Make Friends with Jesus

“What shall I do...?” Luke 16:3

Many times we find ourselves in a quandary about which direction to take, or what option to go for. The dilemma of the steward in Luke chapter 16 is he has been fired by his master for dishonesty. Instead of taking care of his master’s property, he has been dissipating it. Thinking quickly, saying to himself that he cannot go digging ditches or doing manual labor, he again uses his master’s wealth to exert influence on 

his master’s debtors so that they will be the ones to help him get through the future rough times. 

Jesus uses the example of this dishonest man to show us that just as the men of this world use wealth cunningly to get what they want, His followers should also use earthly things to get into heaven! 

“And so I say to you, make friends for yourself using iniquitous mammon, so that, when you will have passed away, they may receive you into the eternal tabernacles,” Jesus instructed in Luke 16:9. It may seem strange but apparently Jesus is saying we can “pay” our way to heaven! 

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” (Matthew 25:35-36) When we make friends with the poor, the stranger in our midst, the sick, the prisoners, when we are generous with what we have, no matter how little, we gain a passage to heaven because it is Jesus we have befriended! 

Yes, Lord, may we always look for opportunities to make friends with You wherever we can find You! 

God’s Garden

“We are God’s garden.” 

1 Corinthians 3:9

Luigi and I are in Coron, Palawan, right now with Luigi’s brothers and sisters. When you take a boat out from the town, you can go to some of the most beautiful places on earth, like the famous Kayangan Lake. But there are so many other wonderful deserted places to visit, with pristine waters, fabulous corals, and breath taking rock formations. Two days ago, we just stayed in Dicantuman beach the whole day. No one else was around except the Tagbanuas taking care of the place. I could not stop taking pictures and marveling at God’s creation. Surely one can see how God meant the earth to be when one is out there in the bay. 

In 1 Corinthians 3:9, Saint Paul declares that we, each one of us, is God’s garden, His field. He means for each of us to be even more beautiful than those islands dotting Coron Bay. But like those beaches, we can become full of filth, if we are not careful about what we do, hear, see and enjoy. 

At Dicantuman, I saw the caretaker removing the dried seaweeds that had drifted up the beach. I suppose he did that all the time. His white sand beach was very clean of any kind of garbage. We too have to take time every day to see if anything we did made us “dirty”. Did I get angry? I should ask forgiveness. Did I read anything bad on the internet? Did I gossip? Did I wish something bad happen to anybody? Little things, big things. They can make a difference in our garden. Let us choose to plant good seed: God’s Word, love, faith, hope, peace and joy, so that when the winds come, these seeds will spread and maybe, sooner than later, our world will be the awesome garden God originally planned it would be. 

WOYWW: Love

Here is my desk today. I am in the town of Coron, Busuanga, Philippines, a boat ride away from some of the most beautiful places on earth. 

A couple of days ago, we went to a deserted island. There was no one there except for the Tagbanua caretakers. 

We had a great time playing in the water, snorkeling, kayaking, lazing around and of course, eating!

“Love is the fulfillment of the law.” Romans 13:10

Saint Paul puts it very simply and succinctly: He who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. He explains that all the commandments about not killing, not stealing, not committing adultery and coveting, these are all summed up in a simple rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 

So when we go about our day, whether at home, the office, an outing with friends, or an important meeting, we should ask ourselves, “How do I love this neighbor of mine? How can I show kindness, how can I help in any way?” There are people who are naturally like that, and we should observe them and emulate them. I find many brothers and sisters in my family and community like that. I, sad to say, fall short all the time! But as long as we improve, and get better at it, I think we will please the Lord. The thing about me is I never give up on myself. I know I am a work in progress, and I know that God won’t give up on me, until He finishes the work He has started in me! 

Invited!

