally speaking, following the desires of the sinful nature.

This “be yourself” movement is similar to the popular excuse of people refusing to change for the better because according to them, “this is who I am and nobody can change me”. This is probably one of the most arrogant statements anybody can say. Many of the greatest people that ever lived made the most out of the criticisms of both their friends and enemies and they turned out better – not bitter. When the prophet Nathan revealed to King David what his sin was, David did not retaliate and used his power as king to punish him. Instead, he considered the message and immediately repented and changed for the better.  The impossibility to transform one’s self is one of the biggest lies Satan has ever planted in the human heart. Anybody can change for the better by the grace of God given all the guidelines from the Bible and the community of believers through church sermons, bible study groups, seminars, gatherings, even books, magazines, the world wide web – name it.

Therefore we cannot be ourselves if it means staying stagnant in our character development or putting our needs first before the needs of others or generally disobeying the highest Christian calling of becoming like Christ. But if “being one’s self” means “bringing out the good side of yourself” then that is probably good. And to be truly good is to be empowered and filled by the Holy Spirit – or simply put, to ask God and allow Him to help us live like Christ. It is saying “NO” to wicked first impulses, to think twice before doing or saying anything, to transform the mind and align it to God’s will so that God is pleased and the believer enjoys the rewards of doing so. (February 18, 2014)

Back to Love and Grace

img source: https://hischarisisenough.wordpress.com/2011/06/16/what-does-grace-do-for-a-believer/

There is a stage in a Christian’s life when he or she has discovered enough Biblical truths, has attended quite a number of Christian seminars and Bible schools and joined a bunch of Christian gatherings. At this point in one’s life, it becomes easy to point fingers at everybody else who the Bible describes as sinners and openly declare statements of faith typically out of a prideful motive. The Christian that proclaims Christ is now acting like a Pharisee. It is not easy to recognize when one is under this state – after all, the Christian is sanitized by the cozy and comfortable “fellowship” with like-minded believers every Sunday, praying for each other and often for protection against the world that is said to be persecuting them. The fact that the Christian has received Christ as Savior and Lord has somehow given him or her the license to easily pronounce judgments against everybody else who is different. The Christian who freely received grace and established relationship with God by it has practically refused to carry it out to the world that badly needs it.

These people – including myself every so often have chosen the ethical way instead of the loving way. We can always tell people what we believe. We can spend hours telling them Biblical truths assuming they haven’t heard of them before. We can spend years planning a conference to proclaim Christ’s love through an evangelistic concert. We can spend millions giving away Bibles or Christian books, tracks, etc. We can show them how many Bible verses we have memorized, stick the fish symbol of Christianity on the backs of our cars, wear WWJD bracelets and wear cross pendants. And yet will the world finally know Christ and stop perceiving Him as merely the good person, the wise prophet, a statue or a mere biblical character by these strategies alone? If we continue to minister to the broken world from a safe distance and replace discipleship through a loving, gracious relationship with long hours on the computer preparing for all sorts of church activities, are we still helping fulfill Christ’s Commission?

The world will continue to misunderstand Christ if we focus on looking righteous and eliminate being loving and gracious out of the equation. If we settle with sharing mere truth without love and grace, the Christian Church will remain to look like that – a church, just another religion. We may have forgotten that while Christ shared the truth, he also ate with sinners. While he rebuked, he also showed love. While he spent hours reaching out to a large crowd, he spent more alone with just a few – teaching and training them in the context of a heart to heart relationship. Love, grace, relationship, discipleship as practiced by Jesus turned the world downside up, not mere ethical practices, statements of faith, random criticisms based subtly on pride. Anyone can be ethical, even unbelievers can be excellent at adhering to universal moral standards but love and grace based on truth that come from a Christian’s heart can point people to Christ. According to Dwight L. Moody, “Of one hundred men, one will read the Bible; the ninety-nine will read the Christian.” (April 6, 2014)

Nice May Not Be Nice

img source: http://weheartit.com/entry/group/264186

We often hear people make remarks about others by saying, “He’s a nice guy” or “I like her. She’s nice”. And after hearing that, most of us develop the general idea that the person is good enough. But what does it really mean when we describe people as “nice”?

In the Filipino culture, we often hear people saying, “Mabait ‘yan. Go withthe flow lang ‘yan.” (He is nice. He gets along with everybody). Most of us even like the company of people who we describe this way:  “Sobrangbait ‘yang taong ‘yan. Hindi umiimik ‘pag nilalait ng iba.” (That person is really nice. He just keeps quiet when people mock him).

If I were younger, those statements would make me think it’s “safe” to be with those kind of people and I wouldn’t mind hanging out with them often. But now that I am grown, I have realized that nice can be overrated, that I just don’t want to simply be nice and don’t want to influence others to be the same. I have come to an understanding that “safe”or “nice” is sometimes not wise and ironically, “safe” could be dangerous and bad in certain situations.

If you look around, “nice” has taken on negative meanings in many different ways. Underneath being nice could be webs of problems that sadly, no one has dared to deal with – because nobody wants nice people to change. Yet being nice could just mean not having the courage to do certain things for fear of failure, or just going with the flow for fear of rejection, or it could mean pleasing everybody to drink a sense of fulfillment from their praises. It could mean a lot of other different things. In other words, nice may just be a mere sign of sin and weakness.

