Treasures in heaven

What if...and this may be borderline heresy, but what if the treasures we store up in heaven are actually the relationships we build on earth with our brothers and sisters, and especially those we met as lost but became found because we preached the Gospel to them? What if the treasures are the joy contained in these relationships, made complete and full once we all are in heaven in the full presence of God? Fellowship is truly the taste of heaven. Relationships are literally the only thing that we can bring into heaven. Literally. Christ has made brother and sisterhood such an important thing.

Phil 4:1
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!

1 Thess 2:19
 For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you?

Mark 10:29-30
Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, ³⁰ but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.

Note to self when finding a church

I want to serve at a church small enough where the pastor knows me by name. That is where I want to serve and raise a family.

Church family FTW!

Thoughts for the week

Love was, is, and always will be the answer. (See multiply part 3)

Life is in the relationships. Not work. Not accomplishments. Though they may put food on table. That is why Christianity is real. It’s the only religion of love. Only religion that is a relationship.

Intellectuals also need the Gospel. They also need Jesus. 

Remember, a faith based on feelings is a very singular faith based on a very singular Gospel. If the Gospel you believe in is not universal for all men, then it isn't the Gospel at all. Faith is believing the Gospel is real, not that we feel it is real. Feeling and knowing are two different things. We don't say "I know Jesus is real because I got a feeling He is," we say we know Jesus because there is testimony and evidence and transformation that points to Him being real. We don't go up to our friends and say they are real to us because we feel them, we say that because we built a relationship with them, and this is the same with Jesus. Feelings then come into play in delighting in the fact we know Jesus and He knows us.

The point of love is that it does NOT come naturally. We are naturally self-seeking prideful individuals. Love asks us to sacrifice, to put another above ourselves, to search deep for a strength that doesn't belong to us. There is nothing humanly natural for someone to be patient, to be kind, to be humble, to never get angry, to always trust, hope, and persevere. Nothing at all. That is why love is profound, and most of the world does not get it. They may understand the self-denial part, but will miss the other part that there is inherently no love AT ALL in us. Love is action. Love is hard work. Love is utilizing energy from a source not of ourselves (or other people).

There are underlying laws governing the behavior of man. One is that we function best when confined in a box, and yet there is an underlying passion in the hearts of men to defy all established laws and break out of that box. The irony is that it is a law in itself that we desire to break laws. It’s our nature to be proud.

What are the two greatest commandments in the Bible? Love God and love people. So if you believe and trust in God's sovereignty and control for His kingdom, do you believe that ministries that involve brothers and sisters being called to serve in intellectual areas (doctors, lawyers, businessmen, professors), serving the poor, or becoming fathers and mothers, and serving the local church, if these ministries are done with a motivation of self-sacrificial love and in a selfless manner following God's calling, don't  these ministries have equal if not greater importance than a ministry of missions in foreign countries? Are these ministries not preaching the Gospel in a more glorifying and Spirit-directed manner if they are truly under God's will? Remember what the Gospel is before preaching it to others.

All ministry/missions can be turned into idols. That is the message of "God is first love" in Revelations 2.

The more Christian you are, the more broken you are, because the more your sins are revealed.

Mother Teresa did not feel God for the decades she was in India. Yet she persevered.

Christian life is like wack-a-mole. When you beat down one sin, several more will pop up.

If you are not anchored yourself, you will not be able to save those who are drowning – A. Tsai

One of the things non-believers most commonly point out is that we are weak. We run to God to avoid our problems, instead of face them head on. We also tend to lack resolve. One of my classmates who served in the Singapore army once told me that during training, there was an exercise where the military performed a test where they pressured/tortured the initiates to see how long they last before breaking. It turns out, the people who broke first were those whose resolve were based on faith, and those who lasted longer where soldiers who held onto thoughts like family or pride. Why is that? Why are Christians the first to fall when suffering occurred, and should it be this way? Food for thought

In Mark 10, Jesus promises us family, brothers and sisters, if we go to Jesus. So as the body of Christ, we need to man up. Brotherhood and sister is something serious. Sacred. Eternal. Another take on setting our minds on things above right? More important than marriage, for even marriage is temporary.

Remember, being a child of God means you have a strength to face head on and overcome your fears. It doesn't give you an excuse to run and hide from them.

This picture...almost made me cry during the exam I was proctoring. Tower of God, why you give me the feelz.

I must forgive others...if I want others to forgive me.

Can we metaphorize God?

"You can’t approach the subject of God without metaphor… literalism like legalism is an attempt to shrink God to recreate him in our own image.”

—

Bono

I know he meant well, but this quote, if true, means we are still all completely doomed. It only captures half the story, ignoring the Son of God who came so that we can have a literal image of what God is like (John 13-17). He is trying to attack literalism of the Bible, but very few Christians even believe in full literalism, and the parts that are under contention have been under contention for millennia and we will probably never know the truth. In any sense, literalism is not equivalent to legalism. He may also be referring to Biblism, which many people quote him for this purpose. This is another story altogether: a straw hat whose core tenants are disbelieved will lead one to a half-assed Gospel that can be dismantled easily.

Where this falls is without the Gospel, both literalism and metaphor both fail to describe God (subject of God).

Let us take a look at Revelations 1 where John makes a valiant attempt to metaphorized God/Christ.

12 I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

Ya…I really cannot envision what John saw. I can try, but the metaphor will fall short.

Before God’s full revelation in Christ, all we have are facts about God, mainly from Psalms about His omnipotence, omnipresence, and sovereignty. From His care for the Israelites, we got to see His mercy and love, and to the enemies of God, we saw His justice and wrath.

