Back in Austin.

It's been three days since I've been back in Austin. While it's been exciting and fun, everything has been fast-paced. And each day feels really long. Even though I've only been here for three days, I feel like I've spent my entire summer here. So much has happened.

My first day was spent moving in, eating with friends, and playing basketball until midnight. The second day, I spent time rearranging my place and whatnot. Afterwards, I played basketball for the rest of the night. Today, I spent all day cleaning my old place, moving things, eating a lot, shopping for groceries, and playing basketball until now.

Busyness of Life
I'm sure most of you don't care what I've done for the past three days. So I'll get straight to the point of this post. I'm guilty of getting caught up with the busyness of life.

While I was in Dallas, I spent so much time reading the Word, praying, and resting in Him. Austin is the complete opposite, right now. I've barely had time to read, pray, or rest. Whenever I get home, I just want to "entertain myself" through Youtube, Netflix, or whatever else.

If your schedule is so busy that you can't spend time with God, then something is wrong. As of right now, I'm guilty of that. Sometimes, it's important to stop and evaluate how you're spending your time and what you're spending your time on.

I pray and hope that I can slow down and look to Him. Because honestly, that's all that matters.

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Childlike.

Last week, I spent a day taking my niece and nephew to watch How to Train Your Dragon 2. I want to share how a 9 and 7 year old challenged me to re-evaluate myself.

During the car ride, these two kids would not stop singing. And I don't mean that in a negative way. It was really nice to hear them sing praise songs. They were actually in tune most of the time. But what intrigued me was how they sang songs of worship so innocently, freely, openly, and accepting-ly.

"I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." - Luke 18:17

Some of you may be thinking, "kids are conditioned to do things like this" or "those kids are just doing what they're told: memorize bible verses, memorize songs, sing songs, etc." And you may be right. However, they also do these things without challenging it. They accept it as it is, and that's the amazing part.

Sometimes we forget how to accept things as it is. I'm guilty of challenging things all the time. It's just what the world teaches us. "Don't believe something until it is justified, reasonable, or proven". But that's just the opposite of what Jesus tells us to do.

I sin all the time. That's a fact. And I will keep sinning until I die. Every time I sin, I rebel against God. Of course, that's not something I want to do. I hate failing and disappointing God. I feel guilt, remorse, condemnation. But here's the strange thing. God doesn't tell you to do or feel like this. 

To my understanding, I don't think the Bible ever tells anyone to feel guilty or punish them self. God tells us to repent. Repenting with conviction and guilt are two different things. Repent comes from conviction, which is from the Holy Spirit. It's an urge to ask for forgiveness even though it may be the trillionth time. Guilt is NOT from the Spirit; it's from Satan.
 
When I sin against God, I can't but help to feel guilty. I want to punish myself and face the consequence of what I did wrong. I want to redeem myself for messing up. But that's the opposite of what God wants us to do. God wants us to accept the grace He has already given to us.

Christmas Day
Judah Smith puts it this way. Imagine children opening presents on Christmas Day. When kids open up a gift, they can't stop smiling, laughing, rejoicing, etc. NEVER will you see a kid say, "I owe you dad" or "Thanks for the gift! I'll pay you back later!" In the same way, we need to accept God's free gift of grace.

When you feel guilt or remorse, ask for forgiveness. Get back up and try again. Don't try to redeem yourself. When you try to "make-up" for your bad day, you're insulting the sacrifice of Christ. Basically you're telling Jesus, "Aye man, I appreciate all that you did for me, but I'm gonna add a little more to it so that I can become righteous." That makes no sense!

Accept Grace like a child. Embrace Grace like a child. When you do that, there is a sense of freedom. You are already victorious through Christ.
 

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When I Worship.

Up until these past few years of my life, I never truly understood what it meant to "worship God". And we all know that the most common form of worship is singing songs of praise with a band. But of course, worship can be in any form: prayer, dancing, singing, etc. I believe worship is anything and everything that points to the glorification of God.

However, I felt like writing about worshiping through song. I must confess that I don't truly worship 100% of the time. Let me explain. I believe that a true time of worship is when you focus on a one-on-one session with God. You don't think about anything else but God. And believe me, that's not an easy thing to do all the time.

