Jesus Christ, the Judge!

“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. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” (John 3:16-21)

The biggest blessing we could have by believing in Jesus Christ probably is the eternal life. Therefore, it is necessary to believe in Him until the end of the age. But what if we only start to believe in Him when we are nearly at the end of our physical lives for the sake of the eternal life? Do you think we could go to kingdom of God at the end of our lives? No and Jesus Christ probably would quote what Matthew 7:21-23 says to us but in the context of belief. It is like we only are trusting that outcome will be good, instead of process of believing. Imagine I want my family to be in Windsor Park community but what happens if I don’t hope and believe in my family that they would become part of Windsor Park family? I become unworthy to become part of the family.

What happens if process of believing and trusting in a good outcome comes together? We become worthy to someone or something. My mentor wants me to get a first theological qualification, so she believes in me so much that I could complete level five of theological studies. I have been worried that I could not finish assignments in time, to be honest. Due to her continuous encouragement and my belief that I could complete my studies, I believe I could get a theological qualification(s). Therefore, it is like faith and deed coming together (James 2:14-26), which we discussed about last time.

Meditate on John 14:1-4 and imagine the beauty of process in believing and knowing Jesus in parts and then fully experience Him in a face to a face in the kingdom of heaven (1 Corinthians 13:8-12)!

Jesus Christ, our Saviour!

“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. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” (John 3:16-21)

All of us need to have a high and good standard in something, to get a position or area we are interested in. For example, if we want to go to universities to do further educations, we have to get at least National Certificate of Educational Achievement (N.C.E.A.) level two in literacy and numeracy. Although I didn’t study very and used to hate studying, I got N.C.E.A. level two in English and maths. Therefore, I was qualified to do English for Academic Purposes Level four and Certificate of Computer Servicing in Unitec, to get into a Bible College. While I was studying in Carey Baptist College, I became an intern of Windsor Park as an E-Prayer Lead.  I got this internship because of my biblical knowledge and my praying heart.

However, honouring God through Jesus Christ is different. We don’t need to prove God that we are good by doing deeds. Yes, good deeds are important but what comes first is faith in Jesus. By believing in Him, we can honour God by doing good deeds. To put this simply, good deeds are evidences of becoming a mature believer in Jesus. It’s like to have faith in ourselves. If we believe in ourselves that we are able to do a particular thing, then we could honour ourselves by trying our best. Although my mind does slow processes in getting information, I graduated from the primary to high school and I am studying in Carey Baptist College now to become a Christian Writer. The main reason for this is that I believed in myself and that nothing was impossible. More good illustration for honouring God through faith in Jesus is human relationship-building. Relationships require trust and deeds. If we want to be trusted and good person to another, we have to illustrate those to them by our actions. I am trying to be good and faithful son to my mother, so I am trying to help her in any way I can in spite of my cerebral palsy functions. Therefore, since God illustrated His love to us by making Jesus Christ, to be crucified on the cross for our death penalties (1 John 4:9-10), then let us acknowledge the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus and start to believe in Him.

Jesus Christ, the Gift!

“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. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” (John 3:16-21)

Don’t we love to receive gifts, especially from family members or people we are close to? Many of us do. I am not a gift hoarder or any material hoarder, but I love to receive whatever is necessary and may contribute to my passion and learning. For example, when my mother bought an iPad Air Two and a sim card for me, I was very thankful. It is not because I got the latest edition of an iPad, but it is like my portable contacting device as I can text and do internet through it. I love to receive Christian books from my mentor because they develop my knowledge of Jesus Christ. However, what we desire the most probably is the compassion of the giver. They want best for me and to nurture me to become a better man, and I love about them.

God is the Creator of the Universe, but He is also our Heavenly Father (Ephesians 4:6). As He has been the Creator and although every people come from mother’s womb, He has actually made us (Genesis 1:26-27). How big His love would be if He has made us? Imagine that we are creating a treehouse to play in with our friends. We play in it so often, that we eventually love it and want nothing happen to it. But how more magnificent God’s love would be if He put father’s characteristic on? My father loves me so much, that he always apologised to me in the nights if I had been told off by him. Apparently, all of us have been fallen from the belief in God and His Kingdom through the first man of God (Genesis 3). Romans 5:12-14 states that what he did brought death. In order to bring us back, He sacrificially had to send Jesus Christ into the earth to die for our penalties. When Jesus was crucified, “… the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom…” (Matthew 27:51). This means that the gate of the heaven has been opened (Matthew 27:51-53). Craig Keener declares that God has opened where His presence dwells for everyone, instead of just priests. Therefore, since God has His steadfast love for us consistently and God has allowed all of us to be in His presence, let’s consider Jesus Christ as the greatest gift ever (James 1:16-18)!

