Am I really a Christian?

Not many Christians think of themselves as unbelievers. After all, we normally use the term to describe people who aren’t Christians at all. Most of us can happily sign up to the creeds of our church. But our problems rarely arise from a lack of belief in a confessional or theoretical sense, though this may be the case. More often they arise from functional or practical disbelief. The problems lie in the gap between what we believe in theory and what we believe in practice.

“On Sunday morning I sing of my belief in justification by faith (confessional faith), but on Monday morning I still feel the need to prove myself (functional disbelief). Or I may believe I’ll be acquitted on the day of judgment, but I still want to justify myself in an argument tomorrow. I may affirm that God is sovereign (confessional faith), but I still get anxious when I can’t control my life (functional disbelief). Sanctification is the progressive narrowing of the gap between confessional faith and functional faith.”

Tim Chester

Prayer: Lord, teach us to admit that there are still a lot of disbelief in our life even though we confess with our mouth we believe in You - but our heart still far away from You. Teach us to believe in You with our heart, teach us to believe we can't change our life just by saying "I believe in You" 

Every time when I wake up every morning, and when I found there is no progressive narrowing of the gap between my confessional faith and functional faith or when that gap becomes wider and wider, I'll be asking to myself, am I really a Christian?

Love and Truth

Love without truth is like doing heart surgery with a wet fish, but truth without love is like doing heart surgery with a hammer.
Tim Chester

How far can I run from sin

Is this okay, is that okay, this is not considered as a sin right? I'm just doing this - just a little - I think it's okay. Stop it! Run from Sin.
DON'T ASK
How far can I go towards sin
----------------------------------------------------------> SIN

ASK INSTEAD
How far can I run from sin
<------------------------------------------------------ SIN

TIM CHESTER

Superficial Forgiveness

The only reason why we can't forgive is because we think what people did to us is worse than what we've done to God. The truth is what we've done to God is a million times worse. Only by acknowledging our sins being redeemed through Christ then we can say to people who had been hurting us, "I forgive you, as God has forgave me in Christ" - without that it will be just a superficial forgiveness. AT

Suka menjelekkan orang

"Oh si anu loh gini gitu, tau ngak kenapa" -- begitulah yang sering kita dengar tentunya ketika kita mendengar berita buruk mengenai orang, 'gosip' -- gosip bukan hanya membicarakan ketidakbenaran dari orang lain, bahkan kalaupun fakta tapi jika hal itu membuat orang yang dibicarakan tersebut tidak nyaman, sudah termasuk kategori gosip, - menjelekkan orang.

Mengapa sih kita suka menjelekkan orang? Apakah karena kita merasa kita akan lebih tinggi dari orang tersebut? Atau karena berusaha menutup kejelekan kita yang kita sadari dalam lubuk hati kita, untuk melarikan dari hal tersebut jadi kita akhirnya suka menjelekkan orang lain. Apakah benar ada orang yang lebih jelek dan ada orang yang tidak lebih jelek? Saya ini bagus loh, orang lain jelek! Apakah benar ada kemungkinan seperti itu bahwa satu orang lebih baik dari orang yang lain. Ternyata tidak. Karena semua manusia sudah jatuh dalam dosa, dan telah kehilangan kemuliaan Allah. Ketika kita menyadari dosa kita lebih besar dari orang lain, bukan hanya karena kita melakukan perbuatan jahat yang lebih banyak, tapi kita menyadari di dalam lubuk hati kita yang paling dalam bahwa kita adalah manusia yang berdosa. Manusia yang tidak mau Allah. Jika kita mau Allah - hal tersebut hanya karena kasih karunia, jadi apalagi yang harus dibanggakan? Selain dari Kasih Karunia di dalam Kristus Yesus.

Jika kita belum mengetahui betapa bobroknya hidup kita dan belum mengalami kasih karunia, maka kita akan terus menjelekkan orang, seolah-olah dengan menjelekkan orang kita akan menjadi sedikit lebih bernilai dari keadaan yang sekarang - karena kita masih hidup untuk menjadi penyelamat bagi diri kita sendiri.

