if i could sum up Easter, victory and hope would capture the essence and
importance of Christ's resurrection.
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At the cross:
at the cross, you find life given for all the wrongs of humanity, a life
you could not give, could not die, but somehow you have. we can not
live the perfect, sinless life. every effort to do so leads to failure,
and penetrative understanding of our depravity, our falleness. we are
like the kleptomaniac that can't help stealing - we can't help but be
sinful. but in Christ, we find not only a sinless life, but also a
loving life, given for us...given for us. objectively, something is
entirely wrong with that, but subjectively, something is entirely right
with that. indeed, that God is personal; He is merciful and gracious,
and operates at the level of love. that love is the most compelling
reason for Him to come down here, live a perfect life, and die for all
for us. my gosh! i fall on my knees.
The waiting period:
for the duration of three days, Christ, His life and promises are
brought into direct contention with death, its reign and historic
victories. shock turns into despair, and despair turns into the mundane
- to revert back to life as Christ never came. maybe He was just a
fanatic, who taught great things, talked about big dreams, lived a good
life, but died like everybody else. it is a hope that was never
realized. we might as well resume life as usual.
The Resurrection:
in the resurrection, you find a life claimed for all truths and promises
declared by Christ. that His victory over death proclaimed that His
life lived and died was not vain, but was divinely purposed in redeeming
creation, in restoring YOU. yes, in the resurrection, you find a
victory you could not obtain, but you somehow have.
life would no longer be the same, that your life means more than the
short stay in this world. it means an eternal promise that is being
realized, and will be fully realized in you. no, we can not revert to a
life as usual. we are free! we are forever transformed. ours is not to
just survive and get by anymore. ours is to also claim the very truths
and promises of Christ: His Life, His reign, and His victory!
brother and sisters, may your easter be filled with the hope that is
forever assured in His victory! celebrate! my heart is dancing.
can i get amen?
gear
Luke 23:44-49 - Jesus' Death
Luke 24: 6-8, 30-32 - Jesus Resurrection
my thought yesterday surrounded the subject of confidence. as many of
you know, i waver with this, i'll be confident one day, and i'll lack
confidence another day. ppl tell me that i have a lot to offer, and i
should be more confident. yet things never sat too well with that
recommendation.
i wrestled with it a bit. in particular, how does one have confidence
yet have humility? of course, i love humility, and i would rather be
that than confident. however, are they mutually exclusive?
(confidence from pride)
delving into a bit more, i realized that sometimes i derived confidence
from my pride, the gifting from God claimed for myself. this comes out
in relationships, playing sports, academics, or whatever. in fact, i
was probably better at sports when i played with pride, to stick a shot
over somebody, and inside exclaim, "yeah baby, on you!" but that
attitude never sat well with me. it seems like i was putting somebody
down in order to elevate myself. not to take the fun out of bantering
in sports, but sometimes the banter becomes so competitive that one
internally attacks the worth of the opponent. and frankly, that doesn't
seem very Christlike to me. honestly, i haven't been competitive for
while, and i don't play as well as did in the past. but i feel like i
exchanged that glory of playing well, and not stepping on somebody for
the character of Christ, to see the worth of everybody in the court. if
i play shamefully bad, then so be it. it is a good deal in my book any
day.
(confidence from conviction)
at the same time, i had a revelation about confidence derived from
something else - conviction. that is, to recognize the grace of God in
me, to be convicted of His blessing and gifting, and to be good steward
of them. in short, this confidence is derived from the conviction of how
God wonderfully made me, and not to discount the value of me as seen by
Him. this view seems to accurately reflect the confidence (authority)
and humility of Christ. hopefully i will claim more and more of that from now,
that it will be internalized in me, as it is in the psalmists and other
influential biblical ppl.
thank you Lord for how you made me. allow me to go forth with this
acknowledgment, this conviction, that what may be found in me is both
the confidence and humility of Christ.
gear
my dad just called me. he's in an assisted living place where they have a bunch of activities. my dad on the cell phone we got him, "what is a passover celebration? is that jewish?" my response, "yep, that's jewish, but you can attend it and check it out." my dad, "that's ok...jewish, huh?...that's all. talk to you later." ...i tell ya, i love simplicity....i love my dad. can't say enough. i appreciate him calling me for simple questions like this.
btw...what is up w/this rain? my gosh. talk about gloomy. i'm going to get a poster of the sun, or get me glasses that a have the sun as a backdrop. what am i talking about? ..nonsense, but some sense since there is no sun!... time for work.
gear
probably wrote this in 2003 sometimes..
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As evangelicals or products of our society and culture, we sometimes
subscribe to science or the ways of man to convince others, even ourselves,
that God is real and true. Though the other extreme of blind faith is also
reeked with fallibilities, solely based –relative - on one’s experience of
God, it does mean that we should be completely be objective in our
perception and even our witness of God. Indeed, God neither operates on
such a superficial level of objectiveness, nor such an unfounded and
relative level of subjectiveness. However, believing in God does not
necessitate an “either or”; an objective and subjective perception of God
are not mutually exclusive. For God is both truthful and personal. What
other God equates himself like Christ when he proclaims to be the truth?
