This Can Be Boring

Fireworks display from Ikano as seen from our Parkville house on new year's eve, two years ago.

Just to warn you, this ain't as perky as it looks.

For samplers, here's a hard note I wrote in the new year, last year!!

Date: 3 Jan 2008, Thurs

Meditate on these loaded passages: Hebrews 5: 7-10; Philippians 2: 5-11

(Can look up the passages at www.biblegateway.com)

A glimpse of Jesus' struggle with God. Did Jesus "fight" with God over his circumstances? No, He learned obedience as a son and was fully submitted to the Father. Think about God's opinion of Jesus: "And a voice from heaven said, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well-pleased.'

Even before Jesus was subjected to the final test of His life in Gethsemane, and even before he struggled with men when He preached and very few believed His message and nobody understood Him as a person, God was already well-pleased with Him. Such an understatement of God's approval of His Son.

Is God approved with me???

We may not be walking in the full approval of God but he does fully accept us as His "sons." Praise the LORD for His love and grace! But I pray that God will give me the heart to aspire for His full approval, that God may be "well-pleased" with me. After all, Jesus is my role model and God's ultimate purpose is for Christ to be fully-formed in each one of us ("that we may conform into the image of Christ").

Jesus' Struggle with Men:

He was misunderstood even by His own family: Luke 2:47-50
He was rejected when He preached: Luke 4:28-30
He was betrayed by one of His own men: John 13:21, John 6:70.71
Many of His disciples deserted Him over a hard teaching: John 6: 52-67


My after-thoughts:
Am I misunderstood by my family? Chicken feed.
Do people revile me because of what I say when it comes to matters concerning God? No surprise.
Have I ever lost friends? Do I have close friends who actually back-stabbed me? No wonder.
Have I ever lost friends because they didn't like what I said? Look, Jesus had it really, really bad. I definitely have no complaints.