I need this to make me happy

"Our idols are those things we count on to give our lives meaning. They are the things of which we say, "I need this to make me happy" or "If I don't have this my life is worthless and meaningless"
Tim Keller

Be the same and be changed

Lord as I woke up this morning I came into realisation that I have to be the same when I'm by myself and when I'm with family and others. I'm a hypocrite - it's merely because of my own idol. Myself is my idol, I want people feel good about me, want people accept me, I want to get human's approval, to get praise of men - those things were like a honey, only they won't last forever, and can never satisfy my soul. Am I selfish? I think the question should be sounds like this: Why am I selfish? - Answer: it is because of my 'idol', if I don't satisfy my 'idol' I can feel very devastated that's why I serve my own 'idol' - and selfishness is one of a lot of things as the results of my own 'idol'

So every time when I'm acting differently (public vs personal) - I have to fervently ask for God's mercy and forgiveness so I can conquer this 'idol' by enjoying Him above all things.

I have to be the same, when I'm in the church or at work, when I'm with family or with totally strangers.

I have to be changed, to conform like Christ, the mediator between me and Our Heavenly Father. Not just a superficial change that happen externally, but I have to be changed internally so it will change and will drive me to change externally. Without this I will always be like a hypocrite.

Boast only in Christ

Do not boast, as if everything we have was because our good works. Boast only in Christ, since we know outside Christ we cannot do anything, I'm not saying we cannot do 'good works' outside Christ, because we can find a lot of 'good people' outside Christ. But before God, even our 'good works' and our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.

We shouldn't boast apart from Grace through Christ. Why sometimes I still boast for something that I've done in my life, it is because I see them more valuable and more reasonable than Christ's work on the cross. Because I think, when I did that, I become more valuable, if I didn't do that I become less valuable.

Religion and Redemption

Religion says the world is filled with 2 kinds of people, good people and bad people. How do you know the good people? Well, they are like me of course. Bad People?, they are not like me.

Redemption teaches there are 2 kinds of people, repented and unrepented, coz all people are bad.

God doesn't look out and see good people and bad people, He sees bad people and Lord Jesus.

Religion is all about what you do...so it's "Do this!' and "Do That!" Redemption is not about what you do and don't do...it's about what Jesus has done.

Mark Driscoll

Relationship between Faith and New-birth‏

Can a baby in woman's womb by 'his act' stop from being born? And tell the world, "I don't want to come out, I just want to stay in my Mum's womb". That's the same when we talk about new-birth, it's not something we acquire, we have no control of our new-birth. But we know deep down in our heart whether we have been born of God or not.

Yes, new-birth is not from our end, no matter how hard you try, you cannot produce a new-birth, but when we say we have been born of God - we will pursuit His holiness and love one another as the consequence (proof) not the cause. So when I don't pursuit His holiness and love one another also when I'm not declaring a war againts my flesh and my sinful desire everyday - I will be asking this question everytime I wake up in the morning - "Have I been really born again?"

AT

1 John 5:1 "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God", so believing is present tense and has been born of God is perfect tense. It shows clearly that believing is the consequence, not the cause, of the new birth ~ (John Stott).

Kain dan Habel

Tentunya kita sudah sering mendengar kisah Kain dan Habel, pertanyaan yang sering ditanyakan mengapa Tuhan  mengindahkan persembahan Habel tapi tidak mengindahkan persembahan Kain, mengapa hal ini terjadi?

Ada pandangan mengatakan, bahwa karena Habel memberikan lemak-lemak dan timbulah asumsi bahwa Habel memberikan yang terbaik sedangkan Kain hanya memberikan hanya sebagian dari hasil tanah, atas dasar inilah Tuhan hanya mengindahkan persembahan Habel.

Ada juga pandangan yang mengatakan Tuhan hanya mengindahkan korban bakaran untuk itulah persembahan Habel yang diterima, dan ada yang berpendapat salah sendiri Kain tidak mau menukarkan sebagian hasil tanahnya dengan domba kepunyaan Habel.

Apakah pendapat kedua ini dapat diterima, kalau memang keduanya benar apakah memang kita diselamatkan  oleh karena perbuatan kita? Dalam suratan Ibrani dikatakan

Karena iman Habel telah mempersembahkan kepada Allah korban yang lebih baik dari pada korban Kain. Dengan jalan itu ia memperoleh kesaksian kepadanya, bahwa ia benar, karena Allah berkenan akan persembahannya itu dan karena iman ia masih berbicara, sesudah ia mati.

