| The Greatest Gift I Can Ever Help Pass On |
[Feb. 25th, 2009|09:45 am] |
If you happen to chance upon this, I urge you to read on. If you happen to be reading my rather stagnant livejournal, I'd also encourage you to read on.
I have been afraid of sharing this gift since very long ago, I never really dared to share the Gospel with the people around me for the fear of rejection and I still am afraid of this even though I shouldn't be. We, as humans, are real weaklings. The reason I typed this post was for me to consolidate what the Gospel meant to me, as an avenue for me to reach out, and for me to start to share this with the people around me so that at least my thoughts wouldn't be so jumbled and that I would not miss out parts of the Gospel that were supposed to be said.
I sincerely hope that you'd read on and I also really hope that whatever I am typing here isn't wrong or warped in any sense, and this is from the basis of my faith and belief in my Lord.
You know, we all sin, and if you say that you haven't committed a sin, you're lying to yourself, denying the very nature of man. Everyone sins, sin is doing something wrong, with wrong intentions, with the tendency to shield your self interests at the expense of the interests of others. Lying is a sin, we all know, but we refuse to acknowledge because it's such a common thing. Telling white lies are also sins, for the word 'lies' in the phrase gives it away no matter how hard we try to debate over it. If you've seen the banner put up by the Police Force around Singapore that says something like "Low Crime doesn't mean no crime", you'd know what I'm driving at simply because even if the crime is small and insignificant as compared to something like arson and murder, it's still a crime, you still did something wrong. If smoking wasn't a crime in certain places, a fine/punishment of $1000 would not be attached to it. You pay (with actions/money/deeds) when you do something wrong, and if you do not receive Christ as your personal Saviour, you pay with your eternity in hell.
I am guilty of treating and using the word 'hell' loosely, but I will say that it's no place you would want to be, where you suffer the wrath of God for eternity. Eternity does exist and has existed before you and I came into this world. It is where immense suffering, pain, anguish, torment and all the negative words you can find in all languages can be found and can be described with. You certainly don't want to go there. We all sin, really. If this doesn't convince you I hope you would one day be convinced of your sinful state before it's too late. If you harbour any thoughts of jealousy towards someone because that someone is better than you at something, or if you wish for this person to fail so that you can succeed, if you talk back to your parents, you ARE guilty of sinning. In the ten commandments in Deuteronomy, it is written, "Honour your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you." (Deuteronomy 5:16). Don't deny the fact that you have sinned. As humans we all have our pride, but pride is not going to get us anywhere as we are nothing if not for Him who created us.
Your parents didn't create you, God did. He knew who you were even before He made you, and he even knows the number of hairs on your head, He knows what you are thinking. You can hide from people, but all that you are is exposed to the Lord. We do not try to cover up our wrongdoings by doing good works, as like the Chinese belief of 'good works will get you to heaven'. It is true that we all should be on our best behaviour and attitudes at all times, but even the most flawless personality whom who does not have the Lord will still perish eternally. We all sin because of the fall of man as recorded in the book of Genesis. We were all born with sin. We are not pure, not blameless, and because of our sinful nature, we are miles and miles away from God, who's holy, pure and intolerable of sin.
Despite this, He loves us (His creation) so much that He sent His Son down to earth to die for us. This might sound unlikely and abstract to you, but let me say a few things. God's Son is Jesus Christ, He is fully God from eternity past and into eternity, when He was on earth He was fully man, BUT a SINLESS and BLAMELESS man. He suffered pain, hunger and temptations like all of us did, He is perfect, like none of us are but are all dreaming to be. He knew that He came down to earth to die for us and for our sins. Throughout the Old Testament times the Israelites and the Jews have had to offer unblemished sacrifices whenever they sinned against God. When Christ came down on earth to die, He became THE unblemished sacrifice. Imagine: A sinless person dying for all the sins of the sinful people of the world through all time. People from Africa, people from Ancient Egypt, people from days of old, you and me of now. Imagine the love of Christ for us: Who would willingly be maligned for nothing to die for people who have such bad attitudes and such bad deeds to their name? Would you? Would I? Not just maligned, but laughed at, mocked at, and being crucified on the cross as the capital punishment for death. During those times, death on the cross was the worst and most painful avenue of dying which prolonged suffering and humiliation for the one nailed on the cross. Jesus Christ was a sinless man who was nailed there because of you and because of me and because of everyone else in this world. He was obedient to His Father in Heaven in coming down to earth to teach the people THE WAY, and He was obedient to His death.
