Similar Verses in Bible and Chinese Classics 3 On The Golden Rule of Love

For Christians, the golden rule of love as commonly cited is:

Mat 7:12  "So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

But I find that there is one even more powerful than that. It is this:

Mat 5:44  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, Mat 5:45  so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

Among the Chinese Classics, we can find the passive equivalent of the golden rule in Confucius Saying in Lun Yu "What you don't want, don't do it to others" 己所不欲，勿施于人”《论语·颜渊篇》. Chinese manners are more passive and do not impose on others. Imposing on others is considered rude.

Confucius was also more restrictive in the second part of 'love your enemy'.  In LunYu 14:34 或曰‘以德報怨、何如’ Someone asked,"What about repaying injury with kindness?"
子曰‘何以報德、以直報怨、以德報德’ Confucius said,"Then how do you repay kindness? Repay injury with straightness (justice) and kindness for kindness".

For the more powerful equivalent of "Love your enemy", we have to go to Lao Zi's Dao De Jing verse 49.

The Chinese version is:

聖人無常心。 以百姓心為心。
善者吾善之。 不善者吾亦善之 德善。
信者吾信之。 不信者吾亦信之、 德信。
聖人在天下歙歙焉， 為天下渾其心。
百姓皆注其耳目， 聖人皆孩之。 

The wise man has not the normal heart for oneself. His heart is for the hearts of the people.
Those that are kind, I am kind to them. Those that are unkind, I am also kind to them. Hence, kindness is gained (i.e. unkindness is transformed by kindness. A stronger translation is - that is the meaning of the virtue of kindness)
Those that are faithful, I am faithful to them. Those that are unfaithful, I am still faithful to them. Faithfulness is obtained. (Bible : 2Ti 2:13  if we are faithless, he remains faithful-- for he cannot deny himself. )
Wise man consider the society and restrict and muddied his own desire.(i.e. no desire for his own)
The people focus their eyes and ears to see and hear. Wise man guide and care for them as children. (See Joh 10:11  I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. . 1Pe 5:2  shepherd the flock of God that is among you)

If we replace the 'wise man' with Jesus, it matches the Bible well.

Lao Zi repeated this in Verse 63 報怨以德  "Repay hatred with kindness"

I must say that Lao Zi did understand the ways of the Creator better the others including the famous Confucius.

Previous:Similar Verses in Bible and Chinese Classics 2 On Creation
Next:Similar Verses in Bible and Chinese Classics 4 On Giving to Abundance

Entrepreneur Leadership - Kingdom Principles in Business

Participated in the Chinese FGBF Singapore Kallang organized Asia-Pac Entrepreneurship Conference as speaker and audience. I learned and benefited much. Since the conference was in Mandarin, I will share some of learning here in English so that it can benefit the English speakers.

The content presented below is my own learning from what I heard and may not be exactly what the speaker say. If there be any error, it is due to my perception. We see things with our colored glasses and may only want to hear what we like. As I am writing on the mind-map while listening, my notes are incomplete too. With that as a warning, let me share what I learned.

From Dr Ma, learn the following keys:

From Dr Jerry Chu, I learn the following keys:

 

Dr Ian Chung pointed out that mindset of the CEO should be:

The other topics are rather technical in nature and not shared here.

My sharing is on innovation can be found in my mindvalue-blogs and website - BVITS Innovative Thinking Methods. The spiritual aspect of my talk is shared in this blog.

For related posts, see

1. Kingdom Laws & Principles
2. Business by Jesus

Grace Based Growth - A Balanced View

We have short term memory and we are easily stirred and excited by the things we heard and things that happened to us recently. We so easily forget the good things that God and others had given to us. We are easily led by the latest hype. Now and then, we need to go back to the fundamental belief, to examine whether we have growth in the right way. We have to see whether this latest hype is just a fad, a recast of a lie, or a new revelation of God built on the already known foundations of Biblical truth.

A key issue, addressed in many of my past postings, is about Christian growth and the related issue of work, performance and accountability. See for examples:

• Grace is Unmerited Favor" - This Common Definition is Wrong 
• Grace Based Doctrines - Best summary mind-map
• Performance and Relationship  
• Grace - Wrong Definition leading to Shameful Behavior

1. Facing The Reality of Life - Continued Judgments
Whether we like it or not, reality exists and is independent of our wishes or likings. Our lives will be judged, now by people like our parents, friends, colleagues, bosses and society, and eventually by God. Heb 9:27  And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment. The BIG question is, will we pass?