Meditate on Psalm 136 and be grateful of what Jesus has done for you today, because of His great love!

Jesus Christ, the Light of the World (Part 2)!

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

Don’t we love to follow someone, who has the greatest minds on the planet, and be mentored by them? The main reason for this probably is that we would like to become the greatest problem solvers in the world. For example, I would like to be mentored by Troy McKnight or Grant Harris as they are not only pastors, but my preaching style is similar to theirs. I also would like to be mentored by Myk Habets and Rick Pierce. Myk Habets is one of the lecturers of Carey Baptist College but he has a very high level theological mind and he is considered as a theologian by others. Rick Pierce is the spiritual formation pastor of Windsor Park, so I thought me becoming a student of Him would be good as my aim of devotional-writing is to form people’s minds into the word of God with guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Nevertheless, I believe those have been my favouritism issues, but I already have a mentor. Because of her extrovert heart for Jesus Christ and our ultimate goal is to glorify God in everything, I have been learning so much through her. However, we have learned that God has infinite wisdom and knowledge about everything (Romans 11:33-36). He also sent Jesus Christ into the earth to show us the way of the truthful life (John 14:6). Other than this, He was crucified on the cross on behalf of our death penalties. Why we had death penalties before He came into the earth? God has intended for every human to believe in Him but sin has spread into all of us, to make us not (Romans 5:12-14). The first sin happened in Genesis 3. Jesus was resurrected after the three days of His crucifixion to show us that we can have life after the end of physical lives. He has stated, “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)

Moreover, God has poured His Spirit into people who want to believe in Jesus. The main reason for this is that the life can be difficult (Matthew 7:13-14). This does not mean our lives could become easier if we become followers of Jesus. God wants to guide us how to live truthfully in Jesus through His Spirit (John 16:7-15). However, we have to be open our spirits to receive God’s Spirit (Revelation 3:20). If we never open our spirits, we are never going to learn. Therefore, let us surrender our lives and be vulnerable to Jesus (Luke 11:11-13). Why shouldn’t we surrender ourselves to Him and become alive in Him since He was crucified on the cross and resurrected for us (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)? Although life can be hard, let’s make it simpler by receiving the Spirit of God (Matthew 11:25-30).

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. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. (John 3:16-21)

Jesus Christ, the Light of the World (Part 1)!

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

What is a light? According to Google, it is ‘the natural agent that stimulates sight and make things visible.’ It gives our eyes brightness, so we can see things clearly when it is night. This is the main reason that there are street lights and lighthouses in the world. It can also be one of the home appliances. Other than putting light bulbs on the ceilings of rooms, there are lamps and nightlights we can use for the guidance of where things are when it is a night time.

As an automobile needs its lights to know the right way to go when it is dark, we need them for directions when it is dark. Of course, we can have torches to go to dark places, but our spirit needs some lights too, in order to determine which choices are right for us. Role models are people who give inspiration to others and the ones who teaches what they want to learn. For example, I consider my mentor as my role model. She has a such extrovert heart for Jesus and I want to learn how to have that kind of heart by watching her live.  However, every people make mistakes and do not know everything. Therefore, Jesus became our light. Although Jesus is a perfect representation of God (Colossians 1:15-17), He was sent by God, His Father, into the world (John 1:14), to show us the way to live (John 14:6-7). Romans 11:33-36 illustrates how much wisdom and knowledge God has.

Tomorrow, I am going to continue part two of John 8:12 but meditate on your determination in following Jesus.

The Characteristics of Being the Good Lord!

“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” (Psalm 100:1-5)

How many of us could see evidences of God’s miracles? When we see them, we often rejoice. However, when we don’t see any of God’s miracles, we may think that He has forsaken us, or that we are worthless people to become followers of Jesus Christ because of our unrighteous deeds. In other words, some of us may believe that God is very judgemental, that one mistake can change how He views us and our acceptance in Christ and our condemnation go back and forth according to our deeds.

Is it worthless, then, to make a commitment to follow Jesus Christ until the end of the time, since our righteousness cannot even match to God’s? No, but we should rather believe that God has His unconditional and steadfast love over us. Because of His love, “His faithfulness continues through all generations.” If God’s love is so conditional, why then He sent His only beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to crucify Himself on behalf of us? He surely could have destroyed us in our first failure of becoming righteous as He knows everything. However, He didn’t. Instead, He wanted to restore everything into what it was in the beginning of His creation (Genesis 1-2), so He sacrificially sent Jesus Christ into the world to die for our sins (John 3:16-17).

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)

John Goldingway states that God’s goodness involves His commitment and His truthfulness. These attributes of His tell the reason that He is good. My testimony tells of His goodness, also. I have been pretending to be a follower of Jesus for several months, but I had a strong encounter with God. I sensed that God was prompting me to know Jesus better. Now, I serve the Kingdom of God in different ministries and join Him as a co-worker to bring people to Christ.

