random thoughts in life

I see the stars

2012-02-25T01:44:00.001-08:00

I live in Los Angeles. Smog and pollution have become such an accepted thing that it doesn't phase us that everyday we breathe in air that shortens our lifespan. Back in boy scouts I used to go camping out in the mountains or in the desert. If it was warm enough, I slept outside and searched the night sky for shooting stars. It was only after getting away from city life that I could find appreciation for nature.

Today I find myself in Arizona. After a long bus ride, we finally arrive at the meeting place. Looking up, I see stars. I actually see a field of stars in the sky. It is absolutely beautiful and I wish I could capture it with a camera. Seeing this sight was quite refreshing as I hadn't seen stars quite like this since high school. Staring at the night sky, all I could think about was how great a God we have. The God who created the heavens and the earth is the one who cares for me. The God who put those stars where they are is the one who personally loves me. It truly is comforting to know that the God who created the universe is the same God who humbled Himself to the cross to save lost souls. This is the God we serve.

Not to us, O LORD, not to us, But to Your name give glory Because of Your lovingkindness, because of Your truth.
Psalm 115:1

Learning to Love

2012-02-23T21:35:00.001-08:00

I've been reading a book called "Leading with Love" by Alexander Strauch. I haven't finished it, but so far its been a very beneficial and helpful book for me as I look to how I serve and how I am leading a small group. The basic message of the book is that without love any shepherding, discipling, or serving that is done without love is worthless. Its pretty clear in 1 Corinthians 13 that without love we are merely a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. Without love I am nothing.

While reading through this book and reflecting on my life and what I do in my relationships with people and in my serving, I came to the realization that love is not easy. As obvious as this is, I do not think that I fully recognized how hard it actually is to put into practice. The love that the Bible describes does not come naturally to us. Everything we do should be motivated from love, but as humans, we are not always able to have a pure and loving motive in all things.

For the past few weeks, I've been learning to love. Although this should be a lifelong pursuit of loving God and loving others, this concept recently hit me. Its easy to love when others are nice back to you. Its easy to love when you receive the thanks and the gratitude that you think you deserve. Its easy to love when others love you back. However, nobody promised that love would be an easy thing. Love is hard when your actions go unnoticed or when you are not just ignored but put down. Love is hard when you feel wrongly accused of something. Love is hard when you see no appreciation for the things you do or the sacrifice you've made. Love is hard essentially when you don't feel loved or don't feel like loving. Yet despite all the wrongs you might face, you are still commanded to love. However, that love should be driven by an understanding of God's love.

I had a friend who told me "I think Christianity is about divine love." Divine love. God's love for us. Until we can understand God's love we do not know how to love.

For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:6-8

God's love is shown in this way. While we despised, rejected, hated, and cursed God, he sent his own son to die for us. We should have been condemned to hell without any chance of redemption. Yet God chose to demonstrate his perfect love by dying for unworthy people in order that we might come to love Him. Our love for God is first and foremost. Everything else should be an outpouring of that love.

Whenever its hard to love, think of God's love.

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
1 John 4:10

DC for the weekend

2012-02-14T23:15:00.000-08:00

I am home from a weekend filled with fun, good food, walking, and sightseeing!

When I first landed in DC, I was already excited to see the city and be in the nation's capital. As I rode in the taxi towards the place I would be staying, I saw the George Washington Monument in the night sky. That's when it hit me. I'm really in Washington.

Walking around the Washington, DC area was quite an experience. With a combination of Google Maps and Google Earth, I found that we had walked around 12 miles on the very first day. We went to Georgetown, National Portrait Gallery, and National Mall. Seeing the monuments at night was quite beautiful. I had originally envisioned that I might see them during the day, but the nighttime view was a nice change to my expectations.

As a science major and an aspiring engineer, I naturally wanted to go to the Air and Space Museum. That was the one museum I had to go to on this trip. I remember going there when I was 5 and not wanting to leave. Now that I'm much older, things were seen with quite a different perspective. The rest of the museum's may not have been quite suited for my interests and tastes, but I still found them quite interesting as I found ways to connect myself to what I was seeing.

