Heartset & Mindset on Heaven (Colossians 3:1-4)

 Heartset & Mindset on Heaven

“Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honour at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.” (Colossians 3:1-4)

What is the point of being a follower of Jesus if we are to disregard all earthly things and sacrifice our lives all day long, regardless of having eternal life in Him, until Jesus comes?  What if circumstances get too challenging and complicated that we just want to give up of being a follower of Jesus and live normal ways of our lives?  After being Jesus’ follower for some time, can we commit suicide and then, go to heaven?

First of all, we mustn’t commit suicide after being Jesus’ follower for some time and we are ready to go to heaven, even when our life situations get too challenging and complicated.  Yes, life gets tougher and tougher, especially when we become followers of Jesus (Matthew 7:13-14; Luke 14:26-33).  Nonetheless, when we become His followers we get enormous benefits.  Firstly, we are able to have an everlasting relationship with the Triune God—God as our heavenly Father, Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, and the Holy Spirit as our ultimate helper (John 1:9-13; 14:15-28; 16:7-15).  With this relationship, we also get eternal life citizenship (John 3:16-18; Romans 6:23; Titus 3:3-8).  Secondly, we join God’s family.  The easiest way to join it is belonging to a church.  The church is gathering and worshipping place of all believers, who represent the body of Christ, as each of them is a member of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-27).

Furthermore, since earthly things are temporary, earthly satisfaction is temporary too.  This means our searches to try and get our satisfaction filled will never end.  For example, my current earthly satisfaction is getting LED lights to make my room beautiful. My father allowed me to use his card details to purchase the one I really have wanted as my birthday present, and I purchased other four LED lights, with my card details, to go along with it. They look awesome when I turn them on at night.  Nonetheless, I want more to put LED lights somewhere else, even though I don’t have anywhere to put them because my room is small.

Although earthly things are temporary, heavenly things are eternal (Matthew 6:19-20).  Heavenly things are centred on the presence of Jesus Christ and eternal home He has prepared for His followers.  This does not mean that we should disregard all earthly things and solely focused on heavenly things.  As we live in the earth physically, but our citizenship has changed to heaven from the earth, we are to consider heavenly things exceedingly more valuable than earthly things.  Hence, we have to let the Holy Spirit to transform us to set our hearts and minds to align our priorities from earthly ones to heavenly ones, such as believing in Jesus and doing everything for God’s kingdom glory instead of ourselves (Romans 12:1-2; Galatians 6:7-10; Colossians 3:23-24).  The guarantee of these is that we will be transformed from earthly bodies to spiritual and glorious bodies when Jesus comes, and we will be taken up to the Kingdom of Heaven with him (Philippians 3:7-14, 18-21; Colossians 3:3-4).

Meditate on the sanctification, holiness process, of our lives as we follow Jesus (1 Peter 1:13-21), and ask yourself this question: “As I have been raised to new life with Christ through accepting Jesus to be my Lord and Saviour, and through baptism, how can I set apart from the world, even though I live in the world, and be holy in everything I do with my mindset on the presence of Christ and eternal heavenly home?"

Faithful hope of the Triune God (Lamentations 3:22-26)!!

 “The faithful love of the Lord never ends!  His mercies never cease.  Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!” 

The Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him.  So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord.” (Lamentations 3:22-26)

According to the circumstances, many may project God who He is in their minds.  For example, when situations exactly go their way, people may believe God is a genie in the bottle and praise Him wholeheartedly with gratefulness.  However, when circumstances don’t turn out what they expect them to be, they may think and feel that God has forsaken them.  Overall, people may depend on God in their entire devotion according to their situations and live their lives without God in their non-desperate situations.

 

The truth is that God has loved all humans from the beginning, regardless of their misdeeds.  God’s abundant love upon them is unconditional and constant (Lamentations 3:22-23).  Otherwise, He wouldn’t create them and give them free will, or would create people and not give them free will, because God already knows they will rebel at some point.  God also wouldn’t send Jesus Christ, His only beloved Son, to be atonement of their sins.  Although His heart breaks when misdeeds happen, it does not mean that God has forsaken people.  He is waiting for them to repent and come to Him (2 Peter 3:8-9).  As He is faithful to His abundant love upon all humans, they have to choose between coming to Jesus Christ and having their right to be called as God’s children, or not coming to Him and doing and solving things on their own strength.