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel… (Colossians 1:15-23)

Thanksgiving in the Lord!

“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” (Psalm 100:1-5)

Don’t we thank God when it is only necessary? We thank Him so much when we sense that miracles of God are happening or has happened in our or somebody else’s lives. In other times, we often don’t, especially when we are bored. It is difficult to thank Him all the time. How can we enjoy and get pumped for everyday tasks? As I’m writing this devotional, I am actually bored. This sometimes happens to me. I could find something else to do, to enjoy myself, but I also believe that doing something else other than the will of God is worthless. Since I believe Christian-writing is the will of God for me as the Spirit of God has been prompting me to write, I think it is sometimes necessary to ignore our feelings. For example, you do same thing in work, but you find it bored, would you change your job and your workplace because of your feeling?

How then we could thank God all the time? We should think what is the reason why we are doing what we are doing. I always thank Him for giving me a writing gift as I have a disability in talking. I think my natural gift is giving encouragement as one of my passions is that I want others to live their lives to the fullest. Yesterday, we have looked at God being the Creator of everything, including us (Genesis 1-2). According to James Waltner, one of the things we should be thanking God for is that He is the source of giving us abundant life. Jesus Christ has declared, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:7-10) Jesus being the shepherd and we are the sheep is just a figure of speech. As a shepherd leads His sheep, Jesus wants to lead us through the Spirit of God (John 14:15-27). God has been willing and ready to pour His Spirit into us, but the only question is that are we willing enough, to follow Him? (Luke 11:11-13) 

The Identity of the Lord and Us!

“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” (Psalm 100:1-5)

Who is God and who are we? Of course, we are humans. Whether we believe in the Living God or not, most of us probably believe in something. If we do not believe in the Living God, we may make a god out of materials, which is what the Israelites commanded Aaron to do because they hated the teaching of Moses. Aaron was supposed to be the helper of Moses, the servant of the Most High God (Exodus 32-33:6). We also could proclaim that one of the historical figures is our god, or that we are gods ourselves.

James Waltner, a commentator on the book of Psalm, states that Psalm 100:3 contributes the reason we worship. “Know that the Lord is God” associates with the word ‘salvation.’ Therefore, second sentence of the verse three provides the answer: “It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.” Also, Genesis 1-2 declares that all of us are created by God and we are created to take care of the rest of His creations. Because of these, ‘salvation,’ associating the first sentence of Psalm 100:3 probably makes it more sense. Therefore, believing in Jesus is necessary for every human being as He has proclaimed, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:6-7). As Jesus Christ has been exact representation of God (Hebrews 1:3-4) and became a human (John 1:14), He is the bridge between people and God. “For there is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone.” (1 Timothy 2:5-6)

Gladness Worship!

“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” (Psalm 100:1-5)

Don’t we love to worship the Lord when everything goes according to our plan because of our grateful tendencies? We start to serve Him with everything we have as well. However, when unfortunate circumstances happen, we often do not worship Him. Instead, some of us may get angry with Him and start to blame Him because we know that God is sovereign and in control of everything. As for me, blaming God never crossed my mind when things are not working out, but I also don’t like to worship Him in those moments as well except through prayer. Instead of being angry at God, I angry with myself. For example, I don’t like myself when I fail to grow patience and gentleness with my mother and start to argue with her. Once, I literally cried. The main reason for this is that I keep on repeating it. I also don’t like myself when I fail to do what I preach through my devotional-writing (Romans 7:7-25). However, I confidently know that I am a God’s child (John 1:9-13) and faith in Jesus Christ makes everything possible (Philippians 4:12-13). Therefore, feelings and emotions can be deceptive.

Although worshipping the Lord could mean praising the Lord, especially when Christian songs are playing, ‘worship’ actually means to ‘show reverence and adoration for’ according to Google. John Goldingay, one commentator on the book of Psalm, states that worshipping and serving go hand in hand. But how can we worship and serve the Lord gladly all day long and forever? To do this effectively, we have to surrender ourselves before the Lord. On Thursday, we looked at having joyous feeling in the Lord and found out that remembering His good deeds can really help us. We actually can rely and mediate on them all day long as “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8). Jesus Christ is the exact representation of God (Hebrews 1:3-4).

Joy in the Lord!

“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” (Psalm 100:1-5)

Don’t we love the feeling of wanting to shout aloud for happiness we are currently in? For example, you get promoted in your workplace or everything goes according to your plan with no mistakes. I believe I had that feeling many times but the last one I remember probably was getting my internship of Windsor Park Baptist Church. I had not expected to get any job in the church except volunteering work until I got a theological qualification from Carey Baptist College. What surprised me more is the role that I got is an E-Prayer Lead as I never thought that I will be working in a prayer ministry. Nevertheless, I am enjoying my internship as it can be one of the resources in my spiritual growth as well.

