On this Resurrection Sunday when we remember in a very special way the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, let us reflect on those wonderful words that answer the question: Why Do You Seek the Living Among the Dead?
Just remember: Jesus died for You. He is your Saviour today. You only need to accept Him.
Luke 24:1-9
1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.
2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb,
3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing;
5 and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living One among the dead?
6 "He is not here, but He has risen Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee,
7 saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again."
8 And they remembered His words,
9 and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Our spending is a great measure of what we treasure
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Matthew 6:21).
This seems obvious, doesn't it? If you had a treasure chest with your main wealth buried somewhere on your property your thoughts--your heart--definitely would be inclined to that place. You would do anything to keep that property, to guard it, protect it. Where your treasure is, that definitely is where your heart would be.
Jesus here is speaking of putting treasure in heaven rather than on earth, but we can draw purely earthly principles here as well (that still have spiritual considerations anyway). For example, are we inclined to spend our money on ourselves first to get the cool toys and gadgets rather than on the needs of the family? I know I love tech toys. I'm a guy. Come on :-). But my family needs things first. That is where my heart should be, no, trying to provide for them first--then myself after?
This is, of course, harder said than done. As Jeremiah 17:9 says, our hearts can be deceitful. We are so readily inclined to ourselves first before others.
This is why our spending is a powerful measure of what we treasure. What we value we are willing to spend money on and what we do not value we do not spend on. If we value things, that is what we will spend on most. If we value helping others, we will put money there, being willing to give.
I'm not trying to say how we are to spend our money. That is between oneself and God. It just that it tells us a lot about what we treasure. As Jesus told in the parable of the wise steward, the wise & shred steward who was faithful with what he was charged (caring for his master's interests) was rewarded.
God wants to reward our faithfulness with regards to His interests. Are we being faithful with the money He has entrusted to us, whether a little or a lot? It is a question I ask myself--and, honestly--find wanting. It is a question we must all ask ourselves.
This seems obvious, doesn't it? If you had a treasure chest with your main wealth buried somewhere on your property your thoughts--your heart--definitely would be inclined to that place. You would do anything to keep that property, to guard it, protect it. Where your treasure is, that definitely is where your heart would be.
Jesus here is speaking of putting treasure in heaven rather than on earth, but we can draw purely earthly principles here as well (that still have spiritual considerations anyway). For example, are we inclined to spend our money on ourselves first to get the cool toys and gadgets rather than on the needs of the family? I know I love tech toys. I'm a guy. Come on :-). But my family needs things first. That is where my heart should be, no, trying to provide for them first--then myself after?
This is, of course, harder said than done. As Jeremiah 17:9 says, our hearts can be deceitful. We are so readily inclined to ourselves first before others.
This is why our spending is a powerful measure of what we treasure. What we value we are willing to spend money on and what we do not value we do not spend on. If we value things, that is what we will spend on most. If we value helping others, we will put money there, being willing to give.
I'm not trying to say how we are to spend our money. That is between oneself and God. It just that it tells us a lot about what we treasure. As Jesus told in the parable of the wise steward, the wise & shred steward who was faithful with what he was charged (caring for his master's interests) was rewarded.
God wants to reward our faithfulness with regards to His interests. Are we being faithful with the money He has entrusted to us, whether a little or a lot? It is a question I ask myself--and, honestly--find wanting. It is a question we must all ask ourselves.
Thursday, January 4, 2007
Missing Purpose & Meaning? Find it in Him.
Search for "finding purpose in life" and Google reports there are 105,000,000 possible hits. That is huge! If that doesn't tell you that having a purpose in life is important to people, I don't know what does.
Search for "finding a direction for your life" and Google reports there are 68,900,000 possible hits. Another huge number. Not as big as for purpose, but still big. The first hit has the question "having trouble finding meaning and direction for your life?"
This is the question that plagues so many. Actually, it plagues all of us, even if we are unwilling to admit it. Even those who deny the need for meaning and purpose have the same need, but hide behind intellectual stances. I suggest that their intellectual perspective is a philosophy that provides them the very meaning and purpose they claim they don't need.