 

Coming to Jesus and believing in Him wholeheartedly by accepting Him as their Lord and Saviour lets people receive eternal life, even in physical lives.  Becoming God’s children and accepting God’s help are not the signs of weakness, but of true strength.  As God has created all people in His image, these reveal who they really are and acknowledge God is their heavenly Father and Creator. Hence, those who have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour and have followed Him should keep holding to their hope in the Triune God—God, the Father, God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit—even if life becomes challenging with reminders of His faithfulness (Isaiah 40:28-31). It’s in the challenging times, we can test our faith, and if we feel our faith is weak, we should keep asking God to increase our faith and pray for His wisdom to navigate our lives in godly ways (James 1:2-8).

 

Meditate on God’s faithfulness (Psalm 36:5-9) and hope (1 Peter 1:3-9), and ask yourself this question: “How can I increase my hope and faithfulness in the Triune God?”

Eternal Life (John 11:25-26)!!

 “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)

Many non-believers believe all good and perfect people go to heaven or born again into another earthly life when they die, so they work very hard to be perfect ones.  They also may believe one-off acceptance to Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour is one-way ticket to the Kingdom of heaven, so they may accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour according to their good timing or accept Him as their Lord and Saviour in the very last minute of their physical death.  Overall, humans believe they are to enjoy their earthly life abundantly.

Yes, we are to enjoy our earthly life abundantly until the end, as Jesus has said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).  However, He also has proclaimed, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die” (John 11:25-26).  Furthermore, John 3:16-18 has stated,

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

Jesus didn’t come into the earth to offer all people one-way ticket to the Kingdom of heaven.  Yes, He is the only truthful way to heaven, as God sent His only beloved Son into the world to be crucified on the cross as an atonement of our sins (Hebrews 2:14-15).  However, Jesus’ sacrifice also allows us to start new lives in Him, starting new lives through faith in Jesus, which includes eternal life (Romans 6:23; 2 Corinthians 5:17).  This means we can experience eternal life in part, even in physical lives on earth, by accepting and believing in Him as our Lord and Saviour and doing whatever God has called us to do with the guidance of His Spirit (Titus 2:11-14).  For example, as I became a true follower of Jesus in the late 2011, I have accepted Him as my Lord and Saviour since then.  After two years, God has given me the writing gift to spread the good news of Christ.  Therefore, I wrote devotionals over 5 years, articles for a several years, and started to write devotionals again from a couple of weeks ago.  Nonetheless, God desires us to be in relationship with Jesus, so we can know and have a relationship with Him through faith in Jesus (John 14:6-7; 17:3). 

“God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.” (1 John 4:9-10)

When Jesus was put to death on the cross, “the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” (Matthew 27:50-51).  God’s presence dwelt inside of the temple, where high priests only could go in and offer sacrifices to God for their people’s sins once a year, but since the temple’s curtain was torn, God’s presence became available to everybody anytime and there is no need to bring sins to high priests anymore.  Jesus Christ became the ultimate high priest (Hebrews 9:6-15; 10:1-18).  Not only Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to the Kingdom of heaven, but He also went there to prepare places for His followers (John 14:1-6).  When humans accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, they receive their citizenship of heaven, as eternal life is God’s free gift to those who follow Jesus and do His will wholeheartedly (Romans 5:6-21).

Meditate on Titus 3:3-8 and Romans 6:23, and ask yourself this question: “As God’s free gift is eternal life through faith in Jesus and Jesus’ followers receive their citizenship of heaven, how shall we have our eternal lives to full potential?”

Springing Up!!