2. The Positive Answer is Ensured by Grace of God in Jesus
The answer to the Big question has been answered by God in the positive long time ago through and by Jesus. In Jesus Christ, the answer is "Yes, we pass". We don't have to live in fear and doubt. We can live in peace and joy because of Jesus and not due to any thing that we do to earn it. It is merely by acceptance of the gift of Jesus. Hence, Paul, stressed twice, in Eph 2:8  For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, Eph 2:9  not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

If we insist we want to do it, then our action is simply an action of faith in Jesus' word by the acceptance of the grace extended. It is simply a response of faith with thanks giving.


3. The Beginning is the First Step - It is the Start of Growth to Glorification
Paul did not end the 'grace by faith' in Eph 2:9, but continue with Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. It clearly shows that the grace did not end with our salvation (saved) but is to continue to complete His "workmanship". We are to continue to walk by the grace given to reach the His masterpiece(that's us) that He pre-planned long ago (Eph 1:4  even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world). In short, we are saved for God glorying works through grace.


4. From Calling, Justification to Glorification
Let me emphasize this journey of growth by quoting from Paul Rom 8:29-30 showing the stages of growth:

• He foreknew 
• He predestined -> to be conformed to the image of his Son
• He called
• He justified
• He glorified

Grace is for the whole journey beginning from transformation, all the way to glorification and conforming to the image of Jesus.

Grace is given for transformation and growth
      from being (new identity in the inside, rebirth, now 2 Cor 5:17)
      and to become (outside, image, behavior) like Christ Rom 8:29

5. The Measure and the Ultimate Growth is Be Like Christ

Since the ultimate state of growth is 'to be conform to the image of Christ', then the measure of growth will be "Likeness to Jesus". Do we believe, think, feel, decide and act like Christ? How often did we behave like Christ. The answer should be 'all the time' (100%) because we have the Christ in us with the enabling power of grace. But in the growth process, as children, we may be 10%-40%, as young man, may be 40-80%, and as father (80-100%). 1John 2 tells us much about the characteristics of the 3 stages and how to grow from one stage to the other.

6. Two Common Errors on Growth

1. Like Christ by Self Effort - leading to burn-out and abuse
   Emphasis is put on following the commandments of the Bible without the leading the of Holy Spirit. It is work for Christ and not work with Christ. It is work that I think it is good for Christ rather than getting to know the will of Christ for the moment and then work out in faith.
   (Note: reading the Bible, communication with Jesus are spiritual disciplines that are the will of Jesus for every believers. But as to when, how long, how often, it is something that the Holy Spirit will guide. It is the more the better in general).
   
   
2. Already Attained - No growth needed.
   This group see that they are complete already in Christ and hence don't see any need for any spiritual discipline. Any discipline is seen as fleshly work. They move by inner feelings and seen anything strenuous as of the flesh, legalism and will quit. They will quit also any time that don't have the feeling as well. Suffering is not in the vocabulary as Christ has already paid all.
   
   They don't understand the tripartite nature of man. See The Tripartite Man, Salvation of Tripartite Man - The Details.
   
   For a more in-depth study, see Degree of Grace - From Grace-less to Ultra-Grace

7. Doing Growth Rightly - The Unified Model

We have mentioned the John's 3-Stage model above. Peter has a 8-stage model in 2Pet1 that I titled Normal Christian Life Style.

For a more in-depth coverage, see Christian Transformation & Growth -The Unified Model

8. Don't be Deceived, Growth Comes Through Abiding in Jesus through Obedience
Growth does not come by being idle. Growth comes connecting to Jesus and by obedience to His words. 

Jesus said the secret of growth and fruit bearing is abiding in Him. Joh 15:5  I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. See also We can do Nothing apart from Jesus.

John reminded us that abiding is obedience. 1Jn 2:6  whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. 

Evil is overcome by the abiding word as in 1Jn 2:14  ... young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

Similar Verses in Bible and Chinese Classics 2 On Creation

Just to continue with Similar Verses in Bible and Chinese Classics, here is one on creation.

Lao Zi's Dao De Jing 道德经

1. verse 1 道 可 道 ， 非 常 道 。 名 可 名 ， 非 常 名 。 无 名 天 地 之 始 ﹔ 有 名 万 物 之 母 。...
   Translated: The Way(Dao) that can be spoken off (named) is not the eternal way. The Name that can be named is not the eternal Name. No name is the beginning of the heaven and earth. Name is the mother of all things.
   
   No name, or the nameless, or the unknown (to man), the void is the beginning of all creation. Lao Zi  is wise to acknowledge that the Creator, the Way, cannot be named or fully described by man's words or wisdom. Any description is part a partial view of the real thing and therefore distort the real thing. It is the Unknown or Indescribable Creator that create all things from nothing.
   
