Loving Others As Yourself.

So I've been reading a book by John Piper (again) entitled, "What Jesus Demands from the World". I've been enjoying this thick book, which has been thought-provoking, challenging, and insightful. Piper goes through 50 demamds that Jesus gives through the gospels, primarily sticking with the gospels for scriptural support.
There is one previous demand that has really been insightful and thought-provoking above all the rest that I've read through. It is demands #33 in the book; entitled, "Love Your Neighbor With The Same Commitment You Have To Your Own Well-Being". Here Piper explains what Jesus means when He says "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Matt 22:39).
We read and heard this command plenty of times before, but do we really know what this means? Seriously? I found it profound what Piper had to say about this! I don't wanna share the whole chapter with ya'll, but I will share somethings that Piper says in the chapter that I found precious.
First Piper explains what Jesus means by "as yourself", by saying how we love ourselves, and long for self-presevation and self-fulfillment.

"All of you have a poweful instinct of self-preservation and self-fulfillment. You all want to be happy. You all want to live, and to live with satisfaction. You want food for yourself. You want clothes for yourself. You want a place to live for yourself. You want protection from violence against yourself. You want meaningful or pleasant activity to fill your days. You want some friends to like you and spend som time with you. You want your life to count in some way. All this is self-love. Self-love is the deep longing to diminish pain and to increase happiness." (Piper, pg. 257, What Jesus Demands from the World)

Piper goes on to say as Jesus would say that this self love is natural, and is something that all humans have in common. It's something that God has created. So it's not wrong. Then he goes on to say that this is the same way that we are to love our neighbors.

"As you long for food when you are hungry, so long to feed your neighbor when he is hungry. As you long for nice clothes for yourself, so long for nice clothes for your neighbor. As you work for a comfortable place to live, so desire a comfortable place to live for your neighbor. As you seek to be safe and secure from calamity and violence, so seek comfort and security for your neighbor." (Piper, pg. 258, What Jesus Demands from the World)

He goes in in this sort of pattern, but I stop there because I think you get idea of what he's saying. As followers of Christ we find for ourselves satifaction, comfort, security, happiness, and peace in Christ alone. So in light of Jesus' command to love our neighbor as ourselves, we are to long and desire that our neighbor find those same things in Christ as well. When I take it to a more personal level, I say it like this:

I long and desire to see my dear friends and beloved brothers and sisters in Christ be happy and content in Christ. Seeking and chasing after Him, becuase they are madly in love with Him. Doing everything they can to make sure that Jesus is the very foundation or their their joy, peace, strength, and satisfaction. Living lives that are centered around Jesus, exalting and magnifying Him. That Christ is who they lives for, and who their lives are about. Unashamedly proclaiming, "All I have is Christ! Jesus is my life!"

This is not something that is easy for me to live out. It involves killing pride, and cultivating humility, which isn't easy of course ( see Philippians 2:3-4). Yet this is how I long to love my brothers and sisters in Christ.
Then to also love those who don't know Christ as their Lord and Savior, namely the lost. To love in the same way. A way that displays Christ, and proclaims the gospel truth, so that they may be saved and have the same love and desire for Christ that those who are already in Christ have.

Like I've said before, this has been thought-provoking and challenging to me. It's a command that I want to do my best to obey. A command that I want to bring to your guys' attention and encourage you all to do the same and be obedient to our Lord and Savior Jesus' command. If we love Him, then we'll keep His commandments.

To Be Consumed With Christ!

I long to be consumed with Christ!
I long to see His face
And to hear His voice
To daily deny myself
And submit myself to His rule
To everday decrease
So that He may increase
To faithful and obedient
To His commands
To make Him known
To those who've never heard
And to exalt Him
Displaying Him in all beauty, glory, and radiance
So that those who reject and rebel against Him
May repent and believe in Him
And no longer live for themselves
But for Him
Who for their sake died and was raised
I long to chase after Him
To go hard after Him
To please Him
And do all things for His glory
To savor and treasure Him
Above all else
To have Him at the center
Of every choice and decision
To have His glory and fame
Be the source of all my intentions and motives
To have Him fill every nook and cranny of my life
So that all may see
Who my life is about
And Who I live is for
Jesus...........enough said!