Many times during praise, I get distracted. Sometimes I get distracted by the way the band plays. Sometimes I focus on whether I'm in tune and how well I'm singing. Sometimes I'm worrying about what I have to do after church. And sometimes I focus on the people around me and how much they're "into it". It's very difficult to give 100% of yourself to God.

When I experience my "true session" of praise, I feel like I'm praying. I focus so much on the words, that it feels like a prayer (with some melodic inflections). And I put passion and intention and sincerity into every word that comes out of my mouth. It feels awesome.

It's been about a week since I've gotten the new Hillsong Worship album. And I just wanted to share a song that I've been "truly worshiping" to. The song is titled "This I Believe (The Creed)".

This song, in my opinion, is such an awesome song that reminds me of the fundamental Truth of the Gospel. And at the same time, I can make it my prayer and boldly proclaim it.

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East to the West.

Last night, I had a very strange dream. I cried in my dream. I know, that's a huge surprise for many of you. And in case you were wondering, yes I have cried before. But let me explain what's more strange than me crying in a dream.

I can't quite explain what was happening in my dream. I don't know where I was, and I don't know what was happening. The only thing I remember is that I was crying and hearing the words "I love you". I don't remember the voice. However, I knew it was God who was speaking to me.

Many of you will write this off as some "religious" crazy thing. But I just want to remind you that you are loved. I believe that when you truly experience and understand God's love for you, there's nothing you can do but break down. Just hearing and experience those three words in a dream made me feel so good. I woke up in the morning feeling so good and victorious.

As I woke up, I started randomly singing the lyrics to a song. The song was "East to the west" by Casting Crowns. The song is about God's love for mankind.

"For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." - Psalm 103:11-12

I want to point out one misunderstanding about "fearing" God. Judah Smith puts "fear" in a good perspective. Judah interprets "fearing" God not as "terror" but in "awe". God doesn't want you to be terrorized by Him. He wants you to be in awe of His goodness and His love for you.

How far is the east from the west? 
No really. How far is it? Jefferson Bethke put it in terms like this. We all know how far north and south you can go. The ends of the north and south are at the poles of the earth. Once you past the north pole, you start going south and vice versa. However, how do you know when you've reached the end of going west? You can't. It's infinite.

In the same way, God has removed his wrath and our transgressions on us, infinitely. That means we have been eternally forgiven. We are infinitely loved.

God had this written long before Jesus came. God wrote "... as far as the east is from the west" for a reason. It's clever isn't it? That's God for you.

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Re-evaluating Grace.

I have a confession to make. I can be a prideful person, and I found myself becoming very prideful/arrogant/self-righteous over the past year or so. I'm not a perfect person. There is nothing that's righteous about me. Sure I may do some nice things here and there, but I'm still a sinner.

With that being said, I came to re-evaluate what grace is. I was challenged by Judah Smith's book titled, "Jesus is ____".

I have good days and bad days, and I evaluate them on what I did that day. If I did something nice, kind, or productive, then it was a good day. If I gave into temptation and sinned, then it was a bad day. Let me tell you this. That mindset is terrible. It will make you beat yourself up on the bad days, and it will make you prideful on the good days. But here is what's worst of all, everything is centered on what I/YOU do. You're completely ignoring the grace that we have received through Christ.

I'm ashamed to say that I lost sight of this. I took pride in what "rules/laws" I followed. For example, I fed the homeless and gave to the poor. And I punished myself when I failed to do what was right. Basically, I was just like a Pharisee.

Then I realized that it doesn't matter what you do. Here's what I mean. You can't do anything to gain grace. And you can't do anything to lose it. You can't change that. When Jesus said "It is finished", we received the fullest extent of forgiveness and grace.

The acts of kindness/forgiveness we do shouldn't be out of pride/self-righteousness. It's a manifestation of the grace we know and have received. I do these things because I know I'm loved by God. I know that may sound weird, but I hope one day you'll come to understand what I've recently experienced.

Now here's a huge topic that many people struggle with. People ask, "If God will always forgive me, then can I go sin and do whatever I want and then come back and repent?" If you're asking this question, you've already missed the point. But technically, the answer is yes.

Here's where Judah Smith comes to explain grace. Grace is not a concept. Grace is a person. Jesus is Grace. Let me share Judah Smith's analogy.

