Thankful

Psalm 17:14-15 - A Good Reminder

2010-12-21T18:52:00.000-08:00

"from men of the world whose portion is in this life. You fill their womb with treasure; they are satisfied with children, and they leave their abundance to their infants. As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness."

As a new father, I cannot help but be so delighted and absolutely infatuated with my baby boy. I seriously love him so much. But this passage is a reminder and a warning: do not let anything or anyone replace your love for the Lord. The passage talks about two different types of people: those who are of the world and who are satisfied with the things of this world, and those who are like the psalmist, who are satisfied with the Lord and long to be with him. I pray that I would be the latter.

Praise God that we are justified by Christ and not by works...

2010-11-27T17:11:00.000-08:00

I was reading Romans 12 the other day and I was struck by the number of commands that chapter had. Paul starts off with an exhortation to respond to the amazing grace of God that he expounded on for the first 11 chapters. He calls all Christians to be a living sacrifice as worship unto God. The Old Testament saints had to continually offer up animal sacrifices to atone for sin. Each time was only temporary, which is why they had to repeat it. However, in Christ, we have full atonement of sin. The perfect God-man paid for all of our sins, past, present and future, for those who trust in Him. Paul says that in light of this, our response should be to live a life devoted to God.

So, you would think that since I know that I deserve eternal damnation, and yet, by God's grace, I have eternal life in Christ, that I would joyfully live every moment in complete obedience to God's word. Sadly, I still struggle with my sinful flesh. If anyone says they have no sin, they lie. Especially me. Here is a list of what Romans 12 commands us to do AND not do:

1. Present your bodies a living a holy sacrifice, acceptable to God
2. Do not be conformed to this world
3. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind
4. Do not think more highly of yourself than you ought to
5. Have sound judgement
6. Exercise spiritual gifts with zeal
7. Love without hypocrisy
8. Abhor what is evil
9. Cling to what is good
10. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love
11. Give preference to one another in honor
12. Don't lag behind in diligence
13. Be fervent in spirit as you serve the Lord
14. Rejoice in hope
15. Persevere in tribulation
16. Be devoted in prayer
17. Contribute to the needs of other believers
18. Practice hospitality
19. Bless those who persecute you
20. Do not curse those who persecute you
21. Rejoice with those who rejoice
22. Weep with those who weep
23. Be of the same mind toward one another
24. Do not be haughty in mind
25. Associate with the lowly
26. Do not be wise in your own estimation
27. Never pay back evil for evil to anyone
28. Respect what is right in the sight of all men
29. As much as it is possible, be at peace with all men
30. Never take your own revenge, but leave room for the wrath of God
31. Do not overcome evil by evil
32. Overcome evil with good

One note. There tend to be two extremes. One side is legalistic and think that they need to abide by every command of God in order to be acceptable to Him. This is faulty thinking. If we look back at what Paul says at the beginning, that "Therefore" is crucial. It points to all of the truths laid out in the first 11 chapters. How we are saved by grace alone. How we are justified before God, not by our works, but because of the perfect and finished work of Christ. Therefore, our obedience flows from a joyful and thankful attitude that we are already justified before God.

The other extreme is the libertarian response. They think they can live however they want because they are already justified. And they are offended by the mere mentioning of rules. This is faulty as well. Yes, we are saved by grace. And yes, those who are truly the elect can never lose their salvation. But it is equally true that if we are saved, we will live sanctified lives by the grace of God. Salvation (and the subsequent sanctification) is never by our own works, but by God's. So we must perish these faulty views and cling to the truth: saved by grace, sanctified by grace.

thankful to the Lord for my wifey

2010-11-21T21:30:00.000-08:00

I can't imagine giving birth. I mean, I guess I can imagine it, but I will never be able to understand the pain and everything that goes on during the process. So really, I can't imagine it. All I know is, I'm thankful to the Lord for blessing me with such a wonderful wifey. It's so encouraging to me to see her love and care for both myself and lil' Mateo.

On a side note, some people were asking if "Mateo" was his real name. I like nicknames, so I'll break it down for you.

