Be Realistic

"If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself. Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 1 Timothy 6:3-10

Humbly consent to wholesome words, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the teachings which accords with godliness [wholeness]. Proud mind cannot see the reality as it is, but humble heart can. Be content with what you have now because all is from the Father in heaven. Balanced wholeness with contentment is great gain.

Do not pursue making money, but be content having food and clothing. Money is not evil, but the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Man cannot serve two masters: God and Mammon. There is no gray area of having both. It must be one or the other. Those who fall into temptation and a snare to be rich cannot escape from piercing themselves through with many sorrows.

The words of God reveal honestly and plainly what the reality of life is. Take heed to what you listen and hear, because it is given for you by the Generous Father who desires you to live a life worthy of truth, not falling into the trap of illusion. Our God is a Realist! He knows what you really need. Furthermore, He is able to meet your need no matter what.

Unmistakable Program

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9 NKJV

God never changes His plan and program. It's all set before the creation of the world. Abraham prayed to spare Sodom and Gomorrah but unanswered. The cities of idolatry and adultery couldn't escape the judgment of the Lord God Almighty. But God disclosed the plan Abraham to destroy the cities, which inspired him to pray. It's a profound mystery that God never changes His program and yet He let His saints to pray for the world that are doomed to destruction. 

God wants His children to be part of His good work for salvation of the world and at the same time He is fulfilling the good works without being swayed at any degree at all. All the human events and incidents are working together to fulfill His will and redemption. What a privilege to be part of unchanging and infallible program of God! The question is how we can be part of His program. One thing is so obvious that we should study the Scripture thoroughly and completely. When we understand what God's promises are, we can truly pray in line with His program. And that's what the true prayer is.

So Doing

“Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 24:45-51 NKJV

This parable is followed by the teachings of Jesus on the matters of last days. This message can be summarized in the words of warnings, "Do not be deceived" and "Watch!" Jesus is telling us in this parable how we can guard and watch ourselves in these critical hours of life.

How can we be faithful and wise servants while we are waiting for the coming of the Lord? Jesus says, "Blessed are the servants whom His master, when he comes, will find so doing." Dong what? Jesus made His disciples rulers over His household, to give them [household] food at the proper time. Food means the words of God, the Prophets, and the epistles. What does it mean to give food in due season? It means enlightening and illuminating the words of truths to the household people. Explain the truths! Give lights!

In order to do so, the servants shall study and understand the words thoroughly and completely. Here the servants are not only pastors, ministers, or elders, but all believers in Christ. The word of truth is the true food for our humanity. Without eating proper food humans will starve and die. So is true spiritually. To eat proper food is to live true life in Christ Jesus. Isn't it obvious that we keep on eating the words of truth? The servants who keep on living on Jesus are able to give food to the church people in due season.

In fact, humans cannot live without this food. The word of God is the only source which tells the secrets of life. There is no other way to know and understand the God-given life than the understanding and believing the real food, Jesus Christ the Lord. When we keep on eating the real food, Jesus Christ, and dispense it to the household people, we may be called faithful and wise servants. Otherwise, we become evil ones.

Incorruptible and Undefiled Inheritance

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 Peter 1:3-5 NKJV

What do we need really? What is the secret of life? Well, we need power to handle our lives in the midst of pressures and troubles. Yes, the power of God continues to keep us through faith for our salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. It doesn't mean salvation after death although it is true and included as our eternal inheritance marvelously prepared for us in heaven.

This is our living hope in Jesus Christ the Lord. The living hope is sealed by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, so it is able to lead us to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heavenly places for us. Heavenly places are the invisible realm of reality, not some remote place in space. It is where our God rules with power and authority right now.

Therefore, we have possessed the incorruptible inheritance through faith in Jesus Christ. No power or authority in heaven and earth can defeat our inheritance because it is sealed and protected by the Lord Jesus Christ who rose again from the dead. Our inheritance is the unsearchable riches of Christ, the fullness of God which has been revealed in the Son Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is our glorious inheritance and we are His inheritance. He indwells within every believer's heart, so He is available at any moment to meet our needs abundantly.

