Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. (Matthew 2:16)
If we study the Word of God again and again, much if not all the killing of innocent lives such as babies are the results of pure greed and selfishness of the mighty and powerful. Starting from the time of Pharaoh, until the time of Herod, and even mostly these days! Why? Simply because people want to enjoy their lives, their power, their influence, and stay alive as long as they can! It is greed and selfishness – pure and simple.
In America, many people are now celebrating for the signing of the stem cell research program which was banned by the previous administration for around eight years. Although, this is a very sensitive issue, the Word of God is still the best place to check what’s going on. Everything is all about morality, not science. God created life, and now scientists wanted to play gods. They can now decide who should live and who must die. Evidently, he who has the money and power can live, and the innocent blood will be sacrificed. We have our modern Herods these days.
Life is in the blood, and the only thing that can cry out to God for justice is our blood. Abel’s blood cried out to God, and Cain was brought to judgment even without the CSI’s. Modern CSI’s rely on the unique DNA structure of our blood to catch murderers and perpetuators. Most importantly, the blood of Jesus is so powerful to save a person from death to life everlasting.
So, are human embryos just another stage of mutation and adaptation into a different stage of life, which some may say a fish stage? The Word of God said He knows us even before we were born (Eph. 1:4), He assigned us a life, name, and identity. And finally, God also sets our expiration date (Heb. 9:27).
Living and Active
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Where Your Heart Is
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)
A twenty-dollar bill and a one-dollar bill were sitting inside the bolt in a bank. Getting bored, they started to chat with each other. The twenty-dollar proudly said, “Know what, I got a very exciting experience! I went to Las Vegas, to Reno, to Atlantic City, to Macau, to Hawaii, to the beautiful resorts and casinos you can think of. It was a lot of fun!”. “What about you?”, he asked the one-dollar. The one-dollar bill said, “Well, I had been to many churches. To Baptist churches, to Catholic churches, to Presbyterian churches, and many more churches! That’s where I had been.”
Many times we are guilty of not truly worshipping the Lord in our tithes and offerings. We really did not get when Jesus said we had to prioritize on heavenly things instead of our earthly matters. Of course, the Lord does not need our money – because He is able to rain down money from heaven if He wants to. He created the heavens and the earth, and more importantly created human beings in His own image. But the Lord wants His people to practice love and generosity in the real sense, and to be more like Jesus, who sacrificed for us at the cross without expecting any in return.
In the first place, our tithes and offerings do not benefit the Lord – we ourselves are the beneficiaries. He gave us the gift of giving, that we may learn to give, that others may be blessed, that they will learn to give, that more people will be blessed, that He will bless our hearts, that we may glorify God, and God keeps giving us more desire to give (2 Cor 6:9-15). O, what a world we live in if people just keeps getting generous and loving all the time. Sadly, the enemy is successful in doing the reverse and so we are living in a corrupted world.
Jesus gave the alternative in these passages for those who cannot afford and to those who are wealthy. He leveled the playing ground, such that no person has advantage over the other. He offered heavenly accounts, for anyone who wants to invest. It is an investment of the heart, where your love is – if you love material things, or you love the heavenly things. That will be determined where your heart really is.
A twenty-dollar bill and a one-dollar bill were sitting inside the bolt in a bank. Getting bored, they started to chat with each other. The twenty-dollar proudly said, “Know what, I got a very exciting experience! I went to Las Vegas, to Reno, to Atlantic City, to Macau, to Hawaii, to the beautiful resorts and casinos you can think of. It was a lot of fun!”. “What about you?”, he asked the one-dollar. The one-dollar bill said, “Well, I had been to many churches. To Baptist churches, to Catholic churches, to Presbyterian churches, and many more churches! That’s where I had been.”
Many times we are guilty of not truly worshipping the Lord in our tithes and offerings. We really did not get when Jesus said we had to prioritize on heavenly things instead of our earthly matters. Of course, the Lord does not need our money – because He is able to rain down money from heaven if He wants to. He created the heavens and the earth, and more importantly created human beings in His own image. But the Lord wants His people to practice love and generosity in the real sense, and to be more like Jesus, who sacrificed for us at the cross without expecting any in return.
In the first place, our tithes and offerings do not benefit the Lord – we ourselves are the beneficiaries. He gave us the gift of giving, that we may learn to give, that others may be blessed, that they will learn to give, that more people will be blessed, that He will bless our hearts, that we may glorify God, and God keeps giving us more desire to give (2 Cor 6:9-15). O, what a world we live in if people just keeps getting generous and loving all the time. Sadly, the enemy is successful in doing the reverse and so we are living in a corrupted world.
Jesus gave the alternative in these passages for those who cannot afford and to those who are wealthy. He leveled the playing ground, such that no person has advantage over the other. He offered heavenly accounts, for anyone who wants to invest. It is an investment of the heart, where your love is – if you love material things, or you love the heavenly things. That will be determined where your heart really is.
2nd Commandment - Love Others As Yourself
… Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. (Luke 6:27-28)
Read: Luke chapter 6
Loving other people who loves you is easy, and even sinners do the same – Jesus said. If you are a person who dedicated your life to following Jesus Christ, it will not deposit any credit to your heavenly account if you do that. But repaying evil with good is the ultimate test – it will really show the character of God the Father in your life, and that what counts! Verse 35 even says …. He is kind to the unthankful and evil.