Official name: Matthew Hojin Lee
What Korean people can call him: Matthew-yah, Hojin-ah, and apparently, according to my mom, Master Matthew. Something about how the baby now controls the family. Don't like the sound of that...maybe time for the rod of discipline
Other nicknames that I like for him: Matt, Matty (only when Patty is referenced: Patty and Matty), Mateo, and my personal favorite (but only for family use), Richino

Brief notes from Pastor John's Sermon on Luke 4:14-20

2010-11-21T21:16:00.000-08:00

¹⁴And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district.

¹⁵And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all.

¹⁶And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.

¹⁷And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,
    ¹⁸"THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME,
         BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR.
         HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES,
         AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND,
         TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED,
    ¹⁹TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD."

²⁰And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.

I was so blessed by being able to fellowship with the body again. As PJ would say, I was starving for fellowship with my fellow brothers and sisters. I am thankful to have such loving brethren who care for us.

I loved how PJ closed the sermon today about how we should be most thankful if we can see ourselves as being the spiritually poor, those held captive by sin, blind to the truth, without hope because of the weight of our sin. In my notes I wrote:

1. Poor = having nothing spiritually --> In Christ, treasuring the riches of the gospel

2. Captive = prisoner of sin/Satan --> In Christ, thankful for the freedom from sin

3. Blind = unable to see God's truth --> In Christ, rejoicing because we now have the truth

4. Oppressed = crushed by sin --> In Christ, having the hope of eternal life

What PJ said was so crucial because we need to see ourselves as these things so that the preciousness of the gospel will be more apparent to us. It's not that the gospel ever loses any of it's actual value. It's that we often forget it's worth because we see ourselves as rich, in need of nothing. Or we don't see the trappings of sin. Or we think we know it all. Or that sin can't harm us. We forget where God saved us from. And that is to our shame. It is my prayer for myself first, but for others as well, that we would recall from where God saved us. He who has been forgiven much, loves much.

Introduction to Systematic Theology Part 1

2010-11-17T22:24:00.000-08:00

As I said, I wanted to spend more time reading and learning about what the Bible teaches. So I picked up Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem. From my understanding, his book is the easiest to comprehend, though I'm sure that due to the nature of the topic, it's no walk in the park either. Anywhoo, I'll be trying to read through and take a few notes here and there to give you some highlights of what I've read. One thing really important that he points out is that "It is Scripture alone, not 'conservative evangelical tradition' or any other human authority, that must function as the normative authority for the definition of what we should believe." (page 25). That's so crucial. It's not about being of Dr. Macarthur, or Piper, or Mahaney. It's not about what camp you fall in. It's about what the Bible teaches. Sola Scriptura.

So, that being said, what is systematic theology? It answers the question: what does the whole Bible teach us today about a certain topic. Only Scripture has the final authority. But it also includes application to life. We can't be just knowledge junkies who sit around quoting Scripture but have not love. What we learn about what we believe must always propel us to live in accordance to such doctrines. We must not only pursue truth, but godly living as well.

Let us pursue both diligently, with all fervor and earnestness.

Matthew Hojin Lee

2010-11-17T22:10:00.000-08:00

On November 5th at 4:04 am, the Lord graciously gave us the blessed gift of life in our first child, Matthew Hojin Lee. We're so thankful to the Lord for His marvelous creation. God was sovereign through it all. My wifey was such a trooper. I'm so thankful for them.

Looking at baby Matthew is such a wonderful reminder at the uniqueness of our being. Not that we're so special in and of ourselves, but God did make us different from the rest of creation.

So, why did we choose his name to be Matthew Hojin Lee? Well, the "Hojin" part was from my dad's side of the family. Apparently we have a guy in Korea who comes up with names, and the more accurate we are in terms of date and time of birth, the better the name will be (don't ask me...). Anyways, my dad calls me and tells me his Korean name is "Hojin" and explains that it means great grace of God (sounds good to me) who prospers. Or something like that.