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:18-19)

How many of us like the past things, such as good and awarding experiences?  I don’t know about you, but I do.  I graduated the Bachelor of Applied Theology on May 24^th, 2025.  It is so crucial to get the knowledge of God as much as possible, so I wanted to go on doing Postgraduate Diploma in Applied Theology and then, Master of Applied Theology, if possible.  I even posted what I will write about in my thesis on Facebook before the graduation. Although assessments were challenging, I loved digging deep to Scriptures and theology through scholarly sources.  Biblical and theological studies deepen my relationship with the Triune God through faith in Jesus.  However, as my Grade Point Average score is low, it has not been possible to further my studies in Carey Graduate School, which includes Postgraduate Diploma in Applied Theology and Master of Applied Theology.  Nonetheless, I am glad that I also took ‘Introduction to Christian Leadership,’ the micro-credential paper, even after the Bachelor of Applied Theology.  Besides studies, I love Carey community because it is one of the communities of Jesus-centredness.

The context of Isaiah 43:18-19 is that Isaiah prophesises God’s mighty power in comparison with His redemption of Israel by bringing the Israelites out of Egypt, where they were held as captives (c.f. Exodus 13:17-14:31).  As God desired Israel to believe and trust in Him entirely, He wants them to forget His former redemption to them.  This does not mean they should literally forget it and not to inscribe on records of God’s works for their future generations.  Of course, they should note His former miracle for them, but what God meant is He has more miracles to show His faithfulness to Israel, instead of just former one. Although the Israelites were not perfect, they were God’s children.

As God has created all of us, we are His children as long as we believe in Jesus Christ (John 1:9-13).  Although Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross as an atonement of our sins is the greatest story in the history, God wants us not to dwell on it and His past miraculous works upon us forever.  Instead, these are the reminders of His faithfulness upon us and God desires us to move forward through faith in Jesus (Philippians 3:10-14).

In my case, I love Carey Baptist College so much and wanted to stay over there forever.  However, I guess God has closed doors on me to do postgraduate studies and it is time to put my faith into practice that I can be a Christian author.  Hence, I believe improving my devotional-writing to the point that I can contact publishers and get ready to publish 1-year devotional booklet publicly, instead of just online, is my first step of becoming a Christian author.  Although I cannot go into Carey Graduate School to study further after my Bachelor, I firmly believe God is not done with me yet and trust His plan for me, even though I cannot see it completely yet.  In fact, His knowledge and wisdom are unsearchable (Romans 11:33-36).  It is up to us whether we believe and trust Him through faith in Jesus entirely or not, regardless of the level of our belief and trust (Hebrews 11:1, 6).  This is what following Jesus and trusting God means.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:8-10)

Meditate on Jeremiah 29:11-13 and 2 Corinthians 5:17, and ask yourself this question: “Am I only relying on God’s past works/miracles through faith in Christ, and if so, how I can move forward with Him?”

The Seal of the Spirit of Truth!

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” – Ephesians 1:3-14

Don’t we want to know the truth about everything? I often read or heard that many people seek the truth about whatever it is they are looking for. One main reason for this probably is all lies lead to misconceptions. I knew this but I guess I was not a fan of truth. Well, I was but not keen to research everything as researching takes time. Before I learned that researching is vital for becoming a teacher, I used my own theology that I received from the Holy Spirit to write devotionals. The Spirit always has been prompting me to write devotionals so that I have decided to become a Christian writer someday. The reason I write devotionals for others is to encourage them spiritually. If I am an encourager of the word of God, I believe I am a Bible teacher, practically. I noticed that researching is so crucial for the Bible teachers because commentaries, which are like study book for God’s word, are full of gathered thoughts of many theologians and we know two or more persons are better than one. After knowing what commentaries are and a couple of semesters at Carey Baptist College, I started to love commentaries. I literally want to buy all different kinds of commentaries as they are precise for teaching God’s word to people. Right now, I am a premium member of Tecarta Bible which allows people to access many commentaries/study bibles, etc.

