Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. (Colossians 3:2 NLT)
Everything on earth has an expiration date. Your brand new car can be out modeled in few months, your computer is good as junk in few years, your cell phone is a shameful piece of electronics in a year or two that you feel pitiful when you use it in public, your no-wrinkle ironed-out jeans becomes out of style when these worn out, lot-of-holes jeans became the fashion – and so much more. All because of the marketing tricks and convincing sales pitches that you wanted to be up-to-date and become crazy about so many things in life, even when it is not necessary.
We are so caught up with material things, even as Christians, that we give much priority on them. There are so many things in life that takes a large chunk of our time, effort, and energy – that we feel left out in the woods if we do not have them. And many times even draw us away from our fellowship with God. In this passage, Paul – who was in prison in Rome, was writing to the Christians in Colosse to consider their new life in Christ, and not to live as carnal believers – that is, not going back to their old lifestyle.
We as modern Christians ought to live as new persons in Christ. We need to leave behind our past life which is hell-bound, and more forward with our heaven-bound life in Christ. We need to “set” our hearts and minds on heavenly matters, and not on earthly matters which last only for a while. The love of money, worship of worldly things, desire for illicit relationships, impurity, lust, evil desires, greediness, anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, lying, and dirty language - need to be taken out of our system. They have no part in our new life in Christ.
We need to replace them with love, peace, patience, hope, long suffering, gentleness, humility, hospitality, kindness, and compassion. Our life is just a mist (James 4:14) and we need to spend our energy and time on heavenly things. Let us not endanger our eternal rewards in heaven, and possibly even lose our fellowship with God by living in our past.
Living and Active
Monday, November 23, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
A People For God
Read first: Genesis 28:10-15
Jacob was fleeing for his life for deceiving his brother Esau. He tricked Esau by selling his birth right for a bowl of stew. In the Middle East, patriarchal importance is highly valued. The first born normally acquires most of the rights in the family. Yet, we saw that Esau did not give much importance in his position being the firstborn. Although, this must happen to fulfill what God had said in Gen 25:23, “that the older shall serve the younger”.
Now Jacob was asked by his mom and dad (Zak and Becky) to flee to his Uncle Laban some five hundred miles away to Haran (a place in modern day Turkey), for they do not want him to marry a girl not belonging to the family line. On the way, Jacob took a stone pillow and set asleep for the night. In a dream, he saw a ladder from earth to heaven and angels of God ascending and descending through it. And the Lord appeared to him and reminded him that his descendants will be countless as dust and spreads through all the earth. And in his seed, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. The same promise given to Abraham and Isaac, was passed on to Jacob.
The Seed is the Lord Jesus Christ, who came to earth to save and bless all the families of the earth. Through Jesus Christ, any one who believes and trusts in Him will be gathered together as people for God. Those who reject Jesus Christ will belong to the Devil and his angels. God does not want to send anyone to hell, for He does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:23). Because of His love for all people, He made a way for us to get back to that lost relationship with God when Adam infected every person with the deadly sin. We also know that the Ladder whom the angels ascend and descend through is the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:50-51). He bridges between heaven and earth so that everyone who dares to go through Him might pass through and escape the gulf of hell. Jesus also said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).
All people who used to have no hope and no inheritance of the promise of heaven, are now welcome to apply for citizenship in heaven. The promised Seed of old, had now come and living among us. Many people are being rejected for application, entrance, residency, or citizenship in the United States, but heaven is far more greater than any other place – for it is the place where God reigns and living with His people. The best thing is, it is open for any one who acknowledges and trusts in the Seed and Ladder, who is the Lord Jesus Christ. We just need the passport of faith, and the desire to live for Him and make Jesus the Lord of our life.
Jacob was fleeing for his life for deceiving his brother Esau. He tricked Esau by selling his birth right for a bowl of stew. In the Middle East, patriarchal importance is highly valued. The first born normally acquires most of the rights in the family. Yet, we saw that Esau did not give much importance in his position being the firstborn. Although, this must happen to fulfill what God had said in Gen 25:23, “that the older shall serve the younger”.
Now Jacob was asked by his mom and dad (Zak and Becky) to flee to his Uncle Laban some five hundred miles away to Haran (a place in modern day Turkey), for they do not want him to marry a girl not belonging to the family line. On the way, Jacob took a stone pillow and set asleep for the night. In a dream, he saw a ladder from earth to heaven and angels of God ascending and descending through it. And the Lord appeared to him and reminded him that his descendants will be countless as dust and spreads through all the earth. And in his seed, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. The same promise given to Abraham and Isaac, was passed on to Jacob.
The Seed is the Lord Jesus Christ, who came to earth to save and bless all the families of the earth. Through Jesus Christ, any one who believes and trusts in Him will be gathered together as people for God. Those who reject Jesus Christ will belong to the Devil and his angels. God does not want to send anyone to hell, for He does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:23). Because of His love for all people, He made a way for us to get back to that lost relationship with God when Adam infected every person with the deadly sin. We also know that the Ladder whom the angels ascend and descend through is the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:50-51). He bridges between heaven and earth so that everyone who dares to go through Him might pass through and escape the gulf of hell. Jesus also said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).
