Two Thoughts
Thought I:
It’s almost May 21, 2011, and I can’t help but to think… what if this Sat WAS judgement day! Not to say I believe anything that Harold Camping is saying, but it’s worth thinking about. What if it was Judgement day in two days, would I still be online blogging, chatting, facebooking, watching netflicks, hanging out with people? Will I still have the same laziness or would i be in urgency? It’s worth thinking about where we’ll be when it happens. It scares me to think that God would come swiftly & suddenly like a thief in the night. It gives me hope to think that my Salvation from Christ is sound.
Thought II:
About a few months ago, i asked my talented & gracious friend to create a painting that would reflect my relationship with A. Through the past two years (so long!) of dating, I think there’s only one theme that have stood out to me… practicing grace to one another & receiving grace from God. This painting reflected so much of grace & has blessed me so much this past week!
Psalm 12:6
“The words of the LORD are pure words,
like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
purified seven times.”
Quick summary of this painting: experiencing God’s purification in our relationship. Because blue is the hottest part of the flame, it signifies God’s kindness in testing us & burning away all that’s not of Him. The painting has seven layers, representing the completion of His work in us! The gold represents us in the flame, being purified, and the red represents the work of Christ through His blood. It reminds me of Reflections ’10 theme:
“But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.
–Malachi 3:2-3
The ancient process of refining silver required intense heat that reduced metal into liquid form. The workman diligently sat at the pot waiting for the dross to surface and then scraped off. As the refiner continuously removed the layers of impurities, an increasingly clearer image of himself reflected off the surface.
Through much of what i’ve experienced in a dating relationship the past two years, I’ve been able to see God constantly purifying us & challenging us through trials! We’ve both suffered much from each other’s sinfulness & thankful to see that one day, we’ll be purified as gold–so pure that we will be able to reflect God’s glory…
New season
2011 has been a really dramatic change in my life! It’s been a new season with much to learn, experience, and to grow in. I decided to start up my blog again, and to change it up a little. There’s not much I want to say or share in terms of my own opinions or about my own life, but here are some things that I’ve been learning, and writing it out has helped me understand what i’m learning even more.
Today, I was challenged in godliness and contentment, and how that ties in with being able to practically live in the gospel. I’m thankful for my small group leader and my boyfriend for encouraging me. It’s pretty crazy, because my daily random blog/bible reading/book reading (A Praying Life by Paul E. Miller)/Devotional reading (Trust: A Godly woman’s adornment by Lydia Brownback) has closely coincided with what i struggle with that very day. Today, I read Theology for Woman blog, and the most recent blog convicted my & reaffirmed what i learned today:
2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed;
So here you are in this moment where your godliness, your devotion to God and desire for His kingdom to come, seems at war with your reality. God says, “No, you can rest. You are sufficiently supplied by My grace. I have blessed you with EVERY SPIRITUAL BLESSING there is. You have a spiritual bank account that is full. You are now equipped to face this struggle head on. You have an abundance to draw from for the good deeds that I am calling you to.”
Now, in Christ, I am the inmate set free from my well-deserved sentence who has the bank account and resources of the child of the king. I have RESOURCES for every spiritual need that comes my way. When I am provoked to anger with my children, I have spiritual resources. When I am sinned against by a friend, I have spiritual resources. When I am tempted with gluttony, lust, selfishness, or gossip, I am fully equipped for battle. When my church has conflicts, I am equipped. When my parents sin, I am equipped. When my husband fails me, I am equipped. When loved ones suffer, I am equipped. When loved ones sin against me, I am equipped. Paul says that the same power that raised Christ from the dead is the power at work in me!
Godliness with contentment is great gain in deep, hurtful circumstances. But it’s also GREAT GAIN in the daily, humdrum muck of life. Godliness with contentment does not mean pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. If the phrase fills you with guilt, you are missing the point. The gospel doesn’t obligate me to contentment, it equips me for contentment. That battle with your sin, the temptation to gossip, anger with your children, church conflict, failing marriages—the gospel equips you to do battle with sin and suffering with the very same power that raised Christ from the dead. You have a lavish spiritual bank account, and this is integral to the very good news of all Christ’s life and death has accomplished for you.
