Recently, I’ve had quite a few things on my mind. Dominantly, I’ve been thinking that being a Christian is quite a struggle. The fruit of the Spirit which any true Christian possesses is love which then gives birth to: joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and and self-control. Almost everyday I feel as if I’ve failed to display one or more of these attributes of the one fruit, love (Galations 5:22). This can be quite discouraging. However, it is no reason to give up. Making a mistake doesn’t mean we are without Christ. Though however, when we do wrong our actions are indeed without or out of Christ. God never promised this was going to be easy. Instead He warned of the exact opposite.
John 16:33
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
What does it mean? Exactly as it says. We’re going to have issues, there’re going to be moments when we fall. But there’s good news, Jesus has overcome this passing world. 🙂 So what does that has to do with us? Simple, simple. Our God did it, we lean on Him for help and we can do it too! Through our Lord Jesus, all that is His will is possible. So let me say this, it IS God’s will for us to be in a relationship with Him. So no matter what, never give up! God intends for us to be with Him.
Declaring Jesus as our Lord and Saviour marks us for life. First of all, if we declare this to a mate that hasn’t publicly claimed Jesus as their Lord, that mate is automatically, subconsciously going to be observing our now mannerisms. There’s going to be a magnification on our actions. They’re going to want to know what’s the difference between then and now, because ultimately, everyone is looking for one thing. Many say happiness or true love, but what they really mean is fulfillment of their spirit. As we know, only the Lord Jesus can meet the needs of the spirit. He made us just to connect with Him. If folks see that positive change birthed from the Spirit in us, they too are going to want to have the Spirit living in them. Yes, they really will and do want, Richard Dawkins included. So what do we do? Do we worry about what others think? No! Human beings are insatiable, we’ll never please the whole world. So what do we do? Do we search exasperatedly God’s will for us? No! God reveals His will for us when He so see it fit. Our job is to obey and follow His revealed plan. God’s will for us will never contradict Himself. So we can be assured that when He reveals a plan, it’s a plan that’ll draw us closer to Him.
I cannot emphasis how important is daily prayer and Bible study. I find that whenever I get so busy in the speed of school and the like, I often end up feeling drained and disconnected from God. Also important is attending church. I don’t mean going to a building. I mean being in a community of other followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, this is the church. I had a friend who said she’s looking for a church in Beijing. I was quite delighted to hear this. Only to find out that she knew about the church I belonged to. She said “I know this, it is just a building, like a simple room. Not a church.” What it appears she was looking for, was a building with stained glass and all the fancy decorating of other buildings that contains a church. A church is not the building! A church is made up of followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I’ve come to realize that it is immensely difficult to continue loving others the way Jesus did without expecting anything in return. I might have said this in one of my previous posts, but how wonderful an example Jesus set before us. Remember when Judas betrayed Him? Why do you think the disciples didn’t even know who the betrayer was? It’s simple. It’s because Jesus’ attitude towards Judas was consistently of love and kindness. Had it been spiteful, no doubt the disciples would have been like “Oh, Jesus you mean Judas? Yes, we noticed how you treat him.” I’m often driven by emotions, by present feelings. This is not what God wants. He wants us to show the fruits of the Spirit regardless of our current situation. A difficult task, yes. Attempted on our own, impossible to even see a small improvement! However, if we continue to seek, listen to and obey God, in time we will become more an more like the piece of clay He intended us to be.
Thankfully we are saved by the grace of God. Had He have dealt with us according to our actions, I probably wouldn’t be typing this note now. None of us would be here actually, as we have all sinned. Wonderfully, great is the love of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we are delivered from sin through God’s great act of mercy.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
We need God’s salvation, so we continue in this race. Let it be known that:
Ecclesiates 9:11
…the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.
God’s mercy doesn’t just fall on one group of people, but the entire nation, the entire world. When we claim Jesus as our Lord, we don’t just sit back and say “I’m a Christian now. I’m invisible.” We’re not! It’s not going to get comfortable only until we are reunited with our Father in heaven.
1 Corinthians 16:13-14
Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. 14 Do everything in love.
This is what we are compelled to do for it pleases God. Not to mention, everybody’s watching us now. Setting a good example, still pleases God. In the end, we do it all for the glory of God our Rock, our Redeemer, our Healer, our Jehovah Jireh, our Counselor, our LORD, our wonderful King and Saviour.
Hosanna, hosanna in the highest!