   This is exactly when the Bible in Genesis say. (Gen 1:1) In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (Gen 1:2) And the earth was without form, and void; ...
   
   If you think this is not scientific, let me point you the concept of Dark Energy and Dark Matter that the scientists now discovered their existence. Dark is used not as evil but as unknown, or cannot be seen.
   
   Naming of things is found in (Gen 2:19) And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought [them] unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that [was] the name thereof. 20) And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
   
   
2. verse 40 ...天 下 万 物 生 于 有 ， 有 生 于 无 。
   Translated ... All things under heaven have their being born of. The being of existence is born of void or the unseen.
   
   Again, we find the Bible Hebrew 11:3) ... things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Or to rephrase in the positive sense, the seen were made from unseen thing.

Lao Zi started with the eternal Way of the Creator that he did not know fully but caught the essential to tell us. The Bible in the Gospel of John tells us at the start that it is Jesus, the Word, the Way, the eternal life. (John 1:1) 太初有道，道与神同在，道就是神。 The Chinese version of the Bible relates well to Dao De Jing. In the beginning was the Way(Dao). The Way was in existence with God. The Way was in fact God. Lao Zi would be please the know the true Creator in person of Jesus Christ who will show him the Way.

Previous:Similar Verses in Bible and Chinese Classics
Next: Similar Verses in Bible and Chinese Classics 3 On The Golden Rule of Love

Cain & Abel - Behavior of Evil

I am very impressed with the rise of Korea movie and film industry in the late 90's till the present. It presents a fresh script and a differentiation from films of other countries. In the past, the films concentrate on violence, revenge, evil plots and sexual lusts to attract audience. They created bad influence - scheming, evil and violent. The Korean's plots, in general, stressed in righteousness, repentance and forgiveness, and creative solution to seemingly unsolvable evil attempts. It has strong historical background, beautiful scenery, and good conversation. Only weaknesses are always over-hearing of others conversations and the unnecessary jokers included to make the film funny. I did not do a research on the producers, directors, script writers. Not sure how much they are influenced by their Christian teaching. But among them, including the actors and actresses, they are a relatively higher proportion of Christians. They have very good TV serials with very biblical title like "Cain and Abel" with story line very much like the biblical story of Cain and Abel. Then there is the other one titled "East of Eden" which shows the evil empire building of some business men. It reveals that the one who give the titles are well acquainted with the Bible. It is great that they show the world that meaningful and attractive films can be made with Christian teaching, something that Hollywood started with in the very early days and somehow lost its ways. Is this the sign of the establishment of God's kingdom on earth, where the Christians take back from the world the lead roles in influencing the 7 gates or domains of a nation? They 7 gates or domains, given away by Christians in the past, are Arts and Entertainment, Business, Church & Religions, Distribution of the Media & Publishing, Education, Family and Government.

Why was Cain's Offering Rejected?
Going back to Genesis, Cain was a farmer and Abel was a shepherd. Each of them, out of their produce, made an offering to God. Abel's offer was accepted but Cain's offered was rejected. There were various explanations for the rejection. The reasons given are reasonable but not as close to the original text as I like. It is not to easy to find good support for them from the Bible text alone. Christian writings tend to suffer from such over-spiritualization. It is good to know but not too convincing. Some cited Heb 9:22 that without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin. This presumes that they are making offering to God for forgiveness of sins. The Genesis text did not explicitly state that. We have to find support for that in other parts of the Bible if there be any which we will look at later (Let the Bible interprets itself). Offering to God does not always mean killing of animals. There is the grains offering too. (Leviticus 2:1-16; 6:14-18; 7:9-10; 10:12-13) It is a free will offering that is pleasing to God.

The Best vs the Leftovers
The closest acceptable reason that can be implied from the text is in Gen 4:4 where the description of Abel's offering are added - the firstborn and the fat portions. This tells us that Abel took great care in the preparation for the offering. He took the first and the very best(fat) from his flocks. Since Cain's offering was rejected, we can perhaps imply that Cain's offering was the opposite, or at least not up to the standard of Abel's. Cain offered the later corps and not too good crops. It is possible that Cain kept the best of his corps for himself and gave God the 2nd or left over corps. That is also how some people give their tithes and offerings to God- their loose change. Abel put God's first and gave God his best. Cain put himself first and give God the 2nd or leftovers. It was not surprising that Abel was accepted and Cain rejected.

