Love Doesn’t Own a Heart

Lately, a common thing I am hearing is guys and girls ending their relationships. Recently, I saw one of the best looking couples I have observed here at college sadly break up.

A proverb I have learned is: You can’t trust your heart.

God said in Jeremiah 17:9 , “The heart is deceitful above all things,and desperately wicked; Who can know it? (NKJV)”

We cannot know our own hearts. It’s plagued with sin, and it consistently lies to us so that we can fulfill its desires. I believe the diagnosis to the problem of all these short-lived relationships is that people get too involved in relationships too quickly.

They rush their emotions. People predestined lovers as future spouses in premature stages of the relationship. I know even some who have dropped out of college to marry. I fear for most of them, for their romance is driven by emotions and the end of that is irreversible damage.

Take Samson for example (Judges 13-16). He was the strongest man alive, yet he was defeated by defenseless women. His demise is that he allowed his feelings to control him.

The first woman the Bible records that Samson was infatuated with was a woman his parents didn’t approve of. But he was so taken by her that he marries her against his family wishes; only to discover that she wasn’t trust worthy.

The second known woman was Deliah. Again, he is so drawn by her beauty and charm, that he marries her off. He is lured by her to reveal the secret of his strength which ultimately kills him.

Note the secret of his strength was not in his hair, but in his vow to God not to cut his hair. Yet he preferred the love of a woman over his devotion to God. True love will never lead you to disobey God.

I will share with you what my closest spiritual mentor advised me. He said that when it comes to love:

Don’t deny your feelings; but don’t follow them. It’s just as easy to fall in love as it is to fall out of love.

Love doesn’t own a heart, because it knows it can’t trust it. Rather it always hopes (1 Corinthians 13:7) that God will not withhold any good thing from His children.

When you’re burning violently with emotions about this person, wait and tell yourself if God wants you two together, He will do it in His perfect time.

Trust Him (Psa 37). Afterall, He wrote time, so He knows everything; even that person you will grow old with.

Love Wears a Watch

If you could only see how many of my friends are “falling in love”!

I count some getting ready to marry; Some posting pictures of their firstborn babies;

Many on Facebook changing their social statuses: from being “single” to  “…in a relationship”.  (So, I’m feeling a little left out).

I like to call love a train station. So many are getting on and off relationships. To me, it’s so tempting to find someone who has really impressed me and then conclude,”She’s the one!” “Quick I gotta get on board!”

But a “Good Book” tells me that:

“Love is patient…” (1 Corinthians 13:4a NKJV)

It also directs me to the story of a man Jacob who comes to a new country to find his uncle. While he seeks directions to his relative, he crosses with the beautiful and charming Rachel.

It was love at first sight. And as fate would have it, Rachel was his cousin, daughter of the uncle he was coincidentally looking for. It was the thing back in Bible times to marry your cousin; so when his uncle hires him and asks for a wager, Jacob asks for the fair hand of Rachel.

Uncle Laban approved, but he required Jacob to work seven years for him before he could have Rachel. But the Bible says:

“So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her.” (Genesis 29:20 NKJV).

Although Jacob was “lovestoned” for Rachel, he waited seven years for her. A lot of times, I feel left out because seemingly everyone is in a romantic relationship, but I also see a lot of them end short-lived and bitter. When you go past the excitement: through all the emotions and “sparks” that tags itself to romance, I realize love needs time.

Most of the relationships I see that crash and burn are the ones where the two involved rushed into dating and never had time to really get to know each other. I’ve found that every woman who I “fell” for, later I was happy that she broke my heart. Many of them I discovered I would never want to live with!

Jacob was crazy about Rachel, but he waited. Time gives us the chance to remove the emotions and passions that aren’t really important until -honestly- after marriage. Instead of fantasizing over that special person, we should be asking ourselves:

“God, I am ready to lead a relationship?”

“Will me coming into her life, distract her or bring her closer to You?”

“Can I lead a relationship without getting physical?”

“Can I be involved with her to where her parents, her family, her friends and her church can trust me with her and I can be accountable to them?”

“Is this someone who I would want to grow old with (when all that beauty is gone) and will she help me where I lack in strengths?”

If you were to really to stop and wisely discern things, you will find that love is more serious than you perceive it. Ask God for wisdom. After all He is the Ultimate Lover and Champion Matchmaker!

My Top#3 Worship Songs for March

#1 “Your Great Name”  Natalie Grant, Love Revolution   #2  “White Flag” Chris Tomlin, Passion: White Flag     #3 “Search My Heart” Hillsong United, Aftermath                                                                      

How to Handle a Bad Attitude

How to Handle a Bad Attitude.

Parables 101 pt.2

An embarrassing chapter in my life was during a preaching practice lab in school, and I couldn’t preach because the teacher found that I had misinterpreted a parable which I was preaching from.

