Not Mine

“For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” [1 Corinthians 6:20]

There was a certain man [a Christian] whose story became popular amongst believers several years ago. It was said that he, while on a train, was asked by a group of men to play a game with them aboard the train. Apparently, the other men required one more person to complete the team that was needed to play this game. To the men’s surprise, the Christian Brother on the train replied their request with the words “sorry, I did not come with my hands.” The other guys, looking at him in utter shock and disbelief, considering that he looked in perfect condition to them, asked him [pointing toward his hands] “what about these?” Without hesitation, this believer on the train said “oh no, these are not mine!” At this point, the men on the train thought that there must be something wrong with the man to whom they had made a request; who knows, they may have thought to themselves “why, out of everyone on this part of the train, did we choose to ask this crazy man?”

However, the Christian Brother began at those words - “not mine” - to preach to them the life in Christ. He went on to explain that Jesus had paid with His own life for him, so the life that he lived, he lived as unto the man [Jesus] that purchased him with His own blood. Paul knew this same thing and so he could say boldly “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” [Galatians 2:20]. It is high time we believers began to recognize that we were bought by Jesus and for a very high price at that. There is a popular picture that many Christians have of a sinking man who Jesus came and rescued. But, no brothers and sisters; He did not rescue us like that from the water by throwing us a rope or sending in divers. The right picture is that we were legally condemned to be drowned for our wrongs, but He came and surrendered Himself in our place. He did not just rescue you and me like that; He was drowned in sin, condemnation, and judgment in our place.

Paul in Acts 20:28 referred to “the church of God, which He [Jesus] purchased with his own blood”. For that high price, there is a kind of life we ought to live. Since we owe Him our lives, we ought to now live as unto Him, fulfilling every desire of His. Let us stand up and begin to submit our goals, ambitions, aspirations, relationships, and decisions to Him. Let us be truly lost in Him. Understand that He is the Only Wise God, and He did not bring you to the world to run men’s programs [men’s programs = birth, elementary school, middle/high school, college, work, marriage, bear kids, more money, and death]. Life can be more fulfilling than what you are currently experiencing or what those before you have experienced. There is something special and unique about YOU and ME. We need to yield ourselves to the HolyGhost in prayer and study of the Word till He makes His vision as clear to us as it was made to Paul in Acts 9. First, however, we need to stir up a desire. Let us begin NOW to develop a strong desire to be who God planned for us to be – that man that God so badly wanted us to be that He didn’t mind giving up His only Son for a chance that we would become that man.

Please, kindly share with us your comments and thoughts, but most importantly, testimonies of things, habits, persons, relationships, goals, and dreams that you had to give up in order to permit God’s will in your life. Someone somewhere in the world just may be encouraged by the strength of God that you demonstrated.

Your Case for Christ

“Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth. But I receive not testimony from man…I have a greater witness than that of John.” [John 5:33-36]

Christianity is not a religion and should never be regarded as one [except when we fill out forms, of course]. I appeal to you to listen to the rest of it before leaving this site; it is okay to challenge your knowledge every once in a while. We all agree that there is a religion that is an aspect of Christianity, but to define Christianity completely as a religion will be a fallacy.

With very elementary analysis of the subject, we can see that Jesus did not bring a religion called Christianity, since He never called us Christians; we were first called Christians by people who weren’t necessarily believers in a city called Antioch several years ago [Acts 11:26]. On the contrary, Jesus said He brought life [John 10:10] of a different quality – life like God has it. That life is what Christianity is about; it is the reason for every other aspect of our service to God.

I will not be going into other reasons why Christianity is not a religion in this post; you can read James’ definition of religion in James 1:27 and determine for yourself if Christianity fits solely as a religion. I only touched on Christianity not being a religion in order to set the stage for today’s subject. Religions need to be defended, because they are based on philosophy (searching the way), but Christianity, on the other hand, is based on the way [Jesus] not a searching of the way. The finality and absoluteness of Christianity shows us that it does not stand by reason of men’s defense or ‘nondefense’ of it. It stands anyhow!

The purpose of this post is to re-establish the Deity of God in the hearts of believers. “What do you mean by that”, you may ask me? Many times, we Christians are tempted to play the defense attorney for God in very unnecessary places. For example, some of us have found ourselves spending hours convincing an atheist of the existence of a God that does not need any man’s testimony [according to the opening scripture]. Have you ever thought of the fact that, regardless of whether you believe in Him or not, He is [Isaiah 43:10]? Think about it; before we were, He is – not was [John 8:58]. Many of us only talk about God when an argument ensues; after such times of heated discussions, we feel like we have defended Him well. No, God is not pleased by that! Rather, He is pleased by the faith we demonstrate when we talk about Him to people who did not raise an argument or ask us what church we go to [Hebrews 11:6].

I think I should mention that I believe that nobody could believe in God more than an atheist. Atheists believe in God more than they care to admit; they only resist the thought of a Being as sovereign and omnipotent as God is. If they didn’t believe, why would they fight so much against Him? If they truly did not believe in God’s existence, they would not care to waste breath, ink, and paper on Him and those who believe in Him. So, quit talking about God only when there’s an argument. Talk about Him everyday; He is the way, the truth, and the life [John 14:6].

Make your case for Christ when no one asks you to. Live your life as an epistle, ever making a statement about the nature, reality, death, and resurrection of the Christ to mankind [2 Cor. 3:1-4]. Two days ago, I saw a young man express certain gestures towards a friend of his; those gestures [of heartfelt love] would convince any passer-by that the two young men were either in the same fraternity or cult of some kind. And, for a second, I thought “thank God we Christians fit into society so well unlike these folks”. Immediately, the Spirit of God stopped me and said “that’s the problem…you blend in with society”. Immediately, I changed my heart and thought to myself that how else will Christ be made known if we do not stick out [like a thumb] in the same way as those young men.