The 'evil' Behavior of Cain

1. I'm First, only First and always First. Others, even God is not as important: So, we know Cain from the way he acted - He is self-centered and God is lower in his priority. We can see that again when he bargained with God for extra protection so that he can be protected from others when he lived in the East of Eden. God is amazingly forgiving in His punishment. We should learn too - Don't over do or double punish a mistake.
2. I'm always right. I'll never say sorry and won't repent since I'm always right. Instead of realizing his lack of sincerity towards God, he was angry at God for rejecting his offering. He was saying God was wrong to reject his offering and not he was wrong in offering of sub-standards things to God. The logic is amazing! But that is how proud people react. Try pointing out the error, even of some of your good friend. It is likely that we get a Cain's response of anger, defensive reasons and many excuses.
3. I'll get rid of the ones that make me look bad. Instead of learning from the right people, he got angry at them for setting the standards and making him look bad. His logic is simple. For me to look good, I must get rid of those that are better than me. So, he killed Abel for making him loose his face with God. If there be no Abel, God will not know what or who is better! This is again faulty logic. But evil always has its own logic. Why was Jesus killed ? For the same reason that he made those at the top lost face. The evil ones will persecute the righteous ones. Abel was the 1st martyr of God for shining his light.
4. I'll lie and resort to any means to protect myself. God asked Cain what happened to Abel. When God asked us a question, it was not that he did not know the answer. It was to draw and direct our attention. The first reaction of Cain was naturally and wonderfully crafted, a good spin, "Should I be responsible for my brother?". But it was actually amazingly idiotic. He was thinking and treating God like a man that could be tricked easily. Maybe that was what he thought of God and gave God no respect at all. Similarly, we found Judas doing exactly the same thing when Jesus pointed him out as the traitor. When a thief is caught red handed, he would naturally admit and seek forgiveness. Judas ran away to accomplish his intended plot!

What can we learn from Cain?
I can watch out for the evilness - unrepentant, cruel, and intention & plot to harm and remove us. Jesus has warned us to be wise as serpent and harmless as doves. There are such evil around us and we need to be watchful. We need lots of prayers, love and bearing of pains to try to reach out to people like that. May God give us His grace to empower us when he directs us to help people like that. Don't feel bad when you fail. Let God take care of them and let God restore you as He did for Joseph.

Bible Interpreting the Bible - The Lights from Other Parts of the Bible
With the computer, it is easy to look up "Cain" and "Abel" and find the other relevant verses that talk about them. The recommended FOC bible software are e-Sword and The Word.


we can pick up the following verses:

Mat 23:35  ... the blood of innocent Abel

1John 3:12 We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous.

Heb 11:4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.

Heb 12:24  and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Jude 1:11 Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion.

We find the above verses supporting us to say that Cain was the evil one and seeking his own selfish gain. He placed his possessions above God. Abel gave us the example of trusting and obeying God no matter what, even the giving up of hist life.

I hope that you also learn to properly understand and interpret the Bible. Let us not over spiritualize things and fail to gain the practical lessons.

Evidence Based Faith - Not Blind Faith

To believe in Jesus requires faith. But it is not blind faith. Neither is it something that needs a lot of determination. We don't have to recite hundred or thousand of times that Jesus is my Savior as if repeated saying could make a lie to become a truth.

Jesus himself explained very clearly in

John 5: 36 ...For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.

John 14:11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

Jesus wanted to look at the work that He has done. The good work, such as the feeding of thousands, healing of all kinds, and even resurrection of the dead and His dead on the cross and the resurrection. For the work, even without the resurrection, believe that Jesus is an honest and powerful man and then believe his claim that He is the Son of God. A good and honest man does not lie. Jesus' dead on the cross was because of the claim that He was God, a truth that he could not lie or deny. For that, He had to die on the cross. There is no magic here. Just follow the simple logic of reasoning.

Finally, have you considered that it is not your faith that work the miracle but the faithfulness of God's Words. Our faith in a fantasy will not make the fantasy comes true. We believe in God's Word because it really works. Our faith is evidence based and hence it is easy, real and effective. There is nothing mystical and don't make salvation too hard. Just believe that Jesus is who he said he is from the works that he did.

Linking Ancient Chinese Wisdom & the Bible

If you have been reading my blog, e.g. Similar Verses in Bible and Chinese Classics you will probably already know that I am trying to establish a link between the richness of the Chinese Culture and Literature to the Bible. On the one hand, it is an effort to reach out to the Chinese and to connect them to the Bible and Jesus. On the other hand, it is trying to introduce the wealth of Chinese Culture to fellow believers and hoping to clarify some of the misunderstandings if there be any.

Here is another attempt, a commentary on Lao Zi's Dao De Jing verse 33 and the discovery of four principles to greatness inside. The links are:

• 1 Know Others & Self and Relate Well to Others for Accomplish Great Tasks
• 2 Controlling Others & Self begins with Self
• 3 Contented Yet Seeking to Be Better
• 4 Be Your Unique self and Contribute to Leaving a Legacy that Out live You

Let me know what you think.