I don’t want that to happen to you. A while back we looked at what are parables, now we are going to learn the Steps to understanding Parables:

Step 1) Know the context.
I can’t stress enough how important it is to know the background to the story (well…you should want to know the background to every story, not just parables…just saying).

I’m trusting the very, very first thing you do is read the passage. Best thing you can do for yourself is read the whole chapter to capture the whole idea. Then read it again. Read the preceding and seceding chapters is even better. Ask these questions while you’re reading:
• who is He talking to?
• why is He talking about this?
• when and where is He when He is saying this?

By knowing the context, we are one step closer to unlocking the door to understanding parables; but for every door there is a key, and the key here is called the central theme.

Step 2) Look for the central theme in the story.
When you’re shooting an arrow, you want to aim at the target. In a parable, you’re looking for the point that the speaker wants his listeners to derive from the parable. Glare at the passage and ask yourself:
• what drives the story?
• what are the key elements in the story? How do they relate to each other?

When you have found the central theme, it is imperative that you don’t indoctrinate it. I mean adding details that aren’t necessary are in the parable.

Step 3) Don’t detail
I was preaching on the Parable of the Pearl on that faithful day I was alerted to my sin of misinterpreting Scripture. My error was that I was detailing the story. I made the characters literal. I said Jesus was the Pearl whom we should give everything to receive for ourselves. That sounds sentimental, but it’s unscriptural. Observe these pointers when attempting to understand the parable:
• remember Parables are ONLY illustrations (don’t detail characters, etc).
• parables convey truth, not found it.
• every parable has only one interpretation, but can have various applications.
• rely on the Bible as your authority; commentaries, etc can deceive you. (as one of my Bible teachers enjoys to say: “The Bible is the best commentary on itself”)

Knowing the context, finding the central without detailing it, will enable you to healthily unlock the treasure of the parable. Happy treasure-seeking!

Parables 101

Do you understand parables? I know I have trouble knowing what Jesus is trying to say in His favorite method of teaching.

By what I have learned from Teachings of Jesus class, I want to show you how to unlock the secrets to understanding parables.

First, I’ll give you the background profile of Parables and in my next post, I’ll show you how to understand them.

Parables are defined biblically as an earthly saying with a heavenly meaning. It exhorts a spiritual message but through a contemporary scope for listeners to better comprehend.

But more important to grasp, a parable at its core is just an illustration. Jesus used them to capture attention and help the listener remember the lesson by using relative items to reveal the unfamiliar realm.

Primarily, Jesus used them to separate his audience of the sensitive from the skeptical:

“…I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.” (Matthew 13:14-15 NKJV).

Now you know what parables are and why Jesus used them. Check in next time to find out how to master in understanding God’s hidden truths.

Nice Gift

I love gifts and I love reminders! I received both this time: Got this sweet band from our Japanese prayer group to remind us not to forget to pray for Japan.

Sorry>Fire to the Soul

You will notice that the most recent post was posted twice. I experienced a conflict while posting that acquired me to repost the post. It did work out providentially, because I used the word “victim” ironically, but felt later it was inappropriate.

Thank you for your understanding.

Fire to the Soul

A light under a bushel either goes out or sets the bushel on fire.*

There are some people that can suppress their zeal for God; they meet a position where they are numb to the pricking of the Holy Spirit and lose their appetite for the things of God.

Then they are others that God has arrested their attention. They are rubber bands that as quickly as they pull away from Jesus they are thrown back to Him.

They can’t stray away. Not because they want to; it’s because they can’t. God has ignited such a fire in their soul that it consumes their desires to dwell outside the company of Christ. It burns such a discomfort in them to settle their lives in complacency.

I know this because I’m one.

For you fellow rubber bands that Jesus has sent such a fire to your soul, enjoy the words of Prophet Nehemiah:

“Then I said, I will not make mention of Him, Nor speak anymore in His name. But His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, And I could not.” (Jeremiah 20:9 NKJV)

*Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

Impossible Means Nothing

What if it all took to turn the tide of the  world and it’s obstacles was one simply taking a step of faith on the sea.

I’m not talking about the literal ocean. I’m talking about whatever you detail as impossible. Whatever makes the unlikelihood of you succeeding seemed more fulfilling to believe than to challenge.

Every man imagine their possibilities Few ever believe them.

I’m sure when Peter walked on water, he listed every logical statement that denied his ability to do it. Yet he did walk on water. The crazy element wasn’t just him denying the laws of nature, but when he failed to make it to Jesus, Jesus responds, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt? (Matthew 14:31 NKJV)

Faith is the measure of man’s ability to accomplish within the authority of God.

Jesus said, “…If you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, Move from here to there, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20 NKJV)

Nothing is impossible for you if your faith is channeled through the God of everything. Believe. Believe in Jesus.