“A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations.” Luke 14:16

In yesterday’s Gospel, Jesus instructed us that when we celebrate,  we should invite those who cannot repay us for our hospitality. We can invite the poor, the sick, the blind. We can go to the city jail and hold a party there. It does not mean all will come. In Jesus’ story in Luke 14:15-24, a man gave a dinner party and none of those invited came. He instructed his servants to go out quickly and bring in anyone the servants come across. “I want my house to be full!” 

Sometimes when we have a party, not all can make it. Some guests have valid reasons, some make feeble excuses. Some may be sick, some may just be lazy.

Each one of us has a special invitation to dine with the King. Each one has a special place prepared. Are we ready to come right now? We never know when the door opens and our presence is requested! Perhaps we are dawdling. I’ll be more serious about God when I’m older. I’m having too much fun now. I’m sure God will bring me in, He’s just too good to slam the door on me! I’m just to busy, I’ll leave all that to my wife! I can’t find the time to read the instructions on the invitation. 

Lord, thank You for Your invitation, and that You did all the hard work for me! All I need is to put on my white robe of righteousness and I may enter into Your Kingdom. 

Celebrate Jesus’ Way!

“You should be pleased that they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid in the resurrection of the just.” Luke 14:14

I have my birthday coming up and it seems Jesus is giving me a hint in how He wants me to celebrate! 

“When you prepare a lunch or dinner, do not choose to call your friends, or your brothers, or your relatives, or your wealthy neighbors, lest perhaps they might then invite you in return and repayment would made to you. But when you prepare a feast, call the poor, the disabled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed because they do not have a way to repay you. So then, your recompense will be in the resurrection of the just.”

If you think about it, we are the poor, the disabled, the lame, the blind, the sick, that Jesus is inviting to His feast in His Kingdom. He is just asking us to do the same in a small way. But He is not just opening up His home to us in a lavish way, He is opening up His heart. What an amazing example He gives us! Why would He want to mar His perfect Kingdom with rabble like us? Why would He desire to hold a smelly, sinful, disobedient people close? Inconceivable! But just as Jesus’ heart is, so is our Father’s! When we see Jesus, we see the Father! (John 14:9) Thank You Lord for Your amazing, awesome love for us! 

The Only Teacher

“Practice and obey whatever they say to you, but don’t follow their example.” Matthew 23:3

I can imagine if Luigi and I brought up our son in this manner: “Josh, do and obey everything we tell you, but never, ever follow what we actually do!” Or what if a teacher would instruct her students not to lie or cheat or steal, and they would catch her not telling the truth to their parents! How successful would a church be if the Pastor would preach powerfully about loving one another but the members would see him insulting the janitor repeatedly. How despicable is a man who tells his followers it is wrong to kill and when he turns around says he has killed many and promises to kill many more? The world is full of examples of how we should not follow the models of men. We need not look far. 

We have Bible Study in our office every Thursday morning. Our Music Ministry is composed of the most dedicated and passionate singers and musicians. One day, I caught them practicing past lunchtime, and they were so caught up in their singing, they could not hear my first reminder that it was time to work already. So I started to shout! Of course I had to apologize afterwards for my anger.

The only example we need is Jesus. “Only one among you is teacher,” Jesus said, “the rest are learners.” And so it is essential we go back to the source of good, of right and wrong. We need to learn from Scripture how to live rightly to please our Father. “To whom shall we go, You have the Words of everlasting life?” 

Sit in the Lowest Place

Yesterday I was making backgrounds as my husband and I are going out of town today, riding a boat to Coron, Palawan. I do not want to bring my Bible, too bulky. To make marks, I like to use all sorts of stuff like cut up rubber mats, bottle covers, carved styrofoam, corrugated cardboard, etc. 

“Go and sit in the lowest place...” 

Luke 14:10

Before the Presidential elections, we were invited to listen to prominent candidates speak about their platforms. Unknowingly my husband and I sat in reserved seats, and were asked to move to another table. The people who took our place were the family of one of the candidates and their entourage. Jesus said in Luke 14 that it is best to sit at the lowest place, to be humble and unassuming of your position, in order that we may avoid the embarrassment of being asked to transfer seats to make way for others perceived to be more important. 