For his first name, we had thought of a few possible ones, but we always came back to Matthew. He is one of the first Bible characters I came to really know, for some reason. It always stood out to me that he was a tax collector name Levi, who became a disciple of Christ named Matthew. Yet he never forgot where he came from, the sinful life he lived before Christ. I liked that name because of that dual reminder of our sinfulness, yet God's amazing grace.

We are excited to raise him up in the fear and admonition of the Lord. We pray that we would be godly examples of Christ-like love and devotion to our Lord. It's been a pretty smooth transition. Thankful to have such a wonderful wifey and very caring parents. We praise and thank the Lord for this gift.

God is Sovereign

2010-11-15T01:19:00.000-08:00

As I held baby Mateo in my hands for the first time, I could not help but marvel at God's miracle of life. Later on I walked to the top of the parking garage roof and lifted of praises to God, the gracious giver of life. As I sit here now reflecting on how this all came to be, how we got to this point, I cannot but again praise Him for being sovereign.

The birth of Mateo was not a normal one. First off, we weren't expecting him until December 9th. Well, God had other plans. Before I knew it, we were at the hospital listening to the doctor telling us the baby was going to come sooner than planned. Well, God's will not ours, right?

I want to take this time to give mad props to my wifey. She got put through a lot, and she handled it like a rockstar. I praise God for the extra grace given to her to endure through the process. She's such a trooper. Please continue to pray for her as she recovers. I'm so thankful for her. She's already such a loving wife, and now she's a loving momma.

As I gaze at my beautiful baby boy, I thank God for him. I pray for him. I love him so much. And I'm reminded of Matthew 10:30 which comforts us with the wonderful truth that God is sovereign. He knows everything about us, even the number of hairs on our heads. He watches over us. This is not a guarantee of health, wealth and prosperity, lest we fall into the lies and Satanic deception of that heresy. But it's a promise that God is in control and does all things for His glory.

Thanks be to the sovereign King of glory.

Systematic Theology

2010-11-15T01:02:00.000-08:00

We are currently reading "What is a Healthy Church Member?" by Thabiti Anyabwile. The last chapter I read was on being a biblical theologian. In other words, to be a lover and student of God's Word.

This has been a wonderful challenge and encouragement to grow in this area. It was one of those "duh" moments when it hit me: if I say that I love God, shouldn't I know Him as intimately as possible? Shouldn't I want to know Him so deeply, walking with Him daily? And how can I know God? Through His word, illuminated by the Spirit that God gives permanently to indwell in genuine believers as a gracious gift.

An illustration to show the sad state of my own lack of understanding and knowledge of the Bible: I can tell you that Cedric Ceballos once wore a headband around his eyes during a dunk contest while he was on the Phoenix Suns. I can tell you that Jeff Hornacek would wipe the side of his head before he shot every free throw. I can tell you that Kobe Bryant was named after the meat, kobe beef, after his dad, Jelly Bean Bryant, ate it at a restaurant. I can tell you all of these things and more, and yet I still have trouble finding certain books of the Bible, particularly the Old Testament.

Now some may argue, "Richard, Bible knowledge is for old, nerdy scholars. I'm just a lay person," or "Richard, why do I have read/study/know the Bible to love God? Can't I just live a good life, have positive feelings towards God, and go to church on Sundays?" Well, what I'm starting to learn is that the Bible is the only way we can know God, and the only way we can love someone is if we know them. the Bible is God's self-revelation. We can't make up stuff about God. The only truth about God must come from Him. So if we truly love God, we would want to know Him more and more, and that comes from reading/studying/knowing God's word.

Another argument may be that it's too hard. Well, my illustration above proves that if you love something/someone, learning things about that subject is not cumbersome or difficult. It's not like someone forced me to go through the annals of basketball history to learn those random facts. I enjoyed all things basketball, so it was simply a part of me as I grew up and understood more about the game and the players. Honestly, I didn't even try to learn these facts, I just did. Well, how much more so should that apply to knowing God? I mean, basketball is just a game, a man-made sport that will only last for so long. God is the infinite, all-powerful, omniscient One. He is the Creator, Sustainer, and Provider. He is the very essence of life, truth, joy and love. He is the purpose in life. He is the gift. There is no one and no thing greater.

