He who does not love, does not know God, for God is love'
1 John 4:8
Ever so often, I struggle with such issues of contention, when my sense of self righteousness tells me that a protagonist who hurt me is wrong, can I still truly love the unlovable??
For some, Bangkok is a city that never sleeps. Being fearful of God, I do abstain from its alluring offerings of the night, and do try to have an early nite on my many trips there.
Yet, it is a place where I have often been blessed to be roused by the Lord in the wee hours to experience His grace
At 5a.m two mornings back in Bangkok, as I was awokened by the Lord to seek His word, the sense of a newly minted injustice(from the nite before) continued to gnaw at my soul.
I know the theory of giving unrequitted love, but to put it into practice is quite a near impossibility.
This was the Word God gave me
'For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.'
Hebrews 8:12
Truly often in our hurt, we still want to be like Christ, to learn to forgive, but more often than not, it must be on our own terms.
We want to reform our protagonist to fit our ideal mould of acceptability.
Yet, in reality, we must leave the moulding to God and God only. As for us, we must live to love
'..and they shall not teach every man his neighbour and every man his brother...'
Hebrews 8:11
Often, in our hurried moments to deal with life's issues, we usually missed the outstretched hands of God, waiting to lead us through the very same maze we find ourselves enmeshed in.
Ashamed to say, for one who claims to know God, I too often give Him just a fleeting glance, and then dashed off helter skelter to deal with life's issues my way.
'For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead, otherwise it is of no strength at all whilst the testator liveth'
Hebrews 9:17
This verse talks about the necessity of Christ's blood being shed to cleanse us of our sins.
And all who believe in God, as followers of Christ, are also asked to take up the cross daily.
Truly, many come to know God when in their blessed moments, the enormity of God's love for us in letting the perfect Christ be the sacrifice for His forgiveness of the imperfect us, finally dawned upon them.
To be a living testimony of God's love, we must be prepared to literally die on the cross.
For it is no longer we who live(with our sense of right and wrong and the full suite of human imperfections), but Christ and God who lives in us.
Hebrews 9:17 was the verse I read fleetingly in 5 seconds as I seek the Word of God for solace at the point of injustice, before I dashed off for a dinner appointment.
This was the verse(though I just could not remember, much as I try, as to where in the richness of God's word did I chance upon this verse) I was looking for when I was awakened by the Lord at 5am the next morning.
The bible is a very thick book filled with God's love.
Yet, this very verse(Hebrews 9:17) was the verse that just happened to be the next chapter, as if sitting there waiting for me to rediscover it as I finished reading and reflecting upon Hebrews 8 in the still early morning air.
Strange almost unbelievable to the normal us, how such coincidences can continue to occur with regularity. To the mathematician, it can no longer be defined as a coincidence, and to the questioning rational scientific mind, there must be a more plausible explanation.
However, to those who draw near to God, God will draw near to you. And one is no longer mystified or even fearful of such strange nuances, but overjoyed and gratified that God takes such keen personal interest in minnows like us
With God, it is a relationship not a religion. Relationships are to be shared and experienced. God will never leave us grasping for too long.
He is a very visible God, if we just learn to let go and trust Him, to let Him remove the veils in our hearts and hold our hands as we journey through the plans He has laid for us
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
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