Who Is Most Free?
Via Mike Riccardi on Facebook:
A parable of man’s suicidal demand for autonomy and independence from his Creator:
Two people jump from an airplane and experience the thrilling freedom of free-falling. But there is a difference: one is encumbered by a parachute on his back and the other is free from this burden. Which person is most free?
The one without the parachute feels free — even freer, since he does not feel the constraints of the parachute straps. But he is not truly free. He is in bondage to the force of gravity and to the deception that all is well because he feels unencumbered. This false sense of freedom is in fact bondage to calamity, which is sure to happen after a fleeting moment of pleasure.
The Curse Motif
All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.” The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will live by them.”
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
Galatians 3:10-13 (NIV)
How to watch Korea vs THE WORLD!
First watch:
Then watch:
Then watch:
And then, once Korea scores:
But if Korea loses:
That last one is a doozy…
blessed be your name
One of the first songs we are recording for ProjectZ, is “Blessed be Your Name” by Matt Redman, and listening to this song, and learning about this song, not only do I find it to be beautiful but also challenging as well.
“Blessed be your name on the road marked with suffering”
The song talks about 2 different situations, praising God when “all as it should be” and praising God even on “the road marked with suffering”. It is always easier to praise God when everything seems to be working out, but what about when everything is falling into pieces? Preparing for this song I was reminded of the story of Job. Despite everything that befell him he wouldn’t curse God, how he kept his faith in God, and that what pained him the most wasn’t the bad things happening to him, but the apparent alienation from God.
We may never fully understand the reason why things happen, why parents divorce, why we can’t find a job, why we lose friends and lovers, why we struggle just to have 3 meals a day, but like Job and like this song says we must keep our faith in God, who in his infinite wisdom and in his perfect counsel has a perfect reason for everything. Keep your faith in God and always know that God is always for you (Romans 8:31).
QT Part 2: Reading the Good Book
John 1:1-3 -In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
John 1:14 – The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
So continuing on with our series on QT, we come to the second part of this series: “reading the bible”. Just like prayer, there are a multitude of reasons why we should all read the bible, and just like the previous post I just want to share 1 thing with all of you from the myriad of reasons to read the bible…wisdom.
There are plenty of times in my life where I thought to myself, “ah if only I knew about this before hand” or “ah, if only someone could have shared with me about their problems and its lessons”. The bible has countless stories, countless warnings, and countless words of wisdom that grants us the knowledge before hand to make better choices in our lives, a better understanding of the occurrences in our lives, and countless words to grant us the faith to endure through all. We have in our hands an encyclopedia on life.
Whatever your troubles, whatever your distress, whatever it is that may be giving you a a hard time, you can and you will find the answers in the bible. Many of the brothers and sisters, and especially the Pastors to whom you confide in, their reply will always be rooted in God’s words. For every twist and turn, here in God’s words, you will find an answer. It is my prayer that each and every one of you will always find a better way to live, always find a better answer to the questions you have in your lives by being diligent in your prayers and reading the good book. Have a blessed week everyone!
QT: Part 1
Mark 1:35 – Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
So I’m going to try something new this week with our posts, hopefully if I can stay diligent and through God’s grace these posts will be more helpful to you in your daily walk as Christians, and it is my hope and prayer that all of you would keep me and the authors of these posts in your prayers as well.
For this week’s series we will be covering QT (Quiet Time), specifically prayer and reading the bible. We all know the power of prayer and the importance of prayer, but realistically speaking how diligent are you in your prayers? At the first sight of trouble; do you pray first or call your friends first? At the first sight of anger; do you pray first, or do you go vent your frustration on something else? As soon as you open your eyes in the morning; do you pray first or check Facebook?
While there are many different aspects of prayer that we can talk about, today we’re going to look at the importance of strengthening your bond and your personal relationship with Christ and with God in prayer. I’ve spent quite a number of years working in different companies with a lot of different people. I have met many good friends and bad people too. At one point (this was before the blackberry age) it would take me a couple of minutes just to scroll through my phone book to look for a number. Going through my old address books, I’m left reminiscing about the people whom I haven’t talked to in a while. While it is common for us to blame the lack of time and our busy schedule that contributed to us falling away from each other, the truth because neither one of us made the effort to continually meet with each other and talk to each other, I’m left to wonder, while staring at their old number, how they are doing.
We may live in the “Facebook” age where everyone’s status is updated every second even if they live a 1,000 miles away, yet, it does not quite compare to actually sitting down with that person over a good meal and hearing each other out. While I may know what you are doing right now through Facebook, but because of that lack of “human touch”, your status becomes a bit arbitrary to me. The same applies to our bond with Christ, our relationship with our Father in heaven. If you are not really spending the time to talk with God, what kind of relationship do you think you will foster?
Praying before a meal is good. Praying in church is good. Praying because you need help is good. Praying just to talk with God is even better. As you go to sleep today, and as you wake up in the morning I want to encourage everyone to spend a moment to just really have a heart to heart talk with God. Sometimes we might know what to say, what to pray for, and what to pray about, but before you even got up this morning God already knew:
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express -Romans 8:26
So until the next post pray on my brothers and sisters and all glory to God.
