“Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord?
    Who may enter your presence on your holy hill?
Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right,
    speaking the truth from sincere hearts.” – Psalm 15:1-2 (NLT)

Revealing the truth brings pain. More often than white lies or plain all out lies. Why do I say this? Because in this world, we learn very quickly that truth is inconvenient. So we live a lie. Every day, we put on a mask. We do this out of fear that nonconformity will bring punishment from those we seek to be accepted by.

I’m not talking about the lies we tell our siblings (and in some cases of parents – children) about stealing their Halloween candy. Or that time you took your dad’s car on a joyride that left a scratch on it. Or the time when you cheated on your significant other by making out with someone else. Although those count as lies.

I’m talking about the painful truths of ourselves. Truths that expose us for who we are. I think some of the heaviest burden we bear is the one where we ask ourselves: if people knew the truth about me – would they still accept me?

Why have I started writing about this? Because I just read an acquaintance’s story. Did you know that April 2^nd  is Autism Awareness Day? He is on the Autism Spectrum (ASD 1). I honestly had no idea. His story resonated with me, particularly about trying to pass off as “normal,” which is a quite painful burden to bear.

By nature, we want to love and be loved. To be accepted. This is, I think, a natural longing that leads us to care for one another. But after sin and separation between God and man that led to the brokenness in relationships, everything changed. Our lives are in shambles. That love became twisted into something else entirely – a thing that requires certain arbitrary conditions to be met before the person is considered lovable. That longing for acceptance can become an unhealthy obsession to conform to the world, even if it means selling our very own soul for it. Only God’s love can truly set us free.

I love what 1 John 4 has to say about this. I believe it’s best to read it in its entirety for context and clarity.

No one understands our fear and pain of rejection better than Yeshua, who was rejected, despised and considered by others to be cursed. No matter how inconvenient or how difficult it is, we need to acknowledge that we are broken, and that we are tired of living out a lie.

We all are tired of hiding behind our masks. The world’s acceptance doesn’t matter. God’s acceptance of us does. God already loves us – in spite of our faults, our disability(s), our weaknesses, in our brokenness. It doesn’t matter if we are poor, rich, disabled, non-disabled, male, female, slave, or free. He is able to work and create a new life in us despite the fact that society tells us it’s impossible. His love has the power to heal us and bring us to a new kind of life. Live your life knowing God has accepted you through Yeshua’s work on the cross – but have you accepted Him?

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.” (2 Timothy 2:15-16 NIV)

Have faith and be patient. Continue abiding in the Lord. All will be completed in His time.

“How can a young person stay pure?
    By obeying your word.” (Psalm 119:9 NLT)

“The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. ” – Genesis 1:2 (NKJV)

The world is dark. The mind is dark. And the heart is dark. Darkness dwells, filling in every area we see.

Even in the beginning, there was darkness.

The Word says everything was swallowed in darkness. There was only emptiness (Genesis 1:1-2). Even now in this world, we have only darkness, the deep emptiness of a spiritual kind.

And the first thing God does in both circumstances – in the beginning and through Christ – is to shine light into the darkness.

“Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.” – Genesis 1:3 (NKJV).

And again:

“In the beginning the Word already existed.
    The Word was with God,
    and the Word was God.
He existed in the beginning with God.
God created everything through him,
    and nothing was created except through him.
The Word gave life to everything that was created,
    and his life brought light to everyone.
The light shines in the darkness,
    and the darkness can never extinguish it.” John 1:1-5 (NLT)

And so we have light.

If I were to be honest with you, even with knowing God for as long as I could remember, I struggled with the darkness in my mind.

The darkness stemmed from all the bitterness in my heart.

Pain and loss leads to bitterness. Bitterness leads to resentment and hatred. This bitterness corrupts others, for it is written: “Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.” – Hebrews 12:15 (NLT),

and “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” – Ephesians 4:31-32 (NIV),

and again, “A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.”- Luke 6:45 (NLT).

Yet I can still remember with clarity all the sufferings and wrongs at the hands of others. This leads to despair, for if I cannot be free from this even after years of struggle, where’s my hope? When will it end, and where will I go?

Romans 15:13 clearly says in no uncertain terms that God is the source of hope. Hope is not to be found in good deeds we see and hear of that leaves us glowing with happiness and dissipates after a little while. That sort of hope is eventually forgotten.

Hope is not in tomorrow. Hope is not in the new job you need. Hope is not in progress you are making, for anything we do can become undone in a moment.

“The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem:

 “Meaningless! Meaningless!”
    says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
    Everything is meaningless.”

