New Year’s Resolution

With the new year comes the obvious: New Year’s resolutions.  They range in varying levels of ridiculousness.  Just to check out what different people have been thinking as we head into 2011, I googled  ”Top Ten New Year’s Resolutions” and found the following:

1. Spend More Time with Family & Friends
2. Fit in Fitness
3. Tame the Bulge
4. Quit Smoking
5. Enjoy Life More
6. Quit Drinking
7. Get Out of Debt
8. Learn Something New
9. Help Others
10. Get Organized

It’s interesting to find such a low level of resolve in many people today, yet see them dig deep to find some resolve when it comes to the turn of a new year.  They feel that each day they are given does not enable them with the ability to overcome certain difficulties or accomplish certain tasks.  However, they seem to be trusting on some special power that comes with a new year to help them accomplish their goals.

What really is so special about the new year?  What power manifests inside a human to give him the to ability to complete such marvelous feats?

By the end of the year, it proves in many lives that nothing was backing the aspiration at all as it failed to reach accomplishment by the end of the year.  However, a Christian need not back his resolutions on the strength of “New Year’s” spirit.

Titus 2:11-12 says,

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age” (ESV).

God has given us grace, yet grace in the world today has lost almost all of its true meaning.  Grace is thrown around like garbage.  People toss it around as if it were free.

I’m not here to preach on works or a system where grace is earned by the merit of any man.  However, as grace is a free gift to us, it is not technically “completely free” overall.

When someone buys your lunch, it’s a free lunch for you.  It is not free, though, for the friend that payed for the lunch.  In the same way, grace is a free gift from God to us.  However, it costs his Son dearly.  Read but the chapter of Isaiah 53 to catch a glimpse of the pain Christ endured on the cross.

Isaiah 53: 5 says, “But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his stripes we are healed.”

Grace is not merely an excuse to sin.  Christ did not die so people could abuse grace, sinning at will while knowing they could be forgiven.  Grace is not the unlimited supply of “Get-Out-of-Jail-Free” cards you can bust out after volitionally finding your way to jail.

Romans 5 offers great hope, writing that, “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (v. 20).  Following this verse, Romans 6:1-2 says,

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?”

Jesus died to sin so you don’t have to live in it anymore!  Grace is no justification for transgression.

“Grace is not an excuse to sin, it’s the ability not to.”

Therefore, Christians need not the spirit of New Year’s to have resolve.  Instead, Christians should be living each moment of their lives with both resolve and confidence.

The resolve is founded upon the fact that though you were dead in your sins and fully incapable of changing that (Ephesians 2:1-3), God’s grace is the empowerment to say “no” to sin and “yes” to godly living.  It is the ability to repudiate sin’s binding chains and death’s ringing sting.  More so, it is the ability to live a godly life in a world all but void of godliness entirely.  And all of the above can be done with full confidence that the strength to do so comes from the Lord.

And thus, with the grace of God at hand, I head into this new year of 2011 resolved.  I’m reminded of a Jonathan Edwards quote that I heard a couple months back: “Resolution One: I will live for God. Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still will.”

I’m ready to see more spiritual growth in my life this year than I have grown ever before.  I’m not going to gauge how hard I must work upon the progress of those around me.  I’m ready to take my campus by storm for the name of Jesus Christ.  I’m ready to kill sin in my life instead of letting it linger and grow.  I’m ready to step it up in areas of service and in my quiet time with the Lord.

Though on my own power, or in the spirit of New Year’s, my resolution will not happen, by the grace of God, I am sanctioned for further sanctification!

Counting the Days

Lights hang on the houses.  Trees light up the home.  Music brings the happiest of moods.  And so the countdown begins.  The countdown to Christmas of course!

It’s time to make a list of all the things wanted in hope of receiving them when the countdown is finally through.

This year, I have a few things I would like for Christmas, but there’s one thing that eliminates all other wishes.  I’m hoping that I will not receive any of the presents on my list.  I hope that the presents will never come.  To be more specific, I hope that the day to receive these presents never come.  I’m not a Scrooge saying “bah humbug” or someone who isn’t very into Christmas.  However, I’m hoping that Christmas never comes this year.

Why?  This is because I long for the fulfillment of another countdown.  I’m not talking about counting down the 25 days till Christmas; I’m talking about counting the days until Christ returns!

However, the countdown until the second coming of the risen King, Jesus Christ on high, is not a set number of days.

The Bible is clear that Jesus will return.  As Jesus explains to his disciples that he must leave the earth, but will return, Matthew 14:3 says, “And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also (ESV)”.

However, the time of this returning is not known.  1 Thessalonians 5:2 says, “For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night (ESV)”.