Disappointed With Myself

As of late I have been disappoited with myself. I looked at the fact that I'm not currently in college and other such things in my life, and couldn't help but be disappointed with myself. If only I could've done this or that better or differently then it wouldn't be this way right now. I guess the old sins of self-pity and discontentment that I've also been struggling with lately could have been the spring board for the self-disappointment. After being stuck of not going anywhere for about 2 years post-highschool I was getting restless; and with the wheels not turning there was no light at the end of the tunnel.
Yesterday as I was driving home with my mother from picking her up from work, it was raining like crazy! My mother was tired, and not in the best mood, and my driving wasn't helping that. Not to say that my driving at the time was bad, but apparently she just wasn't comfortable with my driving. So against my will she had mne pull over so that could take over driving. I wasn't happy about that, becasue I felt like at that moment she was pretty much saying that my driving was pitiful, and it got in the mood of being disappointed. Not only with that, but a lot of other things. I just felt disappointed with myself in regards with a lot of things that have happened in my life. Yet as I thought more and more of this, I couldn't help but become not only disappointed with myself, but angry as well. Why would I be angry with myself? Well I think only healthy reason to be angry with self is because of sin.
Yep, it sure was crazy how it took a twist from being diappoited with myself in a negative, putting-myself-down kinda way to being disappointed with sin. I started to look at things that have gone wrong in the past, a messes that that I've made, and became more disgust with my sin. It all reminds me of Paul in Romas 7 where he is expressing the struggle between the good he wants to do but doesn't do it, and the bad he doesn't want to do but keeps commiting. "For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." (Rom 7:15). Here in verse 7 expresses how he is not doing the good he wants to do, and is doing the opposite, what he hates, namely sin.
I can relate to Paul here, because quite frankly I'm getting sick of committing the sin I hate, and not doing the good that I want to do. Looking back how the messes that my sin has created, and how it makes me act makes me grow more in hatred toward it. This is how it should be. Growing in hatred against sin, and in desire to do good. Or better yet growing more in love with with Christ and all things that relate to Him!

Jesus Is My Provider!

What come to your mind when you here the statement, "God provides"? Maybe it might be when God provided a car for you when you needed it, or possibly when he provided meals for you when you went through through that season of no job and very little income, or how about when you needed a kidney transplant an d someone from your church who was a perfect match offered one of his kidneys. We can all probably smile and look back in our lives to see how God has provided for us in many ways, thankful that we have a God who always provides for His people.

Although I want to remind you of the best way God has provided for us. He provided salvation through the blood of His beloved Son Jesus! Let me break it down.

First I want refresh you all of the picture of how God provided for us through the death of Jesus, His Son, at Calvary by looking at Genesis 22 of where God commands Abraham to offer his only son, Isaac, as a burnt offering on one of the mountains in the land of Moriah. So Abraham does as he is commanded. In verse Isaac asked his father, Abraham, where the lamb for the burnt offering is, and Abraham replies to his son, by saying "God will provide for Himself , the lamb for a burnt offering my son." (vs. 8). Quite amazingly, Abraham trusts that God will provide a lamb for the burnt offering. Then going onward to verse 10 after Abraham has bound his son on the altar, he raises his hand, with the knife in it, to kill his son......stop. Right here we see Abraham being exactly obedient to God, following through with what God has commanded him to do. Now just add a sidenote, The whole chapter of Genesis 22 displays the parallel of Abraham's obedience to God and Jesus' obedience to God. Quite awesome right? Let's move on though, picking up at verse 11. In verse 11 an angel of the Lord stops Abraham from killing his only son, and says this, "Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." After this Abraham looks up to see a ram caught in a thicket. So he goes to offering it as a burnt offering instead of his only son. He calls the place "The Lord will provide". So what we see in Genesis 22 is Abraham's obedience and God's provision. That is pretty much the theme of the whole chapter.

