SPIRITUAL AIDS

SYMPTOMS:  fatigue, spiritual anemia, hopelessness, despair, fear, depression, irritability, stress,  general malaise (often  followed by an overwhelming desire to laze around on a couch and pig out) ; the tendency to forget grace and get on with life, rushing to and fro.

In its advanced stages, an inability to resist sin/temptation, and, as Paul stressed to the Galatians:  ”…sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like…” (Galatians 5:19-21)

PROGNOSIS: Death within an average life span.

TREATMENT:  Grace, Faith, Prayer, Repentance

PHYSICIAN: Christ

When our immune systems break down, we know something’s gone terribly wrong.  Here Faith becomes far more than a feeling, but the ultimate vaccine versus a heart gone bad. Within seconds, hours, days, weeks, years, and decades after our surrender to Christ, the mark of life “is evidenced by a changed life.” Summon forth the new man. Turn to Him and live.

The entire point of authentic Christianity, true faith, rests on the odd premise that we are both dead and alive, a fact completely at odds with a world at war. A fact which ends up mostly lost in translation – or worse, caught in the mess of what mere mortality considers important.

We can never do it on our own. Relying on ourselves is what got us into this mess in the first place (i.e., human wisdom, fickle mortality, Adam & Eve and the tree of Good & Evil). Renewal demands restoration. Restoration calls for love greater than any kind ever bestowed, grace bigger than any gift ever given, a Shepherd, a Lord, a King, a Saviour:

“One may think of a diver, first reducing himself to nakedness, then glancing in mid-air, then gone with a splash, vanishing rushing down through green and warm water into black and cold water, down through increasing pressure into the deathlike region of ooze and slime and old decay; then up again, back to colour and light, his lungs almost bursting, till suddenly he breaks the surface again, holding in his hand the dripping, precious thing he went down to recover. He and it are both coloured now that they have come up into the light: down below, where it lay colorless in the dark, he lost his color too” (C.S. Lewis, Miracles).

Hope revealed and Glory restored through Love not earned.

READ: 1 John 2:1-6; Luke 6:46; Matthew 7:21-23; John 10:14; John 3:16; Galatians 5; Romans 8:13; Romans 6:11

“GOD IS LIGHT”

(TRUTH, GOOD, PURE/HOLY)

Which brings us back to my last post and the irony of abject surrender leading to absolute victory as a result. God knows the change He’s made in my life; the glory revealed, the hope restored.  Sounds corny, until you realize that the guy before you today, the man (questionable, I admit, for one with the height and angelic features of a boy a decade younger) you now know is as psycho as ever, but changed nonetheless. And to think I used to be that irritable, frightened, rude, insecure, selfish, self-centered idiot most of us were, and still are at times - before our run with, for and to Christ.

Yes, run. Scripture draws several parallels to the act of running toward the Father. What damsel in distress in her right mind just walks into superman’s arms anyway? Talk of a movie let-down. Why walk at all? Why not run? Fly? Soar. Plus, imagine the fitness gains.

The title was originally, “World in Darkness”, but for fear of stating the far too obvious –  with everything being as painfully shitty as it is –  thus: “Running from the World”… and into the light.  In Faith, never out of fear. A fleeting glance would dismiss this as the rants of a depressed goth, as opposed to a message of hope.

In his book Desire, John Eldredge quotes Blaise Pascal:

“And thus life passes away. Men combat with a thousand difficulties for the sake of repose, and as soon as they have overcome them all, repose becomes intolerable. For their thoughts are turned either on existing evils, or on such as are impending. And when secure on all sides from danger, their inherent disquietude, destitute of objects it might just fix upon, still continues to shoot from the heart, its native soil, and overspreads the soul with its venom.

What can this incessant craving, and this impotence of attainment mean, unless there was once a happiness belonging to man, of which only the faintest traces remain, in that void which he attempts to fill with everything within his reach? But it is in vain he seeks from absent objects the relief things present cannot give, and which neither of them can give; because, in a soul that will live forever, there is an infinite void that nothing can fill, but an infinite unchangeable being.” (Pascal, Pensees)

It  zooms us in on the reality that the world’s current state of affairs (ooh, CSA) isn’t at all what it was meant to be, or what we were meant for. “Made in China”, I don’t think so.  ”Made for Eternity”, much better. And so rather than fumble around or fret over whatever the rest of humanity deems worthy for fumbling and fretting, we cling to our Savior, our Superman.

