Unworthy

“Just say the word, and my servant will be healed." Luke 7:7

In Luke chapter 7, we meet a centurion, who stands out because he cares very much for his slave who is sick and about to die. A centurion was an officer in the Roman infantry, and frequently commanded 80 to 1000 men depending on their rank. This man sent some Jewish elders to ask Jesus to save his slave. These elders pleaded with Jesus, and told him that this centurion loved the Jews and built their synagogue. 

Jesus went with them and when he was nearing the centurion's home, the centurion sent word, "Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not worthy for You to come under my roof. Just say the word, and my servant will be healed." He then explained that he too was a man under authority with soldiers under him. These soldiers obey his command. "I say to a soldier, 'Go!', and he goes, to another, 'Come!' And he comes."

From what the centurion said, we know that he had been listening to Jesus and he came to the conclusion that Jesus was no ordinary man. He acknowledged that compared to him, Jesus had the real authority. That is why Jesus was so impressed with the centurion's trust, "Not even in Israel have I found such great faith!"  

We too are unworthy for Jesus to come and visit our home. But He does! He actually knocks and waits for us to say, "Come in!" Every day He waits, and He never gives up. Dear Jesus, thank You for not ignoring us as You have every right to! You have no obligation to us. We are undeserving, filthy sinners and most of the time we are the ones ignoring You! 

God Can Bring Hope

“Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!” Numbers 21:5

God was not happy with all the complaints of the Jews after He saved them from slavery. Each one of us has to deal with our own particular unique cross to bear. No one is exempt. We need to be careful about the sin of ingratitude, and remember there is redemption when we see ourselves, our gifts from God, and our situation through God’s eyes. Where there is despair, God can bring hope.

Have you ever heard of Sparky Schultz? When he was in eighth grade, he failed all his subjects, and in High School he did so poorly that he got the lowest scores in the school’s history. He was shy, not at all popular and was left alone most of the time. He was known as a “loser” by all his classmates and even teachers. Although he didn’t think much of himself either, he did believe that he could draw. Even if nobody else thought much of his sketches, he was proud of them. He thought of submitting them for the school’s yearbook, but the team in charge didn’t want to use them. He mailed drawings to Walt Disney Studios and all he got in return was their form letter for rejection. 

But Sparky was confident in this gift he had and he started “drawing” himself in cartoons, showing himself as a chronic underachiever who couldn’t even fly a kite. Eventually, after much persistence and perseverance, his comic strip became widely popular as Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy, Peppermint Patty, and Snoopy became beloved by millions. “Peanuts” by Charles “Sparky” Schultz began in 1948, appeared in 2,600 newspapers in 21 languages. He drew all his cartoons by hand, and made more than $55 million in his lifetime.

What is not well known is he converted to Christianity after his deployment in World War II. “I preach in these cartoons, and I reserve the same rights to say what I want to say as the minister in the pulpit,” Schulz once said. He was a long time Sunday School teacher in the Midwest and California, and the margins of his Bible were filled with notes he wrote on them. 

Jonathan Merrit said: “Schulz was a devoted Christian; unshell the Peanuts and you’ll find the fingerprints of his faith. By mixing Snoopy with spirituality, he made his readers laugh while inviting them into a depth of conversation uncommon to the funny pages.” Charles Schultz recognized his talent, developed it, used it with perseverance, and with God, turned it into his greatest strength. We too can do the same. 

Only with the Heart

"Can a blind man act as a guide to a blind man?" Luke 6:39

God made a human being to be tremendously amazing! In Jesus' time, blind men could not do much but be a nuisance I suppose. He was reduced to begging. But today, if a blind man can learn how to echolocate, he can ride a mountainbike in the forest by himself, he can "hear" buildings from 1,000 feet away, he can navigate through a strange place smoothly and with no hesitation. Daniel Kish "sees" the way bats see in the dark. He became the first totally blind person in the U.S. to be fully certified to be able to lead another blind man and guide him. So yes, Daniel Kish can act as a guide to another blind man. In some ways. Echolocation cannot tell you if there is a hole in the ground, or if there is park bench in front of a stone wall.

But because God made the human being to be tremendously amazing, we can be arrogant and proud. When we know a little bit, we think we know it all. Like the parable of the 6 blind men and the elephant. One concluded that the elephant was a snake because he reached out for the tail. One adamantly insisted it was a wall, another 4 tree trunks, etc. We can be like that too, observing people from our great height of knowing. I know I am. My husband reminds me often of how I am too prone to judging others. Sometimes I condemn people based on how they look. This sleazy looking politician is crooked. That policeman with the big stomach is just standing there looking for someone to catch to get some money for his dinner. etc etc. Lord, heal my blindness. When I see people, let me see with your eyes.

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye," as Antoine de Sainte-Exupery wrote in the Little Prince. Indeed, this is so true.

Find the Word

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” (Psalm 139:13–14, niv)

Jo Saxton, author of the book, “The Dream of You” had a running battle with negative self talk. After all, she had heard so much judgment growing up. 

“You’d be so pretty if you weren’t so dark skinned.”

“Stay out of the sun so you won’t get even darker.”