Mystery of Christ

“For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. Romans 6:14 NKJV

In Christ Jesus, it has happened for all genuine believers that sin has no dominion over them. What does it mean? A way-out has now been provisioned by the grace of Jesus Christ our Lord. We are possessing Jesus Christ the Lord within us through the faith in God and we are possessed by Him through the blood on the cross. In the New Testament, it is called the mystery of Christ which was hidden for generations and ages and has now been disclosed by His coming as a Babe in the obscure town of Bethlehem some two thousand years ago (Colossians 1:26-27).

The mystery of Christ rests on the cross where He died in our place as an act of propitiating once for all for sinners like us who were still the enemies of God. Christ Jesus was put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit. As we know well, Jesus did not die for Himself, but for the world. Jesus did not die in vain, but for the redemption of all who believe in Him. Jesus Christ did not die just for the forgiveness of our sins though it is true. Much more than the forgiveness of sins, He died and gave His life on the cross in order to impart His new life to His church in which He indwells by the means of the Spirit. Do not misunderstand that church is building. Church never indicates building, but people just like you and me whoever believe in the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 6:19).

Christ living in us is the mystery of God. Therefore, sin shall not have dominion over us because we’re always in Him and His grace, not under law. That iron grip and bondage to sin and death has now been shattered down, so it has no longer dominion over the genuine Christians. Isn’t it good news? So, we live on that basis by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ now and forevermore.

Lose No Time To Love One Another

“Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.  For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. Romans 13:8-14 ESV

Why did Paul here put the exhortations in the day of the Lord right after talking about loving one another? It’s because we lose no time in loving one another. There may be a lot of things for us to do now as it has always been. But Paul is saying that we shall not neglect or delay any loving opportunity which God opens in the midst of ordinary and routine lives. What is loving opportunity? It may be to say a kind word to someone who is in trouble. It may be to yield to someone who is rude while driving. It may be to make a visit someone who is in need of touching care. It may be bearing patiently the weaknesses of someone who could be our families. It may be to listen to someone who has to say something.

It's obvious that the opposite of love is hate. There are two forms of hate—inward and outward. We may not outwardly hate someone by beating or punching but in the manner of indifference and ignorance which are more serious than the former. How easy it is not to love one another! How easy it is to find out thousand and one reasons not to love one another! How easy it is to be trapped into indifference and ignorance!

However, loving one another will accomplish the exhortations of casting off the works of darkness, putting on the armor of light, and walking properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. Here putting on the armor of light means to be clothed with Jesus Christ who is the full armor of light. Jesus Chris the Lord is the manifestation of such love that He died for us when we were still sinners and enemies of God. Now, we have an undeniable reason to love one another that He loved us first.

Mystery of Love

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 NKJV

How can we describe love with the human languages? Even if some may describe love with million words, we cannot understand what love is. It's God's mystery which must be revealed by Him. No one can grasp what love truly is until he receives a Person, Jesus Christ. It's because He is love, the Son of God. The Scripture says that God is love. He is always giving out love. God cannot but love his children even through painful disciplines and tribulations.

In God, there is no second thought. He cannot flip over. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is just and loving forevermore. He doesn't have no variation or shadow of turning (James 1:17b) Love is God behaving. The mystery of love is manifested in Jesus Christ the Lord. Even angles in the heavenly places were eyeballed at His death on the cross. That's how God manifested His divine love for all race. When we obey His commandment, "Love one another," the world shall be eyeballed by the act of love.

When we act on loving one another, it is not us who do love one another but Jesus Christ within us does, because only God can love justly and righteously. So, loving one another is possible only when we are equipped with the right power of our Lord Jesus Christ. No man can love one another with his might and will. It fails without exception. Jesus Christ is the One who both commands us to love another and provides the power to do so. He is not only leading us to follow Him, but also pouring out the dynamics to do so. Since it is impossible for God to lie, He will continually be the power source for us to love one another forever.