Lastly, one may argue that there's not enough time to really study the Bible. Oh really? Really, Richard? So you can watch hours of football games, you can spend hours at the gym playing ball, you can waste hours doing nothing, but you can't spend a few minutes studying the Word of Life? Mmmm. Something's fishy, eh? As they say, there's always time for the things you love.

Anywho, not to get too preachy, but if I am, please know that I preach to myself first and foremost. I've owned "Systematic Theology" by Wayne Grudem for several years now, but I've never read it cover to cover. I think now is a good time to try to do that. Hopefully I'll be able to document the things I'm learning on this blog, more for my sake than anything else. Till then, to God alone be the glory!

Funny but true...and kind of sad

2010-10-29T12:07:00.000-07:00

Not sure who this was but he made some good points. We really do take so much for granted. I would take it a step further and say that really every breath we breathe we should be in awe and giving thanks to God.

Thankful for generous people...

2010-10-28T09:34:00.000-07:00

I recently received a wonderful gift from a dear friend and true brother in the faith. I won't embarass him by saying whom, but he's single and available so let me know if you're interested :)

Anyways, this book has been a treat to read. I must admit, I enjoy a bit of history and I've always wanted to learn more about how the church service came together. This book starts off by going over the history of church liturgy (how the service is organized, order of worship), and it's really interesting to learn about these things. It helps me appreciate that what we do is purposeful and not just randomly thrown together. It is good to be intentional in our worship. As I read the book more, I'll try to update what I'm, but I'd definitely recommend this book.

Thanks for the book, J, whoops, almost gave it away...

The Dangers of Feelings

2010-09-09T19:40:00.000-07:00

Today I got to read Psalm 13 and it was such a blessed reminder about the deceitfulness of feelings. Now, feelings aren't a bad thing in themselves. In fact, I would argue they are a gift from the Lord. However, they can easily become the deathtraps to worship.

We've all been there. There are those times where we just don't "feel" like worshiping God for whatever lame reason we can think of. But reading Psalm 13 helped me to remember that just because we don't feel like worshiping God, just because we might not feel like He's there, that does not take away the fact that our God deserves to be worshiped by all.

The psalmist begins the psalm in despair. He's crying out to the Lord, asking Him where He is, how long He will forget him. The psalmist is in danger. The enemy is after him. Obviously, the psalmist is in a situation where he might not feel God's presence. But he doesn't stop there. He ends by saying "But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness; my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me." Wow. That is some uplifting truth. We can't always trust our feelings, but we can always trust our loving, sovereign and good God.

wow, it's been quite a while...still thankful!

2010-09-07T22:58:00.000-07:00

I know it's been quite a while...to my faithful reader(s) (not so sure the (s) applies...but I know the wifey reads it because it gets emailed to her automatically), don't worry...I'm more thankful today than I was whenever my last post was. That's because every day I get to know my Savior more. Every day brings me closer to the Lord.

So, what have I been up to during this unintentional hiatus? Well, my parents visited! My brother, Dave, visited! And, I got some new music that I've really been enjoying. I got Shai Linne's Atonement and Stories, both of which I totally dig. I also got Jimmy Needham's Not Without Love, which is also really good. Surprisingly, the wifey really likes Shai Linne. She says she really likes the lyrics, but I think it's the beats :)

A song we both really like is called "Simple Love Story." The line that we both really like (and my bro too) was when he says:

A love triangle: on the bottom right is Jim
On the bottom left is Kim, at the pinnacle is Him
So the closer Jim gets to Him and Kim gets to Him
The closer Jim gets to Kim and that's the end

Doesn't that make your spine tingle? Those lyrics are so true!

Anyways, if you've never listened to him, check out his albums!

thankful for such a loving wifey...

