Fixing Eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:1-3)!!

 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.  And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.  For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (Hebrews 12:1-3)

 

Although Jesus Christ has cleansed the sins of the whole world, especially those who accepted Him as their Lord & Saviour, through His sacrifice, what is the point of Christianity if it is so easy to live our lives according to our own ways and forget about the belief of Christianity entirely?  Is Christianity really worth it?  As the Sovereign Creator God, our heavenly Father, has loved us so much from the beginning, can we just live our lives according to our own ways and surrender our lives to Him before physical death to enter the Kingdom of Heaven?

Yes, the belief of Christianity is worth of our whole lives.  Hence, we cannot just live our own lives according to our own ways until the end of our physical lives and surrender our lives to God wholeheartedly to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  Surrendering our whole lives to God wholeheartedly and accepting Jesus as our Lord and Saviour offers us a citizenship of heaven.  Nonetheless, Christianity is far beyond getting a ticket to heaven.  As a Christian is Jesus’ devoted follower, they have an intimate relationship with Him.  It becomes their true identity that Jesus’ followers are to imitate Him in everything they do.  In fact, all people have been created to be in God’s image, and Jesus Christ is His perfect image as He is actually God in the human form (c.f Genesis 1:26-27; Romans 8:29-30).

To follow and imitate Jesus properly, God has given believers the Holy Spirit (John 14:15-27; 16:7-15).  The Holy Spirit is the gateway of our spirit to God’s Spirit (1 Corinthians 2).  Although listening to the Holy Spirit and obeying Him is challenging that we want to give up sometimes, we have to persevere our life in Christ until the end.  Eternal life in Him is far better than worldly life in long term run.  People can experience their earthly life for a limited time, whereas they can experience their eternal life in Christ for eternity.  They even can experience it in part on earth by focusing on Him and God’s Kingdom Glory and making these as our first priorities.  Therefore, when we want to give up our eternal life in Christ, let us all remember that it is worth it in the long run (1 Corinthians 9:24-25; Philippians 3:7-14; Hebrews 12:1-2).  It is good to do good deeds for God’s Kingdom Glory, but God firstly cares about our faith in Christ (Ephesians 2:8-10; cf. Hebrews 11:6). Through faith in Him, we can know and believe God, because Jesus is God in the flesh (John 1:1-18; 14:1-14).

Meditate on 1 Corinthians 9:24-25, and ask yourself this question: “What and how can I run the life of faith with, even in the midst of unknown and unexpected obstacles?”

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?”