All in all, the weekend was quite busy but also fun and exciting. I'm thankful to God for His blessings when things are going well. I know that I can easily forget all that God has done when I'm "enjoying life." When trials and temptations arise, I am instantly driven back on my knees before Him. However, my attitude should always be of thanksgiving no matter how good or bad life seems. How blessed we are to be in a nation that allows us to worship our God freely without oppression and persecution. God is gracious.

Up in the Air

2012-02-10T05:36:00.000-08:00

I just arrived in Washington, D.C. for a surprise visit and my mission was successful! Almost too successful.

Its amazing how being on a plane really puts things in perspective. You see firsthand how large the rest of the world is and how tiny they appear when miles in the air. You realize that if anything goes wrong with the plane, its pretty much game over. You realize that you are staking your life on the pilot and pieces of metal, composite material, plastic, etc, that hopefully someone put together correctly. On my flight I sat next to the wing and kept staring at the screws that held the wing together. I couldn't help but think, "what if one of these became loose?"

All in all there's really nothing comforting about being on a plane yet it is necessary for traveling. For the duration of the flight, we choose to trust our lives to the pilots and engineers because they have proven to be successful in flying. In the same way, we should choose to trust our life in God's hand because He has proven faithful. However, unlike flying, it truly is comforting to rest in God's sovereignty.

I recently heard back from one of the graduate schools the I applied to and I was accepted! Where I would be next year had been such a huge source of stress and anxiety that it was such a relief to receive a positive decision in the mail. God is gracious! Even if I had not gotten accepted, God would not have shown Himself to be any less faithful. His faithfulness does not rest on whether we get straight A's, the job we wanted, or the graduate school of choice. God's faithfulness is proven on the cross. Jesus Christ came to earth to live the perfect life we could not live to suffer the death we deserved. Already we owe God everything. The blessings that we receive daily are merely extensions of His grace and mercy.

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him
2 Corinthians 5:21

Reliance

2012-02-05T19:38:00.000-08:00

It is now 2012 and so many things have changed since I last wrote in here.

The past week I have been realizing more and more of my dependence of self. No matter how many times I might say "I depend on God for everything" or "I just need to trust God more" I am unsure whether I actually mean what I say. In my own sinfulness, I would like to think that I have control over different factors in my life. However, in reality, I have absolutely no control over anything. Ultimately God is sovereign and to think about how small I am compared to the universe is actually quite humbling.

Waiting for graduate school decisions to come back have been a huge struggle for me in trusting God. Every time I think about my future and all the uncertainty that it holds makes me nervous and anxious for whats in store. How foolish of me to think that worrying would make any impact on the future. Instead of it driving me to trust God more, I find myself thinking about the "what-if's." What if I don't get in? What if its somewhere I don't want to be? What if this and what if that. All these unnecessary thoughts that run through my mind only reveal how much I think I can control these things.

The other thing that has been showing me my need to depend on God is in my dating relationship. Long distance has been quite tough and a huge test of patience. However, all the worries and anxieties only expose my lack of dependence upon God. This relationship is clearly not in my control and its only by God's grace that it exists in the first place. My human nature makes me think that everything depends on my ability to do this better or to do that better when in fact those have zero impact on God's sovereignty. Not that this is an excuse not to try, but it really is a humbling reality to know that you can do all you want and try all you want but God is the one who is ultimately in control.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:6-7

May I not be prideful in thinking that I am in control, but humble myself before God to truly trust in His sovereignty.

Drought for a few hours

2010-11-30T01:44:00.000-08:00

While coming back to UCLA, my roommate texts me saying that our street was flooded and to take another street. Flooded?? Why would our street be flooded? It was definitely not raining. As we got closer to our street, it became apparent that our street had become a river. Somehow a pipeline had exploded and caused a major hole in the sidewalk that spewed large amounts of water. Because of this massive loss of water, there was no running water available for all the apartments south of the hole. My apartment was included. As cool as the water looked coming out of the sidewalk which created a river, back inside the apartment it was not so amazing. We had no water to drink, the toilets would not flush, and we could not wash our hands.