According to the commentary of Bible Study Tools, Psalm 100:1 states that the whole world would be filled with joyful hearts in the Lord. Does this mean that everyone should always rejoice in the Lord? How then people should react when there are morning and grieving circumstances in the world? Several Psalms declare that we should always remember and meditate on the deeds of the Lord. One illustration of this is in Psalm 77:

‘“Will the Lord reject forever? Will he never show his favor again? Has his unfailing love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time? Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion?”

Then I thought, “To this I will appeal: the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand. I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.”’ (vv. 7-12)

The Omnipresent God!

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” – Ephesians 4:1-6 NIV

Apart from theological perspective, presence is powerful thing. According to Google, the word ‘presence’ is “the state of existing, occurring, or being present.” My guess is that my presence at Promise International Fellowship, my home church, was impacted the church so much. Hellen Hung, who served as the carer of little babies during the church service, told me that the church would not be same without me as I was a devoted server. Timothy Harris, who served as a lead pastor at the church, proclaimed to the congregation that I was a living church. My last week of New York was amazing and booked as it was a farewell time for me. A week after I left the connect group, the members made a small video to say that they miss me. Although I felt lonely sometimes, I have to say that I was deeply loved. Furthermore, my mentor thinks the same way I think about presence, so she gives thanks to God all the time. Presence with others has a value to one another, whether it is in a physical, mental, or spiritual way.

Although we cannot see God physically and feel His presence most of the time, God is with us all the time. He is not bound and cannot be restricted by time. God has proclaimed, “I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end. I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.” (Revelation 1:8). The space even could not contain Him. King Solomon knew this and said, “Will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!” (1 Kings 8:27). God assures us this by saying, “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be?” (Isaiah 66:1) He also has repeatedly said that He would never leave nor forsake us throughout the Bible. One of the names of Jesus Christ was Immanuel, which means “God with us” (Matthew 1:18-25).

Jesus is the Son of God but He was also the perfect representation of God during His earthly ministry (John 1:14). God’s love has been shown through the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus (1 John 4:9-10). So, that we may believe God through faith in Jesus (Romans 3:21-26). Although God is prompting us to come back to Him, we have to make a decision whether to follow Him through faith or not. He has been wanting to restore us into how He designed us to be, as we are part of His creation. He has been willing to pour His Spirit into those who are willing to accept Jesus as our Saviour and Lord and believe in Him. The reason for this is that He wants to guide us to have total dependence in Him and walk in His ways as beloved daughters and sons of God (John 16:7-15). Overall, God does not want to lose us and us to live eternal separation from Him.   

The Omniscient God!

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” – Ephesians 4:1-6 NIV

John Gill, a biblical scholar, states that ‘through all’ is “taking care of all” in Arabic version. ‘Through all’ may also indicate to the excellences of God’s nature. When we think about that God is being all-powerful and all-knowing as to taking care of all, He cannot be understandable, since favouritism is considered as a sin. If I was God, I would provide for all but it would depend on people’s devotions. When I think about God’s love, it amazes me. How can God be the loving and compassionate Provider for everyone and willing to count them as precious sons & daughters of God?

As God is all knowing and takes care of everything, He is flawless (Romans 11:33-36). In other words, His mind is so incredible, that we could not ever comprehend. Psalm 147:4 tells us that God determines the number of stars and know each one by name. According to Australian study, there has been vast number of observable stars. Jesus Christ also declares that number of our hairs are even numbered (Matthew 10:30). After this statement of Jesus, He tells us not to worry. This means that He knows each of us by name. The author of Hebrews wrote, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (4:13).

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:6-11)

If we put Romans 5:6-11 in simple terms and the content of providence, it would be like: “Since God takes care of nonbelievers much, how much more He will take care of believers in Jesus Christ as His sons & daughters?” Although sometimes unpleasant circumstances come to us, God has already got plans for each of us and been wanting to have intimate relationship with every single one of us (Ephesians 1:3-14). According to the Bible, He has actually been wanting to establish us into the image of Jesus (Romans 8:28-30), but since everyone is different, God will establish us in different ways, more than we can imagine (Ephesians 3:20-21). We may believe that we can escape from God’s love but we actually cannot. The story of Jonah is probably one of the best illustrations.

The Omnipotent God!

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” – Ephesians 4:1-6 NIV

According to the commentary of John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible, he states that the sovereignty of God’s nature is higher than angels and people; the depth of his government, over all creatures in general. If God is superior, then how about all sufferings and evil in the world? Although He is Good, does He have favourite people, such as those who believe in Jesus Christ?