“Your nose is too broad.”

“You should go on a diet.”

“Men don’t like tall women.”

“I like you and I’m attracted to you, but I can’t date you because you’re black.”

It was not until she discovered the Bible that things began to change. She realized that God’s Word was a weapon, the sword of the Spirit (Eph 6:17). She would read Psalm 139 daily, sometimes several times daily. 

Jo wrote: “It was a personal war as well as a path to transformation. I didn’t realize that every time I declared that verse, I was cutting away at chains, slicing and splicing the most seductive and stealthy of lies.

I didn’t know that God’s words had fallen like seed in the soil of my heart, growing in the dark, taking root until they broke my life open into a new dawn.” 

Are there battles you are fighting? Insecurities? Fears? Anxieties? Sickness? Find the Word to speak the truth into your heart and let it grow and bloom victoriously. 

Passing Away

“For the world in its present form is passing away.” 1 Corinthians 7:31

Indeed, no matter how beautiful a flower is, or a woman, it fades, grows old, passes away. That is how the world is!

But we do not belong here fortunately! We are made for Heaven, our real home! How do we keep this in the forefront of our minds while we go about our busy lives?

Perhaps by taking time during the day to count our blessings? If we make the day slow down, by taking the time to think about God’s goodness, to praise His name, to talk to Him at different times during the day, we will add value to the minutes and hours and it will not just pass without significance. I realize how much God loves and cares for me when I see how my husband loves and cares for me!

I believe my Covenant Community, Ligaya ng Panginoon (Joy of the Lord), prefigures the community we will join in Heaven. This makes Heaven more real to me! What makes Heaven more real to you?

High Praises

“Let the high praises of God be in their throats." Psalm 149:9

I have to confess that I don't praise God enough. I don't take the time to stand up and sing during my prayer time in the morning. I usually do that during prayer meetings, with brothers and sisters singing at a crescendo with the music ministry.

What I fail to realize every day is that if I do praise God I do it in unison with the largest and the best choir in the world (and out of the world!) We sing with the angels, and archangels, the saints, the hosts and powers of heaven. Indeed if we do not praise God, we do not really know Him, for to know God is to know He is worthy of praise, of resounding praise!

A preacher I was listening to on Youtube said that praises to God was like a huge, eternal Mexican wave (the rhythm achieved in a packed stadium when successive groups of spectators briefly stand, yell, and raise their arms). We need not initiate it, we just need to choose whether to join in. I like that, at any time anywhere that I choose to praise God, I would be part of this wonderful cloud of praise going up to heaven. One with Charity Gayle, Sandi Patti, Darlene Zschech, Suzy Yaraei, Mark Hall, Kim Walker-Smith, Chris Tomlin, etc. as I sing with them on YouTube or Spotify. And one with Moses and Miriam, King David, Saint Cecilia, Saint Augustine, Saint Francis…the list goes on.... Isn't that exciting?

“I can't wait for eternity

Join the song they're already singing

Holy, holy, holy Are you Lord!

Just to bow down before your throne

See your face, I'll cry out Because you're holy, holy, holy

Are you Lord!

Jesus, king of kings Jesus, majesty

Standing with those who have heard well done

Proclaiming forever

that you're the one who's Faithful, faithful, faithful

Are you Lord! Oh

What can we give you but endless praise?

The heavens roar as we shout Your name is Jesus, Jesus, Jesus

You are Lord

Worthy, worthy, worthy

Lord, another glimpse of glory

We sing once more

Worthy, worthy, worthy Lord, forever, forever!” (Charity Gayle, Endless Praise) 

https://youtu.be/gEinUp3--FY?si=sVNC7Y-VNHr3r2Bt

Extraordinary God

“Stretch out your hand." Luke 6:10

All of us have a withered something we can stretch out to the Lord. It can be chronic illness, a talent we haven't used, a dream we've allowed to die, a relationship destroyed by unforgiveness...

The good news is Jesus is asking us to stretch it out to Him, for healing, restoration, to make it whole again. We shouldn't lose hope. There's always hope. I remember praying for healing for my mother in this old magnificent church many many years ago. This message stubbornly lodged in my heart: Healing always comes. 

The thing is, and you may have heard this before, but it’s not about us. It’s about God and His plan and purpose for us. God has given us gifts and talents we should use to build His kingdom, if we want to hear, “Well done, my good and faithful servant,” from His lips one day. Perhaps the dream was something God planted in our heart, and we’ve given it up because it was way too big for us. We thought, “I can’t do this!” But God can! God can do the impossible! 

I was listening to John Bevere, a best selling author, share how he barely passed his English class, and how it took him 4 hours to write two pages. In the summer of 1991, he heard God tell him to write a book. He didn’t, because he thought God had him mistaken with someone else. But ten months after, two women from two different states approached him with the same message: that if he didn’t write the book God had given him, God would give it to someone else. John would have to give an accounting one day for what he did with the gift God gave him. So John wrote the book. Now John Bevere has written more than twenty books translated into more than 120 languages. Then he had an app developed, the MessengerX to make digital resources available to pastors and Christian leaders around the world for free. He also has a weekly television program, The Messenger, which broadcasts in 214 nations. 