What do people gain from all their labors
    at which they toil under the sun?” – Ecclesiastes 1:1-3 (NIV)

Therefore God is the source of hope. Whatever He designs to accomplish, He will.

“As the rain and the snow
    come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
    without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
    It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” –Isaiah 55:10-11 (NIV)

I look to God and feel very sure of this, that my purpose in the Lord will be fulfilled. “I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.” – Psalm 57:2 (ESV)

David wrote this, not knowing when his exile during the reign of his enemy, King Saul, would end. He knew that God is the source of hope. And so He is.

Keep this for yourself. Whatever purpose God created you, created me for, it will be done. In spite of you. In spite of me. In spite of our failures, our pain, our weaknesses. It will be done.

May we have joy not dependent on anything in this world, in ourselves, people, and our beloved animals, but in God. That’s true hope. That’s His unchanging, eternal love.

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”- Romans 8:38-39 (NIV)

“In the kingdom of God, eating and drinking are not important. The important things are living right with God, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.”-Romans 14:17 (ICB)

 

Imagine that you receive a map of your life. When you unfold it, you see that you have a beautiful purpose. Your skills, talents, and ways to unlock your potential and how to forge supportive relationships are laid out in gold letters. As you follow the map, everything works out for good as you overcome every obstacle and challenge. And yet…there is still one thing you lack.

Joylessly, you go through motions. Your passion dies, despite having a clear knowledge of your purpose.

So what is purpose without joy?

Many people have expressed about how they would love to find their purpose in life.

Still, I have also seen people who have not yet discovered their purpose. They are on a journey, called life, and enjoying every single moment. They are not sure if they will ever find that purpose, or they might even have a vague idea and have no clue where it leads, but they have joy for life. This joy leads them to eagerly facing each new morning and they remain smiling even as the sun goes down and they prepare for the day’s rest.

Knowing your purpose is important, but having joy is important too.

I think this is what Paul meant, when he wrote: “I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.” – Romans 15:13 (NLT).

Why is joy so important? Because joy is intimately bound with hope. The reverse is also true – without hope, there is no joy! Having knowledge of your purpose is not, and will not ever be enough. There needs to be joy. Without joy, we will lack hope and the strength necessary to overcome days when we don’t seem to be making any progress anywhere. A joyless life is a purpose defeated.

May you discover the complete kind of joy and peace from God. May you trust in Him, and may you overflow in confident hope that comes only from the Holy Spirit!

“Let us keep looking to Jesus. He is the one who started this journey of faith. And he is the one who completes the journey of faith. He paid no attention to the shame of the cross. He suffered there because of the joy he was looking forward to. Then he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”-Hebrews 12:2 NIRV

“So he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.” (Zechariah 4:6 NIV)

“This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.” (1 John 4:13 NIV)

“for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” (2 Timothy 1:7 ESV)

I once mentioned to a person that it is pretty much impossible for us to fulfill the command to love (Matthew 22:34-40). In fact, there’s nothing we can do by ourselves. His response was that he will do those things “as much as humanly possible.”

The problem with that type of thinking is – it’s just like what the Pharisees tried to do. They were careful to obey God’s laws, but neglected the more important matters, such loving their neighbor (Matthew 23:23; Luke 11:42).

This doesn’t mean that the laws were useless. God’s purposes for the laws were to show His holiness and how far we fall from obtaining it.

He had forgotten that faith itself is also a gift from God – nothing we have ever accomplished comes from ourselves (Ephesians 2:8; Isaiah 26:12).

Give credit to whom credit is due!

It’s 2019 soon. Let’s no longer live in a way that is humanly possible.

Start living in a way that’s made possible only by God (Matthew 19:25-26).

How humanly possible?

“Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.

They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.”– Genesis 11:1-9 (NIV)

More than once, it had occurred to me that it would be nice if more people in my country knew American Sign Language. As a deaf person, communication with the vastly hearing population in my community would much, much easier.

For many of us in the D/deaf community, we tend to face multi-level challenges due to the lack of access to various services in the community. D/deaf individuals need sign language interpreters because lip-reading is a tedious, impossible method to gather complete information of what is being spoken and hearing individuals usually do not sign. Plus, not all D/deaf individuals lip read.

Lip reading, also known as speech reading, is a skill that is 90% guesswork and luck. We should not be placed in situations where we are required to have full hearing in order to understand and have access to spoken information. Communication should not be gambled on whether the person will be able to guess accurately and be lucky enough to have someone who does not have – say – a murmuring way of speech (lips that barely move, even if the spoken words may be clear to hearing individuals).

