So I was doing my QT today, and I stumbled upon a very simple verse. It's so simple, that I realized I read it and skip over it as if because it is simple it has very little importance. But today I realized the reason why I fall so much to sin and hypocrisy is because I don't pay attention to this verse.
It comes from the gospel of Luke 14:35
It is the last thing he says.
"You people who can hear me, listen."
You may ask, how much can really come out of that verse? Well let me tell you, it is so dire to our spiritual walk. We can break this verse down into two pieces.
1. "You people who can hear me,..." When Jesus refers to the people who can "hear" him, He is talking about all the people that understand what his parables are speaking about. The parable about the salt and its saltiness, the parable of the big banquet, the parable about the mustard seed, about the yeast of the pharisees, about the lamp on the lampstand, all these parables. If you understand them, you are the person Jesus is talking to.
2. "...listen." When I would read this verse throughout the gospels multiple times I figured I was doing the right thing. I heard what Jesus said about the parable. I got it. I could explain it to others if they didn't understand it. I could write a paragraph on it, or sum it up. I got it. I listened. But for some reason, tonight I saw the word listen and knew that to listen requires something more than just hearing what is said. One definition, given by dictionary.com (which I believe is a reliable source for definitions), says to listen is not only to hear what is being said, but to heed and obey. To heed and obey. To heed is to pay careful attention to something. To obey is to comply or follow the commands, wishes, or instructions that are given. After I looked up this definition of listen, I realized that all along I haven't really been listening to Jesus and His parables. I have been comprehending them, sure. But I have not been heeding nor have I been obeying.
So tonight, I am going to start listening to Jesus instead of just hearing Him. In this way I can worship Him and glorify Him. Let's do it together! :D
FIGHTING!
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
The Number 23
So I just got done watching the Number 23, the movie starring Jim Carrey. I had borrowed it from a friend, and he told me it was a dark movie. I always thought it seemed interesting, which is why I wanted to watch it.
Oddly enough, my thoughts from last night match up with something I realized was within the movie that might or might not have been meant to be symbolized.
Last night I was thinking to myself in the car about how terrible we are to God. We sin and we sin and we sin and there is no end to our sinning. Some of us tell lies, some of us steal, some of us kill. Either way, a sin is a sin, and sin is death. And as I was thinking of this I felt so unworthy of His sacrifice, of Jesus Christ and the blood He shed for me. And it clicked in my head right there. That is what makes this love so incredible. The fact that Jesus knew we would sin all throughout our lives, but still He would forget our past, clean our slate, get rid of all our shame and guilt, and tell us that we are different now. That is who we were, but this is who we are now : set free from our past sins.
Onto the connection with the movie.
SPOILER****
The story is about Walter Sparrow, Jim Carrey, who is an animal control worker. On his birthday he is late to pick up his wife because he was trying to catch a dog right before his shift was over, who ended up biting his arm. By the time he went to pick up his wife, she had gone into a book store. She was reading a book that caught her eye, The Number 23, written by Topsy Kretts.(Top Secrets) After reading it she decided to buy it for her husband. So he goes on reading this book, and becomes obsessed with the number 23, he sees it everywhere. Eventually as he continues to read into the story he realizes that he needs to find the author so he can get some answers about the number 23, the book stopped abruptly at chapter 22.
Throughout the film the dog that bit him continues to pop up. Eventually he chases him down to a cemetery and shoots him with a tranquilizer gun. A priest from a nearby church comes over to see what happened, along with the dog's owner who happens to be the groundskeeper for the cemetery. Walter is obsessed with this dog; N=14 E=5 D=4 14+5+4=23. He asks the groundskeeper why he named the dog Ned. He replies it is the overseer of the dead. Whenever Ned is in the graveyard he always watches over one specific grave, Laura Hollins.(I think that's the last name) Laura Hollins was killed on her 23rd birthday according to the tombstone, and Walter starts to panic. But the priest tells him that her body was never found.
So Walter begins to investigate the murder and is trying to find out who the killer is. He is led to the man who is imprisoned and he believes that man wrote the book. But the man claims to be innocent. Walter's son found a P.O. Box number hidden within the pages. The family tracks the man down, but the man slits his throat before they can get any answers. Agatha, Walter's wife, tells him to go home with his son and that she will take care of it. The man, with his last breath, tells Agatha to go to this mental institute. She goes there and finally receives the answer to who wrote the book, Walter Sparrow.
Eventually, he finds out that it was him who murdered Laura, and realizes that after he murdered her he ran to a hotel, went into room 23, started to write a suicide note, and ended up writing the book. After trying to commit suicide he winds up in that mental institute that Agatha had gone to. He regains all mobility, but never regains his memory of his past.
