God Will Reward You

Be careful not to do your "acts of righteousness" before men, to be seen by them. (Matthew 6:1)

First of all, I apologize for this late post. It was snowing a lot and ... I'm kidding. I hope you guys can forgive me. Snow has nothing to do with this. Anyways, after reading 'Religous Practices' (pg. 196), I personally don't find it hard being unostentatious about my acts of righteousness. Maybe it's not hard because there aren't many to look back on, but I find it much harder not to "dwell on it in a spirit of self-congratulation" as John Stott put it.

I am shame to admit that sometimes I find myself blaming God for not answering my prayers despite of all my good deeds or my piety. I set my own standards like this and let myself get discouraged if God doesn't meet my expectations. I think this is the biggest mistake I can make in my walk of faith. Who am I to set standards or have expectations when Jesus gave His all without asking anything in return?

I shall let God be the judge on my piety and my good deeds.

prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.

(1 Peter 1:13)

I shall never be discouraged and trust God that he will answer and reward as he pleases.

Because anyone who comes to Him must believe He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

(Hebrew 11:6)

Seeking First Things First

"but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you" matthew 6:33

this verse expounds the secret of how to live the christian life well.

inherent in the verse is a very wonderful and glorious promise.

we need not be anxious about the legitimate necessities of life (food, drink, clothing)--they are legitimate and "your Heavenly Father knows that you need them" (v.32).

but the verse states, "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness". seek His reign and His righteouness FIRST and all the other necessary things will be added.

in our heart of hearts, what are we seeking? are we seeking the very same "other" things that the pagans run after?

the following quote i thought was an excellent exposition about "seeking God's righteousness". it is from a preacher named ray pritchard. it is well worth reading:

"This week I read about a man who looked at his life and concluded that he was just like the Professor on Gilligan’s Island. 'The Professor knew how to turn banana peels into diesel fuel and he could take algae and make chocolate fudge, but he never got around to fixing that hole in the boat so he could get off the island. Same as me. I spent my life learning to do amazing things that didn’t matter, and I ignored the hole in my boat. And that’s why I’m stuck where I am.'

If you want righteousness, you can have it. Let me go out on a limb and make a bold statement. Whatever righteous thing you desire in the spiritual realm, you can have if you want it badly enough. I don’t think we appreciate the importance of that truth.

Most of us are about as close to God now as we want to be. We have about as much joy as we want, about as much peace as we want. Abraham Lincoln said that “most people are about as happy as they want to be.” Totally true. We are the way we are because that’s the way we want to be. Either we’re happy that way or we’ve accepted that this is who we are and we’re not going to change.

For the most part, you are where you are right now because that’s where you want to be. If you were hungry for something better from God, you could have it....

What we seek, we find. This is true in every area and realm of life. Unless we seek, we will not find. And what we seek, for good or for ill, we eventually find."

most christians, i guess, most especially myself, do not live the christian life well because we seek and value the lesser things.

but if we could just learn to seek God's kingship and righteousness first, all the "lesser" things will be added.

this argument from the lesser to the greater is foolproof and is reiterated by the apostle paul: "He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all--how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?" (romans 8:32).

i end this blog with another quote that gets to the heart of the matter:

"if we give top priority to those pursuits which should have low priority, if we ‘major in minors,’ if we show a ‘first-rate dedication to second-rate causes,’ if we allow friends and impulse and the convenience of the moment to dictate our priorities, while we weakly drift with the tide of daily circumstances, we will be shabby, mediocre, and ineffective persons.” –from The Disciplined Life by Richard S. Taylor

may God give us grace to seek His kingdom and righteousness first. not only would we then live the christian life "well", but we would be able to properly enjoy the "lesser" things without all the anxiety that normally accompanies the attainment of them.

The Six Antitheses

Do I love my enemy?
Do I turn the other cheek?

The answer to both of these questions is unfortunately mostly NO. This passage didn't make me feel too good about myself because if we take it even further... I barely love my neighbors and I'm usually all for the "eye for an eye" principle as I have quoted it and rationalized it as Biblical many times in my life.

How then, can I be a child of God? My nature IS the antithesis of Christ. I'm sitting down and doing my devotional late as I just got back home from the airport and realized that it was my day to blog...all of this after I cursed the airlines for delaying my flight 2.5 hours, was internalizing my hatred for the guy that sat next to me on the plane that was definitely over his side of the arm rest, shaking his legs, took off his shoes and was pointing his smelly feet at me, then proceeded to snore for 1/2 the flight.... the woman in front of me that had to recline her seat ALL THE WAY back, the man behind me that kept kicking the back of my chair....oh I could go on... but I won't... I realize the divide between God and myself is so great...and am SO THANKFUL for his boundless mercy. Good Night!

Christ and the Law

I too was struck, like Stott, by the statement made by Jesus, "unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven." There is a standard we must exceed in order to enter God's kingdom. But that standard is not merely of performing duties which God expects of us but goes deeper to examine our 'motives'. 'Christian righteousness' is deeper/greater than "Pharisaic righteousness" because it isn't just concerned with 'behavior' but 'motives' as well. What makes an action "righteousness" in God's eye is not merely that we perform our duties but that we do them with the right motives and intentions. That being the case, we all need to examine our motives and intentions (Why are we trying to live for Christ? Why is it important that I don't commit adultery or steal from my company? Why do I come to church on Sunday?, why... etc.). Looking at our "righteousness" from the standpoint of our motives is disturbing... I certainly don't like to examine myself from this perspective. It's easier to just perform the duty and not ask questions about motives and intentions. And yet didn't Jesus say that our righteousness must exceed the 'rule keeping' mentality of the Pharisee and that we must delve into the motives behind our behavior? The question of why we do something is just as important if not more to God then just what we do.

