I should’ve done this earlier and move my personal entries of my meditation into its own section. And now it is. You can now, at your own risk, follow TR’s meditation thoughts by clicking on the TR Meditates link to the right, or from TR tab above. The front page will now return to our regular programming.
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Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008 – Who Are You?
Matthew 25:31-46 is a fine example of demonstrating that Faith Alone may not be sufficient in assuring your entry into Heaven. Yes, Faith in Jesus is essential in attaining salvation (“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” — John 14:6) But Jesus went out of his way to tell us in addition to Faith, we need to have Love, and a demonstration of that Love translated into Service. Yes, I can say I believe Christ is my Savior and then happily skipping along singing and praising God for all his goodness. Surely God will see how much I love him, and that’s my ticket to Heaven, right? …Ugh! You mean I actually have to Love Others? OK, then, can I get away with saying I Love my Neighbors? Darn! This teaching is tougher than I thought! So, let me get this straight… I accept Christ as my Savior, Lord and God, that’s easy enough. In accepting Christ, I must also accept his commandments: “1. Love God, 2. Love Neighbor”. This is where it gets tricky… Love is such a grandiose, overhyped, under valued word that I sometimes tossed it around carelessly without a thought of what it really meant. So what is Love? For me at this time in my life, Love is thinking, wishing, and doing good for others, while accepting them, and respecting their choices, without judgment, without reservations. Now to put that into perspective… in Loving God, we need to begin with Loving our Neighbor. Don’t see it? Matthew 25:31-46.
Friday Oct. 10, 2008 – Heaven Knows
I used to wondered if the writers for Battlestar Galactica consulted the Bible for ideas. Well, wonder no more. Revelation 21, the topic for today’s meditation, offered up some amazing insights into how the show may end. Perhaps I should reserve my thoughts until the show wraps up. I think that is best.
The ultimate consequence of sin. The certainty of the uncertain. The end.
I’m no prophet, but I can predict with the utmost certainty that I will one day die. There are no ifs or buts, just a question of when. So what is the point of living then, if we’re all doomed to kick the bucket? Some will say this is all there is, so eat, drink, and be merry as is with the man in Luke 12:16-21. Jesus, however, reminds us that our life is not our own, and God will one day demands an accounting of our life. Now, God’s balance sheet doesn’t add up in quite the same way as Man’s. The more we acquire and possess and call our own on this earth, the less likelihood that we’ll be in the positive column in heaven. Now this is not to say that materially “blessed” people are less likely to be spiritually “blessed”. I’m just thinking that the materially blessed people have much more difficulties in enriching their spiritual portfolio, and thus are likely to claim their wealth as their own and not attribute to God as the sole provider. Therein lies the Death Trap.
Heavenly Father, your Son Jesus taught us to ask only for our daily bread, may we be content with receiving our daily bread and not want for more so that You can be the Sole Provider of our lives. Help us also to recognize our mortality, so that we are always prepared to leave this life when You call us home. In Christ we pray. Amen.
For one reason or another, I haven’t had the chance to update my daily meditation thoughts. So, here they are:
Sunday, Oct. 5 – Tempting Joseph
The temptation of Joseph in Genesis 39 is hard for me, a man, to contemplate upon. Somehow, I have difficulty envisioning an intelligent, handsome young man refusing sex, and then accepting the fate of a wrongly accused criminal! No matter how I cut it, Joseph’s actions goes against all basic human instincts. Note how I said ‘human’. Anyhow, I admired Joseph at first for his strength to say no to a very tempting offer, and then later, accepting the accusation and subsequently the punishment gracefully. I mean, how many of us can do that? Sure, we may stand up straight for our principle today, but are we willing to go down humbly when falsely accused? That is a hard pill to swallow. Only by the Grace of God can I go up against my human instinct and do what is ultimately right.
Oh God, help me to learn your ways, so that I can do your will always. Only through the strength and mercy of your Son Jesus Christ along with the Grace of Love from Mary, I pray.