Without running water, seemingly simple tasks could not be done. We were helpless to do anything but scavenge around for the last drop of water from our Brita Filters. Or walk up the street to another apartment to shower. In the same way how dependent are we on God? Would we be able to last a few hours without God? If we're honest with ourselves, we are not so dependent on God. A lot of times we tend to neglect Him or push Him to the backs of our minds for a later time. "I'll do my devo's tomorrow" or "I'll pray later" or "I'll go to church later" We put such a lack of emphasis on dependency on God. We want to go our own way.

It is currently 10th week at UCLA and it has been a hard and tough quarter. One psalm that we studied in small group has been comforting to read over. Psalm 42 opens with "As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God." Do we thirst for God? Yes the context is about thirsting for God in troubled times, but is He in the forefront of our minds? Throughout the psalm the psalmist tells himself to hope in God as though commanding himself to have hope. As I have been struggling through this tough quarter, I constantly need to remind myself to hope in God. How often I tend to wander in my own hopelessness. But God has given me an eternal hope. As John Macarthur said last week at the Thanksgiving Service "we of all people should be most thankful." Nothing else matters since we have a hope in Christ. Only in Christ do we have hope.

Now, our water is back and running. Thankfully this "drought" only lasted a few hours and everything seems back to normal except for the large hole in the ground. Praise God for providing living water =)

unworthy

2010-09-10T23:38:00.000-07:00

God i am so unworthy of your grace.

but you give it so willingly

Appreciation of Time

2010-08-21T16:41:00.000-07:00

For the past few weeks I have been working at Cytec Engineered Materials. Its been a very enjoyable few weeks in terms of where I'm working and what I do at work. I have hands on lab work along with great coworkers and just a wealth of knowledge for me to unpack even at work. As I am just an intern, there is so much for me to learn regarding the industry and just what I'm doing there in the R&D lab.

However, the time spent at work is so time consuming. This is my very first real job in the real world even though I am only an intern. 8 hours a day is actually a lot of time. There is so much that can be done in 8 hours. When I compare this with the mere 4 hours maximum that I might spend on average a day at school, it is no comparison. There is just so much time to do other things when in school, mainly referring to time spent for fellowship, studying God's word, and other ministry things. It is now that I have had this job that I really appreciate the time that I have in college.

Ephesians 5:15-16 says this "Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise,making the most of your time, because the days are evil."

Here in these two verses, we have an exhortation to walk with wisdom. Simply put

What? Be wise in how you live
How do we do so? We make the most of our time.
Why? Because the days are evil

Being wise with how you live is not a very simple task to accomplish. As life goes on there are many distractions that come up and different things that will affect you in great and small ways. Being wise is how we respond to such things. Living life wisely is not from our own doing. As it says in James 1:5 "But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him." God grants wisdom. This means that all wisdom is from God. Living life dependent on God is one that is lived wisely.

Make the most of your time. Time is very limited in life. There is a limited amount of time to do a limited amount of work here on earth. Do we appreciate the time that God has given us? I certainly have not appreciated that each and every breath as a gift from God. With this gift there is an appreciation for the gift and a use of the gift. Do you appreciate the time that you have? How do we show our appreciation? We use our time wisely. In James 4:14 it says "Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away." Life is short. Make the most out of what God has given you. Be a good steward of the things entrusted to you. The biggest thing and most common thing is life and with that, time.

The days are evil. We live in times where morality has been grayed. Everything that is considered a "small sin" are being deemed as lawful. Of course this is not a sudden change, but it has been growing more and more evil as the days progress. Use your time wisely because squandering time is an unfruitful and unwise decision. If time is not used wisely and used to stand firm and on guard against spiritual warfare, surely we will be unprepared. God has called us to stand firm and to put on the full armor of God. Surely He has also provided the way for us to be fully equipped to fight evil. Use your time wisely and equip yourself.