Here is where the connection is made.
In this very emotional scene with Walter and Agatha, they are in the hotel room, number 23. Walter is contemplating suicide once again, and Agatha comes in. He continues to dwell on his past as a killer, and Agatha grabs a knife and hands it to him telling him to kill her. It is there where she says the line that really set off the epiphany that I had. She tells him that this book is about who he was, but now he is a different man, a loving father and husband, not a killer. He was sick back then because of his families mental instability.
He was born into the world a mentally unstable being, just as we were born into this world a sinful being. But what's in the past is in the past. We are different now, it doesn't matter if we were a killer. Jesus says that is old news. He has redeemed us from our past. That book was just the guilt and the obsession of past sins. But Jesus wants us to put that book down, and move on with our life and make things right.
So that is how my morning began, at 7:30 AM waking up to a phone call from my good friend Ray Kim at Boston College. An interesting way for me to see God's glory. I definitely suggest this movie to you, it is very interesting at the least.
Praise God!
Oddly enough, my thoughts from last night match up with something I realized was within the movie that might or might not have been meant to be symbolized.
Last night I was thinking to myself in the car about how terrible we are to God. We sin and we sin and we sin and there is no end to our sinning. Some of us tell lies, some of us steal, some of us kill. Either way, a sin is a sin, and sin is death. And as I was thinking of this I felt so unworthy of His sacrifice, of Jesus Christ and the blood He shed for me. And it clicked in my head right there. That is what makes this love so incredible. The fact that Jesus knew we would sin all throughout our lives, but still He would forget our past, clean our slate, get rid of all our shame and guilt, and tell us that we are different now. That is who we were, but this is who we are now : set free from our past sins.
Onto the connection with the movie.
SPOILER****
The story is about Walter Sparrow, Jim Carrey, who is an animal control worker. On his birthday he is late to pick up his wife because he was trying to catch a dog right before his shift was over, who ended up biting his arm. By the time he went to pick up his wife, she had gone into a book store. She was reading a book that caught her eye, The Number 23, written by Topsy Kretts.(Top Secrets) After reading it she decided to buy it for her husband. So he goes on reading this book, and becomes obsessed with the number 23, he sees it everywhere. Eventually as he continues to read into the story he realizes that he needs to find the author so he can get some answers about the number 23, the book stopped abruptly at chapter 22.
Throughout the film the dog that bit him continues to pop up. Eventually he chases him down to a cemetery and shoots him with a tranquilizer gun. A priest from a nearby church comes over to see what happened, along with the dog's owner who happens to be the groundskeeper for the cemetery. Walter is obsessed with this dog; N=14 E=5 D=4 14+5+4=23. He asks the groundskeeper why he named the dog Ned. He replies it is the overseer of the dead. Whenever Ned is in the graveyard he always watches over one specific grave, Laura Hollins.(I think that's the last name) Laura Hollins was killed on her 23rd birthday according to the tombstone, and Walter starts to panic. But the priest tells him that her body was never found.
So Walter begins to investigate the murder and is trying to find out who the killer is. He is led to the man who is imprisoned and he believes that man wrote the book. But the man claims to be innocent. Walter's son found a P.O. Box number hidden within the pages. The family tracks the man down, but the man slits his throat before they can get any answers. Agatha, Walter's wife, tells him to go home with his son and that she will take care of it. The man, with his last breath, tells Agatha to go to this mental institute. She goes there and finally receives the answer to who wrote the book, Walter Sparrow.
Eventually, he finds out that it was him who murdered Laura, and realizes that after he murdered her he ran to a hotel, went into room 23, started to write a suicide note, and ended up writing the book. After trying to commit suicide he winds up in that mental institute that Agatha had gone to. He regains all mobility, but never regains his memory of his past.
Here is where the connection is made.
In this very emotional scene with Walter and Agatha, they are in the hotel room, number 23. Walter is contemplating suicide once again, and Agatha comes in. He continues to dwell on his past as a killer, and Agatha grabs a knife and hands it to him telling him to kill her. It is there where she says the line that really set off the epiphany that I had. She tells him that this book is about who he was, but now he is a different man, a loving father and husband, not a killer. He was sick back then because of his families mental instability.
He was born into the world a mentally unstable being, just as we were born into this world a sinful being. But what's in the past is in the past. We are different now, it doesn't matter if we were a killer. Jesus says that is old news. He has redeemed us from our past. That book was just the guilt and the obsession of past sins. But Jesus wants us to put that book down, and move on with our life and make things right.