2010-08-27T08:25:00.000-07:00

I was so tremendously blessed and encouraged by my wifey yesterday. For my birthday, she hid a wonderful card that reflected on the joys of our first year of marriage. Praise the Lord for His grace working in us!

Then, before I got home, I get a call from my wifey to make sure to let her know when I get off the bus station. When I got home, there was a note attached to the front door. It was another card that was so beautiful. The card and what she wrote perfectly summarized how we see each other, how we feel about each other...my heart was just overflowing

Then, I opened the door, and the house was decorated with balloons, signs, mini candles in the shape of a heart, and a path of roses. She left a glass of apple cider for me to refresh myself. The roses led upstairs, so I followed...it led to our room, so I knocked. And when I entered, she was standing in a pattern of roses that were placed to the shape of a heart and she greeted me with a joyful "Happy Birthday!"

After opening very thoughtful and useful gifts (she got me some additional tools for grilling...woohoot!), we proceeded downstairs for a delicious meal of meat loaf (made from turkey meat), orzo (sp?), pasta, and a veritable mixture of mediterranean greens and olives and feta cheese and onions and tomatoes...topping that off with some super tasty desserts from Whole Foods (mini eclair, mini oatmeal raisin sandwich, mini chocolate fudge thingy with a strawberry, and a mini lime tart - our new favorite dessert).

After that, I figured things were done, but wait, there's more! While I was studying, I hear the doorbell ring, which was weird because it was getting late and we weren't expecting anyone...or at least I wasn't. Well, I always check the eye hole, so I saw several people with a candle-lit cake! I opened up and it was several peeps from our home group! I was so blessed by their thoughtfulness, encouragement, and their love for me.

After a crazy day, I got to reflect a bit on how blessed I truly am. And not because of all the things that happened...those are like cherries on the top of the world best dessert...because in Christ, I truly have the greatest blessing ever...and I praise God for His mercy and grace poured out everyday. And I'm so thankful for friends that remind me of that truth. And even more so, I am thankful for my dearest, most closest, bestest friend...my wonderful wifey...I praise the Lord for providing such an undeserved gift that she is. I love you wifey! And I love you Lord.

Thankful.

Thankful for Tedd Tripp

2010-08-19T22:52:00.000-07:00

As I've shared before, the wifey and I are listening to "Shepherding a Child's Heart" by Tedd Tripp to help us prepare for raising a child biblically. And although it's specifically tailored towards parenthood, more often than not, the things he teaches are applicable to every day life. One thing he shared in a recent sermon that really hit me good was an example of understanding the heart. I will paraphrase what he said:

"A person came up to me and told me how some person really wronged him and he said to me "Man, if I wasn't a Christian, the things I would've done..." And I thought to myself, "Is that really all that distinguishes Christians from the rest of the world? That we refrain from doing what is evil?"

I think a lot of times I pat myself on the back when I refrain from lashing out, even though my heart really wants to. Umm, didn't Jesus say that it was from the heart that all wickedness flows? So yea, no brownie points for you, Rich.

Christ regenerates our hearts...so it's not just that we refrain from reacting sinfully, but instead, our hearts ought to respond in a manner that honors the Lord. And this is why our hearts and minds need to be filled, trained and controlled by the Word of God..."in His Law he meditates DAY and NIGHT."

Thankful for fellow believers...

2010-08-16T11:39:00.000-07:00

What a blessing it is to sit around with fellow, like-minded believers. I'm seriously so thankful to be able to learn from older believers, especially in the area of parenting. I'm looking forward to the school of sanctification ad PJ likes to call it.

Thankful that our God is the wonderful Maker...

2010-08-14T23:06:00.000-07:00

Today the wifey and I went to a 6 hour birthing class. I gotta say, I learned a whole bunch of good stuff. But the one thing that kept coming into my mind was simply worship unto our great and awesome and powerful and wonderful and good Maker. It is so amazing to see how God created the woman's body to take care of and deliver the body. Seriously. Fearfully and wonderfully we are made.

"Fearfully and wonderfully I was made
Placed here by God's sovereign grace.

I was made to praise You.
I was made to worship and adore You."