If you are unable to understand why God had to send His Son down to die for us, let me tell you a story that I heard from my pastor during a sermon. There was a man who was a railway track operator, and his job was to pull the handle down whenever a train was approaching so that a track would be laid across for the train to move over, it was originally empty, there was an empty space between 2 separate tracks and thus his role was important as it ensured the safety of all onboard the train so that the train wouldn't drop and crash. One day, the man brought his son to work with him and his son was roaming around and was underneath the space where the track would be laid upon and a train was approaching. The man called out to his son but he did not hear him, neither did he know that a train was approaching or that the track has to be laid. The man could not afford to jeopardize the lives of the hundreds of people on the train, and neither could he sacrifice the life of his son, whom he dearly loves, but he had to make a decision. He pulled the handle and laid the track, crushing his son beneath the track as the train moved through it as usual, the people onboard unaware of the sacrifice and tragedy that has taken place for their sake.
This is how God's love works for us. We're like the people onboard the train, oblivious to the sacrifice that God has made in sending His Son down to die for us. And the man's son died an innocent death, just like Christ did, for He was wholly innocent. What would you have done if you were the man? Our finite minds can never fully understand the infinite nature of God and our Lord Jesus Christ, and the extent of their love for us.
However, Jesus didn't just die. He died, but was resurrected on the third day of His death. He became man again and showed Himself to His disciples and to those whom He chose to reveal Himself to. He had victory over death that no one else ever had. No other religion speaks of resurrection and of victory over death. This victory spills over to us who receive Him as our Saviour. To many people, death is the end, a peaceful death is the means but it's not the end, it's an eternity in hell. To us Christians, who have received the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour, life is but a journey, death is transition, and true life is in eternity, spent with God who created us and with Christ who saved us.
History is shaped by the life of Christ, because it's HiStory. Time is counted by Christ's life, for we take time periods to be counted with the counters B.C (before Christ - before He became man) and A.D (anno domini - when He first came to earth). If you look around you, nature spells of God and speaks volumes of His majesty, grandeur and almightyness. Has man ever tried to create a mountain? How did these mountains come into being? God spoke them into being. Is water created by man? We at most find ways and means to purify and renew it (NEWater is not new at all). Does food come from man? The basis of the food chain is the plant, and the plant grows because of all the necessary elements and by photosynthesis, which comes from light, and all sources of light came from the Sun, and do you think Man or the big bang theory banged the sun into existence? Man can't even physically go near the sun, much less have anything to do with it, but we have our entire lives dependent on it, as we are dependent on the provisions of God.
We as man often think that we're really great and awesome and that the whole world revolves around ourselves. Who are we? Do you know how small we actually are? Singapore is a great example. We can't even see Singapore on the world map, we're just a tiny red dot. And in this tiny red dot, there's a population of say 4, 500, 000 people. Out of this 4.5m people and counting, you and I make up a minute percentage 0.00000022%. Nobody is a big shot. So, who are we? Who are we to boast of our greatness when a mini catastrophe can wipe us out like how we wipe out ants that annoy us? We are nothing, we shouldn't be thinking of ourselves as something. We should look towards the Heavenly Father and Christ as our everything.
They gave us the gift of salvation. Acknowledge that you're a sinner, receive Christ as your personal Saviour. This is the most important choice we as humans can make, and your eternal life depends on this. Seek the Lord's kingdom and His righteousness and not this world, my friend. |
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