Despite only having one more year to go, I look forward to this coming school year as I will have a new perspective with regards to work and school. There is a lot of time given to me and I should use it wisely. Not squandering it on mindless and fruitless activities, but to spend it on something that has eternal value. Treasure God's word. Treasure God's people. Treasure God's Time.

Remember the Gospel

2010-08-01T18:56:00.000-07:00

I just came back from a highschool retreat where I was a counselor for the highschoolers. While retreat was good, fun, and with fond memories, what is on my mind is regarding what I felt necessary to tell the highschoolers during sharing time.

Sharing time is a time usually where during retreats we give an opportunity for people to share what they've learned, or something that has stuck out to them, or just to encourage people or do shoutouts to friends and other people. For me, I wanted to give some advice or maybe more of an exhortation.

"Remember the Gospel."

The gospel entails us being human, sinful, and imperfect before a holy and righteous God. Because of our imperfections and sins, we are condemned to hell for breaking God's law. But the good news is that Jesus Christ has come and lived the perfect life for us, dying in our place so that if we believe in Him we can have a perfect standing before God. Not only did he die, but he rose again 3 days later proving himself to be our hope for our future with God. This is essentially what Titus 3:3-7 says

"For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. "

Essentially that's the gospel. Its good news for sinners that they can have their wrongdoings erased before God. The most important thing is to remember the gospel. The gospel is all that we as Christians cling to and is everything that our hope lies upon. 1 Corinthians 15:14 says "[...] if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain." Jesus Christ is the foundation of our faith.

We may have the misconception that the gospel is only for non-Christians. However, that is absolutely not true. The gospel is good news for sinners. Christians are not perfect. Christians still do wrong things and still do bad things. The gospel is definitely applicable for us. There is a sense in which we are declared righteous and perfect before God, but that perfection is not our own. It is the perfection of Jesus Christ.

The point of remembering the gospel is not so that we have an excuse to sin or do bad things, but that during temptations, trials, struggles, and failures we can look to the hope that we have in Jesus Christ and say confidently, "I'm forgiven." Christ has already died and your sins paid for in full.

John Macarthur defines faith as this in his Fundamentals of Faith book. "Faith means trusting in, clinging to, or embracing Jesus Christ, who is the object of our faith." Cling to Jesus Christ. That is faith. Remember the gospel because it is all we have to hang on to.

Troubled

2010-07-25T22:29:00.000-07:00

⁶ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. ⁸Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

Philippians 4:6-8

I always throw the phrase "guard your heart" around. To a certain extent that is true. Proverbs does tell us to guard our hearts. However, there is a certain extent in which we should guard our minds. In verse 7 it says that the "peace of God [...] will guard your hearts AND your minds." Sometimes we cant even tell if its our mind or our heart that is going crazy or which one is doing the thinking. But in everything regardless of mind or heart prayer is the way to go. 1 Peter 5:7 says "casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you." We have a God who cares for us. We have a God who is all powerful. What more is that we have a God who gives us peace in times of distress and in times of trouble. In EVERYTHING through prayer we should give thanks to God. No matter how small or how big the matter is, God is there. We can't even explain the peace that God gives us.

Paul ends with an exhortation for us to dwell on good things. What is good is of the Lord. When we dwell on the pure things, the true things, we are dwelling on that which comes from God. In essence we are focusing our eyes on what is true. God is truth.

Fix your eyes on God because he cares for you. Throw your anxieties to God because he cares for you. Give your life to God because He sustains you.

Appreciation of Life

2010-07-03T23:01:00.000-07:00

So I'm finally starting to feel better from my sickness. After 3 weeks of dying with fever, fatigue, muscle pains, I am finally back at a decent energy level to actually function without sleeping 14 hours a day. My average day would be around 6 hours of feeling alright and then 4 hours of feeling like I'm about to pass out. Thankfully, by God's sovereignty, I have no school and no work.