Thankful for the ability to remember...

2010-08-13T09:51:00.000-07:00

Well, that seems like an odd thing to be thankful for, but I really am thankful that God created us with this ability. But being able to remember things is such a wonderful gift from the Lord. I mean think of all the great things we can do with remembering:

1. Memories - those are usually fond to recall
2. Recalling God's faithfulness
3. Memorizing Scripture

I mean, even just those three things you can never exhaust or run out of things to think about. The problem for me is that I too often fail to use my mind for these things. And that's a shame, isn't it?

I've said this before, but it applies well here. O to be like the psalmist who meditates on God's Word day and night. How blessed is he?

Thankful for being a nobody...

2010-08-11T08:30:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful reminder from PJ this past Sunday! Christ was constantly preaching that those who think they are healthy, those who think they have no needs, those who are satisfied with the things of this world, those who think they are righteous in themselves...such people will never see a need for Christ.

I hope I never become so foolish as to think that I don't need Christ for even one millisecond of my life. I need Him always.

That song, "I Need Thee Every Hour" should've been called "I Need Thee Every Possible Moment", though those lyrics probably wouldn't have worked out as well

Thankful for wedding sermons...

2010-08-10T23:12:00.000-07:00

We just got to witness our dear brother and sister, James and Ellice, tie the knot this past Sunday. Weddings are always a joy, but it's so encouraging to hear the wedding message as well. These are usually very practical, very personal words of wisdom coming from the Word of God. This past Sunday was no different. I was gently reminded of the absolute necessity of encountering God every day. No, not in some sort of mystical, new-agey kind of thing. But in the sense that you contemplate on the wonders of the gospel, and you deepen your relationship with the Savior.

Too often I rush off to work without giving God a second thought until I pray for breakfast. That must change. How can I live with the proper perspective on life without going to the source of life to nourish and strengthen me? He is the true vine. I am the branch that needs to abide in Him continually.

Praise God for using faithful men like our dear PJ to remind us of such important things.

Thankful for God's Word...

2010-08-10T13:19:00.000-07:00

I was reminded and challenged by Pastor John this past Sunday in regards to offering up thoughtless worship unto God. Pastor John is preaching on the book of Luke and he just finished Mary's Magnificat. What was so apparent was that Mary was such a deeply relfective person. She didn't just say religious-sounding words and do religious-type things. She really thought about God's character, His promises, His mighty deeds and then responded in worship. Nothing flippant or cliched. Simply genuine worship.

I love it when God's Word just whips my butt. But it doesn't stop there. It equips me with the ability to obey. Praise the Lord!

Thankful for prayer...

2010-08-09T13:01:00.000-07:00

Prayer is one of those things that you can never have too much of. There is always something that needs prayer. So much could be said about prayer. In fact, many books have been written on that topic. I am no expert on prayer, so I won't be doing that. I simply wanted to share one of the really cool things about prayer that I really love. This isn't anything amazing, so don't get your expectations up.

I noticed that when I pray for someone or something, the Lord uses that to grow my interest in that person or that thing. So that leads me to talk to them more and see how they are doing. And I think that helps develop closer relationships.

Anyways. I just thought that was pretty cool how the Lord works through prayer to do many different things.

Thankful for 9 Marks Ministry

2010-08-06T23:19:00.000-07:00

Mad props to 9 Marks Ministry. I just started reading Thabiti Anyabwile's (I totally had to look at how to spell his name...) book, "What Is a Healthy Church Member?" and I was so encouraged by it! I'm super excited for our church to go through this book. I'm praying that we really see a deepening of our love for each other and for the Lord.

What's really cool is that they are going to take the 9 marks and write a book on each one. I think that's going to be sweet.

Anyways, looking forward to how the Lord will use this book in our lives

Thankful for little walks with the wifey....