The reason that Apostle Paul calls the gospel of Jesus Christ as the message of truth is because of the sealing of the Holy Spirit. When a person put a seal onto something, it illustrates how genuine the person is. In other words, a seal is a guaranteeing mark. Our minds are not strong to comprehend the truth of God so we need the Holy Spirit, who is also known as God’s Spirit, as we read the word of God. A commentator says, “The conviction that believers have in the truth of the Word of God does not come from themselves but from the Spirit, who gives their consciences assurance and takes away all doubt.” God did not pour His Spirit into us so that we can be satisfied with our own desires. He poured His Spirit into us and for us to be able to understand His Word. While ago, I was highly addicted to a game that I thought God was breathing on me through His Spirit. Although there are other reasons that I deleted that game, this had to be one of the crucial reasons that I deleted the game.

However, Paul also calls the gospel of Christ as the gospel of salvation.  The gospel brings salvation to people through God’s power and through the Spirit, they are being made righteous (Romans 1:16-17). It is also the Spirit, who renews their minds to obey Him. (Romans 12:1-2). We don’t have to strive really hard to listen to God and obey Him but just have the willingness to obey Him as God opens our hearts through His Spirit. As we are reconciled to God through the Spirit, the Holy Spirit guarantees our future inheritance, which is eternal life in Him (Romans 8:9-13). Although my mind is limited, I really need to remember God’s Spirit has been put into me to understand His Word and so that my desires could be transformed into God’s. After all, all of us have been created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27).

Meditate on Romans 8:1-17 and the whole passage of John 14 and ask yourself these questions: “Am I truly sealed with the Holy Spirit? If so, how can I prove this?”

Hope on Becoming for the Praise of Jesus' Glory!

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding,  he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. – Ephesians 1:3-12 NIV

According to Google, the definition of ‘hope’ is “a feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen.” In other words, hope is similar to the definition of ‘dream.’ Dream is “a cherished aspiration, ambition, or ideal.” My examples of hope are that since I manage my money now, I hope I can flat soon with those who love to do life and faith together. I also hope I’m able to save up my money and go to South Korea and New York to visit my family or even to a country like Australia, where my friends are. With hope and dream, most of us strive to make a particular thing a reality and this produces an expectation that one’s life will be fulfiled.

However, there is another meaning of ‘hope.’ According to the theological dictionary, Christian hope is based on “God’s covenant faithfulness and the resurrection of Jesus Christ as known by the work of the Holy Spirit in the church.”  One of God’s promises for them is to spend with Him eternally in His Kingdom. Due to this hope, believers in Christ live for “the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:12). Living for the glory of Jesus provides righteousness of God’s people (Colossians 3:1-4). Therefore, Christian hope is a living hope that allows believers to focus on reality about God’s faithfulness rather than just wishful thinking. 1 Peter 1:3-5 reads,

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

As mentioned above, the main part of God’s plan for believers is that they may receive the eternal inheritance through their faith in Christ. According to Romans 6:23, eternal life is God’s free gift to them, regardless of what they have done or will do in the future. Let us hold firm of this eternal inheritance and live for the glory of God so that He may be glorified through us!

We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. (Romans 8:28-30)

Meditate on 1 Corinthians 15 and think how you can be for the praise of Jesus’ glory.

The Ultimate Will of God!

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding,  he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.” – Ephesians 1:3-10 NIV

A long time ago, I thought that evangelism is the only way we can participate in the mission of God since I thought the main part of the Great Commission from Jesus Christ is just to make disciples (Matthew 28:19). I think I got a gift of encouraging others spiritually, so I thought I could do both. According to the theological dictionary, ‘evangelism’ is “The sharing of the gospel of Jesus Christ through a variety of means.” However, I also learnt that, in order to evangelise, I should not use theological words at all as non-believers cannot understand them. My mentor told me that I have a gift of teaching. After a short while, I realised that she is right and I have more enthusiasm for it. One of my closest friends also taught me that I cannot evangelise and teach at the same time as my writing does not flow if I do both. Nonetheless, the mission of God includes teaching as well (Matthew 28:20; Ephesians 4:11-13). However, I am willing to learn about evangelism as I desire that gift as well. The main reason for this is that my number one wish is that everybody would be reconciled to God and others (2 Corinthians 5:11-21).