Does this resonate with you? Do you understand that desire inside for meaning and purpose? Do you sometimes feel directionless and empty?
There is a reason for that. The reason is that you were made for something special. You (all of us) were made to have a relationship with the One Who is transcendant, Who is above and beyond all. He is the One who made us, shaped us, formed us in our mother's womb (For You formed my inward parts;You wove me in my mother's womb. - Psalm 139:13).
When He made you, He made you to need a relationship with Him. In fact, you are incomplete without Him. This is similar to a child's relationship with his/her parents. I know my daughters need both of us (my wife and I) very much. They see their mother regularily, but since I'm at work they are so excited when I get home and want hugs and want to talk to me and want to hear from me love and affirmation.
With God, we have the same need, only greater. It is at the core of our being. Blaise Pascal, the famous mathematician, is famous for saying that there is a God-shaped hole in everyone's heart. This is so true. The lack of joy and purpose we suffer is due to the fact that we are separate from Him, lacking a relationship with Him.
Don't you feel it? I know you do. You need the hug of your heavenly Father, the feel of His touch, the warmth of His love, the closeness of His fellowship. In that there is such comfort, such joy. You can realize it in His eyes (as a child does in the eyes of his/her parent) that there is reason and purpose in life with HIm because you are loved by Him, you are desired by Him, you belong to someone--Him!
We are all made to have a relationship with Him. He wants us as His children. But we are not His children if we are outside of Christ. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. - John 3:16.
Our sin separates us from God, just like a child's relationship with a parent is severed when they misbehave. The parent still loves them, as God does us (John 3:16), but He cannot draw near to us if we are rebellious. The great thing, though, is that we can rectify that by turning to Jesus. Repenting of our sins and believing in what Jesus did on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin on our behalf, we can know sins forgiven and a relationship with God restored. And then we will be in the bosom of the Father we so desperately need!
That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; - Romans 10:9,10
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name - John 1:12.
God is there, reaching out to each of us through His Son. He wants us to be His children. He wants to hold us close and tight. In His loving arms, there is purpose, there is meaning, because we were made for Him, as a child is for their parents. We all need relationships, with each other, with parents, with friends...and mostly with God. The great thing is God is ever there. For He Himself has said, " I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU - Hebrews 13:5.
If, despite this, you wonder about the nature of this God Who loves you, and you want to know if it is logical to believe in Him, read my posts on my blog about such questions @ http://reasons-to-believe.blogspot.com/.
Search for "finding a direction for your life" and Google reports there are 68,900,000 possible hits. Another huge number. Not as big as for purpose, but still big. The first hit has the question "having trouble finding meaning and direction for your life?"
This is the question that plagues so many. Actually, it plagues all of us, even if we are unwilling to admit it. Even those who deny the need for meaning and purpose have the same need, but hide behind intellectual stances. I suggest that their intellectual perspective is a philosophy that provides them the very meaning and purpose they claim they don't need.
Does this resonate with you? Do you understand that desire inside for meaning and purpose? Do you sometimes feel directionless and empty?
There is a reason for that. The reason is that you were made for something special. You (all of us) were made to have a relationship with the One Who is transcendant, Who is above and beyond all. He is the One who made us, shaped us, formed us in our mother's womb (For You formed my inward parts;You wove me in my mother's womb. - Psalm 139:13).
When He made you, He made you to need a relationship with Him. In fact, you are incomplete without Him. This is similar to a child's relationship with his/her parents. I know my daughters need both of us (my wife and I) very much. They see their mother regularily, but since I'm at work they are so excited when I get home and want hugs and want to talk to me and want to hear from me love and affirmation.
With God, we have the same need, only greater. It is at the core of our being. Blaise Pascal, the famous mathematician, is famous for saying that there is a God-shaped hole in everyone's heart. This is so true. The lack of joy and purpose we suffer is due to the fact that we are separate from Him, lacking a relationship with Him.
Don't you feel it? I know you do. You need the hug of your heavenly Father, the feel of His touch, the warmth of His love, the closeness of His fellowship. In that there is such comfort, such joy. You can realize it in His eyes (as a child does in the eyes of his/her parent) that there is reason and purpose in life with HIm because you are loved by Him, you are desired by Him, you belong to someone--Him!