Similar Verses in Bible and Chinese Classics 1 Knowing a Person

In my study of Ancient Chinese Classical Literature, I came across verses that are very similar to the Bible, almost word for word, rather than just the principal thoughts. There is always the intention to come out a such a list in future when I have time. On 2nd thought, that time will never come. A list is compiled over time one item at a time. So instead of waiting for the Kairos time that may never come, here is the Chronos time that I can start writing a few.

1. Contentment is Richness.
In Lao Zi's 老子 Dao De Jing verse 33 , we find the saying ... part 5 知足者富 He who knows contentment is rich. 1Ti 6:6  But godliness with contentment is great gain. The Bible added Godliness. One can only have peace and contentment when we do the right thing and there be no regrets or a guilty conscience.

2. The Eyes Reflect the Inner Self
Mencius (Meng Zi 孟子) 孟子 离娄上 “存乎人者，莫良于眸子。眸子不能掩其恶。胸中正，则眸子了焉，胸中不正，则眸子眊焉。听其言也，观其眸人，人焉廋哉？”.
The English translation from this Chinese Text Project is ...
Mencius said, 'Of all the parts of a man's body there is none more excellent than the pupil of the eye. The pupil cannot be used to hide a man's wickedness. If within the breast all be correct, the pupil is bright. If within the breast all be not correct, the pupil is dull. Listen to a man's words and look at the pupil of his eye. How can a man conceal his character?

Luk 11:34-36
34  The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.
35  Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.
36  If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.

3. We know a Person by His Works
Confucius said in 论语 子曰：“始吾于人也，听其言而信其行，今吾于人也，听其言而观其行。于予与改是。” The translation is “In the beginning, I hear and believe that they will do what they say. But now, I will just hear and must observe the action and then form the conclusion. Or in Jesus’ word, Mat 7:16  You shall know them by their fruits.

Now that I have a place to put the list, I can grow this list over time. (Just added in the 3rd point when I was writing this The Principles for Greatness.)

Start Now
I hope you also discover a principle of success here. As the old Chinese proverb says, the journey of a thousand miles begin with a step. Take a small step now towards the destiny of your calling. Don't wait for time to do the big leap. Starts a little now.

Next: Similar Verses in Bible and Chinese Classics 2 On Creation

Freedom and Its Myth of More Freedom is Better

Freedom is such an interesting word. A word of contradiction. Freedom to choose is the basic right. Remove it, the right to choose freely, and love has no meaning. Yet the very act of loving someone will result in narrower scope of freedom. A happily married person has less freedom than a unmarried man. Yet, the married man has happily exchanged his greater scope of freedom for something better, the love and care and committed relationship with his wife. Commitment, trust worthiness, the ingredients for relationships is usually achieved at the willingly narrowing the scope of freedom. I can freely leave but I choose to stay because something, the relationship, is more important than the freedom to leave.

Hence, "More Freedom = Greater Happiness" is a myth. We need freedom to start but seeking more freedom alone will not bring us happiness but chaos and stress of insecurity.

True Freedom in found with Boundaries
A key reason is Freedom must be defined within a context. Man does not live alone. My freedom to move my hands is restricted by the boundary of your body. My right of freedom ends when I touch you boundary. Within the boundaries of others, I have my freedom. Boundary needs not just be your body, but includes your possessions, and also your thinking and beliefs and your right of freedom too. So we discover that "True Freedom in found with Boundaries". Violating the boundaries also means loosing our right of freedom. To be truly freed, we need to find the boundaries. Another way of saying it is "Freedom comes from knowing the Truth".

Freedom comes from knowing the Truth
In John 8:32, Jesus told us that we shall know the truth, and the truth shall make us free. Where is the truth? Or like Pilate, most people will ask. "What is truth?" John 18:38. The answer is actually found in the preceding verse, 8:31 "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed". The way to truly know, experience first hand, of the truth, is to follow and continue in Jesus' words - or in today terms, the Bible or even more specifically, the Laws, summarized as loving God and loving others as oneself. So, the Laws are given so that we may know the truth, lively rightly, and continue to have our freedom to act and not be in bondage of sins,. We can heartily agree with James(Jas 2:12 ) that the Laws should be rightly called the Laws of Liberty - following them preserves our freedom.

It is important to note that it is not just about knowing the Bible but in following and living in the Bible's teaching that we can know the Truth and be freed. Head knowledge alone is not true knowing. True knowing is with the heart and it takes the will to act out the head knowledge and thereby prove with conviction what the truth it. There is about the level of talking swimming and the deeper level of real swimming the water.

