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To most of us, churchgoers; coming to the church services is one way for us to show that we are active members of such church. However when outside of the church service, do we still keep ourselves active in expressing our faith? Or we simply keep ourselves quiet about it and simply go along with the worldly deeds of our unbeliever peers. The brother of Jesus, James, reminds us in his epistle that faith must be accompanied with works -- "For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead." --James 2:26. There are two separate phrases in this verse which are correlated with each other as the former refers to the church and the latter to its member. Being member of Christ's church does not start and end in coming and leaving the church service. Membership starts on the day of your salvation, the time you accepted Jesus as your Savior and repented on your sins; and ends in eternity with Jesus. Our physical death will not end our goal for ete...

When I was looking at the old photographs of my children, it reminds me how  beautiful they are when they were still babies and I noticed how quiet and contented they are when I was carrying them in my arms. It is good to be a child, indeed, as you are not aware what things are happening around you.  Psalms 131:1-3  1 O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor do I have a haughty look. I do not have great aspirations, or concern myself with things that are beyond me.  2 Indeed I am composed and quiet, like a young child carried by its mother; I am content like the young child I carry.  3 O Israel, hope in the Lord now and forevermore!  The psalmist in Psalms 131 is trying to console himself and not to concern the things that are beyond his. With our limited knowledge and wisdom, we cannot explain and longs for things that cannot reach by human capabilities. There are things that we can only hope for to God that everything we need will be taken care of by Him. Like ...

There was an event during the days of Jeremiah where God shows a great illustration of how he desire to bound Israel to Him forever, to be His chosen people (read Jeremiah 13:1-11). But in all the efforts of God to restore them, they keep on failing and breaking the heart of God. He was then making a decision to punish them and like the linen belt will be completely useless. God shows us that the linen belt was initially a new one. It is tied to Jeremiah's waist and it looks great, he is happy to wear it and show to everyone how good the belt is. Likewise as the chosen people of God and though we are not new, God declared us as His new creation when reconciled with Him through His Son, Jesus Christ. It says in 2 Cor 5:17, "So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away - look, what is new has come!" When Christ holds us or wears us in Him, His favors is also with us. He is too happy to showcase us as to world and how blessed we are know...

“Why should any living person complain when punished for his sins? נ(Nun) Let us carefully examine our ways, and let us return to the Lord. Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven” - Lamentations 3:39-42. When staring in a beautifully painted wall, we may get amazed to its outstanding beauty at the first look. But staring to it for some time, we start looking for the defects, a hole, paint patches, dirt, etc. The tendency of human mind is to always try to find out of what makes a perfect imperfect. It seems that there is no difference in our relationship with our God, we tend to complain on His alleged imperfections to us especially when we feel punished by our committed sin. We assume that God is unfair as if it is Him who caused these pains to us. We are acknowledging our sin against Him, thus we repent, but we do not want to be punished. This is not a true repentance then, it is just admittance. Though God accepted us wholeheartedly, we still have to bear the conseq...