DFC Weekly

“For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. 8But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.”  Romans 5:7-9

It is a given to say that the greatest blessing in life are our loved ones. God so rich in His gracious love for us have surrounded us with so many people that are precious to each of us. But here is a thought, “Do we come to appreciate our loved ones more in times of pleasure or difficulty?” Sure we love being with people we love in our leisure, going on vacations, spending a leisure day at the park or the mall or just snuggling at home. Or do we come to appreciate them more in our times of difficulty?

The other day after I picked up my kids from school, Kylie, my youngest daughter, wanted to make for herself some soba noodles topped off with boiled eggs. She asked me how long she should boil the eggs and she went about preparing her meal. A few minutes later, I came down to the kitchen to find her sitting on the floor whimpering like a little, lost dog. I asked her what was wrong and why she was crying. She replied that every time she tries to make boiled eggs, the shells would not cooperate and she is left with mangled eggs.  I took out the eggs and best I could savaged what I could and placed them on her noodles. I dried her eyes and encouraged her to eat her prepared meal. A little while later, I came over to see how she was fairing and to my delight, she finished the bowl of eggs and noodles. “It wasn’t pretty but it eats good doesn’t it Kylie?” She didn’t say a word, she just wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tightly. Without words, it was one of those father/daughter moments where daddy is my hero. Dads live for those moments.

Our lives too can turn out to be a bowl of noodles and messed up eggs. We think we know exactly what we want but some how the eggs won’t cooperate. Aren’t those the times when we can turn to our God, “Come unto Me all who are weak and burdened and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) What a wonderful invitation we have from our Christ! And that invitation is made possible because God in His infinite love offered His Son for our messed up eggs, that is how He “demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Yes, there is such joy in abiding in Christ each and everyday but isn’t it great to know that when we have rainy days, we have a God who has promised us that  “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. 6So we say with confidence, The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.” (Heb 13:5-6) What a hero we have in Christ!

How gracious is our mighty God who saves, who saw us in our plight and showed us love in the incarnation of His own Son to die for us so that He can be there for us each and everyday. Something we can appreciate when viewed in our past, difficult state- the wretchedness of our sins. Praise God today as you accept His invitation for His peace and His rest. May God bless you.

Pastor Sung

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.” – 1 Peter 2:9-12

I have been faithful to my New Year resolution, thirty-six days and counting. No diet soda, no sugar, a low salt diet and going to the gym four times a week. The gym is an interesting place, you see a vast host of different individuals there, a wonderful opportunity to speak with people from different walks of life. There are the busy professionals, trying to get a good sweat during their lunch break, there are the elderly who try so desperately to turn back time and there are the “watchers” or the “scammers” who come to check out the crowd but the most intriguing are the “gym rats,” those guys who seem to be there every time you go. I wonder if they have a life outside of the gym. They practically live there. And some of those guys are yoked, I mean massive, muscles bulging from everywhere.

But one thing I also notice about them is that while their upper body is massive, their lower body is often neglected. They mostly have “chicken legs.” I am sure it is because the arms, “guns” are the most distinctive and surely makes the greatest impression on others. But what some may not realize is that to have large “guns,” the key lies in the tricep muscle not the bicep. People who want impressive arms may initially try to enlarge the frontal muscle, the bicep, but to have massive “guns,” the tricep is the larger of the two muscles.

What does having “big guns” have to do with Christianity? Quite simply this… just as one would develop the tricep muscle to enlarge your arms, the same holds true to a Christian’s life in terms of attracting people not to your arms but to Christ. The tricep develops by one “pushing” weights away from the body whereas the bicep develops by “pulling” weights to the body. For a Christian to be the light and salt of the earth, he must first push sins away before he can pull sinners to Christ. That is what the Apostle Peter writes, “I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles” If we have not yet abstained from our sins (pushing the sins away), then we have disqualified ourselves from the ministry, “A chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession.” You have been saved from your sins because “but now you have received mercy“ and now we are called not to continue in our sins but to do good works so that “they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God.”

So I ask you, “How big are your guns?” Are you still focusing on “pulling” people to Christ without first “pushing” away the sins of your life? If so, you have pretty underdeveloped arms and never strong enough for the task set forth by our Lord. “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent… so that they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God.” Keep pumping the weights and build your guns for the Lord. May the Lord be pleased in all your ministries in His holy name. God bless you.

Pastor Sung