God has shown to be sovereign in allowing me time to recover. I have been anticipating a job offer since the beginning of summer. I was suppose to work at Cytec Engineered Materials in the lab. However, the hiring process has been quite slow. Because I was expecting work, I declined an invitation to play a part in Fiddler on the Roof. That would have taken me 5 hours a day, which would have destroyed me while sick. In addition, Cytec Human Resources called me and made the official job offer, except in my disorientation and fatigue, I said I had not received an interview (I was interviewed last year). This bought me more time to recover and by the time my interview came, I was finally starting to feel better. I have continued to recover and I now have the official job offer once again and I'm waiting to start work July 12. God is good.

This sickness, however, has given me an appreciation for life and health. As I was always in bed trying to sleep and trying to rest, I felt helpless to do anything. I could not really exercise, my mind was all over the place, I could not read, I basically could do nothing but eat a little, drink water, and sit in front of the computer and click around or type around. I had so little energy. Maybe I'm exaggerating, but death felt pretty close. My mind kept thinking that God's work needed to be done. I had to finish the work set for me to do here on earth. Would I be able to in my last days say "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7). If those last days of mine are right now, would I be able to say that? In all honesty probably not. I waste time like no other. That's my biggest downfall. I squander the time that God has given me and spent it on futile things. Everything I do should be of eternal value. Everything I do should be gospel centered. There's much that I need to improve on, and I'm working on it. I pray that God will carry me to endure and to always have my mind centered on the things of the Lord.

With that in mind, I appreciate my health and my life. Other than being able to eat decently again and to be able to drive and work, there is a new perspective. I appreciate my health and my life that I can once again have the opportunity to work for the Lord.

"Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. "

1 Corinthians 9:26-27

Learning to Trust

2010-06-16T00:20:00.000-07:00

These past few weeks have been trying times for me in the sense of trusting God. Finals week was super stressful and I think I became sick as a result of Finals week. Being sick has made me realize how much I really rely on my own strength for everything. This weekend I was suppose to help out with bilingual retreat to take care of the kids. It was definitely much harder to do so as I was always tired and fatigued. This drove me to trust God and to lean fully on Him. I knew that with my own strength I would not be able to do anything. Only through God's strength would I be able to serve Him. How ironic.

"And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness " Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. "

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Retreat: Worship

2010-05-28T12:54:00.000-07:00

Retreat was this past weekend.
May 21-23

Theme: Worship

Retreat was really good.

That's just as simple as it gets. It was good. For the past year I have been thinking about worship and how it should be a lifestyle. Friday nights and Sunday mornings should be just an extension of that. Worship leading through music should not be taken lightly. That has been my mindset that worship should be a lifestyle. However, there is so much more.

In scripture there are many incidents where people come to worship God specifically at a certain time and place. So although Friday nights and Sunday mornings are an extension of my worship as a lifestyle, there are times when my heart is not prepared to worship God in that moment. We don't take Friday night's as seriously as we should, nor do we approach Sunday morning as reverently as we should. We go on Friday nights tired, sleepy, worn out from the long week. Sunday mornings are just too early and we don't take the time to really devote our heart to intentionally worship God.

I think it was just good in terms of practicality. We were there on the mountains able to worship God right there in that setting. No need for anything else. We worship God because He is creator. We worship God because Christ has died for our sins. On Saturday night we just had a time of singing and prayer both praying individually or praying in groups. Having that direct application and able to live out what we had just learned was really helpful and enjoyable.

The last day there was snow! It is the end of May and it was snowing. This is something most of us do not really get to experience. Having it snow that last day was really special, as it made me realize how beautiful God's creation is. Sometimes we are numbed to the trees and grass and the "common" creation. However seeing the snow brings everything else into perspective. God is so good.

As much fun and as beautiful as the snow was, the thing we had to consider was our safety on the way down. We were unsure as the time we were going to be allowed to leave. We were not allowed to drive down without chains. It was just a time to trust God in his sovereign will. Thankfully the roads cleared up 2 hours later and we were able to get home safely.

God can do so much more than we can even begin to conceive.

"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. "

Ephesians 3:20-21

Reading your Bible

2010-04-22T00:34:00.000-07:00

Somehow the topic of doing your quiet times and devo's has come up both at Church on Sunday and also in small group. The emphasis is that Quiet times are very important in your spiritual life and growth.