Yes, Jesus is the personification of truth. A person whose life reflects
the original intent of creator and the original purpose of creation, humans
whose lives is rendered into personal and truthful relationship – perfect –
with their Creator, their Lord.
Therefore, as we fellowship and witness, our lives should reflect the
fullness of this relationship. The objectiveness needs to point towards the
validity of a subjective relationship, while subjectiveness needs to point
towards a humble need for truth – an absoluteness.
How we approach witnessing is determined by our society or their worldview.
So in western society, it needs to be objective that provides some viability
of an innate longing in the human makeup of a relationship with God.
Admittedly, I have been very guilty of concentrating so much on objective
truth, reasoning through logic, that I failed to reflect the most important
reason, even my motivation, to believe and continue to believe. The
relationship is by far more personal, and makes that much more vulnerable.
Yes, if I share that part of me, I can definitely be viewed as a freak, even
an ignorant and dogmatic person. Yet somehow, I believe that in humbleness
and dependence on God, the realness of this relationship can only be
conveyed in such a manner. For it is not along concepts or theories that
God is made real, but along the rigors and relatable human experiences. It
involves decisions made from our knowledge, our mind, our emotions, our
longings, and our heart. Thanks goodness that is such, for if the meaning
of the life was solely knowledge or logic, our life would be as mundane and
stoic as the concept of truth itself, or if our lives were solely based on
experiences, our lives would be as fleeting and erratic as our groundless
and unfounded interpretation itself.
Without going into it further, religion or a subscription to a greater
meaning of life needs to be both subjective and objective. All other
religions offer that to a certain extent, but only one offers it to the
fullness in the observance of these measures – in a relationship.
In our less, do we find more because of Christ? That is, when we feel we are treated unjustly in this life and given less, do we understand how Christ was treated unjustly to make us just? One can only truly begin to under grace when one begins to understand one’s own depravity; that without Christ, we left to our own devices have the potential to commit the most heinous and atrocious acts of sin; but with Christ, we have the potential to reflect, imitate, and reproduce the greatest acts of righteousness found in the Savior.
July 10, 2001
this entry is from my days when i exposited passages more....i've gone away from the commentary style...extracting the essence works better for me now.
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On a very superficial level, purity can be seen as do and do nots. It is attached to the laws of morality and externality, instead of laws of nature and internality. (is that even a word, internality?) On a deeper level, purity can be seen as what intrinsically stirs and moves us to action, what ultimately causes us to perform good deeds. However, somehow I believe that this view of purity can also become skewed, as we either value the rewards from the deeds themselves, or find value in the cause of goodness. In the first, the rewards or good feeling from the deeds subconsciously increases our internal pride, adding to our self-worth and identity. We see ourselves as good people, consciously referencing some religion, but subconsciously referencing and valuing ourselves. At this end, our pride serves as the motivation toward good deeds. In the second, our sense of morality results in the selection of right over wrong, of good over evil. We feel an obligation, really a purpose in doing the right thing. In the eternal battle of good versus evil, our lives are given to a cause, stemming from a morality, that upholds the idealism of good over evil. Though not egregious, it places goodness in an ideal or cloud, a philosophy founded on reasoning rather than something concrete. In this end, a cause from idealism serves as our motivation toward good deeds.
1 John 3:2-3
2Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears,[1] we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
I believe purity resides not so much on internal goodness and deeds as on a genuine and unwavering perspective of God. From 1 John, purity is a perpetual hope of knowing that at the end, we will be like Christ, for we shall fully see Him. It is a longing of seeing Christ, a purity of denying everything that poses itself against Him, His teaching, and His reality.
As we traverse through the wilderness of life, we may become tainted or jaded in our perspective of God. The ways of this world become more practical, and God seems less relevant, even less real. There is a constant tension between perspective of God and that of the world. The psalmist describes this tension, often complaining and questioning God and His ways, yet at the end clinging to the hope of His character. It illustrates how we as believers aren’t protected from the impurity of this world, that it sets itself against our hope and perspective of God. In many instances, we are influenced, and are directed towards practicality rather than faith in God. We succumbed to the ways of this world, believing in the gospel message, but living of life that in many ways denies it. It is also in midst of these tensions where growth occurs, where we choose to cling on to and believe in Him. God becomes more rooted and internalized in us, where the faith extended results in greater hope, greater purity. It is a refusal to allow disappointments of experiences and expectations contaminate what is said in His Word, what is given in His love, and what is assured in His promise. It is refusal to conform God to this world, our experiences and our practicalities. It is refusal to believe that God is no longer faithful, no longer cares, no longer loves, no longer is in control...etc. God is still who He says He is in His Word. In essence, it is preservation and deeper internalization of God in us. From this internalization comes a perspective that is pure, that motivates us to good deeds because of Him and Him in us. It is acknowledgemment that we are depraved, He is good, and we are somewhat miraculously good in Him. It is an identity and worthiness found at the cross, and a hope found in His resurrection.