So how does this parallel with Jesus sacraficial death at Calvary? Well first of all we see Jesus' perfect obedience to the Father. He was obedient to point of death, even death on a cross (Phil 2:8). Jeus perfectly kept God's law, which we have failed to keep. He was obedient to the Father throughout His whole time on then earth, never once did but He rebel against the Father. If He did, then his sacrifice for us on the cross would've been insufficient and pointless. This is why Jesus is know as "the Lamb without blemish or spot" (1 Pet 1:19). This parallels with Abraham in Gen 22 in where he was obedient to God every step of the way, even to the point of where he was about to kill Isaac, his only son whom he loved. Then noticed the more bigger picture of how, a different paralell in both scenes. God provides. In Genesis 22, God provides a ram that Abraham offers as a burnt offering. Then in the gospel we see how Jesus is not only the one who is offering the sacrifice, but is Himself the sacrifice. Remeber the O.T. system the Jews had of offering sacrifices yearly for the forgiveness of sins? There would be a high priest who would perform the offering in the most holy place for his sins and the sins of the people. Yet at the cross Jesus offers Himself as the final sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. "He entered once and for all into the holy places , not by the means of the blood of goats and calves but by the means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption." (Heb 9:12). Here God provides the perfect sacrifice once and for all for the forgiveness of sins, and it is by the blood of Jesus, His beloved son.

So the title is: Jesus is my Provider. How? Well we as sinner cannot in and of ourselves provide the forgiveness of sins, just like the the O.T. sacrificial system couldn't (sufficiently) provide forgiveness of sins. We as sinners cannot provide the rescue from the punishment we deserved, which is hell and God's wrath. For we have sinned against an infinitely holy and righteous God, and have broken His law. All the good things we do cannot make up for the sin we have commited against God. All of our rigtheous deeds are just filthy rags in God's eyes (Is 64:6). So since He is perfectly just, He would have to give us what we desrve, which is hell for an eternity. Yet since God is also a loving and mercriful God, He sent Jesus His son to die in our place, taking the wrath that was reserved for us. Justice is satisfied, and we are forgiven of our sins. S

Thus Jesus is my Provider, and your Provider through His death on the cross, and His ressurection 3 days later.

Through His death and resurrection, Jesus provides rescue from hell and the wrath of God

Through His death and resurrection, Jesus provides freedom from the bondage of sin

Through His death and ressurection, Jesus provides healing from the disease of sin

And it goes on and on.

May we reflect upon this, and be thankful to God that through the blood of Christ that was shed for our sake, Jesus has become our Provider in these things. To Him be the glory, honor, and praise forevermore. Amen.

So may we reflect on this glorious truth, and be ever thankful of to God for providing these things for us through Jesus Christ. He is our provider

Jesus Is My Everything

Before I was in Christ, I lived for myself, and myself only. I was King, and Lord. I was in the driver's seat, I was calling the shots, and I was running the show. I found temporary joy and satisfaction in my sin, and passions of the flesh. I was decieved that my own good works would get me into heaven. I believed that I was free, living in my sin, but blind to reality that I was enslaved to it. I was blind to the fact that living in my sin, would lead my to hell. I was just soaking it all in. My life was about me.

Yet, Jesus' death on the cross, and resurrection 3 days later radically change all that! My life is no longer my own, it belongs to Christ. I live for Him, because of Him.

Now Jesus is:

my joy
my peace
my contentment
my hope
my delight
my strength
my light
my wisdom
my song
my rock
my refuge
my rescue
my sustainer
my comfort
my freedom
my healer
my redeemer
my salvation
my assurance
my righteousness
my restorer
my mediator
my substitute
my salvation
my provider
my passion
my sanctification
my redemption
my boast
my one love
my reward
my treasure
my Savior & Lord
my life
my all in all


Oh, Hallelujah! All I have is Jesus
Hallelujah! All I need is Jesus
Hallelujah! All I want is Jesus!