What gifts and talents, what dreams, has God given us? Even if it is ‘withered’, even if we are sick and with so many limitations, let us stretch it out to the Lord for revitalizing, restoring and healing. We have an extraordinary God and as His children, we have “extraordinary” written all over our future! 

Be Opened

And gazing up to heaven, Jesus groaned and said to him: “Ephphatha,” which is, “Be opened.” Mark 7:34

When people brought a deaf and mute man to Jesus, and begged Him to heal the man, Jesus did something different. Jesus took the man away from the crowd, away from all the gawking onlookers waiting for miracles. He then put His fingers into the man’s ears, and spitting, touched his tongue. Then gazing up to heaven, Jesus groaned and commanded the man’s ears to hear. This is a foreshadowing of the Ephphatha ritual in the Sacrament of Baptism, where the priest touches the child’s ears and mouth with his thumb: ears to receive Christ's word, and mouth to proclaim his faith "to the praise and glory of God”.

It’s good to go away with Jesus now and then and leave the hustle and bustle of our day, to stop checking our phones, and not be slaves to the urgency of our to do lists. What do we do first thing in the morning? That sets the pace of our day. Do we spend time with the Lord and plant His Word in our hearts first before allowing the world with its myriad concerns to intrude? Just like the deaf and mute man, if we go away with Jesus, we may be able to hear Him speak to us. If we go away with Jesus, He can open our ears to hear rightly, our eyes to see the truth, and our tongue to speak life giving words to others!

Sometimes our days with all its problems and concerns can seem like a bunch of cords messed up together. When I try to untangle all of it, pulling at this and that with no plan just messes it up more. But if I concentrate on one cord, deliberately taking it over and under, in and out, separating it from the others, I am more successful. 

That way, we can follow Jesus’ advice in Luke 10:38-42. We can choose the one cord, the “one thing”, the better portion. A joyful life of intimacy with the Lord awaits us if we put the Word before the world! 

The Gift of Rest

“The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” Luke 6:5

Isn’t is amazing that the God who created the universe, who put the stars in place, and who can command typhoons to stop, made Himself known to the Jews thousands of years ago? He freed them from slavery in Egypt, and He instituted the Sabbath. 

“Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.” (Exodus 20:8-11; see also Genesis 2:2-3)

In gifting His chosen people with a day of rest, God taught them how to live as a free people. They were used to being treated brutally in Egypt. A people in bondage need to be taught how to live in freedom. 

Our Father wants to teach us as well that we are a free people and we need to trust Him that He will provide for our needs even if we do not work seven days a week! Sometimes we can be chained to our work and do not welcome the gift of rest God has given His people. If we take the time to refresh ourselves with God’s life giving Word on Sunday, we will perhaps discover a new spirit of peace, strength and wisdom that carries us through for the week to come. 

Mysteries of God

“We are stewards of the mysteries of God, and we should be faithful and trustworthy." 1 Corinthians 4:1-2

What are stewards? They manage another person's property or financial affairs. To manage means to bring about or succeed in accomplishing, to take charge of, direct or govern.

If we are to be stewards and manage the mysteries of God, shouldn't we be aware of our duties and responsibilities?  How can we manage a mystery, much less mysteries???

A mystery is anything that is kept secret or remains unexplained or unknown, any truth that is unknowable except by divine revelation.  I don't think God will give us a responsibility without giving us the tools we need to do it, do you?

1 Cor. 2:10-12 reads, "No one comprehends the things of God except the Spirit of God." Ah ha!! “For who can know the Lord's thoughts? But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ!" (1 Cor. 2:16) Double ah ha!!! I believe the mysteries of God are revealed slowly to us who take the time to seek. 

"Seek and you will find,” Jesus promised in Matthew 7:7. And finding what is good for us, we have the responsibility to bring about and accomplish our Master's goals. “Go and make disciples of all nations!" Matthew 28:19

“Have you heard the secret of God? And do you restrain wisdom to yourself?" Job 15:8

“Every disciple in God's Kingdom is like the owner of the house who brings out of his storeroom NEW TREASURES as well as OLD." Matthew 13:52

I don't know about you, but I get very excited about secrets, treasures and mysteries. But this mystery is far more exciting and valuable to know! Sometimes we take it for granted how free we are to delve into knowing God more.

John Lennox, the well known bioethicist, mathematician and Christian apologist, was in East Germany in the 70s and 80s. He told the story of a thirteen year old girl, Esther, who was at the top of her class and doing very well in her studies. She came home one day, crying her heart out. Her teacher told her she had to leave school and work in a slipper factory because she refused to take an oath of public allegiance to the atheistic state. 

“What did you say to the teacher?” he asked.

“Uncle John, I said to the teacher, ‘Sir, one day you will stand before God and you will answer for what you’ve done to me this day!’”

One day, we too will stand before God and answer Him if we have been faithful stewards of His mysteries. 

We are God’s Garden

“We are God’s garden.” 1 Corinthians 3:9

When we take a boat out from Busuanga in Coron, we 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. A few years ago, we just stayed in a relatively unknown island, Dicantuman, 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.