A Half Eaten Cookie, Two Loaves and Five Fishes

My Cookie...

Have you ever had such an experience:  A very young child who is having a real good time with something, say eating a large cookie; you approached and teasingly asked for that very thing he is so enjoying himself with. Although there was some struggle initally but after much “deliberation”, this young beautiful child finally decided (maybe with a slight tinkle of sadness) to give his half-eaten wet mushy cookie to you, smiling nevertheless.

At that moment, like a deep warm river running through your heart, you want to rain down all your hugs and kisses on this little fellow. Beyond that, you want to open up your storage room and pour out all the goodies on him. You then glowed at his inital daze; and thereafter seeing the child’s eyes lit up in amazement and excitment.

Many times, I feel like that child.

“Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! Matthew 7:9-11 

We sometimes are contented with what we are, what we have, what we think is best. We may just ask God for a cookie, we know we will not get a stone but we only think we will get a cookie. When we get that cookie, we are obviously contented. However, the key phase here: how much more. You will see this key repeating all over the gospel. Jesus is revealing the very heart of God, the God of how much more! If we fallen beings know how to give good gifts, then HOW MUCH MORE will the Father give GOOD GIFTS. We cannot compare our good gifts to our Father’s good gifts, they are not on the same plane.  “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:9

In Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand, a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish came forward. He has been given the five loaves and two fishes by his family for his own consumption. But when the need arises, he gave all he has and with that Jesus performed a great miracle that thousands of people are fed. From the boy’s perspective, whether he chose to surrender his lunch or not, he will not go hungry that day. He may feel good to be part of that miracle, but he probably thought that will be his only gain. However, Jesus has bigger plans.

One Basket Full

When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.  John 6:12-13  So where are the leftovers they have collected? Why didn’t Jesus made just enough? Why the oversupply? While it is not mentioned in the bible, I believe the miracle did not stop after everyone was fed. The miracle was greater because there was a finale: the boy got all the leftovers!

The young boy gave his only lunch, but God open His storage room and poured out; enough to feed his family for weeks. That’s our God of how much more!

Oh Boy, What The Hell Is For?

Good Demon from Hell? Yea right!

With the recent commotion of the latest block busters Hellboy 2, I took the opportunity to watch a screening of Hellboy 1 on TV; its free of course.  The movie came from a supernatural action adventure comics series of the same name. The plot is about a demon, raised from infancy after being conjured by and rescued from the Nazis, grows up to become a defender against the forces of darkness. Born in hell and brought to Earth as an infant to perpetrate evil, Hellboy was rescued from sinister forces by the a benevolent Dr. Broom, who raised him to be a super hero. Gosh, you cannot be more creative than that!

While it maybe just entertainment, and no one will take it seriously but the abstract concept of hell as portrait could not be further from the truth. So how much do we really know about the real hell as depicted in the Bible. Quite a tabooed and a turn-off subject, especially after bad experiences with “hardcore evangelistic” methods employed to wishfully scare  and terrorizes people into the kingdom of God. While I am strongly in favour of spread the gospel of Jesus Christ with and through His love only, we cannot be ignorant and naive about the truth of the other side of heaven; that is the lake of fire or commonly known as hell.

In Luke 16, Jesus told His disciple about The Rich Man and Lazarus. When Jesus said this, note that both the man mentioned are Jews, in Jesus’ time, to say that Jews will go to Hades as a judgment, after death is counter-cultural because they believe as God’s chosen people, all of them will go to heaven and be with God and Abraham; all without the need of Jesus the Messiah and His work. In the dialogue, however, we see the hopelessness, misery, torment and agony of the rich man. The key words in the passage: in agony in this fire, speaks of a definite place of judgement. There is an slightly alternative view to this and proved to be an interesting read, see here and here.

“If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink of the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.”  Revelation 14:9-11   Hell is a place of conscience torment. It is definitely not a place of neutral or non-existence. It is irrevocable and eternal. And there is no second chance.

Know that our God is NOT a sadist who enjoys having the furnace of fire for the amusement of it or a toy to abuses His creation. Our God is righteous and holy, who painstakingly and lovingly provided a way for people to come to Him. Even those who have not heard about Christ will be accountable because God through His eternal power and divine nature is revealed in creation. Romans 1:20  God will actively seek those that are seeking Him. He is looking forward to reveal to those who are searching. Therefore, God has made all possible avenue to open Himself to anyone, He is no mystery, He is no shadowy figure impossible to chase. And He is not a God that sit in an ivory tower high up in heaven and throwing lightning down at anyone for pleasure. Nor is He a cold, impassive and emotionless face. 

He is a God that descend from heaven to earth as a man, and live among us. He ate, laughed and cried with us, He is a God that came to show us His love, He is a God that came to wash our feet; and wash us white as snow. He is a God we don’t deserve. Hell was never intended for man. However, it is deserving for God’s Wrath Against Sinful Humanity. There is always a choice to make: to accept Jesus’ love or to reject Him totally. To cut to the chase: There is never an entrapment, everybody has a choice. There is no excuse.

