Psalm 85:10

Psalm 85:10

¹⁰Loving-kindness and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other:

"Jesus Christ, in the mystery of God's divine grace, was, as Wesley says, God "contracted to a span, incomprehensibly made man," in the incarnation. The heaven of heavens cannot contain Him. Yet He clothed Himself in flesh and blood and crept into a woman's womb. How God became man I do not know, but less, less, less do I know HOW DID HE BECOME SIN?"

"Do we really explore the possibilities of God?
What's the most exciting thing in your life? Don't answer me, answer straight up to God. Tell Him what is the most exciting thing.
That you become more knowledgeable, make more money, become more fit?
What is the most exciting thing to you?
Is it that day by day you slip in to Him and worship and adore Him?"

Leonard Ravenhill

Do you know Jaeson Ma?

Do you know who Jaeson Ma is? I first heard of him through one of his songs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73kZ6wBoqTk

And then I listened to his testimony here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfFOrf1WiUI&feature=related

Do you ever wonder how the people we listen to got saved? God changes our lives and transforms them. I may not have been a drug dealer before, but God changed my life too. And so, with this thought, I wonder what kind of story people like John Piper or Chris Tomlin have

Prayer Answered by Crosses By John Newton

I asked the Lord that I might grow 
 In faith and love and every grace, 
 Might more of his salvation know, 
 And seek more earnestly his face.

‘Twas he who taught me thus to pray; 
 And he, I trust, has answered prayer; 
 But it has been in such a way 
 As almost drove me to despair.

I hoped that, in some favoured hour, 
 At once he’d answer my request, 
 And by his love’s constraining power 
 Subdue my sins, and give me rest.

Instead of this, he made me feel 
 The hidden evils of my heart, 
 And let the angry powers of hell 
 Assault my soul in every part.

Yea, more, with his own hand he seemed Intent to aggravate my woe, 
 Crossed all the fair designs I schemed, 
 Blasted my gourds, and laid me low.

Lord, why is this? I trembling cried; 
 Wilt thou pursue this worm to death? 
 This is the way, the Lord replied I answer prayer for grace and faith.

These inward trials I now employ 
 From self and pride to set thee free, And break thy schemes of earthly joy, 
 That thou may’st seek thy all in me.

Meaninglessness

“Meaninglessness does not come from being weary of pain. Meaninglessness comes from being weary of pleasure. When you have exhausted that last dream and you find it leaves you barren or empty”

G.K. Chesterton

Proverbs 13:12

12Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

Colossians 1

²⁷to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory

Matthew 25

Parable of the Talents

¹⁴"For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them.

¹⁵"To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey.

¹⁶"Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents.

¹⁷"In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more.

¹⁸"But he who received the one talent went away, and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.

¹⁹"Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them.

²⁰"The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, 'Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents.'

²¹"His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful slave You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.'

So, this parable is pretty familiar, and I was just thinking about it the other day. At a recent conference, I was just challenged to find something new about Christ, instead of being complacent with the stuff that I already knew, and so I tried to think about this parable, and see if I could see anything I hadn't seen before. Because, sometimes, when I think I understand something, I just stop thinking about it at all.

One thing that I saw in this parable, that I didn't really notice before, was just that the servants maximum yield was only as much as the master gave them. For example, the first servant got 5 talents, and he used them to earn 5 talents, and same with the 2 talented one.

Like I shared previously, I've always been a very competitive person, and where I get really competitive is in the area of Christianity. For a good while, I think I tried to get ahead in this "race" because I wanted to be first and win the prize. I justified myself through verses like

1 Corinthians 9

²⁴Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.

And so whenever I saw a trait or quality in someone that I really liked, I would try to imitate that trait. If I saw generosity, I would want to be generous. If I saw leadership and boldness, I would want to do that too. A couple problems with that is--I'm still a sinner, so can't become what I saw as the "ultimate" Christian--and the essential motivation that I had was to basically collect as many gifts that I could and feel good about myself. But this isn't the main point...

The main point was, God gives us everything that we have, and the best that we can do is be faithful to that. What I kind of wanted was, if God had given me 1 talent, to run so hard and earn 10 talents. But then, what I would have earned at that point would be something that I had done with my own hand, and it would have given the glory to me. But, the truth is that the best that we can do (and it's a good best) is fulfill God's will for us. Looking at it now, it's not like we can surpass what God's will is for our lives--because it wouldn't be surpassing at that point, it would be degrading it because there would be the "self" mixed in.

Basically, the whole point of it is

What can I give to the Lord that I have not received from the Lord?

"His commands are His enablings" said by someone I forget