Since the Bible is God’s word, let us look at the Bible about favouritism. James 2:1-13 declares that favouritism is forbidden as it is considered as a sin. As God is filled with goodness, He cannot sin and show favouritism. Although ‘The Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms’ declares that what sin means in the human condition, it also means “breaking God’s law.” How the superiority and goodness of God can break His own law? Jesus Christ was the perfect illustration of this as He was God in human form (John 1:14; Colossians 1:15). Apostle Peter declared, “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” (1 Peter 2:22). The author of Hebrews also mentioned that Jesus knew what human sufferings are like and though He was tempted, He did not sin (4:14-15).

Since Romans 8:28 states that God works everything together for our good, sometimes the result of His goodness could come out of unpleasant situations and difficulties. One of God’s promises is that He will provide us the strength and direction whenever we need them. When we look at the Bible, Romans 5:3-5 proclaims that suffering gives us perseverance, which leads us into character and then hope. He wants to mature us (James 1:2-4). 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 refers while Apostle was filled with pride from the visions and revelations he had, God gave him a thorn in the flesh to torment him. Paul begged the Lord to remove it from him but He said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Paul, then, rejoiced in being weak as he sensed the power of Jesus laid upon him.

Overall, God is the sovereign being of all creatures. He is willing to help us in times of need. Isaiah 9:6-7 talks about Jesus Christ and it talks about how magnificent His government is. To be more specific, “The greatness of His government and peace will be no end… Establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” The commentary of Joseph Benson, ‘the zeal of the Lord’ is “Great work shall be brought to pass by Almighty God, out of that fervent affection… to his own glory, to the honour of His Son, and to his people.” Let us declare Hebrews 4:16 together through faith in Jesus Christ: “ Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

The One Part 7: God and Father of All!

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” – Ephesians 4:1-6 NIV

Since people have been separated from God from the Garden of Eden and cannot see Him physically, idols have been probably created. Although the word ‘idol’ is often recognised as a celebrity, star, or just a famous singer, it has a different meaning. According to ‘The Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms,’ the definition of idol is “a false god or representation of such a one that may be worshiped.” Apart from Pokemon game, theological studies may had been my idol, even though I do not like to admit it. I was so busy and focused on my studies, that I ignored my mum several times and slept past midnight every day. I could had slept early and wake up early to study but that could be a same thing as sleeping late to study and waking up late. I could not reply my situation to my mum as I feared that she could not understand. Because of these circumstances, I decided that I am going to take one paper each semester. It was hard decision as I really have been wanting to work in the church after getting my certificate. However, I have decided to honour my mum. I have many concerns about what my daily routine is going to be like but I have to trust God to take care everything (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Although people may have been ignoring God and worshipping other gods, He has not been ignoring us. If God has been ignoring us, human beings would have been dead. We see this several times in Old Testament. Instead, He has been loving us so much. Because of this, He sent His only beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to remove our death penalties and give us eternal life in Him by the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus (1 John 4:9-10).

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. (John 3:16-17)

Old Testament is not out of contexts but it demonstrates how serious God is about having relationship with us (John 10:11-18) as He is the Heavenly Father according to the Bible. Furthermore, John 10:27-30 declares that once we become believers in Jesus, He will never let go of us. We may run from God but His Spirit probably would prompt us to come back Him (Ephesians 1:11-14). I ran from Him a couple of times but I eventually came back to Him. I am filled with inexpressible joy of the Lord now as I can sense everything is useless unless they are of God. We find this in the book of Ecclesiastes.

The One Part 6: Baptism!

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” – Ephesians 4:1-6 NIV

Humans probably need to shower every day or two, to make themselves physically clean and get rid of their smell from sweat. For example, my daily routine is to shower every day and especially when I get wet from rain or sweat from exercising. Apart from teeth get rotten if we do not brush our teeth daily, I also need to brush my teeth every time I plan to go out because of my breath. According to my mum, it is because I rarely speak at home. But what about our spiritual junk? To be more specific, how do we get rid of our guilt and sins from the past?

The truth is that we cannot by ourselves. However, according to the Bible, water-baptism is the solution if we want to get spiritually renewed. Baptism symbolises the death and resurrection of Jesus (Romans 6:4). In Jonathan Edwards’ book, ‘Gospel-Centered Discipleship,’ He states, “Through faith in the gospel, Jesus’ death and resurrection becomes our death and resurrection.” This means that baptism allows us to die in our sinful nature and become resurrected in godly nature. Therefore, baptism technically is our spiritual birth (Romans 6:5-14). We also can see this in John 3:1-8. When Nicodemus, the teacher of Israel, heard whoever wants to belong to the Kingdom of God must be born again from Jesus, he thought Jesus was talking about physical birth. Jesus tried to let him understand this Kingdom mystery by explaining it to him in a clearer way; “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.” (John 3:5-6) Jesus, even, was baptised, even though He originally came from God (Matthew 3:13-17).