So that is how my morning began, at 7:30 AM waking up to a phone call from my good friend Ray Kim at Boston College. An interesting way for me to see God's glory. I definitely suggest this movie to you, it is very interesting at the least.
Praise God!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Live a Godly Life Until His Return
I was doing my QT today, and I came upon a verse that was such an amazing visual that I feel compelled to write about. My brother James, I'm sure you know him, once said that the Bible is a love story between creator and creation. (sorry if it isn't the exact words) And I find that to be very true. There is so much love spread out throughout the entire book, and I happened to find a verse tonight that shows God's love for the faithful.
Luke 12: 35-38
35"Be dressed, ready for service, and have your lamps shining. 36 Be like servants who are waiting for their master to come home from a wedding party. When he comes and knocks, the servants immediately open the door for him. 37 They will be blessed when their master comes home, because he sees that they were watching for him. I tell you the truth, the master will dress himself to serve and tell the servants to sit at the table, and he will serve them. 38 Those servants will be happy when he comes in and finds them still waiting, even if it is midnight or later."
I read this and thought about when Jesus washes the disciples feet, another act of displaying his humility and mind-boggling love. To think that when Jesus does come back, that He would dress as a servant and serve me at His table is .... I can't even describe how wonderful that would feel. I always did think about what the disciples felt when Jesus washed their feet, down on his knees, scrubbing away the dirt of months and months of traveling on dirt roads in shabby sandals. Odd, seeing the King of kings, Lord of lords on His knees at your feet, giving you, a sinner, the royal treatment. Crazy to think about, right?
Along with that imagery, I really feel that this verse is talking to me about my inconsistency to live the "Christian" life-style. I will be doing so well for a few days, a week, a couple weeks, a month, but eventually it will just wear down on me emotionally, physically, and spiritually, and I become lazy. But the Bible says that Jesus will come back like a thief in the night, it will not be expected, so we must always be ready. I really feel like anyone can apply themselves to this verse and improve upon their character. So take a look at your inconsistencies as I have looked upon mine. See how we must always be a shining light for God, not just at times, but ALWAYS.
Another cool thing I read about tonight was about God's love overflowing in us. I always say this in prayers, "God let your love overflow from my heart to the hearts of others." A guy named Al Bryant wrote this : "If the love of God flows through us, we will find ourselves sharing that love with those around us, for God is love, and that love is bigger than the container, the Christian, so it must overflow. Those around us long for love,....Let us as Christians share God's love as we await the return of his Son from heaven." Cool stuff.
Let's fight the good fight! :]
Luke 12: 35-38
35"Be dressed, ready for service, and have your lamps shining. 36 Be like servants who are waiting for their master to come home from a wedding party. When he comes and knocks, the servants immediately open the door for him. 37 They will be blessed when their master comes home, because he sees that they were watching for him. I tell you the truth, the master will dress himself to serve and tell the servants to sit at the table, and he will serve them. 38 Those servants will be happy when he comes in and finds them still waiting, even if it is midnight or later."
I read this and thought about when Jesus washes the disciples feet, another act of displaying his humility and mind-boggling love. To think that when Jesus does come back, that He would dress as a servant and serve me at His table is .... I can't even describe how wonderful that would feel. I always did think about what the disciples felt when Jesus washed their feet, down on his knees, scrubbing away the dirt of months and months of traveling on dirt roads in shabby sandals. Odd, seeing the King of kings, Lord of lords on His knees at your feet, giving you, a sinner, the royal treatment. Crazy to think about, right?
Along with that imagery, I really feel that this verse is talking to me about my inconsistency to live the "Christian" life-style. I will be doing so well for a few days, a week, a couple weeks, a month, but eventually it will just wear down on me emotionally, physically, and spiritually, and I become lazy. But the Bible says that Jesus will come back like a thief in the night, it will not be expected, so we must always be ready. I really feel like anyone can apply themselves to this verse and improve upon their character. So take a look at your inconsistencies as I have looked upon mine. See how we must always be a shining light for God, not just at times, but ALWAYS.
Another cool thing I read about tonight was about God's love overflowing in us. I always say this in prayers, "God let your love overflow from my heart to the hearts of others." A guy named Al Bryant wrote this : "If the love of God flows through us, we will find ourselves sharing that love with those around us, for God is love, and that love is bigger than the container, the Christian, so it must overflow. Those around us long for love,....Let us as Christians share God's love as we await the return of his Son from heaven." Cool stuff.
Let's fight the good fight! :]
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Simple Stuff
Luke 12:31
Seek the Kingdom first, and everything else you need will be given to you.
As simple as that, so let's do it, yeah?
Seek the Kingdom first, and everything else you need will be given to you.
As simple as that, so let's do it, yeah?
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