Yes, Adam and Eve got to see God in person in the Garden of Eden, but they were the only ones (maybe Isaiah in his vision). Remember, God told Moses that if he saw the full glory of God, he would disintegrate. We only have other partial revelations of God in the OT in the form of a burning bush, pillar of fire, cloud, a stranger in the night, or a voice. Even seeing God as our Father, something we inherit through Christ, is to help us understand His love. But this is not a metaphor, but a reality.

We know from Romans 1 where though all mankind have seen God in nature, through the life-giving power of the sun or the creation of life through a seed, because all have seen God and then rejected Him, we are guilty of rebellion.

The point again is that all metaphors will fall short of the glory of God. In scripture Jesus makes a point that only He has seen God and know the Father. In 2 Corinthians it says only the Holy Spirit know what God knows, and so through the power of the Holy Spirit we children of God will know God’s heart and Word. The point here is that only God knows Himself, and mankind’s attempts to metaphorize God will all fall short. To use metaphors to describe God is really trying to put God into a box, a box made by our own imaginations limited by what we can perceive in this world. But God is transcendent of this world, and so He sent His son to give us a clear and concise image of what He is like. That is call full revelation. That is the message of the Gospel.

The concluding point is this: we cannot possibly comprehend God, metaphorically or literally, without the power of the Holy Spirit and understanding of who is Jesus Christ.

It is...very encouraging to see the freshmen and Delta reminding each other through facebook (and text/phone call/in person) to do devotions.

...it is also guilt tripping me into being more diligent on devotions as well.

http://xdtsong.tumblr.com/post/111872848375/the-joy-of-supporting-a-sibling-in-christ-through

Yes this post.

This is a great example of how we see God is in control, as He could have used my friend D at both the pokemon tournament, a secular institute and his reasoning for going is probably secular as well, and back in Pittsburgh with fellowship. If he had gone, his last post would have been "I had a great time at the pokemon tournament, placing ____, but even more importantly I got to have fellowship with a brother in Christ (quality over quantity) and helped him skirt his sin of lust. Since D did not go, a terrible thing happened, but even then God still has grace for D's friend, a child of God. This is a time for affirmation of love (2 Corinthians 2), not a time of "I told you so" which Christians are so fond of doing (including me). We should be telling our broken brothers and sisters "I am here and I got your back | lean on my shoulder and lets pray together." I am glad that the friend is doing better.

Do not immediately think that going to a church or fellowship event is the only place God wants you to go. That is the zone of comfort, of safety, and there is a time for that. But sometimes, God wants you to go to the front lines, to the places where there are many lost, and be friends with them. Only when we do that can they see the light that is Christ within us. Only then. They aren't gonna come to you and your fellowship that's for sure.

I just want to hit home again that it can be just as selfish to go to a fellowship gathering as going to a video game tournament. Maybe even more selfish. Look at your heart and your motivations. Where are you going to preach the Gospel?

Also don't regret the decisions to go or not go either. God will use you either way. The heart is what is most important anyways.

Christ is enough for me

 

 

"Christ Is Enough"

[VERSE]
Christ is my reward
And all of my devotion
Now there's nothing in this world
That could ever satisfy

[PRE-CHORUS]
Through every trial
My soul will sing
No turning back
I've been set free

[CHORUS]
Christ is enough for me
Christ is enough for me
Everything I need is in You
Everything I need

[VERSE]
Christ my all in all
The joy of my salvation
And this hope will never fail
Heaven is our home

[PRE-CHORUS]
Through every storm
My soul will sing
Jesus is here
To God be the glory

[BRIDGE]
I have decided to follow Jesus
No turning back
No turning back

The cross before me
The world behind me
No turning back
No turning back

Gotta sing this for a while...to remember who I live for. Tis hard, but I think I am ready.
Be at peace my soul.

Discomfort in peace

"Where is God? This is one of the most disquieting symptoms. When you are

happy, so happy that you have no sense of needing Him, so happy that you are

tempted to feel His claims upon you as an interruption, if you remember

yourself and turn to Him with gratitude and praise, you will be—or so it feels—

welcomed with open arms. But go to Him when your need is desperate, when

all other help is in vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face,

and the sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside. After that silence.

You may as well turn away. The longer you wait, the more emphatic the silence

will become. There are no lights in the windows. It might be an empty house.

Was it even inhabited? It seemed so once. And that seeming was as strong as

this. What can this mean? Why is He so present a commander in our time of

prosperity and so very absent a help in time of trouble." - C.S. Lewis

"I am not in much danger of ceasing to believe in God. The real danger is of coming to believe such dreadful things about Him." - C.S. Lewis

Of this we’re certain; no one who dared knock

At heaven’s door for earthly comfort found

Even a door—only smooth, endless rock,

And save the echo of his voice no sound.

It’s dangerous to listen; you’ll begin

To fancy that those echoes (hope can play

Pitiful tricks) are answers from within;

Far be.er to turn, grimly sane away.

Heaven cannot thus, Earth cannot ever, give

The thing we want. We ask what isn’t there

And by our asking water and make live

That very part of love which must despair,

And die, and go down cold into the earth,
Before there's talk of springtime and rebirth.

-C.S. Lewis

Does trust proceed Love?

"We don't love because we trust, but we trust because we love"

Ephesians 4:2

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

1 Peter 4:8

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

Proverbs 10:12

Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs.

1 John 4:7

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

1 John 4:18-19

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.  We love because he first loved us.

John 15:13

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

1 John 3:16-18

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

Ephesians 5:25

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

Colossians 3:14

And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Proverbs 17:17

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

1 Corinthians 13:8

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.