Hell  was specially designed for Satan, his false prophet, and his demons. Matthew 25:41  Revelation 20:10   A deserving place for the condemned serpent and his underlings; an ultimate demonstration of God’s holiness, power and justice.  For they have rebelled against God and since they cannot harm God, they will sabotage all of God’s creation; and at the very crown jewel of God’s creation: us! We are their prime target because we are made in God’s image and theo only ones Satan can laid his hands on. Remember when you were robbed of your loved ones, inflicted with pain and sufferings, cheated of your inheritances, deceived of your freedom, cowed into fear, accused of your worthlessness and wrong-doings, tricked into self-destruction and slavery; Know that our God will restore now all you have lost; and when the time comes, all these will be demanded back for you by our King!

Justice will be served by our God! That’s what the hell is for!

How Big Is Our God!

LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.

Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.

When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,

what are mere mortals that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?

You have made them a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned them with glory and honor.

You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet:

all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.

LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Psalm 8

The Overly Sanitized Savior

We have been a real blessed generation. A generation where almost everything we come into contact with are relentlessly sanitized and cleaned. We are also living in bloodless generation. For most of us, our poultry and meats comes in clean and beautifully wrapped plastics. Bloodless, furless, featherless, headless, featureless - you know what I mean, a clean pinky cut. There no sign of the bloody process, death, “violence” and “trauma” these animals had gone through.

No, I am not advocating a total vegetarian diet, God gave us meats for consumption after the fall of man. What we are actually being cut-off here is the understanding of the real faces of life and death, the real state of this fallen world. We are slowly disassociating the product from its true source. Let me explain, during Christmas, we are treated to a beautiful bright stable where Christ is born. Clean plastic models of various animals, clean processed straws, clean and kind look of Joseph an Mary. And finally of course, a nice manger with a blissful plastics baby doll depicting Christ.

Did we over sanitized yet again? Remember that these are farm animals not cute pets, there were droppings everywhere and even after the haste clean up, the smell must had still lingered. The manger must still reeked of animal saliva and feed. Joseph and Mary having travelled a long distance by foot must had be weary. Not a very pretty picture now, is it? How would Christ first felt in flesh and born into the world for the first time? The very first breath of air must not be very pleasant, I suppose.

At His death, Jesus went through a “violent death”. Not a quick one, but a slow inhumane 3 hours of torture and a grueling 6 hours on the cross. Some commented that the film “The Passion of the Christ” was too bloody and violent, see here. But is it because we are too sanitized even with our views and preceptions?

The point here is to that we must know that our Lord did not come into a clean and sanitized world of unreal beauty to be our King. No, it was the real world that Christ came into, the same one that we are in, that we may not like very much. The place where there is no space for His birth and no acceptance at His death. In the harshness of the fallen world, He came vulnerable as a baby. He did not come as a sanitized Savior but a bloody one. We must not overly sanitized our Savior and His work because that will discount the true value of His very love for us and the sacrifices He has made. With the proper perspective, our adoration and worship will no longer be the same.

“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

John 17:13-19

Godliness With Contentment Is Great Gain

 

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Contentment

But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.

1 Timothy 6:6-16 (Today’s New International Version)

The Fatherless Curse, and The Fig Leaves

The Bible tells us that in the last days there will be a prevailing spirit of lawlessness in our world. The devil himself is bend on deceiving people to oppose every perfect institution God has set up. This includes the rebellion to one of the most important relationship a person can have, the relationship with a father. By fouling this special relationship, all godly relationship for that matter, Satan can then easily set up his own institution to be satanically worshiped to be as the counterfeit God.

It is not uncommon to meet a group of people with half of them fatherless or with an absentee father. The tragedy is that their fathers themselves are rejected by them own fathers. Most of the people globally out there does not know what a true father’s love is about. Human kind are under a curse, a curse of fatherlessness. This is not a new phenomenon.

In 1 Corinthians 4:15-17, Apostle Paul said: “Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me. For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.” Even two thousand years ago, there are many guardians but little willing to be a spiritual father. We can now see the decay, they were spiritually fatherless then, but we are physically or emotionally fatherless now. 

God designed the father-child relationship so that the father can cover, protect and bless the child, nourishing and cultivating the next generation. However, if children are left uncovered, by their parents, they will find covers for themselves. A human nature of self-preservation and self-protection. When Adam and Eve fell, they see themselves naked, uncovered and they were afraid! And they ran and made cover for themselves.

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”    Genesis 3:7 -10

But we have to understand that we can never find enough security for ourselves, the flimsy fig leaves can never provide enough cover. Our self-built confidence and security like the fig leaves are small and vulnerable. It can never cover the insecurity and shame of our nakedness. Self-sufficiency is only an illusion; an illusion that keeps us fom hidding form the very presence of God. The very devices of the devil, see para 1.

But dear beloved, we do not have to be depressed, in fact we should rejoice because the beauty of the so-far sad story is here: The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.  Genesis 3:21  God came and made garments for Adam and Eve even after they sinned.  But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more  Romans 5:20   What a wonderful Father! He came and made a solid covering of animal skin on His two children when they fell into nakedness. While the bible is not specific about the skin used for coverings but I believe that the animal sacrificed for the skin coverings is a lamb, the sign that points the utimate sacrifice, that fully covers all of human kind forever, the very Lamb of God! 