In this Easter season, realize that Jesus did not make His case for you in hiding; He was humiliated and crucified, not as a martyr but as a sacrifice for you in the open. Make your case for Christ where it counts. Make it before the sick, weary, and hopeless. Declare your faith before the meek and humble; announce Him before friends, foes, and family. Your case for Christ is not primarily an argumentative one; it’s a life you owe the Master!

HAPPY EASTER!!!

P.S: As you comment, please enjoy this song. It’s my favorite Easter song, and it reminds me of the precious blood of Jesus that was the price for my atonement.

Why I Love Jesus

Today, I began to think about certain things, and I thought this may be a good time to strengthen my own faith by re-assessing the reasons why I love Jesus so much. In an effort to bless you with my own reasons and start up a trend of declarations of reasons for our love for Jesus, I have decided to write today’s post.

It is important to remind one’s self of these things, because Jesus had to remind Himself of the purpose and expected end-result of His death in order for Him to carry on with His task: “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” [Hebrews 12:2]. You see, even Jesus had to remind Himself of the joy that would follow [the joy of seeing us become God’s vision] in order to endure the cross and the shame of it.

I sincerely hope you are inspired and blessed by my reasons for loving Jesus so much that you search out your reasons [and possibly share them with us].

Only He truly knows me. I thank God for the friends that I have and the awesome family He has blessed me with. In fact, I dare say that I am surrounded by some of the best people anyone could ever want for friends in this world. But, none of them knows me like Jesus does. And, I cannot expect them to do so. You need to understand that He knows what I like, what I don’t like, the things that inspire me, the things that hurt me, the things that make me angry, my aspirations, my hopes, and my dreams more than anyone else. He knows the things that make me unique. That’s why only He can speak those ever so soothing words that are sure to combat any raging thoughts, confusion, or hurt that men may throw at me. He knows how much more than an expensive gift of shallow worth I esteem a sincere hug. He made me, so no one can ever know me like He does. I love Him for that!

He first loved me. This, I learned from the man to whom I owe my aliases – St. John the Divine [1 John 4:19]. I have thought about the life of the man that died with Christ out of whose death I was born – the man that many know as the ‘old man’, otherwise known as “who I was before I got born again”. I may not have been the worst sinner, but my righteousness was definitely not taking me anywhere. I lived a life that I knew did not completely match up with God’s desire. Yet, even then, He loved me. When I made mistakes, He loved me. When I regretted my mistakes and hoped someone would understand and help me get up, only He [Jesus] was there to pick me up, wipe away my tears, and speak those ever so soothing words that set me on my way. Only He knew how much mess I truly had and was willing to deal with it. Like an orphan child, lost and disoriented, who fell into a ditch [or gutter] and began looking for people to help him clean up, I searched for hope. Door after door, no help came, till I found one who not only welcomed me for a clean-up, but had also prepared for me a new life in His wealth and love. Do you see now why I can’t stop talking about Him?

His “not-so-beautiful” hands. Jesus’ hands still have holes in them from those big Roman nails with which He was nailed to the cross - all for me. You see, His hands are not the most beautiful to behold; don’t imagine the holes in there as perfect circles. No! The nails ‘tore’ His hands; they did not ‘construct’ matching circles into them. Plus, the holes in His hands must have stretched to become ‘uglier’ due to the weight of His body pulling on them as He hung from the cross. His hands are not so pretty, just for me. You had better believe that He still has those holes in His hands till today [John 20:26-27]. Here’s a story I heard very recently that I can’t get out of my mind. A young girl was always embarrassed by her mother’s ‘ugly’ hands – so embarrassed that she always begged her mother not to show her hands when her friends came around. Every time she said this, her mother cried, until one day when her mother sat her down for a story. “My hands have not always been so ugly” she said to her daughter. “In fact, they were once like yours” she continued. “One day, when you were very little, there was a fire in the house and you were the only one left at home. While I was trying to rescue you, because the fire was already so great, my hands got burned. You see, my hands are the way they are because of you; these are the hands that saved you”, said her mother. Upon hearing those words, the girl fell on her knees with tears in her eyes, saying “Mother, you have the most beautiful hands anyone could possibly have”, realizing that she owed her life to those hands. In the same way, those “not-so-beautiful” hands of Jesus’ are beautiful to me today, because they are the proof that He sincerely cares about me.

Many people have told me in my life that they care about me, but only one person has proved it more than anyone else and that person is Jesus. He proved it by giving up His own life so that I may live. He took sickness, bad habits, sin, poverty, confusion, failure, and death on Himself so that I will never have to experience them. Don’t you think He deserves my love and unwavering devotion? He went to hell – that horrible place of darkness – so I will never have to go there. Is He not worthy of all of me? Even if no one follows Him with me, I will continue. Why? I will continue, because He went to the cross rejected and alone.

Like Paul, I have now “suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ” [Philippians 3:7]. Now, you know why it seems like we Christians have no life; it is because we are no longer permitted to live as unto ourselves. Except one were an ingrate, the only fitting thing to do for someone else who gave His life for one will be to live as unto the one that gave His life [2 Corinthians 5:15]. That’s why I love Him so!

Please, share with us the reason(s) why you love Jesus; you may never know who will be blessed by your testimony. As you share your testimony in the comment section below, enjoy the following video. God bless you!