When the Desire to be Admired Sets In

There are times when we live to be noticed by others. There are moments when the thing we want most is to be honored and admired by others. Unfortunately, seeking to please others will always come at the expense of pleasing God. We should always keep in mind that pleasing God and pleasing others are mutually incompatible aims.

There are various reasons why we try to live for others and not for God. One valid reason is that we desire to be admired by others. We want to be noticed and honored just like the Pharisees in Matthew 6:1-5. They give to the needy to be seen and praised by others. They live for the admiration of others. Sadly, admiration from others poisons our souls when our outward behavior does not correspond to our hearts. We may behave righteously on the outside but have corrupt hearts on the inside. The Pharisees even prayed to be heard and admired by people. Let’s be honest with ourselves. Aren’t we all guilty? There are times in our lives that we pray to be heard by others. There are times when we are more conscious of what others will hear from us say rather than what God sees in our hearts.

What do we do when the desire to be admired sets in? Jesus commands us to do things in secret in Matthew 6. He said this not in a legalistic tone. He did not mean to say that we should not pray publicly and do good deeds publicly. What Jesus meant was that we should do things as though we are doing before the eyes of the One who sees all our intentions; the One who ultimately rewards us for our deeds. Let us train ourselves to cultivate divine awareness. Let us always remind ourselves that we are truly in the presence of God. And we should act as though God is watching us because He really does. Let us kill the desire to be admired by others with something greater: pleasing the audience of One who truly matters. Let us live for Him alone and not for ourselves and others because we are created for His glory and not any lesser aims in life.

Every good word and deed done for the praise of men will just go to waste. Jesus said in Matthew 6:1 that we will never have rewards from our Father in heaven. The admiration of God is the only admiration that matters. Praise be to God we are eternally admired because we are in Christ. God delights in us because Christ stands between us and God. Let us do things in the name of Christ before the face of God. Let us not mind what other think of us, knowing that it would not matter in the judgment seat of God.

Wasted Time is Wasted Life

The length of our existence is determined by the length of our time. From the moment we are born to the moment of our death, the time we have in between is numbered. That is why we should make the most of our time knowing that wasted time is a wasted life.

Our lives are too short to be wasted in trivialities and nonsensicalities. Let us fight for the proper use of our time knowing that wasted time will just burn in the judgment day. Christ has loved us with an everlasting love. He showed it on the cross when he suffered and died on our behalf. He purchased us with his precious blood. We are not our own. We are now his. As his treasured possession, He watches us with a jealous love, not wanting us to devote ourselves to broken cisterns that could not hold water. He wants us to time and time again be quenched from our spiritual thirst by drinking in His fountain. Truly, nothing in this world could ever satisfy. Only Christ, our living Water, could end our soul’s spiritual dryness.

Since we are his treasured possessions, all that we have actually belong to Him. And that includes our time. We are too stewards not owners. And as responsible stewards, we are to make sure that we do not waste the time that God has given us.

Let us cultivate eternal mindsets; doing things in light of eternity for the glory of God. Let us invest what we do with our time with the purpose of laying treasures in heaven. Knowing that at the end of our lives, all that we do for the Lord are the things that would truly matter and last for eternity. Our lives are merely dots in light of the never-ending straight line of eternity. Let us use our time wisely knowing that wasted time is a wasted life.

Remind Yourself Daily of Grace

Grace is a word we often forget because it is not natural to us. What’s natural for us is to work for something to earn it; to receive something because we think that we deserve it. That is why grace is a life-changing concept because it says we have received something we do not deserve. When we come to think of it, isn’t that life all about? We are always on the receiving end and we are forever undeserving of the things we receive.

We should be reminded daily that all of life is owing to grace. This is crucial because true power is accepting that we are weak and utterly dependent on the grace of God. Through humble dependence on God, He works his strength in our weakness.

“What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” (1 Cor. 4:7-8) We are always on the receiving end. God is always the Giver. We are always the receivers. God bestows upon us unearned free grace. We have nothing to boast because everything is from God. Everything is grace.

“Every good gift and every perfect gift are from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (Jas. 1:17) Every gift is from God. All is grace, dear brethren. It should humble us and relinquish self-reliance in ourselves. We are always at the mercy of God. Let us beg for His mercy and grace knowing that our breath, our life, our being, and our motion all come from Him.

There are thousands of ways to be thankful for God because everything we have comes from Him. May He be glorified in everything we have knowing that He is the source and end of all things. (Rom. 11:36) Let us remind ourselves daily of the grace that easily slips from our minds lest we become prideful and self-sufficient. Let us always strive for that sincere awareness that we are always insufficient and that God alone makes us sufficient through the grace He richly supplies us. (2. Cor. 3:4-6)

When Life Does Not Make Sense

There are experiences in my life that do not make any proper sense; I could not understand why God allowed it to happen. In these moments, I think that I know better than God; I think that the things in my mind should happen and not what actually happened. I am ashamed to admit this but there are times that I think I know better than God.