Matthew 24, from verse 36 to 51, describes Christ’s second coming.  Matthew 24:43-44 says this:

“But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.  Therefore you must also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect (ESV)”.

A “Maranatha” mindset (Marantha is an Aramaic phrase meaning “O Lord, come!”) (1 Corinthians 16:22) is focused on the return of Christ.  To be focused on Christ’s coming does not mean simply to think about it and realize he is returning soon.

Kingdom eyes will lead one to live each day as the last day, the last chance to do anything before Christ finally returns in victory.  Out of all the things that can be enjoyed in heaven, one major things that will not be there is evangelism.  All in heaven will be saved, therefore there will be no evangelism.  With this in mind, evangelism now needs to be urgent!

Each conversation you have with someone may be the last words you will ever speak to them.  There are two massive benefits to evangelism.

Firstly, evangelizing is preaching the gospel to those who are not saved.  This is getting the word out to those who need to hear the truth, sharing the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and our need for him as the atoning sacrifice.  If you really love someone, you won’t stay silent and let them continue living on the road headed to hell.  You will either speak the truth and receive a response of rejection, maybe even the loss of a friend, or the heart of the sinner will be convicted and the Lord will do the work of salvation!  Either way, the lukewarm option in the middle of having someone push off the truth and live in uncertainty is slashed down, and one of the two directions must be followed.

Secondly, evangelism is furthering the kingdom of the Lord.  The trumpet will sound to declare his coming, but it will not sound until each soul that is to be saved has been saved!  If you evangelize and the Lord uses your conversation as a tool in saving someone, you are speeding up his return.  You are accomplishing the work left to be done until he can come again.

Picture this:  You go up to talk to someone.  You share the gospel with him.  The Holy Spirit convicts his heart and saves him of his sins.  Christ returns immediately, for that one guy was the last soul to be saved!  You were the one God used to bring salvation to the last person!

I hope Christmas never comes this year.  If it does, though, I must still be at work!  I must be at urgent work as each “next person” I talk to could be the last sinner about to be saved.  Let my evangelism haste the day that is coming soon and very soon, the day of his return!  Maranatha!

A Heart of Flesh — A Heart Made Anew

There’s a lot of difficult things to do.  Many people often describe them as “impossible”.  Yes, they are difficult, only completed through strenuous work and a valiant effort.  However, these things are not impossible.

There are certain things, though, that are indeed impossible.  The process from death to life is impossible.  It simply cannot be done.  No matter how hard a dead man tries to chance his condition, he is incapable of giving himself life.

Romans 3:23 and Isaiah 53:6 show that everyone is sinful.  Holiness, God’s level of absolute perfection, is life.  Therefore, as Ephesians 2:1 declares, all are dead in their sins.

In Bitesize Theology, Peter Jeffery writes about regeneration and says,

“When Paul says we are dead in sin, he means we are unable to change our spiritual condition.  We are spiritually helpless and hopeless and if our condition is to change, God must do it because we cannot.  We need to be born again.”

Salvation is an act of God, for no man can be “good enough” as the standard is perfection and there is not one who hasn’t failed miserably at being completely perfect.  God alone is the one who can save.  He can take a sinner, helpless and hopeless, and bring him to life.

Ezekiel 36:26 serves as the focus of this blog, Heart of Flesh.  The process of salvation is shown here in Ezekiel 36:26-27,

“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. (ESV)”

The heart of stone is the concrete, hardened heart of one who is dead in his sins.  God removes this solid heart of stone and places inside a heart of flesh, that is, true life.  At the point of salvation, the Holy Spirit dwells within the Christian to live as a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).

If you want to hear how my heart of stone was removed and how the Lord placed in me a heart of flesh, the story of how I have been saved, check out the page on “My Testimony” (Next to “Home” and “About Me” at the top of the page)!

Salvation is the process where God does the impossible in taking a deprived, depraved sinner and spares him from the punishment he deserves by way of the atoning sacrifice of the the Lord Jesus Christ, holy and blameless.

The key to the heart of flesh is the Spirit that dwells within it.  A heart that has truly been made new will never conform to its former ways.  It will be moved by the Holy Spirit that has been placed inside to live a life of obedience to the Lord.

Many claim to have salvation, yet the way they live does not show a life that is led by the Holy Spirit at work inside a heart of flesh.  Some feel conviction for their sin and declare themselves saved to extinguish this fear tearing away at them.

However, as time passes by, the one who claimed salvation now lives just as he had before.

In much “Christianity” today, it’s said that to go to heaven you must “ask Jesus into your heart” and then you are set.  The gospel is preached in a way where it seems like one, at his convenience, is doing God a favor to ask for forgiveness.  Salvation is not simply a process of saying sorry for sin.  It is not just recognizing the fact that you have sin and then telling yourself that you will try harder.

