WHAT IS SALVATION?

we're so lost, so horrible lost with no
hope at all, totally out there, lost at sea. and this is the christian
life- victorious life! john 10:10. you must be joking. salvation? no
wonder the great atheist betrand russel spat at god's "grace" into
life of suffering and pain. look at job! job says himself- god
"slashes my kidneys" and causes me pain with this hard hard life. but
you know what? the joys of salvation- the joy, purposeful living, the
deep convictoins andt he victory over temptation, the communion with
god and believers are only HALF of what SALVATION means. the rest? it
means being forgiven. it's not jsut getting what you don't deserve
()grace), it's also not getting what you deserve (mercy). punishment,
suffering, hell, and eternal serparation from god was what we
deserved, but we were spared that. and we can't truly understand
grace, until we understand our sin. i suggest that we think today,
about our sin! about what we;ve done to wound god, our transgressions.
it's more than violating his laws. we rejected and hurt the most
beautiful being in the universe. but his mercy shines through, sitting
right next to his grace.

MEMORISING SCRIPTURE

been into bits of psalms..and the heartening thought we find in
> psalms- the description of the righteous man, buried and committed
> consciously into the word of the Lord as his reassurance and his bond.
> it starts with a description of the ways of the righteous man- neither
> "wicked, a mocker nor a sinner". then it talks abt the comparison
> between the righteous man vs the wicked- in a metaphor of a tree. the
> suggestion, obviously, is made clear in ps 119:9,11 too.."how can a
> young man keep his way pure? by keeping according to your word.. i
> have hidden your word in my heart that i may not sin against you"
>
> as we struggle, make a point to fight sin with the word of truth- bury
> it in your heart and commit it to memory, so that we may be armed with
> a powerful weapon against the evil one. believe in the power of the
> word in your heart. with meditation and consciousness of its presence,
> we can overcome sin. think abt jesus in the wilderness! quoting
> accurate scipture in response to satan's out-of-context scripture.
> whihc brings me to the point of accuracy. we need to be accurate with
> our Bible, so that the evil one cannot confound us with
> misunderstandings we may have with the Word.

THE PRODIGAL SON

the thought i had presented to me so articulately and clearly was
this. ever read the parable of the prodigal son? most of us consider
ourselves either the first or the second son, never the father (who
obviously is god,) but in more ways than we can understand. the main
theme of what i learnt was that, we were so lost, we never realised
how lost we were. often, we realise that the prodigal son is an idiot,
with inclinations to rebel. but we forget that his disobedience and
wickedness began at home. even in the protection and comfort of the
father's home, we are prone to sin and weakness. secondly, the rest of
us consider the point of return and repentance the turning point in
the story. but if u read carefully, i think there's a hint of abuse
and utilitarianism in his "genuine" repentance, isn't there?he comes
out wiht a strategy to ask forgiveness and even has a proposal for his
father, telling him what to do, treating him as a servant and not as a
son. is the father supposed to feel bad? emotional blackmail? and what
drives the prodigal son to this point anyways? the pain of his
disobedience and the punishment of his sin. only after suffering the
humiliation and the hunger of being poor and destitute does the
prodigal son turn around. doesn't that sound manipulative to
u?furthermore, he wants to WORK out his earnings, like a servant?
working ur way back into the acceptance of god? obviously he thinks he
must prove himself useless to his father before his father will accept
him again. sound like working back his way to god the father? in the
least? the point being, even in his REPENTANCE, the son was a lost
son, so lost and so out there. but god the father was watching, and
FROM A DISTANCE, (implying that he must have been watching for the
faint shadow of his son on the horizon) such is thte extent of his
love! of god's love! and then notice the prodigal son's reply! no more
plans, no more survival strategies, no more suggestions, proposals and
pretentiousness! just whol-hearted apology- i have sinned against
heaven and against u! (well, even if he wanted to use the survival
plans and the pretentious apologies and the proposals- the father
denied him the chance to do so! he went straight for the ring, the
robe and the fattened calf!) so wat's the point? even though we suffer
and we wrestle with god..he loves us, even in our total imperfection.
even our repentance is NOT good enough for god to forgive us on. he
has to do it himself- true grace!