By nature, we usually prefer to sit where we can see and hear clearly, but I know a man who always chooses to sit at the back, who always waits for others to eat first in a buffet. Many times there is hardly any food left for him to choose from. And sometimes, because he also prefers to be almost last in line for Communion, there’s no more blessed wafer for him to receive. 

Here again, we see God’s upside down economy at work. The last shall be first. Give and you shall receive. Reap that you may sow. Blessed are they who mourn, who are poor in spirit, meek, the persecuted, etc. Why? Perhaps because God’s treasures cannot be found by the greedy, the proud. They cannot be hoarded but must be shared. The more they are shared the more there is for everyone. It’s a hard lesson to learn in this competitive world, but there is a chance every day to practice it. 

I believe if we want to be more loving, more faithful, more generous, more humble, we must be on the look out every day, for opportunities to practice. If we are observant, more sensitive, less busy with our needs, and more present for others, we will be able to be what Jesus wants to teach us to be. Treasures of heaven are ours for the picking every day. Blessings fall from heaven every minute of the day if we listen to Jesus’ whispers. 

The World’s Bible

“...they were watching Him closely.” 

Luke 14:2

We may not know it but when we believe in Christ, we become his Ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20). In the 14th chapter of Luke, we see Jesus eating in the house of one of the leading Pharisees. They were observing Him closely. They wanted to catch Him making a mistake. 

I am reminded about this priest who was asked to celebrate mass during a retreat. Afterwards, he heard confessions from the retreatants. One brother told another that the priest got shocked at what he confessed. “You mean you’re part of this community and you still do that???” the priest asked in deep dismay. 

The next day, this same priest officiated at a mass and some of the members of the same prayer group were attending. During the homily, the priest made told a story about the man who confessed mentioning the name of the community. Obviously, the priest could not get over the man’s sins, but did not realize he himself committed the graver sin of revealing  what should have been a sacred trust. The seal of the confessional requires that a priest maintain absolute secrecy about what someone confesses. He was like the Pharisee condemning Jesus for healing on a Sabbath! 

Much is expected of us as Christians. In our schools, offices, neighborhoods, organizations, and even in our churches and prayer communities, there are people watching and observing. We are held to higher standards. What? She’s part of Ang Ligaya ng Panginoon (The Joy of the Lord) Covenant Community and she still gets angry and impatient? She still spaces out during Mass? He goes to V Church every week and he still watches bad movies? 

Even if we are believers, we sin. We fall. We make others sin by our actions. Our lives are the world’s Bible it is said. We have to watch what we say and do because yes, the world is watching! 

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Open Book Exam

“Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or away from home or naked or ill or in prison and not attend You in Your needs?” Matthew 25:44

Isn’t it a relief when you come for a difficult, life changing exam, and the teacher declares, “You may open your books, you may search google, you can ask your seat mate for the answers,” and then leaves. In the 25th chapter of Matthew, Jesus the teacher reveals a very important answer to the life and death question, “How do I get into heaven? How do I inherit the eternal riches of my Father’s Kingdom?” 

Now and again, we should go through this passage like a checklist so during exam time, we can answer, “Yes Lord, I gave You food when You begged for it through my car’s window. I visited and prayed over You when You were sick. I went to visit You in prison, brought food for Your body and soul.” We should go through the checklist and DO whatever we have missed. Uh oh, I gave my worst clothes to the victims of the typhoon. I did not invite any stranger to my home.

Thank You Lord for giving us clear instructions so we can live with You one day. It’s not so difficult because You did the impossible part, giving Your life for us. Thank You for Your promise that You will finish what You started in us. Help us to love! 

WOYWW: Washed in Blood

This is my desk this morning. It’s a big mess as usual. I just finished painting on my Bible. On the right side there are cloth I am pinning scrap fabric on to make into purses. On the left are boxes full of stickers and magazine clippings I use to decorate my journal.