Systematically, we do not have access to hospital services, job interviews, court proceedings…we usually are denied the request for a sign language interpreter during interactions with the police, and even in the education field.

As one professor that I worked with in the Lexington School for the Deaf noted, many of the challenges faced by the D/deaf community is “about having access to language.”

Language holds power.

This is not limited to the D/deaf community alone.

Hearing individuals also face struggles when they interact with others who communicate in a different language.

Whether we are hearing or D/deaf, whether we prefer to speak or sign, we give preference to those who communicate in the same language as us. We shun and ostracize those that do not share the same language.

Instead of focusing on what divides, let us focus on one thing we have in common: Christ died for us all. Through His selfless sacrifice, we received the proof of the most important thing that Christ spoke to us in the most universal way: love.

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.“- Romans 5:8 (NIV)

“A gentle answer turns away wrath,
    but a harsh word stirs up anger.

The tongue of the wise adorns knowledge,
    but the mouth of the fool gushes folly.

The eyes of the Lord are everywhere,
    keeping watch on the wicked and the good.

The soothing tongue is a tree of life,
    but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.” – Proverbs 15:1-4 (NIV)

 

A letter to ladies and gentlemen:

It is good to be honest, to treat others well, to be respectful and kind, regardless of where they come from, what they look like, and wherever you meet them.

Human relationships can be incredibly complex, and most of the time, they are very vexing.

There may be times when some of the people you meet begin thinking that the reason why you treat them well is because (in their eyes) you are interested in a potential romance.

I don’t think this is expressed enough: you are not at fault if someone misinterprets your actions and words to mean something romantic or that there is “something there.” You are not obligated to reciprocate that person’s feelings.

Rejection hurts. It always does. You are trapped now, in an uncomfortable place. You like that person – but not in a romantic way. You like that person as a good friend. You value the friendship. It has happened before, or maybe it was the first time. You are not sure of how to gently and kindly express in clear terms the truth to clear their misunderstanding.

My advice is, just tell them, privately, directly. Be kind and patient. Above all, be clear. They may get upset. Chances are, things will become awkward. It is, after all, in human nature, to reject in turn when being rejected.

At best, you both will learn to move on. At worst, the other person becomes petty, vengeful, hurtful, vindictive… Maybe you will notice that the mutual friends or people around you will not treat you as warmly as they once did.

Do not worry. If the worst happens, I hope you know that you are not at fault. That you will be able to move on. It hurts for while, but sometimes the wisest course is to leave. These moments are life lessons to be learned. You will learn to not only continue to treat others the same way you want to be treated…but to also choose your friends carefully. People will always misinterpret and misunderstand you. Do not let that change your love to become cold and fearful of those misunderstandings. May you be wise.

“Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.” (Romans 12:18 NLT).

“‘Do not steal.

“‘Do not lie.

“‘Do not deceive one another.

 “‘Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.

 “‘Do not defraud or rob your neighbor.

“‘Do not hold back the wages of a hired worker overnight.

 “‘Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the Lord.

 “‘Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.

 “‘Do not go about spreading slander among your people.

“‘Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the Lord.

 “‘Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt.

 “‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”” – Leviticus 19:11-18 NIV

Have you ever noticed that in Leviticus, as God teaches Israelites how they are to conduct themselves before the elders, parents, neighbors, the earth, and even how they treat the animals, He repeats the same phrase: “I am the Lord”?

It took me a while to finally understand that He was not just reminding the people of His sovereignty and Who they choose to follow as He taught them laws and decrees.

He was teaching them the key to successful relationships: love.

When we love God, it also changes how we see and care for others – and ultimately, how we conduct ourselves with others. Loving God leads to loving others. That is why Yeshua, in response to a Pharisee’s question about the greatest commandment, said:  “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” He did not end it there. Yeshua further adds: “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:34-40).

All the laws that God commanded to be obeyed – not to steal, not to kill, not to covet (for all we do comes from the heart. Read Proverbs 4:23) to honor parents…for most of us, it seems pretty obvious that this type of conduct is an honorable way to live.

However, back in the ancient times, it was not seen that way. People believed in the old adage, “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.” If someone took out an eye of one person, it was believed that in revenge, in order to compensate for the lost eye, TWO must be taken. That cycle of violence and bloodshed needed to be curtailed somehow.

This exceeding wickedness of the human heart is why God began by placing limitations on the violent human behavior. All that rage, malice, desire for revenge, the cycle of bloodshed and violence … through the laws and prophets – God established how far they can go (Jeremiah 17:9; Deuteronomy 4-34). God did not just eliminate revenge. He knew there needs to be compensation for the wrong – a price to be paid.