Our Salvation Is Not Complete?

I read chapters 8 and 9 of Hebrews last night, and I must say there some neat stuff in these 2 chapters. Yet I was struck, or inasmuch reminded of something that I saw in vs. 28 of chapter 9. So Christ having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him-- Hebrews 9:28 Now look at the last part of the verse is what struck me. We are eagerly awaiting His second arrival so that we can be saved. So what does that mean? Didn't Christ already save us? Didn't He already save us from God, namely the cup of His wrath, and from the curse of sin we were under? He certainly has. But why is coming again to save us? What from? His suffering and death on the cross was sufficient. He appeased the Faher's wrath, the same wrath that was reserved for us; so he certainly isn't coming again to save us from the Father's wrath, because He already did so. So what does He have to save us from this time? To answer I go to Romans 7. Starting in verse 15 onward Paul is expressing a struggle that's going on inside of him. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate (vs. 15). Then go a bit further a couple verses, For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. (vs. 19). Yet we have to be sure not to miss what Paul says near the end of the chapter. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (vs. 24) The he goes on to answer his own question the following verse which concludes the chapter. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (vs. 25a).

So there it is! The answer to our question earlier. This body of death that we're still in is what Jesus is gonna save us from when He arrives again. When He comes again, He is going to tranform our lowly, eathly bodies to be like His glorious body (Phil 3:21). We are still in the flesh, therefore we are prone to wonder, still prone to sin. The first time Jesus came, he did so to die on the cross, and rise 3 days later from the grave, thus saving us. This doesn't mean that we no longer sin. No! He saved us from the Father's wrath (which we justly deserve) and the curse of sin the first time. Which means is that there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). Also that we are no longer dead in our sin, and slaves to sin (see Romans 6). Sadly there are those who believe that once they are saved that they are sinless, meaning that they will sin no more, but that doesn't come to accord with the Scriptures, namely what Paul says in Romans 7.

Let me remind you of the resposibility we have of fighting sin and the desires of the flesh. Before we were in Christ, we loved to sin. We were basically swimming in it. Now that we are in Christ we have a new heart with new desires. We no longer desire to do evil, committing sin after sin. We now have a hatred for sin, but despite that we are still prone to it, cause we are still in then body of death. We are called to put to death what is earthly in us (Col 3:5), and put on the new self created in the likness of God in true righteousness and holiness (Eph 4:24).

So let me conclude with a word on encouragement to you all, my brotehrs and sisters. Keep pressing on toward the goal (Phil 3:14), and fighting the good fight of faith ( 1Tim 6:12). Going all out in the war against sin, cling to Christ, our hope, who is coming again for us. On that day my dearly beloved our salvation will be complete! Oh what glorious day it will be!

Can't Keep Silent!

The Great Commission is a command, not a choice. We're all called as followers of Christ to preach the gospel to every creature. We can't keep silent!

Why should I be selfish?
To keep Christ to myself?
To keep silent of His redemptive work at Calvary?
While millions near and far never heard!
While every second more than a handful of people die without hearing the Good News!
They walk into hell to spend an eternity in outer darkness and unspeakable torment!
Such terror, such tragedy!
I can't find any reason or excuse not to proclaim the gospel!
To lost here in my own city, and the unreached in places like Somalia!
So may I not only do so out of obedience
But more so out of love! Love for the lost and unreached.
And most of all because I love you, my Lord my God!
So may I die to self daily! To be selfless,
And count other more significant than myself!
To become less, so You may become greater!
To face hardships, trials, suffering, and persecution,
For the sake of the lost,
And for the sake of Christ & the gospel!
May they be saved, and may You be glorified!
I'm willing to die so they may live!
Yes, I'm willing to disappear,
So You may appear in and through me!