“...they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb.” Revelation 7:14

Here yet again we are confronted with one of God’s paradoxes. How can a robe be made white with blood? God’s ways are definitely different from ours and His thoughts infinitely higher. That’s why if we want to move forward in our pilgrim journey to His Kingdom, we need to learn to trust Him. 

I remember when the first husband of my sister was dying, my aunt thought she was getting crazy already. Peggy was still smiling and laughing and talking to all the visitors who came to support her and pray over Jing. What they did not know was God gave her a very special revelation. She was on a journey up an unfamiliar mountain with a sheer drop on the side of the narrow passage. It was terrifying to walk beside the cliff, but Jesus was ahead of her, holding on to her hand to guide her. 

There are times in our life when we get overwhelmed and it is especially during these times we need to hold on to the One who loves us, who wants to guide us, and who paid the price for us to get into the family of His Father. We will never get our robes white with good deeds. Just like what happened to the Jews in Moses’ time during Passover, we need the blood of the Lamb to pass through the narrow gate. 

Blessed, Broken and Given Away

“The Kingdom of God is like yeast...” Luke 13:21

What a thing to compare the Kingdom of God to! Of all things, yeast, that tiny, tiny fungus! But even tiny fungi has a purpose in the Universe. This first singe-cell microorganism was around hundreds of millions of years ago. It is used to leaven bread, and having good yeast is essential if we want to make great bread. 

Each one of us can be considered tiny, unimportant, inconsequential in God’s grand scheme of things. But like He told Jeremiah, before God formed us in our mothers’ womb, He set us apart, He already knew our purpose and had a plan for us. We may think we cannot do much, but each action we take has a consequence. We can choose to be indifferent, or we can choose to love. We can be salt and light and leaven, or we can add to the misery of the world. We can be God’s hands and feet, His mouth even, in this broken world. Yes, let us make the best bread ever, blessed, broken to be given away! 

Badly Stooped

“She was badly stooped, quite incapable of standing erect.” Romans 8:11

When Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues one Sabbath, He saw a woman who was so badly stooped, she could not stand erect. He called her to Him and healed her. 

Many people are bent over with pain, suffering with innumerable trials, and unlike the woman, we do not see it. Here in the Philippines, we have a lower suicide rate than other countries, but an average of seven suicides a day is seven too many. It doesn’t seem to matter if one is a millionaire or a pauper, highly educated and skilled, famous, surrounded by family, young, old, good-looking or not. Sadly, more and more people these days think of ending their life. 

Usually, psychiatrists treat depression as a chemical imbalance and use “biologically based intervention” prescribing antidepressants. But there is a second way which is not a quick fix via drugs but is found to be more effective. Listening and talking to someone who feels down, empathizing, and trying to understand will help move the person to a more positive mindset. I believe praying with and praying over the person, calling on Jesus who never fails to heal the broken hearted, can open the door to healing. 

It is known that President Abraham Lincoln battled depression and thoughts of suicide for most of his adult life. He would get especially melancholy at times of great stress, and there were many of that in his life. This is from an article about Lincoln’s depression: “According to General James F. Rusling, Lincoln said that during the fighting at Gettysburg he turned to prayer, felt the whole thing to be in God’s hands, and “somehow a sweet comfort crept into his soul.” 

At another time, his wife’s dressmaker noticed that the President had a very sad face, and his step was very slow. He had just come from the War Department, and the news was “Dark, dark, dark.” He sat in the corner and read from the Book of Job in the Bible for some time. After a while, his face became more cheerful. 

God said in Isaiah 55:11 that His Word will not return to Him until it accomplishes the purpose for which He sent it. If we need hope, peace and joy for living, let us turn to the God who is the giver of every good thing. But most especially, let us be more sensitive with those around us who need our support and understanding.  

Amazing Faith!

“...throughout every region your faith in God is celebrated...” 

1 Thessalonians 1:8

Imagine if this was said of us, that everywhere people were talking about our faith in God! Saint Paul wrote the believers in Thessalonica that that they became examples to all the Christians in Macedonia, Achaia, in all of Greece. We need to find out what they did!