Lies Bind Us - Cause us to Loose our Freedom
Not knowing the truth, and believing in lies, will lead us to bang our heads against walls in the exercising of our freedom or more likely, the lack of exercising our freedom to try new things due to our fear. People who are addicted, who are trapped in co-dependency relationships, continue to suffer the abuses, because of the lie that one cannot get out or live independently. See Christian Transformation & Growth -The Unified Model more details.

Truth of Relationships
We are created to have healthy relationships with God and with fellow men. Healthy relationship starts with willing choice of freedom, but are build with trust and commitment at the expense of giving out of one's span of freedom to spend on the other willingly. Happier and joyful relationship is gained with increase investment of time and resources in the relationship. It is in respecting the rights and life of the others.

The Secret of Freedom & Happiness - Not more freedom but more commitment
The key to freedom and happiness therefore lies not in seeking more freedom, but in knowing the truth, a life of relationship and righteousness, and committing to living rightly and in the process we gain happiness and enhances our freedom to act! It is not more span of freedom, but a narrower commitment! May you discover the truth of true freedom and pursue righteous commitment to Jesus and His words.

Pursuing Righteousness as the highest priority of life is not just found in the Bible, but also in the Ancient Chinese Classic:

The fundamental principle is seeking after Truth and persevere in Righteousness and keeping purity. --- From Outcome Based Strategies – The Teaching of I-Ching.

The Western world seeks Freedom. The Chinese seek Righteousness, law and order, more than freedom per se. Don't believe in the Devil's lie of more freedom. Believe in the Bible of Knowing Jesus Christ and be transformed to live in righteousness and thereby be freed.

See If Adam knows I-Ching, he would not have sinned on how to be freed and also Obedience Brings Freedom

Related posts on freedom:

• Freedom - it is without limits?
• Freedom, Truth, Power - Getting the Order Right.
• "Freedom From" to "Freedom For" -

The Most Famous Unknown Lady & Her Most Memorable Service - The True Worship

In Mar 14:9, we find "Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her. ".

We are to remember her act of service (of worship) and her. Yet, Mark and the same incidence recorded in Mat 26:6-13, did not give her name. Some people consider a similar story told in John 12:1-8 to the same one. They both happened in Bethany, in roughly the same time, 6 day and 2 day before the passover. Same perfume used but differed in where it was apply, head vs feet. But if we just consider the anointing is to prepare for Jesus' body, then anointing from the head to the feet was a complete picture. If this is the case, then we can perhaps infer that the lady was Mary of Bethany.

There is a similar anointing by yet another unknown lady recorded in Luke 7:36-38 in the house of Pharisee with a name called Simon too! But this one occurred at an earlier time and in a different location, Galilee instead. She received a commendation and acceptance from Jesus. "Thy sins are forgiven; Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace".

I personally think that missing out the name of the lady is a double emphasis on importance of the act. So we must discover what the key lessons for us here.

Most of us will agree that she has done a service to Jesus. It was an act of worship to Jesus out of her depth of heart expressed in real economic terms of 1 year of wages for a useful purpose of preparing Jesus' burial.

Let look at this act from what Jesus said and learn about the true form of worship service.

Mar 14:6-8  And Jesus said,

1. Let her alone; why trouble ye her? 
2. she hath wrought a good work on me; she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.
3. For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always.
4. She hath done what she could

Firstly, true worship service will invite criticisms and attacks.
The true worshiper has a different value system than the world. True worshiper values God, Jesus our Lord, more than anything else in the world. For worldly minded people do not understand our actions. They don't value Jesus that highly. They think we are wasting resources. Why do you tithe 10% to your church? Why do you spend so much time in serving and giving to others. Keep them for your ourselves to enjoy. Give to the those in needs. The Church are so rich that they are wasteful (Could be true consider the misuse, abuse, and lavish living of the leaders that even got some into jails that are happening worldwide). Giving is our responsibility. Keeping the leaders accountable to the church members, a duty often neglected by members, is an important responsibility and need a separate discussion. Nevertheless, the way we live and give to God and subsequently to others show how we value God and how we truly worship God. We are to worship God in spirit, in truth, with all our might and mind and that also means with all our substance and wealth. The all to God include God providing some for us. In fact, God set a simple standard of 10% for Him and 90% for us! But most, like the unknown lady, give much more than the 10% and we don't even think about it. When God speak to us about a need, we will give even though we have already done above the 10%.


Secondly, worship has a purpose - glorify Jesus.
In this particular case, she was preparing for Jesus' burial. Now we worship to lift up the Name of Jesus; to draw people unto Jesus. How do we do that? By the way we live - our behavior, our giving, our care, our kindness, our speech. We have covered one form of giving in point 1 above. The difference from the world draws the attention. They think we are stupid to give but they also recognize that we are serious about our Jesus. Jesus must be so real to us for us to do such 'silly' things.