As God has been tremendously merciful to all of us, God desperately wants us to be united with Him and others through Jesus Christ (Philippians 2:1-11). More than that, He desires to have the entire universe since He has created everything. In other words, God’s wish is to restore everything in the way it was in the beginning by gathering all things in Christ (Colossians 1:15-20). Since Jesus is complete God and human, He is the head of all creation, whether it is in heaven or on earth. The way how Jesus Christ can be unified with us is by the Holy Spirit. A commentary reads,

He [Christ] unites humanity to Spirit and places the Spirit in humanity. Being Himself made the fountainhead of the Spirit, Christ gives the Spirit to be the head of humanity. Thus, through the Son [Christ] by the Spirit we ourselves now see and hear and speak.

God’s Spirit is the source that establishes Christ as the mediator between God and man. Therefore, He had to send the Spirit down to those who are willing to believe that Jesus is the Lord and Saviour when He is seated at the right hand of God in heavenly realms, in order for us to be unified with God. 1 Corinthians 2:6-13 states that things of God have been revealed to believers by His Spirit.

Meditate on the whole passage of 1 Corinthians 2 and think of the ways the Spirit of God has been revealed to you.

The Grace and Forgiveness of God!

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.” – Ephesians 1:3-8 NIV

When someone makes a mistake, it may be forgiven a couple of times. However, when people make the same kind of a mistake continually or take a while to learn a particular thing, sometimes temptation rises and frustration bursts out, and then start to blame that person. Nevertheless, there are some people who are willing to forgive whenever a person makes mistakes. For example, my mentor and I organised a movie day for Windsor Park Baptist Church. I was a technical person for this job but I made a big mistake by putting the disk between the computer’s hard drive and the container of it or something. Therefore, we could not watch “Pamela’s Prayer” on one of the movie days, so I apologised to my mentor and others several times. However, my mentor lovingly explained that it is not big of a deal. IT360 staff also were already planned to come to the church on following Monday so she could ask them to take the disk out. Overall, my mentor was filled with God’s grace.

The Oxford Bible Commentary states that God’s grace is the “fountainhead of all human well-being.” God has loved us so much as His children that He sacrificed His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to break the bondage of sin and death, and to set us free (Hebrews 2:14-15). According to the Old Testament law, the forgiveness of God should be established with animal sacrifices (Hebrews 9:19-22). Hence, Christ came into the world as Passover lamb and offered His body as an atonement of our sins once for all. The Passover lamb was used to be the animal sacrifice that the Israelites used to cleanse their sins away with while they were in Egypt.

Since we automatically become the righteousness of God through faith in Christ, we should live in Him as well (2 Corinthians 5:21). Romans 6:13-14 reads, “Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.” I am not under the law but kind of am under the false grace. Because of God’s abundant grace, I become lazy, especially during my holidays. I know that my identity belongs to God through faith in Christ and I know that I have much things to do, such as writing devotionals and articles. However, I am not super disciplined in doing them. Because I haven’t finished writing devotionals or articles, I usually don’t have much time to read a book. Therefore, I need to work on disciplining myself to do God’s given task and work bit more on managing my time.

Meditate on Luke 22:14-20 and thank Jesus for His crucifixion and resurrection, and our redemption in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:17 declares, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”

Adoption of God's Family!

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.” – Ephesians 1:3-6 NIV

Some parents may have extremely high hope in their children to fulfil their dreams. This may be because they are too old that they don’t have enough capacity to fulfil them or want their reputation to go and be represented well in the world. This also might be because parents think they are very successful and want what is best for their children. However, I believe all of these have to be the pride of parents. I am glad that my parents are fine for me to fulfil my own dream, which is Christian writing. In fact, my mother told me that my writing is extremely good and that I should think Christian-writing as my career.

God adopts us into His family through faith in Jesus Christ. However, He is not selfish,  even though He commands us what to do through the Spirit of God (John 16:7-15). We know this by Ephesians 1:6 in New Living Translation version as it says, “So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.” God is the God of Love, so He seeks to draw people to Himself (see Deuteronomy 7:7-9). Since God is the God of the covenant of love, as explained in Deuteronomy 7:9, and the God of Grace, He bestows His blessings on us. One of His blessings is that we get to be children of God (John 1:12-13).

