The Love Chromosome

I know they have slanted eyes. That’s how I identify people with Down Syndrome. Majority call them “abnormal” but the more I know about them they aren’t at all abnormal. They are unique in many ways that I can’t explain. They seem to have joy that naturally comes with their eyes and smiles—maybe that’s the Love Chromosome they have that we all should also have: slow to anger and quick to love. As Julie points out, "I'd rather be slow to learn than slow to love."

The Danger of Trying to Please God

Rick Thomas writes about how we often confuse performance and obedience with "pleasing God." An excerpt from his article which struck me most was his description embodied in a Christian named Sandra.

Sandra is a Christian. However, she is not seeking to please God by trusting (faith) in Him. She is still performing, but this time she is performing for the Father, hoping to get a good grade.

Rather than accepting what is pleasing to God–the works of the Son, she tries to please Him by her obedience. For example, she says she feels more spiritual by going to church. She believes her activity for God gives her more of God. She feels more spiritual when she is doing.

She also says that if she misses her prayer time, Bible reading, or a church meeting she feels less spiritual. She will read her 4.25 chapters each day, even while brushing her teeth so she can check it off.

Sandra is convinced that if she has her morning prayer time and things go well for her during the day, then she will partially contribute God’s favor on her based on her prayer-time-obedience.

As you might imagine, if she does not have her prayer time and things do not go well for her during the day, she feels as though her lack of prayer (disobedience) caused her day to go bad. Sometimes her friends affirm her theology of legalism when they observe her bad day and say, “You must not be prayed-up today.”

As you can see, when her biblical counselor gave her a list of things to do in order to please God, Sandra initially was excited about the list. Any people pleasing, self-reliant, performance-driven person would be.

However, as time went by, she could not juggle her list of spiritual disciplines with the rest of her life. Eventually discouragement and depression set in–she could not keep up. From her perspective, God was not pleased with her–basing this on her poor performance.

According to Sandra’s functional theology she could control God’s pleasure by what she did rather than what the Son did. Her understanding of Christ’s work was limited. She believed the Gospel was for her salvation, while her obedience was the primary thing needed for her sanctification.

How many of us are like Sandra, whose life in Christ is often measured by the work done? That we base our growth by the number of times we've read the Bible or the span of time we spend in prayer?

All of us feel a sense of accomplishment when we achieve something by our works. I'm not saying it's wrong to  try to achieve something but let us be cautious on how our works can oft times spiritually rob the joy of Christ's accomplishment when he said, "It is finished."

I encourage you to read the whole article here.

New Year: Knowing God

One great way to start 2012 would be to head off to ChristianAudio.com and grab their FREE audiobook download of the month, the classic Knowing God by J.I. Packer.

1. Log in to ChristianAudio.com. If you don't have an account, you will have to create one.
2. Click "Add to Cart"
3. This download does not need a gift certificate or coupon code so you can skip that part and click "Check Out"

Happy New Year everyone! May the grace and knowledge of our Jesus Christ continue to abound in you.

God made him who had no sin 

to be sin for us, 

so that in him 

we might become 

the righteousness of God.

-2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV)

Help Our Sister Come to Freedom

Asia Bibi is a Pakistani Christian woman, who was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death by hanging after speaking these words to defend her faith:

"Our Christ sacrificed His life on the cross for our sins.

... Our Christ is alive."

The Voice of the Martyrs and our Pakistani brethren are hoping to gather  1 million signatures in behalf of Asia. As of this moment, 5:46 PM GMT +8, there are only 216, 329 signatures signed in the petition.

While we all sit in front of our computer reading emails, doing Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc., our sister Asia is being persecuted and is sitting in prison waiting for the court's ruling on her appeal. Please spend time helping our sister by clicking the photo below and signing the petition.

I believe that we can gather more than the needed million signatures for the petition. Please share the petition page linked in the photo above to your friends and let us not forget to pray for Asia and her family.

Let us also kneel down for the innumerable brethren around the world who are persecuted daily--most we may never hear of.

That Which Was Once...

Well, wow! It's been a long time since Alyssa and I have blogged! News is that Alyssa graduates from college in two weeks time. Congratulations Lys!