This ultimate price of our sins was paid by God through Yeshua on the cross thousands of years later (Hebrews 12; Colossians 2:6-15).

God did so much more. In addition to setting boundaries (keep in mind that these are not God’s ideal standards for us. Rather, these laws were preparing us, the entire human race, for the perfect ideal, which was shown through Yeshua), He taught people how to love others. Love leads to respect. Respect leads to breaking the cycle of bloodshed and violence. Indeed, through Abraham, all nations are blessed (Genesis 18:18; Genesis 22:18).

This teaching of love begins and ends with the Lord.

Remember, He is the Lord.

“Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past.“ – 1 Samuel 15:35 (KJV)

We all have tasted the bitterness of death. Through a loved one, even those we never really knew that well.

With death is bitterness. With death is loss of hope.

Many times people have told me they believe that death brings life meaning. If we are honest with ourselves, if the only point of our lives is to die, there is not much of a meaning or a reason to live to begin with.

Rather, death is suffering, a result of being separated from God (Romans 5:12). Christ triumphed over death (Isaiah 25:8; 1 Corinthians 15:25-26; 2 Timothy 1:10; Hebrews 2:14; Romans 1:4).

This is what we are experiencing. The brokenness within ourselves and the world around us. The bitterness that remains years after death tears people apart.

In all this, through Christ’s resurrection – who is the cornerstone of our faith – we have hope (1 Corinthians 15:23). The hope we have through Jesus will not fade or change, regardless of our circumstances and our sufferings here and now (1 Peter 1:3-12).

My prayer is that you who read this will remember how Christ suffered and died – and that He understands deeply our pain. The loneliness, abandonment, persecution – despite having done no wrong, grief, despair. My hope and prayer is that you will seek Him out yourself, to know that the Lord is good. He will be found (Jeremiah 32:27; Jeremiah 33:3; Psalm 50:15; Isaiah 55:6-7; Jeremiah 29:12; Joel 2:32; Luke 11:9-10).

The Lord is indeed good. The world and ourselves are broken as a result of sin, which separates us from God. Apart from God, there is no life. Death is the absence of life, just as darkness is the absence of light. Christ is our life and light, our hope (John 8:12; 1 John 1:5-9; Ephesians 5:14; James 1:17).

May you find the hope that you have been seeking, and may you enjoy life abundantly.  Until then, know that we all earnestly yearn for ourselves to be filled with life.

“For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:” – 2 Corinthians 5:1-2 (KJV)

“All hard work brings a profit,
but mere talk leads only to poverty.” – Proverbs 14:23 (NIV)

As we move on to 2018, we also take time to look back and reflect. One thing I ask of you as you focus on your past, hopes for the future, and plans for today: what deeds have stemmed as a result of your faith in 2017?

The title of this post is pretty self-explanatory. Many of us tend to go to church not because we want to serve others. Rather, we go to church to serve ourselves. Therefore as a result, we are “alive” in church, but truly dead in faith!

I am not saying that we should give up on church entirely. In fact, church is important to our spiritual growth (Ephesians 1:22-23).

Before you become offended, let me explain. If you cannot remember the last time you testified to someone of what God has done for you in your life, thereby encouraging your brother and/or sister in their own faith – why do you go to church? Have you served others in love, praying for them in earnest before God, toiling for the good of others? When was the last time your faith prompted you into action?  When we act on our faith, this results in us and those around us seeing God’s work manifest in you and in others. When have you struggled to sincerely serve God and people without any real or perceived benefit to yourself?

Lastly: be honest – does the church need you? Or is it really you who needs the church? Are you so blind that you believe the church cannot function without you? Truly, Christ is the head of the church (Ephesians 1:22-23), so don’t think about boasting that the church can’t function without you (Proverbs 27:2; James 4:16; Jeremiah 9:23-24; 1 Corinthians 3:21). Since Christ is everything and truly all we need – trust me, you aren’t that important – yes, you are not! But that’s the truth. Everything is about Christ, and goes back to Christ. Not you! Read Romans 11:11-31.

If you have been going to church only because it is something simply expected of you to do so, you are missing the purpose of the church. Church is not a building or a group of believers who gather together to simply worship, eat, then go home. Church is a body of believers, and Christ is the head of the body (1 Corinthians 12; Colossians 1:18). We all are there to serve one another, not to benefit ourselves or fulfill some so-called “minimal” expectation or “obligation” we place on ourselves to do so. Rather, church is where we grow in our understanding and capacity to truly put our faith in action. In other words, church is a training area for Christians. It is the fullness of Christ. That’s why Paul likens living a life that pleases God, becoming more and more Christlike to training for a race. A marathon. He also has compared Christians to soldiers – and truly, we are. (1 Corinthians 9:24; 2 Timothy 2:3-10). As Christians, we are called to be a rampart, to stand in the gap and pray for all people (Ezekiel 22:30; Psalm 106:23; Isaiah 63:5; Jeremiah 5:1; Isaiah 58:2; Isaiah 61:6; Exodus 19:6; 1 Peter 2:5,9; Romans 15:16).