Thirdly, Doing Good Things need to be Done at the Right Time, Manner and Place and to the Right People for the Right Cause.
Notice Jesus did not say don't give to the poor. Jesus said it is good to give to them. There are right time for doing those good things. The right thing for the unknown lady to do with her precious perfume kept for wedding, was actually to pour it out on Jesus.

Fourthly, Do what you Could & Have and not what you Couldn't or Have Not.
She done what she can to her best to serve Jesus. God does not want us to over extend ourselves. God is please whenever we use what we have to give and to serve Him. The fact is that God does not need our gifts or serving but rather it is the relationship and the loving heart expressed in our giving. The highest form of giving, as Jesus said, is our lives. We have started giving our lives to God the day we accepted Jesus as our Savior and Lord. We are in the process of learning to give more of ourselves to Him.


So we can summarize worship as

1. Right Cause - Glorify Jesus
2. Right Manner - With our hearts, expressed in acts of our service and giving of things that are valuable.
3. Right Time 
4. Right Place
5. To Right People

Worship is how we behavior in this world towards God and others. Our work is worship too.

Don't be Blackmailed by Prosperity Preachers
Sadly, there are preachers who use this touching story to emotionally and spiritually 'blackmail' people to give much, if not all of their wealth, to the church building and other projects. Some even want them to pledge future earnings & wealth now to the church !

Don't be forced into such giving by the preachers or such people in the church. Leave such churches if you cannot stand the pressure.

Worship is More than Just Singing & Dancing.
Singing and dancing are some forms of worship. They are not the only forms. Singing is something that most people like. Look at the popularity of Karaoke. Just singing with out meditation and reflection on the worship songs could be just the same as singing Karaoke songs.


Worship is About Spending Time with Him too.
The Bible did not relate how the unknown lady was able to do such a sacrificial(to use outsider, not to her) act of worship. If we say the lady is Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha, then we could relate better to her relationship with Jesus and the spending of her time with Jesus as top priority.

Luke 10:42  But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.


Worship is Obedience.
John 14:15  If ye love me, keep my commandments. Spending time with Jesus will lead us to understand Him and His will. We can be so charged up so as to be able to act out and to keep the things he tell us to do. By our acting on His commandments, we get to know Him better.

Eph 3:17-19
17  That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18  May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19  And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.


Seek God first. Taste His Goodness and Do the Right Things. Good things must be done at the Right Time in the Right Manner at the Right Place and for the Right Cause.

Generosity vs Fairness Mindset

The mindset of God and that of worldly man are quite different. The Kingdom mindset is discussed in Kingdom Laws & Principles. In this post, I want reflect further on the thought presented in KP#17 Purpose of Significance - Giving to Life & Harmony.

Generosity is God's mindset. Fairness is a typical thinking of man.


Fairness Mindset is a about "One should get according to one's effort put in". It is rewards according to performance or usually amount of effort put in. There is no free lunch. You must work to get it. You must earn it. It could be wages, acceptances, respect, and so forth.

Generosity is about giving more than what one deserves according to the fairness mindset. More than the fair share is what makes for the generosity. Generosity, perhaps, could be defined as better than fairness.

As revealed in the Parable for the Laborers in the Vineyard Mat 20:1-16, while God (represented by the Owner) is happy to be generous, man is more interested about fairness - pay according to effort. (Man is represented by the 1st batch of laborers who agreed to work for 1 day wage for 1 day work contract).

God gives generosity and man demands fairness.

Our fairness mindset of pay for performance makes us upset with the generous owner. It also explains why we support the elder brother of the prodigal son. Why is the father so unfair towards the elder brother. He was obedient. He worked hard and yet he got nothing to celebrate with friends. But when this horrible prodigal son came back, he got restoration of sonship despite loosing his inheritance and there was a big celebration. It is unfair! Injustice! (There are lots of sermons that spoke against the elder brother lack of love, self-righteousness, slave mentality and so forth).

Generosity begins with Acceptance
God's generosity towards us begins with our acceptance evidenced by our obedience. The laborers at the market accepted the Owner's offer a job without a contract but just a promise (20:4 whatever right I will pay you). Those at the eleven's hour just responded to the call for a job even without the explicit promise. Our acceptance must be supported by corresponding action as per James 2:19,24.