2010-08-06T10:35:00.000-07:00

Last night the wifey (and perhaps the little one) were craving donuts. So we went out on a mini-date to the local donutry (is that a word?) and each chose two donuts. She chose an apple fritter and a maple glazed ugly. I don't know what to call that maple one. It's circular but is bumpy and you can break off the edges. Not sure if you know what I'm talking about. Anyways, I got a chocolate version of that and a cinnamon bun. MmmmMmmM. So good! My favorite from now on is the apple fritter. Crunchy and cinnamony on the outside soft and appley on the inside. Perfect. Thankful for tastebuds. Thankful to have the ability to walk somewhere and pick that up. Thankful that God has provided funds to enjoy those little things.

What are you thankful for?

2010-08-05T09:41:00.000-07:00

One of the aims of this blog is to encourage my fellow brethren to be a thankful people. So often we look at what other people have and get jealous (the whole grass-is-greener-on-Kobe's-football-field-sized-lawn thing). This exposes three things (and maybe more):

1) A discontent heart
2) An unthankful heart
3) A prideful heart

A Discontent Heart
I have to represent my man, Job. He has lost all of his livestock, most of his servants, and he just found out that his children were all killed. It can't get much worse than that. If ever there was a time to complain (and really, we complain for SOOOOO much less), this was it. But look at Job's response:

He said,

"Naked I came from my mother's womb,
And naked I shall return there
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away.
Blessed be the name of the LORD."

Wow. That is a heart that understands that everything he has is a gift from God. This is a man whose joy and satisfaction was not in the things of this world, not in his riches and wealth, and not even in his own family. His joy was in the Lord. We should echo the Psalmist who says in the 73rd Psalm:

Whom have I in heaven but You?

And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

This is the heart of someone who is content in God.

An Ungrateful Heart
I've talked about this before so I won't belabor it. Just quickly want to say: HOW IN THE WORLD CAN WE, AS CHRISTIANS, AS PREVIOUSLY CONDEMNED PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN BOUGHT BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST AND NOW HAVE ETERNAL LIFE SECURED IN HIM, EVER BE UNGRATEFUL? Just a thought.

A Prideful Heart
Now this last one may strike some of you as odd. Just because I'm jealous/not thankful, how does that make me prideful? Geez, you're just kicking me while I'm down, aren't you?

Well, the reason I think this last point is pertinent is because what are we saying when we're jealous? Yes, we're saying we like what that other person has. And yes, we're saying we want that too. But really, what we're saying is this: I like what that other person has, and I don't have it. Why don't I have it? I should have it? In fact, I DESERVE IT because I'm such a great person.

Sounds prideful to me.

Conclusion
Please don't think that I'm this perfect guy who has this all figured out. Trust me, I'm not. I am most definitely an imperfect person. I sometimes day dream about being a professional basketball player. And while some may say it's fine to day dream a bit, really those dreams are fueled by a longing for having a comfortable life, a jealousy of the Kobes and Lebrons of this world. A discontentment with all the riches that I have in Christ. Really, when I look at what I have in Christ vs. what unbelievers have, there's no comparison.

Unbelievers, at best, have:
1. A "long" life - which goes by super quickly and will inevitably end in old age, broken down physical and mental capacities, and unavoidable death
2. Many riches, fame, popularity - which will all fade away into dust, forgotten, destroyed, all in VAIN
3. Pleasures and satisfaction - which are temporary, fake, leave you empty

Believers, regardless of how life is, have:
1. Eternal life in Christ
2. Eternal riches in Christ
3. Eternal joy, bliss and satisfaction in Christ

Why would I want the things of this world more than Christ?

Every breathe that I take...

2010-08-05T01:26:00.000-07:00

No, not the famous Police song. Last night I lay in bed listening to myself breath in and out and feeling my heart beat. And I was just blow. Away at how awesome and powerful my God is. He is the Creator of life and my Sustainer. Each breathe, each heartbeat is literally a gift from God. It reminded me of a song we sang in youth group. I think the lyrics go:

Every breathe that I take says I love You
Every beat of my heart says I'm Yours

Actually, I forget the rest but you get the idea. I was humbled and reminded that every moment belongs to the Lord and should be lived in joyful, thankful worship.