As baptism is spiritual birth, believers in Jesus Christ only need to get water-baptised once. Although water-baptism does not signify that we are not going to sin anymore, it shows God and other believers our confession in Jesus as the Lord and Saviour. Although we are still sinners, God forgives us every time we repent because Jesus already died in our place (1 John 1:5-2:2). 2 Corinthians 5:21 proclaims, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

The One Part 5: Faith!

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” – Ephesians 4:1-6 NIV

We believe in someone or something because we know that person or thing is trustworthy. Therefore, knowledge establishes trust unless the person or something seems to be not trustworthy. For example, I trust my spiritual mother because I know her and where her passion lies. Her passion is in the Lord. It seemed like we have same or similar passion in Him. I think what she mentors me has been the same thing that the Spirit has been prompting me. After several years, she believed that I can be a projection and a sound guy for monthly prayer gatherings. This is not only because she thought I was good at technology, but also because she knew that I was in training to be a projectionist of Windsor Park Baptist Church and probably she has been knowing that I was a prayer warrior as well. Although I do not serve as a projectionist on Sunday evening services, I serve as a media guy on monthly prayer gatherings. People have to know each other to believe in each other.

It is like that with the Lord. We cannot believe in God completely until we have been knowing Him intimately. Although we cannot know Him completely, we are able to rely His good deeds and miracles to believe in Him. Although I am not sure that I can write new things in my devotionals as writing same things are probably boring to let others read, I trust God to pour His wisdom into my head so that I can continue to write devotionals refreshingly. Because the Spirit of God has been empowering me to write devotionals, I can rely on that continuously. To put this simply, I need to depend on Him for His wisdom to write devotionals. Furthermore, John 3:16-18 stresses that whoever believes in Jesus Christ will have eternal life. However, while Jesus was praying to God for His disciples and future generations, He declared, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3) Therefore, knowing God through Jesus equals to believing in God through Jesus.

The One Part 4: Lord!

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” – Ephesians 4:1-6 NIV

One of the profound messages I have heard was that everybody believes in and worships something, whether it is God, the Creator, or a part of God’s creation. A part of God’s creation can be an object and a person as the earth is His (Genesis 1:1; Psalm 24:1). We surrender our life to it or to God. Whatever “it” is, we call them an idol. When I was young and not a follower of Jesus Christ, StarCraft was my idol. StarCraft has been one of the popular strategy-war games in Korea. I spent several hours playing it. When I was told not to play that game by my mum, I ignored her. I even played it secretly. Pokemon game probably was one of my idols too. Now, I became Christian and know my true identity is in God through the faith in Jesus Christ, I am afraid of downloading and playing them as I might become addicted to them.   

I desire everyone to be reconciled to God by believing in Jesus Christ and with one another. Hence, I should resist my temptation of hating those who ignore my messages. I also want to evangelise who Jesus Christ is to others but I think I am still in training. Although I do not know whether my devotionals are evangelistic format or encouraging Christian devotionals, I am beyond grateful to write my devotionals as God’s servant and co-worker of the gospel. Because the gospel of Jesus Christ is so rich, I guess I want to evangelise who Jesus is to non-Christians as well as give encouragement to Christians through my devotional writing. My dream for the world is that the peace of God would be filled in hearts of everyone, so that they would worship and glorify Him all day long (Romans 15:5-6). In other words, my top wish for the world is the unification in Jesus Christ would happen from all over the world (Philippians 2:1-5).

The One Part 3 - Hope!

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” – Ephesians 4:1-6 NIV

According to ‘Google,’ the definition of ‘hope’ is “want something to happen or be the case.” We often recognise ‘hope’ as a wishful thinking. This word has uncertain possibility about what we want something to happen. For example, I hope that I can get a Christian girlfriend someday. However, Christian hope has a different meaning. According to ‘The Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms,’ it means to anticipate “the future as the fulfilment of God’s purposes based on God’s covenant faithfulness and the resurrection of Jesus Christ as known by the work of the Holy Spirit.” A Christian is a believer in Jesus Christ. If we put faith and hope together, it becomes the “evidence of things we cannot see.” (Hebrew 11:1). Since I am a Christian, I could say “I will be resurrected at the end of my physical life by the power of Jesus” with confidence. One of God’s promises is that believers in Jesus are going to be resurrected at the end of their physical lives—just as Jesus was raised from the dead (Romans 8:9-11).