Monday Oct. 6 – Failing David
It’s easy to see how David fell in 2 Samuel 11. I am nowhere near David in terms of holiness, but I tell you, I know how he felt when he saw Bathsheba. I haven’t danced in the presence of the Lord. I haven’t wrote God any love songs. I have, however, been seduced into a nightmare of sins, just like David was. David is probably the most prolific Lover of God since the beginning of time. Just look at the Psalms and tell me those verses didn’t come from the very depth of David’s heart and soul. So knowing that, how could this great man fail? I don’t know all the details, but I do know this: God’s mercy is infinite, but our sins does have consequences. God may forgive and forget that we’ve sinned, but He can’t undo the impact of what we’ve done. To limit or prevent consequence of sin would be like allowing your kid to drive the family’s car, while you’re doing the real driving [with specially outfitted hand held remote control, of course]. That’s just not how God operates. God’s very big on Free Will. He will not interfere unless you ask him to, and even then, you need to act according to His Will.
Heavenly Father, I acknowledge your Love for me, and how you allow me to do whatever I want. Grant me the Wisdom to let you take over my life, take me where you will, and drive me!
Tuesday, Oct. 7 – Confronting Love
No sins are hidden from God. David committed his in secret, but Nathan revealed them for all to see, 2 Samuel 12. Knowing this, why do we even bother to sin on purpose? I can see some sins are not apparent, or disguised as non-threatening, white lies, gossips, short-term borrowing, etc. Other sinful acts are more identifiable, murder, adultery, cheating, and so on. Yes, sin is a weakness we all share as human. Like any other weakness, some of us are stronger in combating sin while others struggled from slipping further.
If your first thought was for a 70′s pop band, don’t start humming just yet. I’m refering to the destruction of several cities in Genesis 19. While the annihilation of these cities was complete, it was a dual display of divine judgment and divine mercy, as the little city of Zoar was spared along with righteous Lot. I wondered if Lot ever knew that his uncle Abraham was the one that pleaded with God for sparing his life. So, could it be that out of all this debauchery and depravity, the real lesson here is that God is always willing to show mercy if mercy was asked for. Perhaps this is why we ask saints to pray for us, so that the saints can intercede with God’s mercy on our behalf.
So on this Great Feast day of a man of Peace, we ask Saint Francis, please pray for us!
I often wondered why God even puts up with us. I mean, just look at how we treat each other, and I’m just talking about the ones we cared about. And in my younger days, when I first read Genesis 8, I thought to myself, “yeah, God won’t flood us next time, He’ll just fry all of us…” What I failed to grasp was God’s immeasurable level of mercy, and Man’s undeniable ability to self-destruct. I realized now, after all these years of living in fear of God’s retribution, that God didn’t have to destroy us. He knows darn well that we’re capable of doing this ourselves! It’s only a matter of time.
Heavenly Father, you once flood the earth to wash evil away from the world, but the evil still lingers on in Man’s heart. Help us to fulfill Your desire to clean our heart and soul the stains of sins that prevents us from being with you for all time. We ask this through the one that came in Your Name, washes away our sins with His blood, Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
No, not the James Dean version. But it might as well be, since the East of Eden of Genesis 4:16 referred to a place “away from the presence of the Lord.” Hmm, where in the world can one get away from the presence of the Lord? I mean, isn’t that the definition of Hell? Gen. 4:16 moved me to think about how I often choose to leave God on my own terms. God wasn’t the one to leave Cain. Cain was the one who left God. But here’s the kicker, I realized now whenever I committed a sin, I choose to leave God, and thereby create my own personal Hell. So, can it be said that Hell is a place where we choose to be? Since God’s mercy is always available for us while we are living, the keyword here is living, there is no reason why we can’t beg for God’s forgiveness and repent of our sins–if we truly wants to be in God’s presence.
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