All people who used to have no hope and no inheritance of the promise of heaven, are now welcome to apply for citizenship in heaven. The promised Seed of old, had now come and living among us. Many people are being rejected for application, entrance, residency, or citizenship in the United States, but heaven is far more greater than any other place – for it is the place where God reigns and living with His people. The best thing is, it is open for any one who acknowledges and trusts in the Seed and Ladder, who is the Lord Jesus Christ. We just need the passport of faith, and the desire to live for Him and make Jesus the Lord of our life.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
The Fall Of Humanity
Read first: Genesis 3:1-19
The shrewdest animal (verse 1) – Eve had no encounter with other humans except Adam and the animals. Here, we see that Satan used the shrewdest animal God had created, the serpent – a cunning, tricky, and sharp animal – to deceive the woman. Satan still uses such kind of material to trick and deceive many people today, including Christians. In fact, that is one of the characteristics of the anti-Christ when he comes to deceive and mislead many people. The guy who has the cunning ability to persuade and convince people, very smart, very sharp, but tricky.
The lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and pride of life (verses 2-6) – The Devil often uses the same technique that works every time – lusts and pride – to trap people into sinning. He also started by planting doubt into the woman’s mind by asking “Did God really say…?” which is also his way of taking out the warning signs in our lives. Even advertising and marketing companies apply similar techniques to sell products. Appealing to the eyes, it will make you look good and feel good, it will make you proud and known by others, only to find out it is not even close to the truth.
The guilt of sinning (verses 7-13) – Guilt always comes last. When we succumb into temptation and had transpired into sin, we will know it’s too late and guilt comes creeping in. Sin suddenly detaches our fellowship with God, and we start focusing on ourselves. Only to find out we are naked before God like Adam and Eve, and we try to hide from God. We also see here the love and gentleness of God towards Adam and Eve. Instead of opening up the ground to swallow them, God came as Father seeking His hiding and ashamed kids. Although God knows everything that had transpired between the Devil, Adam, and Eve – God came out calling in gentle loving voice “Where are you?” Even now, we know that the Lord is calling us out and the lost ones to bring back the fellowship with Him – only when we acknowledge our sin and fault and confess our sin before Him. God is so good!
The penalty of sin (verses 14-19) – What God had warned, God will do. So, when we violate the warning signs God had given, we will “surely” suffer. In this case, Adam and Eve will “surely” die when they will disobey the command not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 2:16-17). I also believe the game of “passing the buck” among politicians originated here J. Adam did not want to take the responsibility and passed it over to Eve, Eve likewise passed it to the serpent, the serpent had no one to blame. The poor serpent was the first to get the penalty, then Eve, then Adam.
Many people today thought that they are getting away even when they commit sin continually. The truth is, sin works for its wages – death! (Romans 6:23). No one is capable of paying for the wages of his or her sin. Our blood money is not just enough. But we thank God for providing the complete payment – He sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross, shed His blood, and washed away the death penalty with all its fine prints. And God is offering it as the gift (Ephesians 2:8). If we believe that God did it so for us and are willing to accept His gift of eternal life – then we are in fact changing family status from the devil (John 8:44) to getting adopted into God’s family (Romans 8:15), and changing our eternal address from hell to heaven.
The shrewdest animal (verse 1) – Eve had no encounter with other humans except Adam and the animals. Here, we see that Satan used the shrewdest animal God had created, the serpent – a cunning, tricky, and sharp animal – to deceive the woman. Satan still uses such kind of material to trick and deceive many people today, including Christians. In fact, that is one of the characteristics of the anti-Christ when he comes to deceive and mislead many people. The guy who has the cunning ability to persuade and convince people, very smart, very sharp, but tricky.
The lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and pride of life (verses 2-6) – The Devil often uses the same technique that works every time – lusts and pride – to trap people into sinning. He also started by planting doubt into the woman’s mind by asking “Did God really say…?” which is also his way of taking out the warning signs in our lives. Even advertising and marketing companies apply similar techniques to sell products. Appealing to the eyes, it will make you look good and feel good, it will make you proud and known by others, only to find out it is not even close to the truth.
The guilt of sinning (verses 7-13) – Guilt always comes last. When we succumb into temptation and had transpired into sin, we will know it’s too late and guilt comes creeping in. Sin suddenly detaches our fellowship with God, and we start focusing on ourselves. Only to find out we are naked before God like Adam and Eve, and we try to hide from God. We also see here the love and gentleness of God towards Adam and Eve. Instead of opening up the ground to swallow them, God came as Father seeking His hiding and ashamed kids. Although God knows everything that had transpired between the Devil, Adam, and Eve – God came out calling in gentle loving voice “Where are you?” Even now, we know that the Lord is calling us out and the lost ones to bring back the fellowship with Him – only when we acknowledge our sin and fault and confess our sin before Him. God is so good!
The penalty of sin (verses 14-19) – What God had warned, God will do. So, when we violate the warning signs God had given, we will “surely” suffer. In this case, Adam and Eve will “surely” die when they will disobey the command not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 2:16-17). I also believe the game of “passing the buck” among politicians originated here J. Adam did not want to take the responsibility and passed it over to Eve, Eve likewise passed it to the serpent, the serpent had no one to blame. The poor serpent was the first to get the penalty, then Eve, then Adam.
Many people today thought that they are getting away even when they commit sin continually. The truth is, sin works for its wages – death! (Romans 6:23). No one is capable of paying for the wages of his or her sin. Our blood money is not just enough. But we thank God for providing the complete payment – He sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross, shed His blood, and washed away the death penalty with all its fine prints. And God is offering it as the gift (Ephesians 2:8). If we believe that God did it so for us and are willing to accept His gift of eternal life – then we are in fact changing family status from the devil (John 8:44) to getting adopted into God’s family (Romans 8:15), and changing our eternal address from hell to heaven.
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