I do not know how to show the real evidence that Jesus Christ was crucified for us to give us eternal life in Him and the Spirit of God apart from the Bible, but when we imagine these things and God’s love for us, it does not really make sense. How God can send His beloved and only Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to crucify for us, especially when we have ignored Him? In addition, Jesus considers us as His friend (John 15:13-16). How amazing is that? Furthermore, 1 Corinthians 15 is probably the strongest argument of Apostle Paul on what Christian faith would be looking like if there is no resurrection of the dead. “For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” (v. 16-19) Actually, he was the persecutor of the church before he had the encounter of Jesus (Acts 9:1-19). Nonetheless, after he became a believer in Jesus, he was confident in proclaiming that he was saved by the grace of God (1 Corinthians 15:3-10).

I had an encounter with God like Paul before I became a believer in Jesus. I was probably worse than him. I was not a persecutor of the church and had not been blinded for several days but I became a liar to the church and Christians. According to the Bible, I lied to God (Acts 5:3-4). I was pretending to worship Him while I was in the church. My mind was on people all the time. Technically, I was a follower of the people. As I want to be “cool” person in Long Bay College, I considered pink as my favourite colour and I purposely got into trouble. Now, after I became a Christian, I found my identity in Jesus and can fearlessly say what Paul declared: “by the grace of God I am what I am and his grace to me was not without effect.” (1 Corinthians 15:10).  

The One Part 2: Spirit!

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” – Ephesians 4:1-6 NIV

How nice and peaceful the world would be if everybody shared same spirit with each other? There would be no arguments, quarrels, fighting, etc. Instead, there would be encouragements on how to live right and helping each other out like one big family. Many people think they will go to heaven at the end of their physical lives if they are being good all the time. Some of them believe that we are created by big bang theory. Devoted followers of Jesus have an opposite view. Apart from debates between the big bang theory and chapter one of Genesis, what I think is that all of us are descendant of Noah as he was only the righteous person according to the Bible.

Since we have been separated from God and make our own truths on how to live in the world righteously, He made Jesus Christ to suffer and to die in our place. God wants us to know the actual truth. Because of this, not only Jesus was crucified on the cross for us to have eternal life in Him at the end of our physical lives (Hebrews 2:14-15), but God also has poured His Spirit into us as an advocate of the truth after the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus (John 16:7-15). To receive His Spirit, we just have to ask Him with belief in Jesus and with open heart (Luke 11:11-13).

As the followers of Jesus Christ are the church and often called as one body of Him, we also are part of His temple (1 Corinthians 3:16-17). Therefore, when we gather together as believers in Jesus, we become one big temple of His (Ephesians 2:19-22). God wants to make us as one—just like He was with Jesus (John 17:20-23).  Although the community of Jesus makes God known to the world does not really make sense at first glance if we read those Bible verses, living in unity with other Christians probably is quite influential. I think the main reason for this is the love of God as His love is unconditional and steadfastness love (1 John 4:9-12). Humans are created to be in the relationship with God and with one another.

The One Part 1: Body!

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” – Ephesians 4:1-6 NIV

Within human body, there are many different parts and each of them take different functions. Although they take different functions, they can support each other (1 Corinthians 12:15-17). For example, the spirit can support the heart, which enables to support the mind. When I am writing devotionals on the computer, my right hand is supporting my brain. Unfortunately, I have a cerebral palsy, so I cannot control my left hand properly and cannot talk properly. However, I am thankful that my brain works really well, even though it works in slow process. Because of this, I do not mind if I cannot talk properly as I have received a gracious gift from God, that I am able to preach the gospel through writing.

As Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross for our death penalties, we become members of His body. It is like jigsaw puzzle (Romans 12:4-5). Verse 25 and 26 of 1 Corinthians 12 states that members of Christ’s body should be united in everything. I really like the motto of Windsor Park Baptist Church, which is “doing life and faith together.” Since my spiritual mother and I have a similar passion of the Lord, when we both hear good news about Jesus Christ in the life of somebody, we start to rejoice. They can make us laugh as we are filled with joy of the Lord. According to “The New Testament in Antiquity,” the statement, “friends are one soul,” was considered as a proverb. Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, said that a friend is “a single soul dwelling in two bodies.” I consider my Christian friends and my spiritual mentor as part of my family as I know that they belong to God and I consider myself as a child of Him. Hence, I am not afraid to ask for help. My spiritual mother once said that picking somebody up and dropping them off are not considered as a burden because of spiritual growth. I agree with her. What I think is spiritual growth would happen as they are building their friendship with each other.

When church members are gathered together, it is often called as the body of Christ. It is probably because their minds and hearts are united as they have same desire in worshipping God through faith in Jesus Christ when they are in churches. In fact, the church is just a building where people can worship Him together. Therefore, people are the church of Jesus Christ. Jesus declared to Peter that he will build His church upon him when Peter replied that Jesus is the “Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:13-18).

The Unity of the Spirit!