In 1 Thess. 1:5, Saint Paul wrote that when he, Silas and Timothy shared the Good News to them, the Holy Spirit gave them full assurance that what they said was true. The original Greek word used is “pleroforia”, which means complete and faithful conviction. Do we know to the depths of our heart and mind and being that Jesus Christ is Lord, that He came to save us from death and separation from God? Do we have the joy and peace beyond understanding that comes from that “pleroforia”? 

The Thessalonians turned from idols to obeying and serving God. They imitated Saint Paul in following Jesus, and were steadfast in the midst if tribulation. It was not easy then to follow Christ, and it is not easy now. 

Lord, renew us in Your Spirit. Enkindle in us the fire of our first love for You. May we repent of any lukewarmness in our hearts! 

God’s Holy People

“You are fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of God.” Ephesians 2:19

Saint Paul couldn’t have been writing this to ordinary Christians like you and me, could he? But he did. He wrote this letter while he was imprisoned in Rome. He had spent more than two years building the church in Ephesus, in what is now Turkey. Many had converted to the faith, and of course he wanted to encourage and comfort the believers there. In his 6 chapter long letter, he talks about the glorious inheritance awaiting those who believe in Christ. He expounds in God’s eternal plan from the beginning, how God has given the believer everything he or she needs to live out the Christian life and grow in maturity. 

When I think of saints, of course I think of the well known saints like Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Bernadette, Saint Therese, etc. but for each well known saint, there are thousands of unknown saints. There are those who were thrown to the lions, crucified, burned to death, or beheaded for not sacrificing to Roman gods, or renouncing their belief in Christ. Martyrdom is not confined to the early years of Christianity. According to Open Doors researchers, “Approximately 215 million Christians experience high, very high, or extreme persecution.” 

But apparently, to Paul, we don’t need to be persecuted, martyred or tortured to be considered a fellow citizen of God’s holy people. We already are part of God’s family. We are His house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, with Christ as the cornerstone. We who believe are one of those building blocks, carefully joined together, to make God’s holy temple. 

Lord, I’m content to be one of the tiny stones in Your temple, but I want to be the best and strongest little stone for You! With Your help, nothing is impossible! 

The Kindness of God

“Let your kindness comfort me according to your promise to your servants.” Psalm 119:76

The circumstances of our life may be very hard. People can be cruel. Life can deal you a bad card. But it won’t change the fact that God is kind, gracious, loving, faithful and we can always expect Him to show up for us. I always learn something when I listen to Christine Caine. Compared to her life, my life is a fairytale. 

When she was born, no one cared enough to give her a name. On the line which says “Name” in her birth certificate, is written “unnamed”. She was adopted by a very poor Greek immigrant couple who lived in public housing in Sydney. For 12 years she was sexually abused by different men. She was just covered in shame, rejection, insecurity, fear, and anger. 

Today, she is a powerful, very talkative and joy-filled Christian speaker and author. In 2008, she and her husband Nick Caine founded the A21 Campaign, an NGO that fights human trafficking in several countries.  They also started Equip & Empower Ministries, to help Christian churches develop and grow. If that isn’t enough, in 2015, Christine and Nick founded an organization to celebrate every woman’s passion, purpose and potential. Propel Women is designed to empower and equip women to lead, and respond to God’s call. 

The road from being unnamed to being secure in God’s love and blessing for Christine was bumpy. Today she can proclaim that yes, God is kind and He is faithful. But first she had to surrender to God, and she had to offer Him all the broken fragments of her life. Like the boy in the story of the “Loaves and Fishes, and the Feeding of the Five Thousand” in Matthew 14, Mark 6, Luke 9 and John 6, she gave her brokenness to God, and He did something miraculous. She forgave all the men who abused her, she broke down and cried and cried and cried and then cried some more. But God used all her experiences, all her pain to enable and empower her to save many women today from sexual abuse and slavery in Ukraine, Greece, Bulgaria, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Norway, the United States, South Africa, Thailand, the Netherlands, and Australia.