One definition of holiness is to become entirely devoted to God through faith in Jesus Christ so that we can express how loving God He really is. Although He doesn’t need any praises from us, he desires us to praise Him as this leads to His goodness to every one of us. This does not mean that He gets all the glory for Himself. Since God knows everything, even before they happen, Apostle Paul also stated,

We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory. (Romans 8:28-30)

Meditate on Matthew 19:14 and ask yourself whether you have a child-like faith before God. 

Holy & Blameless!

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” – Ephesians 1:3-4 NIV

If we are chosen to do a particular task(s) for someone or something, we want to do it well so we could represent them well. I was in the chess team in my high school. One time, Long Bay College chess team was playing against Kingsway College chess team. I won the chess match against one member of the Kingsway team, so I represented Long Bay College well. Nonetheless, representing on behalf of anything or anyone can be a quite difficult task as well. For example, I became a chess team leader at Long Bay College when it was an annual competition event with another school. When I was playing chess against one member of another school in a practice round, I was quite happy as we were evenly matched and heard the team of another school was considered as under top 10 chess team or something. However, when it was competition time, I lost the chess game. My friends in Long Bay College were like “Why did you lose as you are a chess team leader?” or something.

Although the earth has became cursed due to the first human’s disobedience to God (Romans 5:12-14), God has chosen those, who would persevere in faith, to be holy. The meaning behind holiness is the idea of being different from how the world operates, in order to represent Him well. Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God shared His holiness with every one of us. Therefore, we ought to be distinct people from unbelievers as holiness means the completeness of God and godliness in all aspects. One example of me being holy is not to play video and computer games as these disorientate my worldview. Before I quit playing games, I repeated downloading and deleting a particular game as I thought I could manage my time with daily tasks and playing the game. The Holy Spirit was prompting me to think whether my true identity is in Christ or in worldly things several times. 1 John 2:15-17 states that loving and pleasing God, instead of loving temporary things on the earth, is the will of Him. Other than playing games, I am currently learning to reduce watching television as much as possible. The reason that people are on the earth is to know Christ more. Apostle Paul knew this very well as he stated that knowing Jesus Christ is most important than everything else and counted everything as rubbish unless it is related to knowing Him (Philippians 3:7-8). Hence, Paul can be my biblical role model.

Meditate on Colossians 1:21-23 and consider holiness in you in God’s sight. Think how you could improve it, even though it naturally comes to believers of Christ and they are being made perfect through Christ’s sacrifice (Hebrews 10:14).

Blessing!

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” – Ephesians 1:3 NIV

Who doesn’t want blessings from our close people? Every one of us desires to have them. It is natural for humans to feel loved, love one another, and cherish each other. This is how God has created us from the beginning.

For example, I cherish my family, mentor and my friends. Although there have not been all good times between me and my family, I could not be where I am right now if it wasn’t for them. My parents have been feeding me when I am hungry, such as making meals for me. They also have paid school fees for me. Other than my family, one of my biggest physical gifts from God is my mentor. She has taught me many things but one of the most impactful things I have got from her is how to have an extrovert heart with the Lord all the time. She is considered as my role-model because I keep learning lots of things from her by observing how she lives. My friends are there to support me every time. They drop me home every time after the evening church service. One friend of mine is one of my proof-markers for my school assignments, so she is willing to mark them and critique me what went wrong on the basis of English grammar. 

Not only we are blessed through the physical realms, such as gifts, people and material things, but we are blessed in the heavenly realms as well through Jesus Christ. For the next several days, I am going to explain what our spiritual blessings are through Him. However, meditate on Ephesians 1:3 and consider what spiritual blessings you may have through and in Him.

The Kingdom Message!

“Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” – Matthew 13:19-23 NIV

Since God loves all people and sent Jesus Christ into the world to be crucified on the cross for their sins, it is so easy to believe the kingdom of heaven is already on the earth. Although I am a Christian, I get confused sometimes. Often I feel overflowing peace of God that I eventually think it is okay to watch television for a while. I used to play games to bring my mind into a restful state and get rid of the boredom. However, I also believe that seeking God should be our top priority. Of course, playing games and watching television is okay as long as these do not become obstacles and replacement of seeking Him. Through a couple of the convictions from the Spirit of God, I finally decided not to play games and as I experienced that I could not control my satisfactory state. As for watching television, I guess I need to remember what I am living for and how my core identity is founded.

There are two possible meanings of eternal life. Of course, there is a place where believers in Christ are able to live eternally after death. Nonetheless, they also already have it within themselves as Jesus Christ is probably the source of eternal life due to His crucifixion and resurrection (Romans 6). He has proclaimed, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26) On answering the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He has also declared, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.” (Luke 17:20-21)

Since “the word” is stated in Jesus’ interpretation of the Parable of the Sower five times, “the message about the kingdom” in the verse 19 must refer to “the word” as it is in the same parable. According to Tom Wright, Jesus’ parables are considered as mazes of God’s kingdom. They are to challenge His listeners to truly understand how the kingdom life should be lived in the world. Therefore, as Matthew 13:23 says, comprehending and acting on God’s word is the only way how the kingdom life should be lived successfully (cf. James 1:22-25). According to Andrew Clark-Howard, the youth pastoral intern of Windsor Park Baptist Church, God has provided His word to be our stories as it is filled with His goodness and faithfulness. Of course, theological sources may help us, but God’s word should be kept as our first source to understand how to live the kingdom life. “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)

Meditate on Psalm 1:1-3 and ask yourself these questions: “What hinders me from reading God’s word?” and “How can I abide His Word and live the kingdom life successfully?”

The Wise Builders in Jesus Christ!

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.” – Luke 6:46-49 NIV

When we have conversations with close friends, mentors, teachers, or family members, their words may affect us.  They could be either of giving encouragements or giving wise teachings and both of them are important to people’s lives. When we are feeling down or depressed, we may need encouragements. For example, one of my friends supported me to continue my studies when I was almost about to give up. Of course, there are other times for encouragements, to build someone up, for instance. The most encouragement my mentor gave me was that I am a 120% functioning person, even though I have got two disabilities. When we are living in the wrong ways or don’t know how to live a life properly, we may need wise teachings. Through ‘Te Ao Māori – The Māori World and Customs’ course, I have learned that families are important to our lives as I was studying genealogies. What my father taught me was that I need to become an independent person, so he taught me how to do things properly until I came to New Zealand. Therefore, conversations are like a foundation in getting more aware of ourselves.

Likewise, the Bible is there to teach us how to live properly as believers in Jesus Christ. Apostle Paul proclaims in Romans 1:16-17 that the Good News about Him is salvation and it is an evidence of God’s power working within those who believe in Him. Keeping faith is how to live righteously in God’s sight.  Paul also talks about this and the supremacy of Christ in Colossians 1:15-23.  Nevertheless, we may think the Bible is too burdensome as there are limitations that people can do. According to one commentary on Luke, Heinrich Bullinger states that the word of God is not just about knowledge to share it among communities. Of course, we have to share the word among them. However, the word of God requires actions to be involved as well.  Therefore, getting the word of God into our brains is not enough. If there are no actions involved, we won’t be living as believers in Christ effectively.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. (James 1:22-25)

Since the followers of Christ belong to the kingdom of heaven and are called to set apart from the world according to 1 Peter 1:13-17, we probably have to consider the world as a testing place for children of God in spite of there is forgiveness of God. In my point of view, many people are watching believers how they live differently and people are pondering why Christianity is important. To put these simply, believers are called to be witnesses of Jesus Christ in the world (Matthew 5:14-16; 1 Peter 2:9-10).

How to Comprehend the Gospel of Jesus Christ - Part 2!

“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” – Romans 15:4-6

On Monday, we have discussed that reading the entire Bible help us to comprehend how God loves us and how could we love Him. In part two of ‘How to Comprehend the Gospel of Jesus Christ’ series, we are going to look at the value of faith communities in today’s context. Although we know that seeking God through faith in Jesus Christ alone in our own devotion times is crucial, why seeking Him with others is theologically significant?