This story cracks me up: Somewhere in Minnesota, an elderly woman who has no job, no source of income, and virtually having nothing always opens up the door every morning and thanking God for the day and His provisions. An irate atheist neighbor planned to test the faith of the woman. He bought bags of groceries, put it on the woman’s door before dawn, and waited at the back of the bush to see what the woman would say that morning. Some minutes passed by and the old woman opened her door and began thanking God for the bags of groceries. Even before she finished thanking the Lord, the atheist man sprung up from the bush and told the woman in somewhat ridiculing voice he put the things there. The woman again prayed, “Thank you Lord, for even using the devil to deliver me the goods!”.
Well, it may not totally reflect the thought for the day … but one thing is for sure, we should be always thankful no matter what. And love God and other people without any condition, even if it hurts. After all, God saved us from the fires of hell through the blood of Jesus Christ without any cost for us. All we need to do is to have faith and believe that Jesus did, when He cried … “It is finished.”
Read: Luke chapter 6
Loving other people who loves you is easy, and even sinners do the same – Jesus said. If you are a person who dedicated your life to following Jesus Christ, it will not deposit any credit to your heavenly account if you do that. But repaying evil with good is the ultimate test – it will really show the character of God the Father in your life, and that what counts! Verse 35 even says …. He is kind to the unthankful and evil.
This story cracks me up: Somewhere in Minnesota, an elderly woman who has no job, no source of income, and virtually having nothing always opens up the door every morning and thanking God for the day and His provisions. An irate atheist neighbor planned to test the faith of the woman. He bought bags of groceries, put it on the woman’s door before dawn, and waited at the back of the bush to see what the woman would say that morning. Some minutes passed by and the old woman opened her door and began thanking God for the bags of groceries. Even before she finished thanking the Lord, the atheist man sprung up from the bush and told the woman in somewhat ridiculing voice he put the things there. The woman again prayed, “Thank you Lord, for even using the devil to deliver me the goods!”.
Well, it may not totally reflect the thought for the day … but one thing is for sure, we should be always thankful no matter what. And love God and other people without any condition, even if it hurts. After all, God saved us from the fires of hell through the blood of Jesus Christ without any cost for us. All we need to do is to have faith and believe that Jesus did, when He cried … “It is finished.”
On Abortion
So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, "Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive." (Exodus 1:22)
Sometimes we need to look back into history. Abortion and killing of innocent babies had been there since the beginning. And the purpose is always the same: convenience and selfish ambitions. Here, the Egyptian Pharaoh wanted to kill all Hebrew male babies to lessen the threat of future uprising. Herod in Matthew 2, wanted to kill all boys below two years old to eliminate the threat to his throne. Today, abortion of innocent lives is in much wider scale. It includes male and female babies alike, all for the convenience of the mother or parents, and the government.
It only did not cover the Pharaoic or Herodic style of execution, but also of Hitler’s style where the weak and sickly were eliminated. Roe v. Wade law made all these possible, and hardly promoted by Planned Parenthood. All for the convenience of the mothers, but mostly of the government. And even now, it is planned to be promoted in less fortunate countries to be funded by American tax payers.
On the contrary, Jesus promoted the better alternative. To care and love the children, for God’s kingdom is made up for the innocence like those of the children – pure and unadulterated (Matthew 19). He is the Giver of Life, and everyone He gave breath to is worth to be loved and cared. Jesus did not favor the strong and mighty, but gave grace to the weak, poor, and lowly. For those who cannot defend themselves, but only rely on the protection and guidance of the Lord God Almighty.
When it comes to the issue of abortion, people are divided. But here, we see two midwives (Shiphrah and Puah) standing on their beliefs, defying the Pharaoh, and eventually God honored them and blessed them for they spared the children.
Sometimes we need to look back into history. Abortion and killing of innocent babies had been there since the beginning. And the purpose is always the same: convenience and selfish ambitions. Here, the Egyptian Pharaoh wanted to kill all Hebrew male babies to lessen the threat of future uprising. Herod in Matthew 2, wanted to kill all boys below two years old to eliminate the threat to his throne. Today, abortion of innocent lives is in much wider scale. It includes male and female babies alike, all for the convenience of the mother or parents, and the government.
It only did not cover the Pharaoic or Herodic style of execution, but also of Hitler’s style where the weak and sickly were eliminated. Roe v. Wade law made all these possible, and hardly promoted by Planned Parenthood. All for the convenience of the mothers, but mostly of the government. And even now, it is planned to be promoted in less fortunate countries to be funded by American tax payers.
On the contrary, Jesus promoted the better alternative. To care and love the children, for God’s kingdom is made up for the innocence like those of the children – pure and unadulterated (Matthew 19). He is the Giver of Life, and everyone He gave breath to is worth to be loved and cared. Jesus did not favor the strong and mighty, but gave grace to the weak, poor, and lowly. For those who cannot defend themselves, but only rely on the protection and guidance of the Lord God Almighty.
When it comes to the issue of abortion, people are divided. But here, we see two midwives (Shiphrah and Puah) standing on their beliefs, defying the Pharaoh, and eventually God honored them and blessed them for they spared the children.
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