Reflection

Today’s verses fall in a letter of the apostle Paul addressed to the church in Ephesus. Paul contrasts being filled with the Holy Spirit with getting drunk. Drunkenness is a sin, it is destructive. As Christians, we need to constantly remind ourselves that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, the body that we have doesn’t belong to us anymore, it belongs to God (1 Corinthians 6:19). So we ought to honor God with our body.
As opposed to being drunk, we need to continually be filled with the Holy Spirit so that we can be a blessing to others and glorify God.

Thoughts for the day

Reflection

Walking in the fear of the Lord is for our good. Long life and prosperity are attached to it. As we walk in the fear of the Lord, the words that  come out of our mouth matter. Only the truth should proceed out of our mouth, regardless of the situation we find ourselves in. Moreover, the fear of the Lord also teaches us to seek and pursue peace with God and men.

Thoughts for the day

Reflection

As Christians, the fear of the Lord must be seen in our life, it is not optional. The way we think, act and talk should show that we respect, revere God. Without the fear of the Lord, we cannot talk about wisdom, for wisdom commences with it.
Let us walk in the fear of Lord by living a holy life, a life which pleases God (2 Corinthians 7:1).

Thoughts for the day

Reflection

The wisdom which comes from God is so important that it should not lack in our life. “Wisdom is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her” (Proverbs 3:15). Like Solomon, as Christians or children of God we also have the privilege to ask God for whatever we want, according to God’s will (1 John 5:14-15; John 15:7). If we lack wisdom, we should ask God who gives generously (James 1:5).

Thoughts for the day

Reflection

Jesus had just fed the crowd of 5000 with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes. Based on this miraculous sign, people thought he is the Prophet and wanted to make Jesus king. The Israelites had been wrong before; they thought John the Baptist was the Prophet. In the long history of this people, they have been waiting for their Messiah to deliver them out of their troubles. But God, their rebellion, had not spoken to them for 400 years. So when the people saw Jesus performing miracles, their hopes went up.
Jesus knew what was in the people’s hearts; they wanted a king who could perform miracles of healing, of provision, but not for what Jesus was teaching. Just a short while before this incident, Jesus had been in Samaria and met the woman at the well, where he revealed himself to be the Messiah. Many Samaritans believed: “ They said to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world’” (Eph 4:41-42). Compare that with the crowd of Jews who were celebrating the Passover feast, supposedly in remembrance of everything that God did to deliver them from slavery, yet they didn’t want to turn to God; they still wanted a king to rule over them.

The kingdom that Jesus belongs to and wants to bring us into is not of this world, but the people didn’t see that. They wanted to forcibly take Jesus and make him their king. As Jesus himself told the disciples who found him afterwards, Jesus answered them: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” Have I wanted something from God, not caring about what is on His heart but only mine? Let us recognize and worship King Jesus as who he truly is: the Savior of the world.

Thoughts for the day

Reflection

What a tease to just stop at these two verses.  If you don’t know the story, it would be natural to wonder: “And then what?”  Even if we don’t know what happens next, we can pause here and reflect a little bit.  Do you know what tends to capture your attention?  When you have some down time to relax, or you’re simply bored with nothing to do, what do you turn to?

At a time when kings go off to war, David stayed back for reasons unknown to us.  What transpires after though, is a sad tale of moral descent which spiraled out of control.  David saw this beautiful woman, he sent someone to find out who she was, summoned her to see him, got her pregnant, all the while knowing that she is the wife of Uriah, a soldier in his army who went off to war.  From committing adultery, to plotting Uriah’s murder, David’s fall from grace began from a momentary look of the eyes.  He had not even realized the depth of his sin until Nathan the prophet confronted him: “the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul… Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes?'” (2 Samuel 12:7-9).

Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it”.  Guarding something works both ways; by what we allow to come in that can affect us, and by controlling what comes out of us, i.e. thoughts, emotions, actions.  If David, who was known as the man after God’s own heart, could let his eyes lead him away into greater moral failure, it can easily happen to us.  Today’s verse is a good reminder for us to check ourselves of what captivates us, what is our tendency in response, and most importantly, find out what “guarding our heart” would look like.

Thoughts for the day