Now before you start thinking about all the failings, shortcomings, etc. about the church, tempted to complain or are already complaining in your heart about the church, the people you do not get along well with, or simply just do not like for one way or another, read this: Philippians 2:14-16.

There are churches that preach or believe in the wrong things, but that is another matter entirely, which I will not go into detail here. That said, if there is something lacking in the church, perhaps it is God revealing to you the need for you to pray for that particular need (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). Be careful! Don’t fall into the trap of pride and boasting. Christ is the head of the church, not you! More importantly, the need that you see in church might be exactly what God is using in order to prompt you to seek Him and pray about it, so that you might be able filled with wisdom to fill that need. Christians have a saying: our problems are God’s opportunities! You are part of the church, and your job is not passively or irresponsibly wait for “someone else” to do it. That someone else is you!

Now as Paul writes to us about faith and deeds: believing in God, that Jesus exists, and Holy Spirit is at work in us is simply not enough. Let’s read James 2:14-25:

“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.  You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?  You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.  And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?”

In sum, Paul points out what everyone likes to tell everyone else: mere talk and beliefs are cheap. Anyone of us can say we have faith. Well, good! You have faith, then prove it! Live it out! If you do not know where to start, my answer is simple: begin with prayer. After all, it all goes back to God – everything we have is from Him, and everything we give is for Him! We cannot do anything by our own power or strength, but by His Holy Spirit (Zechariah 4:6). Why else did Christ die for us in order to pay the penalty for our sins? Why else did God give us His Spirit (John 14:15-27; 2 Timothy 1:7; Acts 1:8; 2 Corinthians 5:16-18). Remember, God is continually at work in you AND in other Christians.

Ask God to help you live out your faith. Work to continually examine yourself honestly and become who you are meant to be. Be humble, don’t look down on others. Become an example for others to follow. He is faithful and will do what you ask. Moreover, He will give you more than you can ever ask for, think, or imagine (James 1:5; 1 John 5:14; John 14:14; Ephesians 3:20-21).

“As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” – James 2:26 (NIV)

This year, starting 2018, let us all truly be alive in faith.

“We can’t help what we feel!”
“We cannot control who we fall in love with!”

Cheap words. Cheap perspectives. Cheap love.

Love is an action (you choose to patient. You choose to be kind. You choose to sacrifice, etc.), a choice you make.

You chose to love.

Those words lack of accountability. Relationships with these type of beliefs start and end bitterly because it is based on feelings – there is no discipline, no responsibility towards self and the other.

That is not love.

If love is simply a hedonistic feeling, changing ever with the flow of the tide, circumstances and whatnot – Christ would have never died for us. Truly, because were never worth saving.

The ultimate sacrifice of Christ gives us our worth – not the other way around.

Honor God with our bodies as a living sacrifice. That includes giving all our heart and soul to Him, and choosing to love others the same way He loves us.

Not based on feelings.

But true, actual, genuine love.

“I may speak in different languages of people or even angels. But if I do not have love, I am only a noisy bell or a crashing cymbal. I may have the gift of prophecy. I may understand all the secret things of God and have all knowledge, and I may have faith so great I can move mountains. But even with all these things, if I do not have love, then I am nothing. I may give away everything I have, and I may even give my body as an offering to be burned. But I gain nothing if I do not have love.
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, and it is not proud. Love is not rude, is not selfish, and does not get upset with others. Love does not count up wrongs that have been done. Love takes no pleasure in evil but rejoices over the truth. Love patiently accepts all things. It always trusts, always hopes, and always endures.
Love never ends. There are gifts of prophecy, but they will be ended. There are gifts of speaking in different languages, but those gifts will stop. There is the gift of knowledge, but it will come to an end.  The reason is that our knowledge and our ability to prophesy are not perfect.  But when perfection comes, the things that are not perfect will end.  When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I stopped those childish ways.  It is the same with us. Now we see a dim reflection, as if we were looking into a mirror, but then we shall see clearly. Now I know only a part, but then I will know fully, as God has known me.  So these three things continue forever: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love.” – 1 Corinthians 13 (NCV)