Grace seeks correlation. Fear seeks contradiction.
Please give me the pleasure of being introspective in this particular article.
In every service we have in the Good News Community Church, we have what we probably have in common with a significant number of other Christ-centered churches - core groups, or regular attendees not officially recognized but known to step up and help out mostly in administering (a prelude to ministering :D ), supporting the pastor and the service by seeking a need and addressing it. Now that I type this I believe that the core groups I observe and involve myself with would do good to continue in expanding by encouraging the rest of the congregation.
We're all about relationships. Believe it or not, I'm all about relationships as well. I never had a straight answer besides Jesus Christ when anyone asked me about what my passion is. Though that answer will never change (as I do not desire to be as passionate for anything else more and equal to my Savior), by His grace I could answer right now that since I gave my life to Him, one thing I seem to enjoy doing, more than writing and photography, is to connect.
There's a certain joy I feel when I see the connection between a particular event and something said to me earlier in a given day. I like how things come together. 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon' was pretty interesting to play. Incidentally, I'm usually the first guy to say, 'Isn't that this guy from this movie?' when I see a familiar actor 'from this movie' in 'that other movie'. I find myself on the lookout for previous catchphrases and running jokes whenever I watch a series (and Arrested Development is notoriously funny for running jokes) or a movie sequel. Heck, I'm having fun putting link after link on this particular article right now.
I do see some issues in my liking to look for
connections. I am in the two extremes of breaking news - brutally
honest, or I tend to pull off Sharazad - a story after a story after a story, with the intention of really driving in a point. I also am pretty tempted to get royally frustrated (and thank God that it doesn't have to be that way anymore) when I fail to see a connection in a conversation, or anything else. Right now I'm thinking that cynicism is finding connections with wrong intentions.
Connections, Connections, Connections. I used to work for AT&T - a company that establishes and maintains network connections. When Einstein was developing the Theory of Relativity, I could imagine how he gave out that sigh of pure pleasure and accomplishment when he finally wrote E = mc2
on a blackboard.When Calvin developed a 'brain enlarger' I could have felt as astounded as he did when he said that there was, indeed, a unifying equation - 'one equation to rule them all...' I like simplifying equations, situations, and expressions down to their smallest, power-packed form, and this possibility of one ultimate unifying... (Ace Ventura voice) 'thing' (end voice) (that should sound more like 'thingggg') could be an inspiration behind why I like doing that - besides the fact that my Dad and my brothers like doing the same thing.
I'm enjoying typing this blog right now.
There's a certain joy I feel when I see the connection between a
particular event and something said to me earlier in a given day. Right now I remember - back when I was in my First Year of High School - I remember buying a Chick tract entitled 'Big Daddy'. I didn't remember much about the tract's actual plot, pero may napulot ako. One memory which stayed with me since I put it aside to pursue other things was the fact that it is through Christ that all things are connected. It's stated in the following verse, Colossians 1:17:
"And (Christ) is before all things, and in Him all things consist..."
Since the bites were made from the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (through Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis), we've been feeling guilty, condemned, and confused. Death became the only option. With the introduction of the Law through Moses, our sins were not only established, but they abounded (see Romans 7). By the law a clear line was drawn, defining the character of man being corrupted, separate from God's character of absolute holiness.
Jesus Christ was born into the world, conceived by the power of Holy Spirit. He walked with us, ate with us, laughed with us, wept with us, and He was subject to temptation - the greatest temptations that satan can throw at Him, to be precise. And yet, through all this, He also met the high demands of the commandments and the Torah, established so many generations ago. He was sinless, and therefore He was the perfect, unblemished Lamb that needed to be sacrificed to meet the demand of the law.
But for whose sins did His blood atone for? He was sinless. Brothers and sisters, it was for OUR sins that His blood flowed down the cross; it was for OUR righteousness that He returned victoriously from the dead, that we would not only have life, but harmony, relationship, RECONNECTION with the Father.
"He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see." - John 9:25
I could go on and on, but I will say this - because of Jesus Christ, all things connect in my own personal opinion. Because of Jesus Christ, I was able to reconnect with my dying father. Because of Jesus Christ, I was able to quit smoking and establish a more productive hobby of taking pictures. Because of Jesus Christ, I am finally free from pornography, fornication, and all other forms of sexual immorality. Because of Jesus Christ, my family is living in harmony instead of exploding (as we very well had the tendency to do so). Because of Jesus Christ - because He forgives, I am able to forgive. Because He loves, I am able to love without expecting anything in return. Because of His Word, I am able to find peace through all my pleasant and unpleasant memories. Because of His Promises, I am able to see hope in this bleak future. Because of Jesus Christ... Brothers and sisters, because of Jesus Christ I am where I am now, with all my strength and failure, consisting in Him, moving ever forward for all men to be saved, that NO MAN SHALL PERISH...
Jesus Christ is my ultimate unifying equation!
Grace seeks correlation. Fear seeks contradiction.
God bless us all.
Shared in http://jibee.blogspot.com/. יהוה bless you!