I have seen the life of a couple with the husband described by everybody as “nice”. But this nice just means being henpecked and having a wife whose delight is to make his husband submit to her wishes and who is proud of it.

I have seen too many people even at church who are nice. They won’t gossip, won’t cheat or tell a lie. They are nice. But there is something about them that seems devoid of life – of the abundant life that God wants His children to live. There are so many people at church who speak about joy as written in the Bible – yet you see them tired, restless and worried all the time. Yet they remain nice because nice is supposed to be good.

I have seen people including myself who refuse to speak truth – truth that could have changed the lives of many but chose not to because we don’t want to throw stones into peaceful ponds. We don’t want ripples. We want the nice status quo.

Nice as it may seem, I believe to be simply nice is not God’s plan for His children. He wants us to be gentle as doves but shrewd as snakes (Matthew 10:16). He wants us to speak truth for those who cannot speak for themselves (Proverbs 31:8). He wants us to follow His ways even if it means going against what everybody likes (Romans 12:2). He wants men to lead their wives and not vice versa. (Ephesians 5:22-23) It is therefore not a good thing when husbands just simply follow whatever the wife says. That is not being nice; that is being scared. In fact, the nicest thing you think you could do to someone might be the most dangerous thing for him or her.

If we look deep in our souls, we don’t want to simply be nice; what we really want is to develop a good character. If you ask me how to do just that, I have one thing to say: trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and allow Him to change every bit of who you are. Jesus is like salt. Salt brings out the true flavor in the food. If you invite him in, He will help you become the person you ought to be. But the whole process is not all nice – it can be messy, I tell you. But then again you don’t want nice –you want life, the most abundant kind.

The Big Audience

img source: http://cache4.asset-cache.net/gc/188051518-happy-audience-clapping-in-theater-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=EzcwH57tSNbIc%2FbUNPIWxkxb7BTDvDJ%2FpRTByhemOGI%3D

Life in the workplace is probably one of the places where it is not so hard to feel one’s worth.  Just do your thing right; walk the extra mile; make your boss smile; come up with great ideas and execute well and you will be recognized and regarded as important for all your efforts and exceptional talents. It’s also easy to feel like you are making a huge difference in the world when you are in a big ministry with 200 people under your leadership and you are out there feeding the hungry, making Christ known and hugging weeping strangers who just lost their homes to an earthquake. Even as you are going through hard times in your service for God and people, you can look forward to sharing a glorious testimony and see a twinkle in people’s eyes because you have again inspired them to make the best choices in life despite all its difficulties.

Yet it is another story when God takes you to another journey when you no longer have a big audience. This is the season when your biggest ministry is reduced to one or two people and to a cat, a dog and a few chickens and rabbits. This is when you can’t give in to your food cravings to protect the growing life inside you – and yes, that is a thankless job in the meantime and sometimes, what you get is a kick instead or a heart burn and sudden shortness of breath. While before you would spend three hours designing a curriculum for high school kids feeling like a catalyst for societal change in the process, you are now spending three hours keeping the house together and thinking of ways to move things forward. Sometimes, that means googling an interesting recipe, engaging in it for an hour but coming up with something entirely different. Sometimes that means feeling happy you got the fire going and realizing later that you were not supposed to build fire in the first place because 65 degrees is not cold enough for others.

When you think you just moved mountains by moving one piece of furniture, but there is deafening silence rather than a round of applause but you think it’s ridiculous to post about it on Facebook, you get tempted to doubt whether it’s worth it to move mountains in the first place. Yet, I realized that when I hear no words or when I don’t see my name in the paper, that’s when the voice of God should be loudest. I realized that in everything I do, I can glorify Him– whether it’s teaching gerund phrases to high school kids or making sure I don’t burn the house down.  It is humbling to be a housewife and a mother – but God considers it a great calling. What a big audience does not see, God sees. What 200 people do not hear, God hears. God is my biggest audience. (Jill Christianae Robinson)

The Perfect Solution

 

img source: https://blog.resellerclub.com/a-guide-to-making-the-perfect-web-design-proposal/

The Lord Jesus is not popular and controversial for nothing. To many, he was just a wise man that came to earth to set an example. However, Jesus was more than just a role model. According to the Bible, God made peace with everything through his death on the cross. (Colossians 1:19-20)

Jesus' death on the cross means everything to us who believe. It's the ultimate solution for the most major conflict of life which is MAN VS GOD. It did not only bridge the gap that separated Man from God, it continues to provide solutions for everything else that comes with accepting such truth in one's life.

Faith in this sacrifice for mankind is like that access road finally made and even concretely paved. It is that deus ex machina in a movie, that vaccine that stopped an epidemic, that light bulb idea that sparked an invention.

Jesus' death is the perfect, exact solution to the biggest cryptic drama of living and dying. It paid for ALL the sins of mankind. Therefore, there is no SIN too small or too big that God will not forgive. Otherwise, His plan was a complete failure. Jesus is not only the way to peace; He is the peace. He is not just the way to the answer; He is the answer. Jesus taught man how to live - not so that man may be saved; but that man may know how to finally LIVE because he has been saved.