The resurrection story never gets old: it holds the miracle of salvation. I love hearing it again and again, according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and all them in different translations. Because there is always something to catch my attention anew, always something to stir in my heart. This time I realized the stone was rolled away for you and me. Not for Jesus. He did not need it to be rolled away, he had already risen. The stone for rolled…
Resurrection makes all the difference, folks. Without the resurrection, we’d be without hope. Life would be just life, no hope for broken hearted. No hope for sick and unhappy. And, certainly, no hope for sinners. Blessedly, God knew better. He knew we needed him even when we did not know we needed him. Hence, he sent Jesus to die for us. Jesus came to friend us, teach us, and save us. Because Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected,…
What a holy day Good Friday really is. Still it’s hard to understand what Jesus really did for us. The amount of suffering is beyond our imagination. Yet, he did it. Jesus died the most brutal death so we could be forgiven and made right with God. Such love. And, think, all we can do is to receive it and let it change us inside out. What wondrous love is this? He personally carried our sins in His body on…
Today, I was contemplating on the text on Pilate washing his hands for responsibility of Jesus’ death. I understand his dilemma: the crowd wanting Jesus dead and Pilate wanting to keep his job while (he and) his wife not finding Jesus guilty. What to do? Whom to serve? And did the hand washing work? Did he get rid of his guilt or not? How about you? Do you wash your hands like Pilate? How does that work? I’m afraid washing our hands…
Jesus asked his disciples to pray with him at Gethsemane, yet they slept. Just the same way, Jesus is asking us to pray with him too. How do we respond? Do we sleepwalk through our life? Or do we obey and pray with Jesus? Because we have a call to pray with Jesus. And that’s a high calling. Then he [Jesus] said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch…
Some encounters have left me a bit dumbfounded lately. I’ve met some friends and acquaintances who are Christians and they told me they’ve been looking for answers for their problems from New Age or mindfulness or something else but not from Jesus. I find it very sad that Christians don’t know Jesus and his power. They haven’t learned to embrace Jesus for all who he is. Somehow, they don’t know Jesus is all they ever need. Jesus is always enough….
Have you ever wondered what it means to live for Christ? It is very contradictory to what we hear otherwise. The world wants us to find ourselves and live for ourselves and go after what we want. Yet, the Bible tells us to live for Christ. Nothing less, nothing more, nothing else! What does it mean though? For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that…
Have you heard Natalie Grant’s song King of the World? It tells about how easy it is to forget God is the kind of the world. The song tells about our tendency to put God in a box. Have you done that lately? Listen and be convicted. May God rule every inch of our lives! The lyrics of King of the World I tried to fit you in the walls inside my mind I try to keep you safely in…
What does define you? What are you made of? Not things that we’d think that often yet they matter. Who we are matters. Whose we are matters even more. Today I read a Bible verse that made me wonder of what qualities actually define me. These are the qualities I want to define me: mercy, kindness and truth. Do not let mercy and kindness and truth leave you [instead let these qualities define you]; Bind them [securely] around your neck,…
How is your faith doing? Are you excited about your salvation and eager to work with Jesus? Or are you rushing around like crazy without any chance to slow down to spend time with Jesus? And losing your interest in faith stuff in the process? Let me tell you: it doesn’t have to be that way. Do not settle for a mediocre version of faith. With the words of John Ortberg “For many of us the great danger is not…