May we give God our brokenness, our pain, all that we are, that in His kindness and compassion, He may mold us, and make us into the men and women He has envisioned us to be. 

Fire!

“I have come to light a fire on the earth.” 

Luke 12:49

Why in the world would Jesus say that? I think of the conflagration in California, the wildfires devastating more than 1 million acres of beautiful wine country and some 40 people burned to ashes. More than 5000 homes and buildings are now just dust, ashes and rubble. Is this conflagration what Jesus meant?

In Deuteronomy 4, there is a verse there which says, “For the Lord, your God, is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” In another version, it reads, “a devouring fire”. Devouring and consuming are certainly descriptions of the wildfires in Sonoma county! The verse before v.24, reads, “Take heed, therefore, lest, forgetting the covenant which the Lord, your God, has made with you, you fashion for yourselves against His command an idol in any form whatsoever”. How serious a sin is making an idol in any form, shape or configuration? Very very very serious! 

An idol is a false God. It doesn’t have to be a piece of wood, or marble in a church. It can be anything we put in the place of God. It can be a person we obey and admire and defend even if he himself does and says things against God’s laws, and asks us to do things that God hates. It can be our work if our work separates us from God and the family we love. It can be many things if we put those things before God. Indeed, Jesus wants to bring fire into our lives to burn away whatever is dross from the gold. Are we prepared for God’s consuming fire? We need to be if we are serious about going to heaven! No dross is allowed there! 

WOYWW: The Little Seed

“When much has been given a man, much will be required of him.” Luke 12:48

This is the verse I want to illustrate today so I chose a picture in a magazine and traced it on to my Bible. 

After I use acrylic paints and a pencil to outline the drawing. 

God gave each of us gifts, talents, natural aptitudes, and resources. It’s up to us to discover them, hone them so they become skills, an expertise that we can use to bless others and give glory to the One who was generous with us. We’d like to think that God was equally generous with everyone, but the parable of the talents that Jesus told in Matthew 25 shows us that God entrusted more to some and less to others. 

My mom used to say that she had little talent compared to others but that she used it to the last drop. She also did not have much money to start a business. She started by using  scraps to make stuffed toys. She did not have business expertise, she used her common sense. But she had faith, a whole lot of it. She prayed for a business, worked hard, prayed, learned what she could, prayed, persisted, prayed, and now that business is 50 years old this year. 

I have to admit, compared to my siblings, that I don’t have as much talent as they do when it comes to art. For years, I did not touch a brush or pencil. But in 2006, when I was dissatisfied that at 10 am I could not remember what I prayed about early in the morning, I decided to embellish the bible verse I meditated on. I would cut up magazines and put borders. I would cut up pictures that would illustrate the verse. Eventually I started to draw. My drawing was so elementary but I kept at it. Then I started to paint. Every day I kept at it. And today, I paint in my Bible. I believe the little seed God put in my hand has grown and will keep growing if I water it every day. 

I would think it’s scary if God gave us many many gifts!!!! We would have to grow each one! But I think God only gives us what we can handle. I remember a story of a little boy following his dad in a supermarket. The boy was holding a basket and the father was putting the bread, cheese, milk into it. A woman observing them, asked the son, “Isn’t that too heavy for you?” “No,” he answered, “My father knows exactly how much I can carry.” 

Thank You Lord for all our gifts. Help us to take care of everything you give us. May we be grateful, and not proud of what we have, nor envious of what others have. Teach us to use our gifts to help and bless others. How wonderful it is to partner with You in discovering Your plan and purpose for each of us! 

Found Ready

“It will go well with those servants whom the master finds awake on his return.” Luke 12:37

No one knows the day and the time when the Messiah returns, except the Father (Matthew 24:36), so it is amusing when a date comes up like it did recently. Some believed that September 23 was D-Day because Niburu, a planet which has been debunked by NASA as a hoax, was headed towards a collision with earth. Ever since Jesus was crucified, many have been waiting for Him to come again.

