Welcome!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Today: Living the faith
Reading Passage: Rev 21
6 The One on the throne said to me, “It is finished. I am the Alpha and the Omega,[c] the Beginning and the End. I will give free water from the spring of the water of life to anyone who is thirsty.7 Those who win the victory will receive this, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.8 But cowards, those who refuse to believe, who do evil things, who kill, who sin sexually, who do evil magic, who worship idols, and who tell lies—all these will have a place in the lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” (Rev 21: 6-8, NCV-emphasis added)
Preaching faith, speaking faith, are all important
But the most important is living the faith we profess
That is the hard part
We live in a world full of pressure, temptations and struggles
There are two types of maintenance done to vehicles
One is called the “scheduled maintenance” done periodically, after certain miles/months/years
The second one is fixing the “troubles” that happen, unexpectedly
We also need these two types of maintenance for our lives
In our personal as well as family spiritual life, we better do the maintenance that is required
Otherwise, everything will pile up
If we do not take care of our body, we end up in the hospital
But our soul is even more important; we will end up in a kind of place full of fire and all kinds of unimaginable things and people, if we ignore taking care of our soul; that place, which we call hell, may sound somewhat like “hospital”, but this one does not discharge anyone who gets admitted there
And the treatment there is much worse than Jail
If you don’t believe there is such a place called hell, you may be another “Thomas” who will only believe after seeing things
I have heard some people saying their soul went to heaven/hell when they were in a “coma” after a serious accident or so
They describe the wonderful/terrible experience they had
But Jesus, who came from heaven and visited hell, has given us a better picture and must be true
In the book of revelation, Jesus is serious about hell
In the coming year, may God help us to be serious about heaven, and hell, so that we can believe without seeing!
May God give you a blessed New Year! Remember-it gets tougher-especially for those who want to be witnesses of Jesus Christ
But He has promised to be with us
18 He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. (Luke 10:18-19, NIV)
Stay blessed and be a blessing!
BG
Prayer: Lord, thank you for providing, protecting and preserving me throughout the past year. Help me to live for you in a way that pleases you, in the coming year. Amen