READ: 1 John 1:1-10; James 1:17; John 3:19-21

“THIRSTY CONQUEROR”

(“True belief is in believing that nothing else can quench one’s thirst but Christ”)

A paradox at first (more of an oxymoron, actually – big language, I know – sorry, got this from my high school English teacher, hey ma’am!).  But then it starts making sense. We are – or rather we become –  pilgrims  in search of something more,  a better life, a hero.  Put another way, we’re given “a conquering thirst for Christ”. We admit defeat without Him, then embrace Him and conquer (John 16:33; 1 John 5:4-5).

For it is in our (many) weaknesses that God is glorified. Mortality versus the Immortal. Iotas before the Alpha and Omega. Our failures  lay bare the need for a savior. This is what it takes and what it means to surrender; humbly giving everything up in search of Him. I’ve been having a tough time doing that. He’s right there waiting… but who else is too afraid to jump and trust? We often find solace instead in trivial pursuits, in distractions that only detract from the Truth.

That last sentence was distracting in itself.

But  the point is that it’s an asking, we receive. It’s in seeking that we find. Doors don’t open by themselves. It won’t budge unless you knock or ring the doorbell. The true measure of Faith is not in abundance, but in lack, admitting we have nothing unless we  allow Christ to fill us up.

At the end of the day, at the end of the road, who stands waiting but the One who made the road?

READ:

Revelation 21:1-8; Colossians 1:15-16; John 3:36; John 7:37-38; John 16:33; John 3:16; 1 John 5:4-5

- Carotenosis –  my adorable family finally figured out the rooty-root cause of my “orange sickness”/jaundice (more orange than yellow, really):  an overly-healthful diet. They probably thought it was something serious like diabetes or liver failure (in reality,  it might as well be… fresh out of insulin) . Hmmm, way too many vegetables perhaps? Heck, I need my veggies – like 10 servings a day, please. Or more. Gives me energy. More energy, mas happy. LOL. Just need to ease off the Spinach (ok that was weird, sorry Popeye) for a while.

Seriously considering turning lacto-vegetarian or something, though. We were never meant to eat meat anyway.  Only fair for the poor little animals who get chopped up into tiny, bloody little pieces before turning into tomorrow’s sinigang… mhmm, yummy sinigang. Ok maybe not.

- Finals – first Term’s over; things have been pretty tense

- Hope to invite someone to “That Friday Thing” someday (like a Friday, for obvious reasons).  http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=125161657507815&ref=ts#!/thatfridaything?ref=ts

- Need to pray more (for my family – love them to bits). A lot more. Been sooo distracted lately. xD

Let’s hope the redundancy lasts.

He ran on a campaign for change and reform not unlike America’s  Obama. And like America at the time of  ”change we can believe in”,  our current state of affairs speaks volumes of the challenges ahead for new Pres. Noynoy Aquino.  Already, his options are limited – add alleged midnight appointments to a long list of  issues he must address amid the former administration’s diplomatic, economic – and yes, criminal – fallout.

He won’t find much of an ally in his new ‘partner’, either.  In fact, the kicked-out dwarf may very well have found her perfect afro-henchman to cook up some evil scheme versus the fledgling administration. Like minds think alike, after all, with their twisted sense of corrupt pragmatism (their personal motto: corrupt ends justify corrupt means).  I wouldn’t be surprised to see the duo hung up on another  scam, hoax, or scandal some time next year… at the latest.

Surrounded by crooks he’d be wise not to trust,  who then can he turn to? Us?

Unfortunately for his part, everything rests on the premise that the all-too-fickle Filipino public’s initial support isn’t based solely on mere sympathy over his mother’s death. That’s unlikely in a country where most vote for either celebrities or stereotypical corrupt crocs with bulging bellies – against all rhyme or reason, and never based on any real merit.

For now, the cynic remains as cynical as always.

Brilliant video.. . (link below)

Give Earth a Hand | Greenpeace International.

This should convince us all of one thing: there’s not much hope left for ‘Pinas.

He’s right though. He and his clan of kleptomaniacs have won… his Dad, in his bid to ensure future generations would forever swear fealty (vote for, worship, and bow) to a bunch of goons at Malacanang by keeping the populace forever divided between the dumb, the blind, the cynical. A politician’s voter paradise.

In a country where people pick boxers and actors and sons of dictators over real leaders, ignorance is bliss. Ignorance is hope. Ignorance means we get to look away.