This kind of mindset makes me temporarily bitter toward God and discontented with the things that I have experienced in life. It makes me navigate life based on what I see rather than trusting the One who perfectly sees all things. In these tough and trying moments that make me doubt the goodness of God in my life, reminding myself of my finiteness as a creature and God’s infinitude as a Creator helps.

Meditating the staggering discrepancy between my fallible thoughts and God’s infallible thoughts in Isaiah 55:8-9 helps.

^“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares 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.” (Isa. 55:8-9)

There are a million things (even this sentence is an understatement) that God perfectly and comprehensively knows that I do not know. There are a million ways that God sees that I do not see. God always has a perfect purpose when He allows the things to happen in my life that do not make proper sense to me. God is not random. He always has a purpose. Everything that is happening to me is in accordance with His perfect plan to bring about the greatest glory for Himself through my life. When bitterness and discontentment creep into my heart, I humbly come before Him asking for forgiveness. Gratitude should be my proper response towards everything that is happening in my life knowing that my Father perfectly knows what He is doing and that He will never leave me nor forsake me. He supplies my needs in accordance with the riches of His grace. He wants me to trust Him more because He knows better. What I know will always be limited and insignificant as compared to His. Unbelief should be battled by faith. I must beg God for mercy to increase the faith that I have in Him. The pride that I have in thinking that I know better than God should be battled by cultivating humility. I must beg for humility every day knowing that every second, I am completely dependent on God for breath and heartbeat. Apart from Him, I can never do anything.

When life does not make sense, let us confess unbelief and cultivate faith. Let us confess pride and cultivate humility. Let us confess bitterness and cultivate gratitude. Let us confess discontentment and cultivate contentment. We have all these things because of Christ. God supplies us with moment-by-moment grace to kill sin and cultivate godliness. Let us not allow sin to foster in our hearts amid uncertainties knowing that we can trust our perfect God who holds all our times in His loving hand.

Embrace Your Weakness

All of us have weaknesses. Whether we like it or not, our physical bodies will decay. The strength that we have will wane as each year passes by. It is in these moments that we are the strongest. Why is that so? Because it is when we are weak that we turn to the One who is strong; the One who gives us the strength that we truly need.

Our weaknesses take different shapes and forms. Some might have a debilitating disease that causes them to be always on their knees to seek the sustenance and empowerment of God. Some might have a weakness that limits them to perform to the best of their abilities. This could also be used by God as a way to humble them and rid them of the arrogance of self-reliance and to truly rely on the One who is trustworthy and could richly supply us with everything we need. It could be cancer, migraine, speech impediment, polio, physical abnormality, mental disorder, the normal physical degradation of our bodies, and so on. The list of weaknesses could go on and on and vary differently per person. The point is all of us have weaknesses and we need to embrace these weaknesses and use it for the glory of God.

As we embrace our weakness, it ushers us to rely on the God of almighty strength. As we embrace our limits, it ushers us into humble dependence on the God of unlimited grace. As we embrace our flaws, it reminds us of the perfect love of our Savior that is not based on how flawed we are but on how flawless His love is for us.

Let us not be discouraged. God gives us the sufficient grace we need in our weaknesses.

God shows His love for you through the people around you

It’s amazing that God sends people into our lives to show His love towards us. It’s part of His perfect plan for us to experience more of Him and His love. It’s comforting that God sends people in our lives who could relate to us because they might have a similar experience that could provide peace to our situation knowing that we are not alone in our suffering, problem, and pain. God sends help in countless number of ways and through the people around us. We just need to be open and vulnerable to others so that we could experience God’s love through them.

It’s humbling to let our guard down and allow others to see our flaws, sinfulness, and weakness for us to experience their ministry to us as well. Their ministry of presence, advice, listening, conversing, and prayer are all acts of imperfect love shadowing the perfect love of our God. Their limited presence imperfectly points to the perfect presence of God who does not leave us nor forsake us. Their advice imperfectly points to the God who always wants to talk to us. Their listening imperfectly points to the God who always listens to us. Their conversing imperfectly points to our loving Father who wants to dialogue with His children. Their prayers imperfectly point to our loving Savior who is at the right hand of God always interceding in us. The ministries that God could do through others in our lives have many more ways of expression if we are just open to having a humble and vulnerable soul.

