You have heard of old

21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder,[a] and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause[b] shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. Matthew 5:21-22

An incident happened a few months back that stirred my mind to remember this passage. A friend of mine said this to me that the reason why she is dating an unbeliever is God love the person like I love the person. My answer is conversely not focus on the man. But rather, do you love God?

Paul rightly said...that whoever confess Jesus as Lord is saved... Lord

Has the bible said of old that God love the world...and He is not Lord? Conversely that is not true. The outcome of God loving the world and saving is that we sin no more as an atitude of life. The healing of the infirmed man in John 5 had Jesus telling him, "Go and sin no more."

I don't think what my friend said is unfamiliar to most. An attention of God's love on us makes history occurs on man. I konw the bible centre on Christ as history. And for if ourr heart is on loving Christ, we are not only historically right but God-centred. Colossians make it excitingly clear,

" 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence." Colossians 1:16-17.

The Lordship of Christ makes a simple response. God love us to have us loving Him back. My friend's response sadly, did not know the love of God in its purity.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

What a tragedy.

Time is almost up

Time fast clicks away.
Life pass by and vanishes.
A moment never stay.
People come and perishes.

To think time has no friends
Is to be a stranger to history
We have hope for future
but let us know time is never up

We grow old with time
We see age passes by
Let me say time is almost us
By knowing age catches up

Being judge by God and not by man

12For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Heb 4:12-13

3I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. 4My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. 5Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God. 1 Cor 4:3-5

I realise a very important thing yesterday. I have thought through it. And this are the verses I believe God has pointed me to stand on.

No man is perfect in righteousness and I thank God I am given righteousness instead. The two passage clearly says the clarity of God in judging our intents and our motives. And inwardly, we have a conscience that either accuses us or excuses us. We need our conscience to be invariantly connected to God and that is by the Word of God.

We do not need tirades of our own formed up opinions to be our mind bogglers where our attention truly must be in the courts of heaven where God is the perfect judge of all things for He is the only one that knows all things.

Thank God for His Word that made it plain and simple.

The incident I faced today further resolved the point. We ought to be diligent student of the Word for if our conscience be good accusers or excusers of ourselves, we have had to have this conscience saturated by the Word of God. Not emotions, not opinions, they fail miserably.

Let your life by guided by the Word and you know when you are in that pursuit, you are being judge by God for His Word abides forever.

We really need this.

Tiring

When you walk that short distance and you do not feel like walking an inch further, you know besides tireness, it is dread.

You know you need that spark to ignite the dousing smoke.
You know you are in need of the sound of not coming shower, but a shower of blessing.

And when all is but dried up, you need to look for the next water hole.

And when you are all but tired, you know rest is ever more a need than before.

I am tired.

A dew would be enough.

Suicide

Yesterday, I reached home around 640pm from my workplace. I have just collected my car from the workshop. Did some minor repairs to my floor board.

I didn't expect a typically normal day to turn so unusual. The police cars, ambulance had surrounded my block. I saw some grim face policemen. I went up from my lift, and peer below the ground from the stairway when I reached my floor. I regret this decision. Someone had committed suicide by jumping. The sight is terrible. The head must have landed first on impact. I would not describe what I saw. And I do hope that with time, this image greatly diminished.

Today, I read in the Chinese papers, the cause of the suicide was chronic depression. The victim, a 40 something woman who have gone missing for a day. A church member had just asked me a few days ago about what is depression and just a day earlier, Pastor had preached about lostness and how Leslie Cheng had committed suicide the same way.

I wonder hard at how people could commit suicide. I was preparing for bible study for Sunday. I couldn't help but see Christ on the cross that day. Depression is a result of sin. The guilt of sin. The despair of sin. The hopelessness of sin. I was studying Romans Chapter 1 and 2 in preparation. And what really struck me is really the gravity and how debased the human mind can get.

I know that depression is a real thing. I have been sad before. But I guess I never lost hope in God. This morning, I saw joss paper and incense. The night before, the images that flashed through the night didn't allow me to sleep well. I knew the victim is not a Christian.

And this morning when I gave the bible study, I asked, Does anyone of us know how ugly sin is? Does anyone know why Christ must suffer many things that even His death is ugly. Because sin is ugly. I saw it for myself the day before. You know we never quite like to stay and think about the ugliness of sin. Man has no natural desire to see tragic, gruesome, gory things. And I can relate to Paul when he paints adject hopelessness of man, Jew or Gentile, but the reality of it is, sin is ugly. Death is ugly. Jesus wouldn't have wept if it is a beautiful thing.

And I know why we often neglect to declare the sinfulness of sin to the sinner. The gospel of God's love can never be fully grasped till the gallows of sin be told in plain, unminced manner.

I still have the images in me.

I watched the Passion of the Christ sometime back. And I still remember the images of Christ on the cross. But I remember more fondly, the image of the glorified ressurected Christ.

Christ is to be adored. There is beauty in the conquest of sin.

He brought many sons to glory.
He is the firstfruit.

Blessed Easter.