We are not covered by flimsy fig leaves made by our hands, but covered completely by the sacrificed and resurrected Lamb of God Himself! In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will   Ephesians 1:5   Really, this is the kind of Father we have.

Truly Blessed, Highly Favored and Deeply Loved!

In the The Birth of Jesus Foretold to Mary as accounted by Luke. Angel Gabriel was sent by God to enlighten Mary. Gabriel called Mary, favored woman! and in some manuscripts blessed among women (we keep this in tension for now). This is because Mary is chosen to conceive and bear the great Son of the Most High where His Kingdom will never end! and His name, is Jesus.

 

When Mary ask how can this be? Gabriel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she’s now in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.”   Luke 1:35-37

When Mary visited Elizabeth, she gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.”   Luke 1:42-45

Now, we jump to the gospel of John when Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit. the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. Anyone who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

When we put both accounts together, one before the birth and one before the death of Christ, we see that both speak of the same Holy Spirit - Spirit of truth. So when the same Holy Spirit come upon us and the power of the Most High overshadow us as promied by Jesus, we too conceive Jesus Christ in us, but in the spiritual sense. Flesh gives birth to flesh, Spirit gives birth to our spirit.

Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”   John 3:5-8

If Mary is called blessed and favored because of carrying Jesus in her, we then on the same measure are blessed and favored because Christ is in us as well. The Life that is before the Birth is the same Life after Resurrection.

We are blessed among women and men! We are called favored woman and man! We, the Truly Blessed, Highly Favored and Deeply Loved ones! We are blessed because we believed that the Lord would do what he said.

Because Jesus Lives, we too live! What’s more, Truly Blessed, Highly Favored and Deeply Loved!

 

Because He Lives, I Live Too

God sent His son, they called Him Jesus
He came to love, heal, and forgive.
He lived and died to buy my pardon,
An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives.

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.
Because He lives, All fear is gone.
Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living just because He lives.

How sweet to hold a newborn baby,
And feel the pride and joy he gives.
But greater still the calm assurance,
This child can face uncertain days because He lives.

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.
Because He lives, All fear is gone.
Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living just because He lives.

And then one day I’ll cross the river,
I’ll fight life’s final war with pain.
And then as death gives way to victory,
I’ll see the lights of glory and I’ll know He lives.

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.
Because He lives, All fear is gone!
Because I know He holds the future
And life is worth the living just because He lives!

~ William and Gloria Gaither ~ 

 

Some old hymns are real gems!

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow - today
Because He lives, I have hope and a future
Because He lives, I know He lives
Because He lives, I live too

 

Gratitude: The Secret Ingredient

In cooking, we heard of secret recipes or ingredients that make seemingly similar prepared food taste vastly superior, the difference that separates the novice and masters. Many often than not, although these “secrets” are generally simple tips and ingredients, but if done right, the end product is a cut away above the rest.

In life, there are also simple truth that can transform mourning into dancing, glory into greater glory, worship into higher worship! One of our little not-so-secret ingredient our Master Chef want us to know that makes our little dish of life superbly tasty is:   Gratitude.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.   Colossians 3:15-17

Although it may not seem to be the main theme all the time, but this is so important. At the very heart of gratitude or thanksgiving is the profound worship of God. Unless we are truly grateful to God, we are not able to be truly where God wants us to be. Unless we know how much Jesus gave up and went through; how much it pained Father God at the cross, we wouldn’t know how to be eternally grateful. True gratitude is like a penthouse lift that brings you straight into the very bosom of God, the One who says: I love and I care!

The largest pitfall faced by many of us is not ingratitude, but taking God for granted. Taking God for grant will take the very reference to God out of our everyday living. But He wants to be involved in your life. He wants you to know that he is faithful whatever your circumstances, He wants you to know He is in control; He wants you to know that you do matter to Him!

Gratitude is not only about lip-service of thanks but a heartfelt flow of renewed faith and joy that can only come from the recognition of His awesome wonder. A spontaneous burst of leaping delight; delighting in God for who He is! How much He has done for us! How much we matter to Him!

In there lies the most powerful spiritual force by those realisation.

Hosanna

“Hosanna” (Greek transcription: ὡσαννα, hōsanna) is the cry of praise or adoration shouted in recognition of the messiahship of Jesus on his entry into Jerusalem, Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!   Matthew 21:9-15; Mark 11:9-10; John 12:13.

 

I see the king of glory
Coming down the clouds with fire
The whole earth shakes, the whole earth shakes
I see his love and mercy
Washing over all our sin
The people sing, the people sing

Hosanna, hosanna
Hosanna in the highest

I see a generation
Rising up to take the place
With selfless faith, with selfless faith
I see a new revival
Staring as we pray and seek
We’re on our knees, we’re on our knees

Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like you have loved me
Break my heart for what is yours
Everything I am for your kingdom’s cause
As I walk from earth into eternity

Hosanna

 

by Hillsong United