Apakah ini berarti karena Habel 'lebih percaya' kepada Tuhan dibandingkan Kain? Tanpa iman tidak ada seorang yang dapat melihat Allah, karena tanpa Iman kita tidak akan pernah dapat percaya bahwa Allah itu ada dan bahwa Allah mengutus anakNya untuk menjadi tebusan bagi kita, dan Iman itu nyata oleh penebusan di dalam Kristus Yesus sebagai perantara antara manusia yang berdosa dengan Allah yang Maha Agung.

Jadi percaya kepada Tuhan semata-mata karena anugrah yang diberikan oleh Tuhan kepada kita bukan karena kita yang melakukannya. Dan Habel pun diindahkan persembahannya hanya oleh kasih karunia Allah tanpa ada dasar perbuatan yang dilakukan oleh Habel, apakah berarti Allah tidak adil? Mustahil Allah tidak adil.

Roma 9:15-16

Sebab Ia berfirman kepada Musa: "Aku akan menaruh belas kasihan kepada siapa Aku mau menaruh belas kasihan dan Aku akan bermurah hati kepada siapa Aku mau bermurah hati."

Jadi hal itu tidak tergantung pada kehendak orang atau usaha orang, tetapi kepada kemurahan hati Allah.

1 Yohanes 4:10
Inilah kasih itu: Bukan kita yang telah mengasihi Allah, tetapi Allah yang telah mengasihi kita dan yang telah mengutus AnakNya sebagai pendamaian bagi dosa-dosa kita.

Can God love you more?

Case 1: I've just got a call yesterday, my boss promoted me to a higher position and my salary increased almost double and I said to God "Oh Thank you Lord, You are so good, thanks for loving me so much, I love you."

Case 2: The cloud was so gloomy this morning, and I didn't bring my umbrella and It was pouring like crazy, my pant was so wet and my socks were soggy, and when I arrived at the office my boss called me into a room and told me - "Because of Economic downturn, we have to make your position redundant, today is your last day, pack up your stuff and go home" - and I said to God "Why did You do this to me God, I 'love' you so much why You stop loving me, by making my day so miserable?"

Can God love you more than His love on the cross? When He blesses you with blessings (spiritual and material) doesn't mean He loves you more as if His love on the cross was not enough. When He is allowing adversities in your live doesn't mean He loves you less or He doesn't love you at all or He sometimes loves you and sometimes doesn't love you.

If everything were from God

If everything were from God, why do we say "I have made a lot sacrifices for you Lord! Why do I still suffer?" AT

Tiga hal menuju kebinasaan

Perbedaan	Tuhan Berfirman (Kejadian 2:16-17)	Hawa Menjawab (Kejadian 3:2-3)
Tuhan memberikan anugerah kepada manusia secara bebas memakan buah yang ada di dalam taman tersebut, namun seringkali manusia membatasi anugerah tersebut, mengurangi anugrah tersebut. Seolah-olah anugrah itu harus disertai oleh perbuatan baik kita	Semua pohon dalam taman ini boleh kaumakan buahnya dengan bebas	Buah pohon-pohonan dalam taman ini boleh kami makan,
Tuhan tidak pernah memberitahu mengenai meraba buah, namun manusia menambahkan Firman dengan mengatakan 'meraba' - sepertinya sok tahu. Banyak dari kita seperti itu juga, kita memodifikasi Firman Tuhan supaya sesuai dengan cara berpikir kita, seolah-olah Firman Tuhan itu kurang lengkap dan butuh ditambah.	tetapi pohon pengetahuan tentang yang baik dan yang jahat itu, janganlah kaumakan buahnya sebab pada hari engkau memakannya,	tetapi tentang buah pohon yang ada di tengah-tengah taman, Allah berfirman: Jangan kamu makan ataupun raba buah itu
Mengurangi konsekuensi dosa, dengan menghilangkan kata 'pasti', kita selalu menganggap konsekuensi dosa adalah hal yang kecil, dengan cara menguranginya, misalnya: "Ah tidak apa apa, ini kan dosa yang kecil, efeknya ngak terlalu kelihatan" - walaupun di hadapan Allah tidak ada dosa yang kecil, dan efeknya dosa adalah sama, yaitu maut.	pastilah engkau mati.	nanti kamu mati.