Tag: Jesus

What is your life founded upon?

Matthew 7:24

24“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

Here Jesus has just finished telling us a few parables which illustrates commandments and principles he wants us to follow. There are two components here: listening and putting to practice. It is not good enough that we listen to God’s word and then live our lives according to our wants and desires. It is not good enough to follow rules, laws, and commandments without listening to the words that come from the mouth of the living God. Both separate from each other are insufficient.

Him who listens and does not do what is asked of him has faith that is dead (James 2:14-17).

He who attempts to follow all the rules and commandments of the Bible but does not listen to God’s word is like the Pharisees.

They believed that they were the holiest of the Israelites, yet, Jesus exposed them and went as far as to call them snakes. For it is by God’s grace and through faith in Jesus Christ that we are saved, not solely by our works (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Our spiritual lives must be founded on two things: faith and obedience. Together, they form the rock upon which are are to construct our lives. one without the other causes your life to be constructed upon sand and your house will quickly sink and break. Think of the two like cement mix. In order for the mix to harden to become cement, water must be added. Without it, it will remain sandy cement mix. First you have faith (cement mix) in Jesus Christ, and then you obey what he asks of you through the word and prayer (water). Together, they will harden the foundation of your life and when turbulent times come, you will be able to stay firm. Your house will not fall apart, but it will stay strong because Jesus Christ will be your foundation.

Challenge:

Listen to God’s word so that your faith may grow and obey God’s word so that your faith may harden and make you strong in the Lord.

There Is a Light At The End Of The Tunnel

2 Corinthians 1:8-11:

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

Discussion:

I think that we have all heard the saying that “there is always a light at the end of the tunnel”. However, one thing is to know the saying and another to live it.

How much trust do we have in God?

If you were to be in great deadly peril, would you have the confidence that God would deliver you?

I think that all christians should have the confidence that everything works out for the good of those who love Jesus (Romans 8:28). However, I think that we should evaluate what “good” means.

As Paul says in another verse, Philippians 1:21, “To live is Christ and to die is gain”.

I do believe that in situations of deadly peril that God will deliver a Christian. However, that deliverance could either be freedom on earth or freedom in heaven (death). Why? because to live in Christ and to die is GAIN!

We are living on this earth temporarily. We are only passing by this earth as temporary residents (1 Peter 2:11). It think that as Christians we forget that our main goal to is be united with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is not to continue living on this earth. This is of course not to say that we should not work to preserve our lives because I believe that the Lord wants us to be good stewards of the gift of life that he has given us . However, I do believe that we should not fall in love with this life so deeply that we are unwilling to let it go if God were to ask for it back.

The Lord is our deliver. He is our healer. He is our peace and at all times we should have faith that the creator of the universe and the lover of our souls will bring us freedom. In whatever form it takes.

May the Lord be glorified in our struggles and trials because he is faithful to deliver us from evil. Like Paul said “He (God) has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again”.

Blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

Challenge:

Have faith in the deliverance that the Lord will provide. He is faithful and will not break his promise of never abandoning us. Even in the darkest night, know that the light from the sun will rise with the morning. Its only a matter of time.

Overlooking An Insult : Mark of Wisdom

Proverbs 12:16

“Fools show their annoyance at once, but the prudent overlook an insult.”

How many times do we feel insulted a day?

I ask myself this because in today’s world, fueled by social media, we often get insulted a lot and very easily. There are some instances where being insulted is justified but when should we overlook an insult like the bible is instructing us to do in this verse? Well, I think that for the answer to that question we have to define what “prudent” means.

According to Merriam-Webster, Prudent is defined as: marked by wisdom or judiciousness.

A mark of wisdom. I recently have been asking the Lord to give me wisdom and intelligence. It is wise not be be easily insulted because if we are easily insulted, that means that we can become easily influenced. If one is easily insulted, then one will be quick to react. react and not think about what one will say or do. If we do not think before we act, then we could end up doing foolish things such as hurling insults back, attacking physically, or any other negative reaction before analyzing. An analysis of the situation is important to be able to determine what the most appropriate reaction to the ‘insult’ could be and why we are insulted. Sometimes, we are insulted because we were proven wrong and the most appropriate reaction to that is to accept that we are wrong and to learn. Not to hurl back insults or to attack the person in any way.

When we are insulted, as Christians, we must think before we act. We must be slow to speak and slow to anger (James 1:19). Let us not act in a manner which is foolish because we represent a wise God and I believe that if we serve a wise God, then we must be wise people. If you do not feel you are wise, do as is written in James 1:5 and ask that God give you wisdom.

Challenge:

Ask God for wisdom so that we can be a better representation of Jesus Christ to the world.