In Matthew 12:35-38, Jesus tells His disciples that they had to be like servants waiting for their master’s return from a wedding. It will go well with them if he finds them awake and ready to do his bidding. Alas for those who are sleeping!  

It’s hard to wait. I am not very patient and I usually find things to do while waiting in the bank or the doctor’s office. I usually bring what we used to call a “torture kit”. It could be a book, drawing materials, or a pair of scissors and cloth that I would cut designs out of. But waiting for Jesus is entirely different. We can’t use a “torture kit” to while away the hours, days, months, years, decades, we have before His return. We have to use our time profitably, meaning like good servants, we have to do the work He wants us to do. We can’t choose what we want to do. But the Master left a whole manual of instructions. We just have to read it and obey. 

It’s much like the manual my sister Peggy wrote for our sales staff to follow. It’s very detailed. When we go on store visits, we check on how the store looks, how the staff behave, and if there is plenty of stock of the merchandise. Most of the time, it goes well for the staff, but once in a while, some get a lecture. When Jesus comes again, and we are found “sleeping”, I doubt if it’s just a lecture we will receive! 

For Me!

“...they were intended for us too.” 

Romans 4:24

It did not use to be that I had this compulsion to read the Bible and try to understand it, to get the meat. When I was young I disagreed with a lot of it, and read Theosophy, Carlos Castañeda, and the likes of Krishnamurti instead. But after several altar calls, Life in the Spirit Seminars and baptisms in the Spirit, I put all the books in a box and buried it. 

I realized that the words in the Bible were from God and intended for me, not just for an ancient people, but for me, today. The whole of the passage from Romans reads: “Abraham never questioned or doubted God’s promise; rather ...he was fully persuaded that God could do whatever He promised. Thus his faith was credited to him as justice. The words ‘credited to him’, were not written with him alone in view; they were intended for us too. For our faith will be credited to us also if we believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, the Jesus who was handed over to death for our sins and raised up for our justification.” 

Sometimes it’s hard to understand the passages in the Bible, and that’s why people make up their own belief systems or find something easier to swallow. If I invented a religion, it might be a mishmash of the books I read when I was young. But why do I think anything from God should be easy to understand? His thoughts are higher than my thoughts, and His ways much higher than mine (Isaiah 55:8-9). He is after all, God. But He also promised that if we seek, we will find. And that is what we need to do: seek. The more we seek, dig, scrounge around the Bible, the more we will find. The more we read, the more we will understand. 

For Me!

“...they were intended for us too.” 

Romans 4:24

It did not use to be that I had this compulsion to read the Bible and try to understand it, to get the meat. When I was young I disagreed with a lot of it, and read Theosophy, Carlos Castañeda, and the likes of Krishnamurti instead. But after several altar calls, Life in the Spirit Seminars and baptisms in the Spirit, I put all the books in a box and buried it. 

I realized that the words in the Bible were from God and intended for me, not just for an ancient people, but for me, today. The whole of the passage from Romans reads: “Abraham never questioned or doubted God’s promise; rather ...he was fully persuaded that God could do whatever He promised. Thus his faith was credited to him as justice. The words ‘credited to him’, were not written with him alone in view; they were intended for us too. For our faith will be credited to us also if we believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, the Jesus who was handed over to death for our sins and raised up for our justification.” 

Sometimes it’s hard to understand the passages in the Bible, and that’s why people make up their own belief systems or find something easier to swallow. If I invented a religion, it might be a mishmash of the books I read when I was young. But why do I think anything from God should be easy to understand? His thoughts are higher than my thoughts, and His ways much higher than mine (Isaiah 55:8-9). He is after all, God. But He also promised that if we seek, we will find. And that is what we need to do: seek. The more we seek, dig, scrounge around the Bible, the more we will find. The more we read, the more we will understand.