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?”