How sweet it is to feel the loving hand of God through the people around us. How amazing is our God who providentially uses people in our lives to show His love for us. Let us be committed to always seeing the good rather than the bad and how God uses imperfect people as broken vessels to show His love for us. Let us be open that others could be used by God as a tool of His transforming grace in our lives. Let us be open that God shows His love for us through the people around us.

The Abuse of Grace and our Proper Response

Every good thing is a gift from God. We also do not deserve the good things we receive from Him. That is why these gifts are called graces of God. The Apostle Paul heartily agrees through the rhetorical question he asked in 1 Cor. 4:7, “For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?”

The intellect, abilities, skills, and physique that uniquely make us the person that we are, are all thanks to God. It all comes from Him and it is all due to Him. There is no room for boasting because it’s not because of us that we have these things but it’s all because of grace pouring lavishly upon us. The highest evidence of grace is the salvation that God gives to wretched sinners through faith in Christ. Eph. 2:8-9 says, ” For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” It is through these verses that we see that salvation which is by grace is a gift from God. From the greatest gift of salvation to lesser gifts like food and clothing; everything is traced back in the fatherly loving hand of God.

Every precious second, every miraculous heartbeat, and every enabling power come from the One who looks after us because He is our Father and we are His children. Unfortunately, we abuse the grace of God. We waste our time instead of making the most of it for the glory of God and the good of others. We waste our heartbeats on trivialities instead of pouring our hearts into the kingdom of God. We use His enabling power for our selfish agendas and not for His glorious purposes.

Abusing the grace of God could manifest in laziness, sinfulness, and mediocrity. There are so many sinful deeds that we could try to enumerate when we abuse the grace of God. If we truly understand the grace of God that He is pouring lavishly into our lives then we would never abuse His grace. God’s never-ending and overflowing grace towards us in Christ should never be used as an excuse to sin but as a reason to serve Him more. As we meditate on the greatest grace of salvation to the least of common grace and every grace in between, may our hearts be eternally grateful to the One who has given all good things that we do not deserve. May it stir humble dependence in our hearts knowing that all things are “from him and through him and to him”. (Rom. 11:36) To God alone be the glory forever.

No Room For Hiding: Hope in the Midst of Shame, Embarrassment, and Guilt

Are there moments in your life when you just want to be in hiding because of shame, embarrassment, and guilt? I just want to let you know that you are not alone. I have that moments too. There are things I have done that makes me ashamed, embarrassed, and guilty.

There were moments in my life when I just wanted to isolate and be inside my room because it was as if I didn’t have the confidence to interact with people. There were moments in my life when I tried to escape the haunting thought of shameful and embarrassing circumstances by numbing my mind with online games and movies. Unfortunately, in moments like these, the shame, embarrassment, and guilt were just temporarily forgotten because I diverted my mind from these negative thoughts toward something else. However, every time, I temporarily isolated myself in my room and temporarily escaped through games and movies, the shame, embarrassment, and guilt increased because I had lost time which could be spent with loved ones and I had used the blessing of time unprofitably.

In moments like these, all of us try to cling to something to rid away the shame, embarrassment, and guilt. We try to soothe these feelings by entertainment, pleasure, adventure, experiences, achievements, and any other thing that this world could offer. Nevertheless, we know that deep inside of our being it’s just a temporary fix. These things were never meant to rid the shame, embarrassment, and guilt.

Fortunately, a Person can. Providentially, a Person did.

That Person is the God-man: Jesus Christ. He lived a perfect life on our behalf so that we would never be afraid of not measuring up because He has perfectly measured up the standards of God for us. (2 Cor. 5:21)

In Christ, our standing is spotless and blameless. In Christ, we are covered by His perfect righteousness. In Christ, we are eternally accepted by our loving Father. In Christ, the shame, embarrassment, and guilt are no more because God does not judge us based on our sinful, flawed, and weak performance but rather on the perfect, flawless, and almighty performance of Christ.

He also died on our behalf. (1 Peter 3:18) He was subjected to the death that we should have died because of our sins. He suffered our sin’s punishment. His precious blood has paid our sin’s penalty. The sins that make us ashamed, embarrassed, and guilty have been buried deep in the ocean of Jesus’ concealing blood.

He resurrected on the third day to prove that He is indeed our mighty Savior who has conquered the sting of death. The free gift of eternal life becomes ours the moment we turn away from our sins and trust in Him as our Lord Savior. (John 3:16)

In moments of shame, embarrassment, and guilt, let us turn our gaze away from our sinful selves and toward our perfect Savior. And sing with the hymn writer:

Because the sinless Savior died,
My sinful soul is counted free;
For God, the Just, is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.

Before the Throne of God, Excerpt

There is hope because of Christ. There is now no room for hiding because Christ sets us free from our shame, embarrassment, and guilt.