We are all made to have a relationship with Him. He wants us as His children. But we are not His children if we are outside of Christ. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. - John 3:16.
Our sin separates us from God, just like a child's relationship with a parent is severed when they misbehave. The parent still loves them, as God does us (John 3:16), but He cannot draw near to us if we are rebellious. The great thing, though, is that we can rectify that by turning to Jesus. Repenting of our sins and believing in what Jesus did on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin on our behalf, we can know sins forgiven and a relationship with God restored. And then we will be in the bosom of the Father we so desperately need!
That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; - Romans 10:9,10
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name - John 1:12.
God is there, reaching out to each of us through His Son. He wants us to be His children. He wants to hold us close and tight. In His loving arms, there is purpose, there is meaning, because we were made for Him, as a child is for their parents. We all need relationships, with each other, with parents, with friends...and mostly with God. The great thing is God is ever there. For He Himself has said, " I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU - Hebrews 13:5.
If, despite this, you wonder about the nature of this God Who loves you, and you want to know if it is logical to believe in Him, read my posts on my blog about such questions @ http://reasons-to-believe.blogspot.com/.
Monday, January 1, 2007
Story: Follow the Man of Light
With 2007 before us, a new year in front of us, allow me to ask this question: "Who are you following?" Are you following one (or a thing) that is trustworthy? Are you going in the right direction? Where are you right now? Are you in the safety of light or are you lost in the wintery darkness. Please read this very short story I wrote and see whether you are following the right one?
John struggled to peer through the icy snow that blasted his face. The harsh, winter wind shot the icy pelts at him like little bullets. They hurt his face, and the freezing air pained his eyes, but he had to push forward. He had to get out of this storm.
It seemed like endless hours (and perhaps it was) that he’d been wandering around aimlessly and directionless. He was frozen to the core, all heat drawn from his body by the air that bit mercilessly at the skin of his exposed face and gnawed unceasingly at his bare arms and hands. The back of his neck was slick with ice. It pained him to breath. It was excruciating when he coughed.
Despite his weakness, despite his dizziness, despite his disorientation his mind kept flittering back over the memory of what got him here in the first place…
He had been on a road he did not know, not certain which way to take to get to his desired destination. A man dressed in black, who seemed to be kind, who had been very willing to help him, had stopped to aid him. The directions he gave were clear, sounded easy to follow, sounded just like the directions he needed. They took him off the road, into the forest, but he had been told it was a short cut and a sure way to restore himself on the path towards his destination.
If only then he could have known that it has all been a lie…
But it was too late. He was already hopelessly lost, swallowed whole by the forest and consumed completely by it. He belonged to it completely—to the forest and the winter storm.
Time lost all meaning. All hope had left him. There would be no way out of this.
And that was when he contemplated giving up. He stopped walking, lowered his gaze to the ground, and thought about sitting. It would be so easy. The ache in his legs had long since become stiffness and pain. They felt like logs ending in well-battered stumps. To sit would be so nice, so easy. It would end the pain.
Easier to give up, he thought.
Just as he resolved himself to bend his locked knees, bury himself in the banks, and allow the swirling snow to remove all memory of him from the world…the light appeared.
It was a spot at first. That was all he could see. But quickly it became brighter as it drew closer. And as it drew closer, it seemed to pave a way of light through the snow between him and it.
Or him?
It was hard to see, but the light appeared to be a man. Yes...it was. His face was strong …yet gentle and kind. There was a fearful power in his eyes.
The man beckoned to John and said, “Come, follow me.”
John starred dumbfounded, unable to believe what he saw, wanting to run to him, but afraid to move. The last time he has listened to someone…
But the man seemed to know his thoughts. “Trust me,” he said, his tone warm, soothing. “Come, follow me.”
And with that, the man of light turned and walked away from him.
Again he heard, “Come, follow me.”
John wanted him to stop, tried to call out to him but his throat wouldn’t function. The light path in the snow remained but he knew it would soon fade.
He had to make a choice. What would he do? Should he follow…or stay behind in the wintery world. It would be so easy to stay.