During Small group, one of the passages that was mentioned that stuck out most to me was 2 Peter 1:2-3.

"Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence."

We see that God has granted us everything pertaining to life and godliness through knowledge. Where do we attain knowledge? From the study of scripture. From the Bible, the very word of God is where we get knowledge.

God has given us everything that we need to know pertaining life through his word. There's no need for other things. God's word is sufficient. God himself is sufficient for us.

Do we have true knowledge of Jesus our Lord?

If not, how do we take the steps to get to know Him more?

The obvious application of this is in quiet times. "QT's" are talked about so much, yet we dont know exactly what it is. Essentially it is prayer and Bible reading. Even more simpler than that it is time spent with God.

As the childhood song goes...
"read your bible, pray everyday... and you'll grow grow grow"

So read your Bible. Set time aside to allow God's word to speak to you. It has everything you need pertaining life and godliness.

Humility

2010-04-12T00:32:00.000-07:00

I desire humility.

You resist the proud but you give grace to the humble.

James 4:6

For the sake of the Gospel

2010-04-07T23:07:00.000-07:00

Going through 1 Corinthians 8 and 9 have been very fruitful. Finally coming down to the main points and study of these passages, God has definitely shown me a lot and humbled me. The joy of being able to teach is not the teaching part, but the studying of the Bible. Studying the Bible gives me great joy and really ingrains what the word of God says. Today I taught small group for the first time on these two passages. It was a very interesting experience. Although not my first time teaching, much can be learned. Everything should tie back to the main point.

The main point of 1 Corinthians 9 is to deny yourself for the sake of the gospel. In the first chunk of verses, from 1-6, Paul speaks on the liberties and rights that he has as a Christian. Then in the next chunk, verses 7-18, Paul explains his rights and also shows that he has denied himself these Christian liberties among Christians for the sake of the gospel.

The 3rd chunk talks about denying yourself among nonChristians. To the Jews, Paul became a Jew, to the weak he became weak. He did all that denial of self in order for him to share the gospel with them that he might "save some." And yet again it is for the sake of the gospel.

Finally the 4th and final chunk of 1 Corinthians 9 talks about discipline. Essentially this is denial of self with yourself. Discipline is a lot of denial of self. Doing the things you ought to do when you do not want to do them. Certainly all this for the purpose of the gospel. Paul says in verse 27 "but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified." Disciplining for the sake of the gospel. This is so that your life will not disqualify you from what you preached.

We see from the the main points of each chunk that the purpose of self denial should be for the sake of the gospel. In Luke 9:23 it says, "And He was saying to them all, 'If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.' " Self denial should be our pattern of life. It should be our lifestyle. Also in the same way our lives should be gospel centered and gospel minded. Is that the way we live? If not, how can we focus our lives to be more concerned for the gospel and more concerned for the things of God?

Deny yourself for the sake of the gospel.

Love with what we know

2010-04-03T00:10:00.000-07:00

I've been studying through 1 Corinthians 8 and 9 in order to teach on those chapters for small group. What I found to stand out the most in my life and most applicable to the struggle that I've been going through is from 1 Corinthians 8. 1 Corinthians 8 has many lessons to learn and many truths to draw from it, however what I want to focus on is the first 3 verses.

¹Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies. ²If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know; ³but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.

1 Corinthians 8:1-3

First off, there is knowledge. Knowledge is what we know. We all have some sort of knowledge and what differs is just the depth of our knowledge. And there is knowledge surrounding the idea of food sacrificed to idols. Some have more than others and some have less than others. Later on, Paul continues from verses 4 to 6 of the theology behind food sacrificed to idols. The theology is what we know.

Secondly there is the idea of "Food sacrificed to idols." Food sacrificed to idols in today's terms would be anything that is not sin in and of itself. In verse 8, it says that "food will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat." This means that food in and of itself does nothing to our walk and relationship with God.

