22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23 for you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
-- 1 Peter 1:22-23
i find myself often hating. sometimes, i'm so consumed by hate, it eats me alive. Peter tells us that we have been reborn through Christ. we first was born into sin, but through the blood of Jesus, we were born again and this time in the word and love of God, making us new.
someone told me to picture it this way- before we knew Christ, our heartbeats were dead..just a flatline. but after salvation, our hearts start beating again. like we wake up from a deep coma, but only this coma is what we started out from.
so now that i am reborn in Christ, i have to love like He does. but a lot of times, i can't do that! i just find myself hating, and i hate hating. it's so tiring, mentally and spiritually and emotionally draining, and most of the time, those people don't even know it. they have no idea that i have this consuming, firing hate for them, and they haven't even done anything. personally to me.
i hate that i hate. i wish i could love. Jesus loves me, and so why can't I? a farmer plants a seed expecting it to grow a certain way. my dad used to plant his own garden, and he'd plant various vegetables... when he plants a tomato seed, he expects to see a tomato the next season. God planted me as his seed expecting me to grow up to love and live like His son. but i am such a bad tomato. i'm rotten, all moldy and yucky, only good enough for the little animals to feed off of.
i don't wanna be a bad tomato. i wanna be a good ripe, red tomato. i pray and pray continually that God would soften my heart, but my pride sometimes stops me even in the midst of prayer! wow Satan. great move. He's just creeping in through the backdoor like always.
1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
-- 1 Peter 2: 1-3
i wonder how many times i used the word 'hate' in this blog.
i don't really wanna know.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Friday, January 29, 2010
taking it old school...DEUTERONOMY
10 The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden. 11 But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven. 12 It is a land the Lord your God cares for; the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end. 13 So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today-to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul- 14 then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and oil. 15 I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.
-- Deuteronomy 11:10-15
earlier tonight, the praise team met for a little prayer meeting/sharing time. it was a really nice, quiet, intimate moment- where we got to share how our week was, how we are doing spiritually, academically, etc. towards the end, when we were talking about some worries and prayer requests, the topic of time management came up. some of us were afraid because we did not know how we were going to manage the time between school, friends, studying, and church. time management is such a sticky subject..everyone dreads it. it's annoying and it can kick us in the butt if we don't handle it.
but as we talked about how would we be able to handle not just fridays and sundays, but also wednesday prayer meetings, and biweekly prayer/bible study separately for the praise team, some of us got really worried that juggling time would take up most of our mind.
this passage seems to cover that issue though. Moses tells us that if we obey God, love him, and serve him with all our hearts, minds, and souls, God will take care of the rest. He will make sure there is enough milk and honey, enough rain for the crops, enough food for us.
we shouldn't worry. all He wants is for us to serve him with everything that we have. and since He sent his only son to die for us, this is the least we could do. don't worry about time management. don't worry if you don't think you'll have time to fit in school, your friends, church, and even your social life. as long as we follow God and listen with our hearts, he will make sure everything is a-ok.
:)
-- Deuteronomy 11:10-15
earlier tonight, the praise team met for a little prayer meeting/sharing time. it was a really nice, quiet, intimate moment- where we got to share how our week was, how we are doing spiritually, academically, etc. towards the end, when we were talking about some worries and prayer requests, the topic of time management came up. some of us were afraid because we did not know how we were going to manage the time between school, friends, studying, and church. time management is such a sticky subject..everyone dreads it. it's annoying and it can kick us in the butt if we don't handle it.
but as we talked about how would we be able to handle not just fridays and sundays, but also wednesday prayer meetings, and biweekly prayer/bible study separately for the praise team, some of us got really worried that juggling time would take up most of our mind.
this passage seems to cover that issue though. Moses tells us that if we obey God, love him, and serve him with all our hearts, minds, and souls, God will take care of the rest. He will make sure there is enough milk and honey, enough rain for the crops, enough food for us.
we shouldn't worry. all He wants is for us to serve him with everything that we have. and since He sent his only son to die for us, this is the least we could do. don't worry about time management. don't worry if you don't think you'll have time to fit in school, your friends, church, and even your social life. as long as we follow God and listen with our hearts, he will make sure everything is a-ok.