The commitment to “try harder” is the epitome of self-reliance.  Genuine salvation does not come from a stronger effort to do better.

The very basis of salvation is founded firmly upon the fact that all are helpless to save themselves, just as it is completely impossible for a dead man to raise himself alive.

2 Corinthians 13:5 is a warning that everyone must continually check themselves and make sure that their faith is genuine.  Don’t bank your life upon the fact that you feel you committed your life to Christ at age 5.  ”Check yourself before you wreck yourself.”

Examine your life to see if you are really living a life of obedience to Christ.  More than just the obedience, though, examine your heart, the center of your motives.  In one who has truly been saved, it will be evident that he lives by the new heart he received and is led on by the Spirit who moves him toward obedience.  Look to see if ever in your life, your heart was truly changed from stone to flesh.

This is not meant to say that if you ever stumble, you are not saved.  Obviously, even after salvation, a Christian will continue struggle with temptations.

However, the new heart and the Holy Spirit that now dwells within it cannot exist in a life of disobedience.

If you look in your life and see disobedience or a lack of genuine desire to live for Christ, examine yourself.  There are two possibilities.

First, you may never have truly been saved.  You may have felt terrible over the wrongs you have done and then asked God for forgiveness, but if your heart has not truly been made anew and the Spirit does not live inside of you, then you have not experienced true salvation.

On the other hand, you might examine yourself and see a true point in your life where your heart of stone was removed and you received a heart of flesh.  You have salvation, yet you have lost the fire you once had, the first love.  If this is the problem, you need to step it up.

There are some very practical ways to instill in yourself a fire that burns to obey God.

1. Bible Reading – Reading, studying, and memorizing Scripture will help immensely in centering your focus on God.  Spending time meditating upon the truth of Scripture only further declares how great God is.  It only tells more of how to effectively fight sin and grow in righteousness.

2. Prayer – Spend time praying that you would be filled with an all new zeal that leads you to be more on fire for the Lord than you ever have before.  Pray that your heart will be beating with revival, a fervor to live by the Spirit to obey Christ.

3. Fellowship – It’s an awesome thing to hang out with fellow Christians, yet any time you hang out with brothers and sisters in Christ, it is not necessarily a time of solid fellowship.  Spend time talking with others, encouraging one another, letting each other know when one is in sin, sharing how you can grow together, talking to each other about how God has been working in your life, and speaking of how you can be growing more in obedience.

Praise the Lord that though salvation is an impossible task by the merit of man, he works out the impossible to change us from the inside out, to spare us from eternal damnation and grant us eternal life!

What It’s All About

I’ve been thinking about starting a blog for quite some time, probably from some time near the beginning of my freshman year.  I actually ended up making this blog a couple months ago at the very end of summer.  However, I kept putting of the time where I would actually sit down and start at work.  Here I am, finally starting up what I have long wanted to do.

What it’s all about.  In a sense, one could say this blog is about me.  It has my name in the website.  I’m the one thinking of what to write.  I’m the one writing it.  However, in reality, this blog is not all about me.  That isn’t what it’s all about.

The whole point of this blog is a focus on God.  He is the center of my life, all that matters, all that satisfies.  What I write here on this blog is only meant to proclaim how great he is!  I hope that God could use the words I write to help you!

I pray that my blog would be a witness!  Regardless of whether you are someone I know or a stranger miles and miles away in another state or another country, I hope that

the words I write can preach that good news about Jesus Christ.  I want people who do not know or are confused about the truth of the gospel to read what God is saying through me.  I pray that God would use this blog to bring people to himself.  He alone is the One who can save, but I hope that my blog could be a tool he uses in co

nvicting people’s hearts and drawing them towards himself.

I pray that my blog would be an encouragement!  I hope that my blogs will be uplifting and encouraging to fellow believers.  It may be through something that has happened in my life that is encouraging to read about.  It may be an awesome truth about God.  It may even be something that we all find convicting, hard to hear at first, yet it helps us grow in the faith.  I pray that God would use me to be iron sharpening iron (Proverbs 27:17), a Christian who is spurring on fellow brothers and sisters in Christ (Hebrews 10:24)!

I pray that my blog would lift high the name of Jesus Christ, bringing him praise and exalting him above all else!  I want God to be glorified through the words I write.  I don’t want any praise for myself because of what I am doing.  I don’t want anyone to give me credit for what’s written here.  All credit is due to God!  He alone is deserving of all praise!  I hope that my blog would be yet another thing that points to God and declares how praiseworthy he is, that we should all fall facedown in awe of all that he is!