The key part that hit me was the second part of verse 1: "Knowledge makes arrogant". Stop there. All this knowledge, the theology, etc. It has a tendency to make people arrogant or stuck up, or prideful. Literally the word translates as "puffs up." So knowledge pretty much puffs up our heads to make us think like we're better. It even continues in verse 2. "If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know." This verse says that if anyone is proud enough to think that he knows anything, he doesn't know as he should. This verse is similar to a verse found earlier in 1 Corinthians, which is 1 Cor 3:18, "Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise." If anyone thinks he is wise, he shouldn't be. In the same way, if anyone thinks he knows anything, he doesn't really know what he should know, which would be the love of God.

The ending part of verse 1 would be "but love edifies". Love edifies! Love builds up and encourages others. Pure knowledge just makes people proud. This is not to say that we forget all about learning more and growing in knowledge, but to most importantly love with what we know. How do we love with what we know? That is the lesson that I've had to learn in my own heart.

We love by not judging the weaker Christian. In the context of 1 Corinthians 8, the food sacrificed to idols was no big deal until the "more experienced" Christians made their liberty a stumbling block for the weaker Christians. Don't judge the weaker Christian! Judging in the sense to bring down and to build you up. It just breaks down the other person. This is what happens when knowledge is left alone to fester. Knowledge can make us so arrogant and proud that we'll just look down on those who do not know better, or are not as "mature" as you are. Be humble with what you know. If there are Christians listening to secular music, or maybe gaming or anything that is not a sin in and of itself, don't look down on them. They are your fellow brother and sister in Christ. God did not put us here on earth to judge each other, but God put us here to build each other up, to edify each other.

We love by building each other up. This applies everywhere, not just food sacrificed to idols. The body of Christ was here to build each other up and to stir each other towards sanctification. So if we see that brother or sister listening to secular music, stir them towards Christ. Encourage them to be concerned for the glory of God in all that they do. It's NOT a sin to listen to secular music, just as it is NOT a sin to eat food sacrificed to idols. However, flaunting our knowledge and causing another brother/sister to stumble is a sin and its one that we can avoid through love which edifies.

Be Humble with what you know. Build each other up. Stir each other towards Christ.

God Bless

Falling Away

2010-02-28T20:35:00.000-08:00

Last night reading my Bible a few verses in Hebrews hit me.

"For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame."

Hebrews 6:4-6 (NASB)

This passage speaks about apostate Christians. These are those who have "once been enlightened" and have even "tasted of the heavenly gift" yet they have, as it says in verse 6, "fallen away." It is impossible for a true Christian to lose his or her salvation. However, the question to ask is how can those who are not Christian be "partakers of the Holy Spirit?" These people are those who know the gospel. These are those who have had full revelation of what Christ has done and have shared the blessings of the church, yet they inwardly reject Christ as Lord, if not outwardly. The reality of the vast amount of people in my life who have fallen away just hit me. It was truly saddening but also humbling at the same time.

Its saddening to see those who have tasted the goodness and graciousness of the Lord Jesus, who know of the blessings and know of the true and only satisfaction that God gives, and know that we as humans are utterly sinful, to still reject and live like the world. They may not blatantly reject, but through their actions they reject Christ everyday. Many still declare themselves as "Christian" yet live as though Jesus never EVER hung on that cross.

It was also humbling to realize that despite my sadness and despite my strong concern for the gospel and for the salvation of sinners, I am unable to, in my own power, do anything. Only by humbling myself before the authority of God's sovereign hand may sinners come to repentance. It is a hard lesson to learn that only God can save. Only him. Nothing else. Nothing you can do except to be faithful and obey his commands. We can only love and share God's truth. Salvation is that of God changing the heart and opening it for that person to be saved. It is truly a miracle when a sinner comes to repentance. I can only plead on my knees to God that He might save some.

to God be all glory

New Year

2009-12-31T17:50:00.000-08:00

It's almost 2010. 2009 has been a good year. I am quite excited to see what the Lord has in store for 2010.

Tough Times

2009-10-27T23:35:00.000-07:00

Tough week
hope and pray that God will bring all to His glory.

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
Romans 12:12 (NIV)