:)
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Love in all the wrong places
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
-- 1 Timothy 6:6-10
Paul tells Timothy to be careful of worldly things, because it'll be really easy to get sucked into all that, and lose sight of what's really important & why we are living. Money, cars, clothes, etc. Of course not back then, but they had equivalents. Even now people who are trying to live good, Christian lives, deal with many of these issues. Why can't we just be satisfied and content with God's love and grace? Why can't we be happy with what we already have? He already provides us with food and the clothes on our back; do we really need to get ahead of ourselves, and worry about bags, shoes, money, etc..? There are plenty-- PUHH-LENNTYY of people out there who don't even know when/what will be their next meal, and we are here worrying that we don't make 6 digits.
I really should be talking into a mirror right now. I lovvvvvve materialistic things, and once i get my paycheck, it's gone within that week. I spend and spend and spend on useless, tangible things. I'm grateful for all the things i have, but at the end of the day, i already have everything i need - the breath in my lungs, a family (& friends) who cares for me, and a Supreme God who loves me.
I don't want to become like a person who's described in this passage. I don't want to become so engrossed in moneymaking and other worldly goods, that i lose sight of God. Verse 10 says money is the root of all kinds of evil. That's so true, but i also think the opposite can be true too. I think money can be the root of all kinds of good. I think, and hope, that God uses the rich to help the poor people. It's a really childish way of saying/thinking it like this, but you can't really delve any deeper into that. Use the money to help -> teach -> evangelize those who have no access to anythingg.
When we don't have this bag, those shoes, that much money, people might talk. They might judge as to why i don't have this & that, and that i'm missing out on a lot of the world's pleasures. What they don't know is while i'm missing out on this life, they'll be missing out on the next life with Christ.
-- 1 Timothy 6:6-10
Paul tells Timothy to be careful of worldly things, because it'll be really easy to get sucked into all that, and lose sight of what's really important & why we are living. Money, cars, clothes, etc. Of course not back then, but they had equivalents. Even now people who are trying to live good, Christian lives, deal with many of these issues. Why can't we just be satisfied and content with God's love and grace? Why can't we be happy with what we already have? He already provides us with food and the clothes on our back; do we really need to get ahead of ourselves, and worry about bags, shoes, money, etc..? There are plenty-- PUHH-LENNTYY of people out there who don't even know when/what will be their next meal, and we are here worrying that we don't make 6 digits.
I really should be talking into a mirror right now. I lovvvvvve materialistic things, and once i get my paycheck, it's gone within that week. I spend and spend and spend on useless, tangible things. I'm grateful for all the things i have, but at the end of the day, i already have everything i need - the breath in my lungs, a family (& friends) who cares for me, and a Supreme God who loves me.
I don't want to become like a person who's described in this passage. I don't want to become so engrossed in moneymaking and other worldly goods, that i lose sight of God. Verse 10 says money is the root of all kinds of evil. That's so true, but i also think the opposite can be true too. I think money can be the root of all kinds of good. I think, and hope, that God uses the rich to help the poor people. It's a really childish way of saying/thinking it like this, but you can't really delve any deeper into that. Use the money to help -> teach -> evangelize those who have no access to anythingg.
When we don't have this bag, those shoes, that much money, people might talk. They might judge as to why i don't have this & that, and that i'm missing out on a lot of the world's pleasures. What they don't know is while i'm missing out on this life, they'll be missing out on the next life with Christ.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
1 Samuel 15
I really love this passage. I don't love it because it's heartwarming, or encouraging, or gives you that fuzzy feeling in your heart after reading about one of Jesus' miracles; i love it because it's like a wakeup call.