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” – Ephesians 4:1-6 NIV

Everybody is different, and therefore, we hang out with different people. We make clubs and do everything together. Although I did not do everything together with my old friends, I hung out with them in the morning tea and lunch times of the school. I had many different groups to hang out with. As I wanted to be “cool,” I hung out with smokers and tried to be a gangster. I also wanted to feel loved, so I hung out with girls. When I think about my old days, I think emotions and feelings were one of my foundations.

As we feel peace when we are united in the spirit with one another, God desires every human to be reconciled with each another through His Spirit, so that we may be in perfect unity through faith in Him., He does not care about what we and others did wrong in the past as He is the forgiving God. His focus of reconciliation is us reconciling to one another and to God (2 Corinthians 5:11-21). Before, Jesus Christ was crucified, He prayed that humans to be reconciled with each other so that the world would know God through faith in Jesus (John 17:6-26). If people cannot love each other, the Bible states that they also cannot love God (1 John 4:20-21). One of the love languages and reconciliation signals probably are conversations. My spiritual mother uses her effort to try and understand me. Although she cannot understand me completely yet, without using an iPad, I love the fact that she is trying. I know this as she apologises to me if she cannot understand. What I love about Windsor Park Baptist Church is its community. Most of them try to understand me. Hence, I try not to use my iPad to communicate with people as much as possible.

Meditate on John 17:6-26 and ask yourself this question: “What do I have to improve on to reconcile with others completely?”

Love Bearing!

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” – Ephesians 4:1-6 NIV

Normally, love is motivated by feeling. When people are being cared, they feel loved. When people feel loved, they feel accepted. They want to return the love back. We are motivated to receive love from people and give love to them. To put this simply, love is human nature. However, what happens if people are not feeling loved, or they got an argument between them about something? They turn their back from one another and they do not contact each other anymore. The worst case is that love turns into hate. To be honest, my human nature desires to hate everyone who keeps not replying to my messages. I felt that I am being loved by people from school but when school was over, I am not being loved by same friends.

Nevertheless, I believe the word ‘hate’ is not in parents’ dictionary. Parents love their children until the end, regardless of children’s rebellious behaviour. Parents’ love to their children does not only being motivated by feelings. I can tell you that I was a rebellious child to my parents before I became a Christian. Nonetheless, my rebellious manner did not stop my parents from loving me. They had been continuing to love and support me. As parents have been loving their children, God has been loving His children, also, as He is the heavenly father to human beings (Ephesians 4:6). God has every right to ignore and even destroy us if we do not come into faith in Him. However, He chose not to. Instead, He got rid of their death penalties by sending His beloved Son into the world (John 1:14) to crucify Himself on the cross for their death penalties (1 John 4:9-10). “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.” (John 3:16-17).

Since God is humble, gentle and patient with us (Matthew 11:27-30; 2 Peter 3:8-9), we should learn and bring God’s loving gracious attitude into our hearts to manifest what God’s and Christian love look like towards others, as we have been created to be the image of God (1 John 4:11-12).

Contemplate what Jesus had done for us and ask yourself this question: “Have I learned what God’s love really is and am I able to distribute it freely to people?”

The Urgency of God's Calling!

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” – Ephesians 4:1-6 NIV

According to Google, the definition of the word ‘urge’ is to “to persuade (someone) to do something.” This word can be used or illustrated by strongly encouraging someone to move in a particular direction. For example, my father urged me to relax when I was doing something I thought I could not handle, such as calming myself down when there is water on my face. Now, I do not panic when there is water on my face. Another instance was that my spiritual mother urged me to calm myself down and not to worry of assignment deadlines. She encouraged me to put my faith into the grace of God and carry with assignments without any worries.  She also encouraged me to persevere during my theological studies as I was about to quit in doing two papers a semester. Now, I am not afraid of assignment deadlines and doing two papers a semester. Instead of being worried, I am rather motivated to do two theological papers a semester. I realised that I should discipline myself into studying. Overall, I think that joy triumphs difficulties (Galatians 2:19-21).

Apostle Paul was probably filled with the joy of the Lord as he was writing Ephesians letter because he considered himself as “a prisoner for the Lord.” He knew what it means to live God’s calling out. God’s calling is often recognised as the will of God. However, in this case, it is written as a godly life. Thus, Ephesians 4:1 goes like “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a godly life.” As father’s footsteps could be important for children to follow, living a godly life is essential to the believers. In fact, God is the heavenly Father of everyone (Ephesians 4:6). Hence, their motivation for the Lord lies on imitating Jesus Christ (Ephesians 5:1) as human beings have been created to be the image of God (Genesis 1:26-28). “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 8:29-30).

Meditate on Genesis 1-2 and Ephesians 1:3-14. Ask yourself a question today: “Have I been following footsteps of the Almighty Father and the Creator of universe?”