John continued to reflect as the man of light started to disappear over the crest of a small hill. The path of light remained, but he could see it just starting to fade. He looked behind him, saw the path he had been taken disappearing behind him, the snow filling in the prints he had made in the deep banks.
No more, he thought.
With resolution, the man turned…and took a step onto the path of light…and followed the Man of Light.
Are you following the One who is the Light of the World? Only He, Jesus, is trustworthy. Only He can take you where you really want to go, into God's bosom in heaven.
John struggled to peer through the icy snow that blasted his face. The harsh, winter wind shot the icy pelts at him like little bullets. They hurt his face, and the freezing air pained his eyes, but he had to push forward. He had to get out of this storm.
It seemed like endless hours (and perhaps it was) that he’d been wandering around aimlessly and directionless. He was frozen to the core, all heat drawn from his body by the air that bit mercilessly at the skin of his exposed face and gnawed unceasingly at his bare arms and hands. The back of his neck was slick with ice. It pained him to breath. It was excruciating when he coughed.
Despite his weakness, despite his dizziness, despite his disorientation his mind kept flittering back over the memory of what got him here in the first place…
He had been on a road he did not know, not certain which way to take to get to his desired destination. A man dressed in black, who seemed to be kind, who had been very willing to help him, had stopped to aid him. The directions he gave were clear, sounded easy to follow, sounded just like the directions he needed. They took him off the road, into the forest, but he had been told it was a short cut and a sure way to restore himself on the path towards his destination.
If only then he could have known that it has all been a lie…
But it was too late. He was already hopelessly lost, swallowed whole by the forest and consumed completely by it. He belonged to it completely—to the forest and the winter storm.
Time lost all meaning. All hope had left him. There would be no way out of this.
And that was when he contemplated giving up. He stopped walking, lowered his gaze to the ground, and thought about sitting. It would be so easy. The ache in his legs had long since become stiffness and pain. They felt like logs ending in well-battered stumps. To sit would be so nice, so easy. It would end the pain.
Easier to give up, he thought.
Just as he resolved himself to bend his locked knees, bury himself in the banks, and allow the swirling snow to remove all memory of him from the world…the light appeared.
It was a spot at first. That was all he could see. But quickly it became brighter as it drew closer. And as it drew closer, it seemed to pave a way of light through the snow between him and it.
Or him?
It was hard to see, but the light appeared to be a man. Yes...it was. His face was strong …yet gentle and kind. There was a fearful power in his eyes.
The man beckoned to John and said, “Come, follow me.”
John starred dumbfounded, unable to believe what he saw, wanting to run to him, but afraid to move. The last time he has listened to someone…
But the man seemed to know his thoughts. “Trust me,” he said, his tone warm, soothing. “Come, follow me.”
And with that, the man of light turned and walked away from him.
Again he heard, “Come, follow me.”
John wanted him to stop, tried to call out to him but his throat wouldn’t function. The light path in the snow remained but he knew it would soon fade.
He had to make a choice. What would he do? Should he follow…or stay behind in the wintery world. It would be so easy to stay.
John continued to reflect as the man of light started to disappear over the crest of a small hill. The path of light remained, but he could see it just starting to fade. He looked behind him, saw the path he had been taken disappearing behind him, the snow filling in the prints he had made in the deep banks.
No more, he thought.
With resolution, the man turned…and took a step onto the path of light…and followed the Man of Light.
Are you following the One who is the Light of the World? Only He, Jesus, is trustworthy. Only He can take you where you really want to go, into God's bosom in heaven.
Sunday, December 31, 2006
How to be saved
I'll definitely post more on this later, but for right now I wanted to point all interested to a link where they can learn how to come to faith in the Lord Jesus: http://www.allaboutgod.com/how-to-be-saved.htm.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Welcome - An Introduction
This blog is my site for discussing the Christian Faith.
All comments and viewers of any faith, philosophy, or perspective are welcome. I ask only that we all show each other respect. I have no problem with differing views.
God Bless!
All comments and viewers of any faith, philosophy, or perspective are welcome. I ask only that we all show each other respect. I have no problem with differing views.
God Bless!
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