In this passage, God gives Saul the chance to be King but takes it away because Saul disobeys God's commands. God tells David that Saul is to kill all the Amalekites, all their men, women, children, cattle, EVERYTHING. It's a pretty direct order, leave none alive. But Saul, being the arrogant man he is, saves the best cattle and sheep to offer as sacrifice to God, and not to mention raising a monument in his own name. At first read, that doesn't seem like anything bad that's enough to take away his crown (except for creating that monument for his glory), but that's exactly what God does. Saul failed to obey God's instructions, and God was angry and therefore took Saul's crown back. It's not like Saul even had bad intentions.. he wanted to offer the animals as a sacrifice to the Lord!
So what's the lesson.
Saul kept the cattle despite God's telling him not to, because he saw no harm. He thought God would actually be pleased with him. It's not that God was upset with Saul for the sacrifices, but that Saul assumed God would be more pleased with the sacrificial offerings than Saul obeying God's commands.
This reflects so many aspects in my life. I can't pick and choose when and where i've done this, but i have and i know that God knows. God gives us instructions on how to live according to His will, and yet we like to create loopholes in the scripture and do some things our own ways. It's like, "Okay, I'll do THIS but then i'll also this THAT my way.".. or, "Well, even though God said to do this, since i did that, it'll be okay.."
We just make assumptions that God would be pleased as long as we have the right intentions, when in fact those intentions are not in accordance with God's will. We are human and therefore limited in our thinking about how God would want us to live. It's just not possible to even wrap our minds around how God thinks/operates. That's because He's God, and we're sinners. Like Saul, I try and try to obey God's words, but then i also like to do a little bit my way. Like try to see a way around his instructions. We are supposed to be Christians! You know,... "little Christs"? We are to live like how Jesus lived, who completely and tirelessly followed and obeyed God's commands. No if's, and's, or but's. It's God's way or the high way.
I just pray that I'd be able to think about this passage whenever i start hearing MY words more than GOD'S words.
In this passage, God gives Saul the chance to be King but takes it away because Saul disobeys God's commands. God tells David that Saul is to kill all the Amalekites, all their men, women, children, cattle, EVERYTHING. It's a pretty direct order, leave none alive. But Saul, being the arrogant man he is, saves the best cattle and sheep to offer as sacrifice to God, and not to mention raising a monument in his own name. At first read, that doesn't seem like anything bad that's enough to take away his crown (except for creating that monument for his glory), but that's exactly what God does. Saul failed to obey God's instructions, and God was angry and therefore took Saul's crown back. It's not like Saul even had bad intentions.. he wanted to offer the animals as a sacrifice to the Lord!
So what's the lesson.
Saul kept the cattle despite God's telling him not to, because he saw no harm. He thought God would actually be pleased with him. It's not that God was upset with Saul for the sacrifices, but that Saul assumed God would be more pleased with the sacrificial offerings than Saul obeying God's commands.
This reflects so many aspects in my life. I can't pick and choose when and where i've done this, but i have and i know that God knows. God gives us instructions on how to live according to His will, and yet we like to create loopholes in the scripture and do some things our own ways. It's like, "Okay, I'll do THIS but then i'll also this THAT my way.".. or, "Well, even though God said to do this, since i did that, it'll be okay.."
We just make assumptions that God would be pleased as long as we have the right intentions, when in fact those intentions are not in accordance with God's will. We are human and therefore limited in our thinking about how God would want us to live. It's just not possible to even wrap our minds around how God thinks/operates. That's because He's God, and we're sinners. Like Saul, I try and try to obey God's words, but then i also like to do a little bit my way. Like try to see a way around his instructions. We are supposed to be Christians! You know,... "little Christs"? We are to live like how Jesus lived, who completely and tirelessly followed and obeyed God's commands. No if's, and's, or but's. It's God's way or the high way.
I just pray that I'd be able to think about this passage whenever i start hearing MY words more than GOD'S words.
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