We know that listening to Christian podcasts, sermons are a good routine to seek God daily. However, there are many reasons that people are gathering together other than attending church services, such as to discuss and learn things with each other or to spend quality time with each other. Being with one another is important as this fosters their relationships. I agree with Robert Moss when he says that congregations are called to be in relationships with each other. This teaches their missional identity. Within the Trinity, God has so perfect relationship with Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit to the point that they become One being.  This perfect relationship lays out a fundamental role model for believers.  Jesus prays that all believers would become one, just as Christ and God are one, before His crucifixion.

I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.

I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!

Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them (John 17:20-26)

In order to seek God through faith in Christ daily, we have to know God as much as possible, even though knowledge of God is so beyond human knowledge (Romans 11:33-36). Jesus proclaims, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3) As the gospel of Christ is about the love of God, we should discuss it with giving praises to Him with other fellow believers (Ephesians 3:16-21). My mentor and I are devout Christians so that we give praises to Him through our prayers and discussions. The Bible is not about getting us to think theologically, but it’s about all aspects of life. I needed to learn more about time management. Hence, my mentor taught me Genesis 1:3-5 and 14-19 as these are about days and nights. She also helped me to get an idea of what schedule is like. Because of this, I made my daily schedule on the next morning. I was concerned that I might not able to follow it if I make one, but I am not going to concern about it anymore. Instead, I’m going to try an follow my schedule and give all aspects of my life to God. There is no point in concerning about it, due to worrying creates an obstacle of moving our lives forward. Jesus says, “Can anyone of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”  Therefore, I agree with Jo Cheyne, the pastor of Creative Ministries at Windsor Park Baptist Church, as she has declared that we get opportunities every day so there should be no pressures of living a perfect life (Lamentations 3:22-23).

How to Comprehend the Gospel of Jesus Christ - Part 1!

“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” – 2 Peter 3:8-9

What is the Old Testament of the Bible? Is it just the illustration of God’s judgement for those who do not believe in Him? How does the Old Testament relate to the New Testament of the Bible? Do we simply ignore the Old Testament since it is boring, and just focus on the New Testament as it is interesting and it has much application to our lives? Many are likely to face these questions at some stage of their lives, especially with believers who want to know what gospel message of Jesus Christ is all about.

The Old Testament is part of God’s word as it is in the Bible. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 states the importance of the Bible to our lives. 2 Timothy 3:16 in New International Version begins a sentence with “All Scripture is God-breathed…” One of the theological dictionaries refers ‘Scripture, authority of’ as “In the Christian view, the conviction that the writings of the OT and NT have a unique status in being and/or conveying God’s self-revelation. They are thus to be recognised as such and obeyed as reliable guides for Christian living.” 

I agree with Hawthorne when He declares that the Bible is a love story and needs to be read the entire message of the Bible. To put this simply, the Bible is about completely understanding how God loves people and how they could love him. With this perspective in mind, we should consider God’s judgement in the Old Testament as how He hates evil, due to our reconciliation with God under Jesus Christ. God’s kindness was clearly shown to us by sending Christ to sacrifice His life for people’s wrongdoings and this leads to repentance.

But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:21-26)

Due to everyone has different approaches of reading the Bible, I don’t really have the answer on how the Bible should be read. Nonetheless, I suggest you divide the Bible reading times between one of the Gospel books and Old Testament books. The reason for this is that people might find readings confusing if different stories are to be read at once. I find it confusing. The Gospel of Luke is the best gospel to start off with as this gospel gives people certainty about Christianity. Although the Bible is not chronologically-based, you could read the Old Testament books in order as this is one of the simplest ways to comprehend what Christianity is all about. You also may find them amazing as they illustrate what God is like and how they connect with New Testament and in the context of today. However, if you need more help in understanding the Bible, try to read one of the online devotionals. My top three devotionals are ‘Strength for the Journey’ (https://getmorestrength.org), ‘Our Daily Bread’ (https://odb.org) and ‘Our Daily Journey’ (https://www.ourdailyjourney.org).