Imagine your spouse. If you don't have one, then think about the person that loves you the most (your parents, grandparents, girlfriend/boyfriend, etc). Your spouse loves you for who you are. He/she will love you no matter how much you mess up. He/she will still love you if you cheat on him/her. He/she will still love you if you lose your job, house, car, etc. So if you know you'll be loved no matter how many mistakes you make, would you willingly, lose your job, murder, and cheat on your significant other, etc? No, that makes no sense.

Grace is a person. It's not a concept. When we understand that, then the playing field changes. You don't want to do horrible things against the person who unconditionally loves you. That's just terrible. But there will be times when you mess up, and that's okay because you'll be forgiven and loved.

Don't think about not messing up. Focus on Jesus.

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"Live a life that demands an explanation."

That sounds like a deep, inspiring quote doesn't it? Unfortunately, I didn't think of it. I recently heard it from Francis Chan. As a fellow brother in Christ, I wanted to encourage you all with that quote.

I don't think the purpose of our life is to: "fit in", "be normal", "follow the crowd", etc. And I'm not saying we should constantly live in an outspoken manner either. As Christians, there should be something different about us. There should be something different in how we live, not necessarily how we speak/preach/proclaim. Our lifestyle should stir curiosity.

Here's a wake-up call.
I think many Christians today, including myself, have lost our "focal point". And that focal point is Jesus. Christians today identify themselves as Christians in what they DON'T do. For example, many Christians believe they are Christians because: "I don't do drugs", "I'm not an alcoholic", "I'm not prostitute", etc.

But I think what defines a Christian is what they DO do (Yes. I know, I said doo-doo). Christians should find their identity in Christ. And what did Christ do? He loved the worst of people. He had compassion for the prostitutes, mobsters, druggies of his time. 

Jesus "[lived] a life that demanded an explanation." Nobody understood why he hung out with the worst of people. Think about it. The Pharisees were the "holy" priests at the time. They pointed out the wrongs and mistakes everyone had made (similar to many churches/Christians today). The Pharisees had NO IDEA why Jesus, the chosen messiah/savior/king, was hanging out with the scum of the earth.

So long story short, don't be a Pharisee. Don't become self-righteous and condemn others in what they're doing wrong. Be like Jesus, who loved the sinner, the wretched, the sick, the broken, etc. "Live a life that demands an explanation" by what you DO, not by what you DON'T do.

"I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ." - Philemon 1:6

Testifying your life through your actions is proven to allow you to understand more of the goodness of Christ.

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Numbers - The 12 Tribes.

A few weeks ago, I finished the book of Numbers. And as you know, it's pretty dull. For example, all of chapter 1 is a census of the 12 tribes of Israel. I'll be honest. I skipped all of it. However there was something unique about chapters 2 through 4.

In the first few chapters of Numbers, God tells Moses to take a census, assign land to each tribe, and give roles to each tribe. All 12 tribes of Israel had their own plot of land, and they did their own thing. But of course, they did everything according to God's laws and decrees. As long as they didn't disobey those laws, they glorified God. Basically, all the people of Israel lived normal lives while glorifying God.

I'm not a theologian or anything, but I assume that the majority of the Israelite people were farmers, shepherds, moms and dads, soldiers, and other normal things. The minority of the Israelite people were the "holy" people who were the Levites.

The Levites were the chosen people to be priests of the holy tabernacle. If you think about it, they were like the pastors, missionaries, and preachers of today's time. So from my analysis, the majority of God's people were normal/average people while a small minority were special/chosen/holy people.

This lead me to the thought of our roles as Christians in today's society. Not everyone is going to be a pastor, missionary, or preacher. The majority of us will be normal/average people. Now if you're reading this and think that this is an excuse to not go into seminary, then you got it all wrong. You may or may not be called to be a "Levite". What I'm saying is that there are many parts of society that need average/normal Christians.

If we all became pastors, then who would we preach to? The point goes back to how all the average/normal Israelite people glorified God and obeyed His commands in their everyday lives. In the same way, we should be glorifying God and ministering to the people in the lives we live.

Just because you're not a missionary, pastor, or preacher doesn't mean you can't live for God. Even the Old Testament shows how the normal/average Israelite people lived for God as farmers, shepards, moms and dads, etc. 

That means you can glorify God as a businessperson, doctor, musician, artist, writer, teacher, etc. But be sure to be wise in prayer and scripture to see what you're really called to do for His Kingdom's sake.

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