As for blogging, thought I'd post a photo scribbling I made:

I was in a mall waiting for a friend and while waiting I often busy myself in observing passers-by. I thought there was only a minority who wear this kind of shorts. But looking closely, almost all girls I saw were wearing this including girls who were probably around ten or younger. My jeans looked out-dated in the sea of Daisy Dukes. And sadly, even in churches I see Christian girls wear this. It's heartbreaking to see "dressing that draws attention to the face and away from the body" is being replaced by "if you've got it flaunt it."

It's disheartening but I am hopeful that God, despite the prevailing fashion, will call out parents to raise girls as women who clothe themselves in strength and dignity. Like a Proverbs 31 woman.

What Is Love?

I have always liked Justin Taylor's classified lists yet I find this one the best because of its simplicity in presentation of such a complex word: Love. For those who often wonder what love really is, I hope this gives you a better and deeper understanding.

God and Love

God is love.

Love is a gift of God.

What Love Is

Love is patient.

Love is kind.

What Love Is Not

Love is not arrogant.

Love is not rude.

Love is not irritable.

Love is not resentful.

What Love Does Not Do

Love does not envy.

Love does not boast.

Love does not insist in its own way.

Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing.

What Love Does

Love rejoices with the truth.

Love bears all things.

Love believes all things.

Love hopes all things.

Love endures all things.

Love lasts forever.

Love fulfills the law.

{1 John 4:7-8; 1 Cor. 13:4-8; Rom. 13:10}

HT: Justin Taylor

Diagnosing Your Spiritual Health

Don Whitney's 10 Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health, from the book of the same name:

1. Do you thirst for God?

2. Are you governed increasingly by God's Word?

3. Are you more loving?

4. Are you more sensitive to God's presence?

5. Do you have a growing concern for the spiritual and 
    temporal needs of others?

6. Do you delight in the bride of Christ?

7. Are the spiritual disciplines increasingly important to you?

8. Do you still grieve over sin?

9. Are you a quicker forgiver?

10. Do you yearn for heaven and to be with Jesus?

Just to add: These questions help diagnose. But "trying harder" is not the prescription. Behold and believe.

(HT: Jared Wilson)

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Where do we stand in our walk with God? Are we walking faithfully with Him or are we gradually drifting away? It's our hope that all Christians would really desire to grow in Christ. We hope this list will help you diagnose your spiritual health and trust God to continually transform you.

Watch and Support Andrew Cunningham!

Andrew Cunningham is a Rebelutionary from Georgia. Recently, he entered a contest on You Tube, called 104.7 The Fish Opening Act. If he wins, $10,000 will go to a student-led missions organization. So what are you waiting for? Watch and share!

The Good Christian Girl: A Fable | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

An Article by Gina R. Dalfonzo from Christianity Today:

Once there was a good Christian girl who dreamed of growing up, getting married, and having children. She read all the right books and did all the right things. She read about how she was a princess in God's sight and how he wanted the very best for her. She committed herself to sexual purity, to high standards, and to waiting for the good Christian man that God was going to bring her. 

Just as she was getting old enough to start dating, however, she noticed something. Some of the popular Christian books were talking about not dating at all, and just being friends, until God had made it clear that the guy she liked was exactly the right one for her. Her Sunday school teachers taught from a very popular book about how dating was unbiblical, and how a truly righteous young Christian man would initiate a courtship with marriage as the goal, working in tandem with the girl's father and the pastor and others in the church body. 

The heroine of our story observed that as these things were being taught, the level of romantic involvement among her peers at church, not very high to begin with, shrank to practically nonexistent. 

Click here to read more

What do you think?

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Just to clear any misconceptions and misunderstandings, I thought I'd put my stand here. First, I don't believe in dating (therefore I believe in waiting :D). Second, I believe in keeping myself pure, and I believe in setting high standards that are God-glorifying.

I posted the article, not because I agree with the whole of it, but because I think there's an important lesson we can learn from it. Yes, the article focuses on dating and relationships, but if we look at the big picture, I think there's something else we can learn as well. It's not so much as finding your future mate as it is seeking godly advice.

Sometimes, we tend to listen and do what other people want us to do, forgetting that it is God we should follow and obey first and foremost of all. Yes, God sometimes speaks to us through the people around us, but we should check things first if the advice they are give is from Him and not a personal opinion. Sometimes, we follow what other people tell us to do to please them, forgetting that we must first please God.

We must remember—God's ways are not our way. The wisdom of man is nothing compared to the wisdom of God. Before we seek advice from other people, let us first go to God and ask Him to lead us to do His will.