8 Reasons Why I Love to Write

Writing (blogging in this case) has benefited me in so many ways. In this article, I want to lay out the reasons why I love to write. I hope that I could encourage people to write as well even though it’s not on a blog site. A piece of paper, notebooks, and journals might do the work for you. On my part, I prefer to write blogs because I often misplace my journal and notebooks. On top of that, I think blogsites have a larger storage capacity as compared to other mediums. Anyway, let us go back to the reasons why I love to write.

The first and primary reason is that it is my way to worship and give glory to God. It is my hope that blogs on this site give glory to God and edify others. It is my prayer that God would use these blogs to impact the life of the readers and give Him glory.

The second reason I could think of is that writing gives me pleasure. Eric Liddell said, “God made me fast. And when I run, I feel his pleasure.” When I write, I could relate to this quote experientially. In writing, I also feel God’s pleasure. It’s one of the best feelings I have in any given time of the week. That’s why I try to write as often as I could because it is at those times that I feel more of God’s grace working through me as He empowers me every time I write.

The third reason is that writing is therapeutic for me. Writing gives me an avenue to not just keep my thoughts and feelings to myself but to let them out through the blogs I write. It gives me a productive way of letting my burdens out. Every time I finish writing the things that concern me, I feel that the heavy load on my shoulders is lifted up.

The fourth reason is that writing helps me organize and de-clutter my thoughts. I am one of the people whose highly disorganized (though I try to be organized). Writing really helped me organized my thoughts in a more sequential and connected manner (though there are still more rooms for improvement).

The fifth reason is that writing helps me think clearly. I can communicate easier in writing than in speaking. There are topics which I find a hard time communicating in person but I would find the words to say in writing because I could think clearer and better in writing.

The sixth reason is that writing helps me become a better listener and a better observer. Writing reminds me that I do not have the monopoly of experiences and stories; it reminds me that there are a thousand experiences and stories out there that are waiting to be listened to and from which I could benefit from. It helps me become a better observer as well regarding the people around me and the events that are happening in the world because I know that the things that I have observed from them could be used to supplement the things I believe as true. The things that I believe in would be well-supported by real life-experiences, events, and situations.

The seventh reason is that writing helps me remember. There are times that I forget things easily. Writing is one of the ways that I have a record of the events that happen in my life and the lessons associated with it. It not just helps me remember events and accompanying lessons but it also helps me recall the valuable lessons that I have in life.

The eighth reason is that writing helps me solidify my stand on a particular matter. Writing helps me solidify or strengthen my understanding of particular topics. Since writing forces me to think of ways to make rational and clearer points about the things I believe in, it consequently solidifies my understanding of a particular subject matter. It is my prayer that the things that I write will be etched by God in my heart. Writing, when used amazingly by God, does that kind of work.

For now, these are the eight reasons I could think of. I hope that it has blest you and it has also encouraged you to write. I hope that in all things, even in writing, that God alone would be glorified and the others would be edified.

When Overthinking Sets In

Lately, I have been struggling with overthinking. There are nights when I cannot sleep easily because I am just overthinking problems and contemplating solutions to solve them. It is okay to ask God for wisdom and guidance over our problems and grant us the light we need so that we know the path we ought to take in light of the darkness that we are in. But there are times when I try to put matters in my own hands as if I am the one who can fully and finally solve my problems; as if I am the one who knows it all; as if I am the one who can work with all my might to be able to surpass whatever obstacles I would have in this life.

That is why there are times when overthinking becomes sinful when we try to replace the throne of God in handling and solving our problems. There are times wherein those sleepless nights ought to be restful nights because our heavenly Father is in perfect control over all circumstances in our lives – even the circumstances that make us sleepless, restless, and anxious. At times of sleeplessness due to overthinking, God reminds us that He is sovereign; that He is in control; that He governs all things for His glory and my good. At times of restlessness due to overthinking, God reminds us that we ought to cast our cares to Him because He cares for us; that He will give us rest; that He is our Rest. At times of anxious, God reminds us that we ought to pray to Him our troubles; that He gives us peace that guards our hearts and minds; that He is our Prince of Peace.

If you are an overthinker like me, take heart, God is in control. Keep calm for God governs all things for your good. Take time to rest for He is always awake and never stops His work in our lives until we see Him face to face. Gladly surrender all your worries, problems, and troubles in the hands that bled for you. Have faith for He is in charge over everything. Always remember that our Father perfectly knows what’s best for us; that our Father perfectly loves us and wants to give what’s best for us; that our Father is sovereign and has the power to give what’s best for us.

When overthinking sets in and makes us troubled, restless, sleepless, and anxious, let us turn away our gaze from our problems and turn our eyes on God who is in control over our problems.