Fellows, we all need to have good friends who give you their honest and loving perspectives. Not sycophants. Not people to ‘invest’ in… but real friends, friends who are real with you and who you could be real with. These are just some random points that we thought of which, if well planted, nurtured and cultivated, could move entire nations.
Who knows what you and your real friends can do?
– Minutes (Move Along, Probably Nothing For You To See Here)
It is no accident that I spent a good amount of time conversing with Gabe, and then with Paola last Sunday. I mean, it’s good to get snippets of memories of our conversations here and there, but what’s awesome is that we can take all of them, and in some cases, condense it all down to a few, if not one point.
Here’s one of those points.
We do not have tenets and codexes and books explaining how we ought to be living. Well actually, there’s the Bible. Of course. However, I choose to give homage to the fact that it, being the Word, points to the Living Word, who is Christ, who Himself is the Author and the Finisher of our Faith. See, we don’t have a manual to set up or put our faith together – no, we have a living Word, and this living Word paid such a price and did such a great work to establish eternity in our hearts.
On a side note, this actually amazes me more than the option presented to us last Sunday in Victory Church; that is, to take time to consider how totally depraved we are in the process of appreciating how we need Christ. We ought to take our eyes off of our own performance – as if we had anything to do with the great finished work of Christ! As if we had any sort of contribution to the great price He paid for us to be reconciled to God!
We have more than words, but the Word, the Bible. However, the Bible points to the Truth that we have more than the Word, but the living Word, Jesus Christ Himself, alive in us, as we are alive in Him.
This Union implies that the Gospel is our Life, and our Life is, quite possibly, the crucial Gospel that people may see in us. Yes, we are called to be ready to provide an account. However, I believe that as we have life eternal, we have a life which does not fluctuate and is 100% with us, 100% of the time. That being said, every single second in every single moment we have is this reality is spent with Christ, whose light cannot be hidden, whose flavour could not be removed.
Yup, we taste good. Yet not us, but Christ who lives within us. This delicious Flavor remains no matter what sort of bitterness, sweetness, sourness, or just any sort of other taste is present. We’ve been made new in the sense that we’ve been well-seasoned, and the sinful tastes we used to have no longer have their draw and appeal, quite like they used to before Christ.
‘BEHOLD, SEMMI! LIFE! REAL LIFE! AND THINK THAT WE HAVE BEEN DENIED FOR FAR TOO LONG!’
I could go on, but out of respect, I’d just like to say that there’s more to our brand of evangelism than mere words. No, the message we preach is in our lives, through success and failure, through victory and defeat.
We shine Christ’s mercy and faithfulness when He reminds us of who we are when we fall, and respond with peace (or even when we react out of impulse). We emphasize, with great hope, how God is exceedingly faithful even when it’s apparent that the walls around us have collapsed and we are exposed, naked and shamed before the world, out of our own doing, or because of the world weighing down on us.
On the flip side, we are not strangers to celebrating with a hint of peace and love and joy, whenever blessings unexpected knock on our doorsteps. Religion has no hold on us as we be ourselves, celebrating Christ on the top of the mountain and in the deepest of valleys.
That’s why I place some stock in Unicity’s system because their passive approach to advertising has its roots in how we ought to be sharing Christ. We enjoy the Product, and the results follow; as a result, Life and Light shine upon one and all.
I believe we are always under the tutelage of grace. And as mentioned in my last post, by Christ we are always at Home, always embraced by our Savior, always resting upon the bosom of our Father.
My response to these timeless Truths would be to strive to be the best versions of who we are today, driven and determined, yet not out of fear, but in, through, and from perfect and everlasting Love.
Or, we enjoy Christ, and people see it.
Epilogue?
I’m being led to consider leaving Baguio. I don’t know where I’ll be going, but what’s for sure right here, and right now, is that I do have time – time to work on being the best version of who I am, that others would follow suit, with the unshakable Rock who is Christ as our Foundation.
Watch this space. Or not. It’s going to be me, thinking out loud, as usual.
JB's Personal Brain Defragmenter 
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