Posted by Pastor James

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

I think God is using these words to let me know that I’m no different than the Pharisee

Several things I observed from the Pharisee: he went to pray, he fasted twice a week, he did his tithes but he was self-righteous, he’s proud, he’s successful, and he’s judgmental

I could relate by comparing my attitude for the Sunday worship to the Pharisee’s attitude in the parable. Just like the Pharisee, at times I just go through the motion of worship and judge others at the same time.
- I participate in worship, give my portion of tithe, and serve as a money counter weekly.
- I try to justify my actions by comparing weaknesses of others
- If things were going well in my life, I would have less dependence on God cuz I felt that I had the power to control my life. So when things are well, my prayer life was in jeopardy
- I sometimes judge those that come to worship for their lack of participation
- I sometimes judge those that do not make offerings. This was hard not to do when we were short, sorry.

Hmm…this is pretty sad. I'm spilling my guts out... So with all that is said, why did God not strike me down yet? Well, He is definitely a patient, merciful and loving God. This was a wake up call for me.

I pray that God will continue to humble me and remind me that he is the ultimate judge. In God’s holy presence, we are all sinners and no matter what we do, we will always be sinners. It’s only through repentance to Christ that we will be cleansed and justified. I think knowing this fact and living with remorse will take us long ways in our Christian life.

The lost and found parables", Part 2: Missions

I learned something new-something I hadn't noticed before from these parables. That what was lost in these parables were recovered as if they always were meant to belong -the sheep back to the shepherd, the coin back to its owner, the son back to his father. People treat "sinners" as if they do not belong to God or to their community but Jesus wants to teach the world that they too belong to God and must be recovered, returned, restored back to where they belong- under God's ownership and care. And, restoration comes through repentence.
Also, I see a contrast between the lost/found parable and the weeds/wheat parable. The wheat/weeds parable tell of those that were thrown into a place they were not meant to be- among those that had true rights of belonging- but were eventually separated and destroyed. The lost/found parable tell of those that were displaced but recovered and restored back to where they belong .....I realized that the balance of good and evil is a perplexing business to me and it is all the more reason I need to trust God to be the ultimate judge. These parables have prompted me to reconsider my own perceptions of people and the way my heart approaches them. It is not meant for me to judge who is good or bad or who does or does not belong. These parables have also shown me how I as a human being tend to think/act versus how God sees and treats people. I cannot dismiss people as easily as I have and it made me think again about my role in the work of missions.
Stott points out that as much as we should not be judging and rejecting those who are not part of the Christian community, we should not be condoning their worldly ways either. I think each of us has a role in missions- in bringing people to hear the word of God that they may be convicted and be led to repentence. Some may be called to be a teacher, a benefactor, a couselor, a healer...a friend.

I did not forget today was my day!

But I did forget my book! Here I sit in my new office at my new job wondering if Pastor James is going to kick me or if he'll understand and forgive me. I'm thinking it will be a combination of both.

So I do extend my apologies to all of you. Work is never an excuse and I will no longer try to make it one. I will instead only say it is because I am stupid.

I'd still like to share a real reflection that I had this week. I had lunch with one of my best friends who over time has completely turned her back on Christianity. It's been quite of a shock for her to see me embrace a faith that she knew me to be so against in the past. But still, as my friend, she's accepted my new position although with some discomfort.

I have been and am trying my best to evangelize in the best "language" that she would understand. The "language" that we have always communicated to each other with. (Which, by the way, is a mix of insults, jokes, gossip, and arguments.)

At this point in her life, she's not only disillusioned but seeks out ways to prove what she finds wrong about Christians and Christianity. So when the topic of faith comes up, emotions can get heated and despite me winning much of our arguments, I don't see how I'm winning the cause for Jesus.

During our lunch, the issue of Christianity came up again and we were led into our typical exchanges for and against the faith. By the end of the talk, I realized how judgemental and arrogant I came across. I apologized as soon as I realized this and even though she said she was over it, I knew that the damage had been done.

This made me evaluate myself in a way that I don't like doing, because I naturally think I am perfect. Somewhere along the line, I took Jesus' own message of love away and turned it into "David's mission to save the heathen." I didn't pray or think of the Holy Spirit. I sure has heck haven't demonstrated an authoratative transformation in my life in a way where Jesus could be reflected in me. I just tried to win the argument and prove my friend wrong. In the process, the message was lost and my friend dug further in her own unbelief.

But the story doesn't end here. Despite it all, I still believe God gained glory because by the end of the day, I was repenting and worshipping. Why you ask? Because God is a God who doesn't only love the poor and the downcast, He is also loving, gentle, and merciful to his children who are arrogant, proud, and boastful.

I learned that Jesus' message can't be lost in translation. Evangelism is not a job, chore, or debate- it is a testimony. And until I learn to speak with heart of Jesus, led by the Holy Spirit, it's best for me to keep my big mouth shut.