Enjoyed the Generosity when You are IN
The Elder Brother's problem was that he did not his position and identity as Son. He behaved like a slave with the pay-for-performance mindset. No wonder he could not be generous and kind towards others, even his own brother. As children of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus, we must learn to trust God to take good care of us and we can extend His generosity towards others. Rom 12:1-2 tells to be transformed and be not conformed to this world. We must change from the pay-for-performance to the generosity mindset. There will be untransformed mindset believers criticizing you for your generosity. They may even accused you for encouraging laziness. This is same erroneous argument that too much grace will result in license for sins.

The Principle for Generosity mindset is given in

Math 20:9 And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius.
i.e. As long as you work from the hour of hiring, you get the same daily wage at the end of the day.

This principle is seen in Exo 16:17-18 ...They gathered, some more, some less,... much has no left over, little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat.

It is pointed out specifically in (2Cor 8:15) As it is written, “Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.”

It is exemplified by God in Eph 3:20 who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.

The Applications
The rewards is not based on effort put in but on the needs.

The effort put in is not just to feed our needs but to contribute to something else bigger.

Our work is not to feed ourselves as God will provide for us, but to contribute to others. The vineyard laborers might just see his work as earning a wage but the harvests of their work is giving greater impact.

As Giver, we give so that others have no lack. We don't give out of what we don't have but out of what we have. We trust God to supply our needs. Giving is not loosing but adding to the personal and community life and wealth. The value of life is more than just money but harmony, joy, hope, laughter, freedom from bondage of all kinds, etc.  The economy well being and health for the body, psychological well-being of the souls, the well-being of the spirit, and the social well being of our relationships with men and God.

As bosses, we see the need to help those that required special assistance; to share the profits our business. As employees, we see the need to help the weaker colleagues to do well; to contribute productively to the company even though we don't own the company. We contribute because we want to. We are intrinsically motivated, because we have Christ within and we we work for Christ through our work for our bosses.

With a generosity attitude, we work with much greater productivity than the fairness mindset. We don't work purely for pay but for the pleasure and satisfaction of the greater significance accomplished. This is the stress-free work of the original Eden.

You are a Masterpiece Created in Christ Jesus

Was completing the Bible Study on Bible Study on John 1:19-34 The Testimony of Bapti...

It impressed me much that Baptist John was very clear about his purpose and calling of life. What about us? Hope the following words, taken from the study, would be of encouragement to you ...

A created being does not know his purpose in life. He must ask his Creator, what he is created for. 

Jesus comes to reveal the purpose and calling of man. His purpose and our calling in life are the same thing. Our purpose in life is to know Jesus, the Son of God, and to have an eternal relationship with Him. Simply put, to know our Creator and to live with Him. 

That is the starting point, knowing Jesus as our God who loves us and who has created us for a unique purpose. It takes us an earthly lifetime to find out our journey and destination of life. God will reveal step by step in detail. 

Experience the love of God and trust in Him to lead and provide for you. Christ saved us for good work. You are wonderfully created and loved and is a glorious witness for Him as did John the Baptist. Not in a worldly sense and worldly value, but precious and valuable from His sight. ref Eph 2:8-10. Not forget about the v10, We are His masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them. We are no accident but an intentionally created masterpiece. Find out what you are called to be... 

More thoughts...
We are created in, not just by, Christ Jesus. 'By' denotes created and done with. 'In' denotes continuous presence and interaction after the creation. God did not create us and leave us but created us to enjoy Him. 

Some thoughts from Ravi's Podcast...
"Time is the brush of God as He paints His masterpiece on the canvas of the human heart. ... Time consists of those moments in which He etches it upon our heart. There is never a tick of the clock, but something of significance has been painted into your own heart. One that will carry with you the rest of your life. And God works in time, through time, within that scaffold thing of time that He created and we must understand it that He doesn't work like a slot machine where you put the coin in and the solution comes out. He is working in time as a master painting His work on the canvas of human heart." .... from http://www.rzim.org/just-thinking-broadcasts/though-the-fig-tree-does-not-bud-part-3-of-4/

In other words, there is not a meaningless moment in your life. The seemingly dull, painfully sick, depressing moments are but empty spaces and powerful strokes that make up your masterpiece; without such seemingly empty and painful moments, the painting would not be great.

See also Journey of Life 

 Chinese Sermon by 成為神手中的傑作｜矽谷基督徒聚會 于宏潔牧師


Studies of Ancient Chinese wisdom and classics reveal that the Ancient Chinese know the Ways of God and even understand God as a God with personality and emotion but they have yet to find this personal God in Christ Jesus. We write in all these posts to declare that Jesus, the God revealed to man, as the personal true God, as Father to us, to love us and be involved in our lives. They are just one step away from knowing the true Fatherly God made known through Jesus Christ.

Letting Go Made Easier

In the previous post, Letting it Go and Never Give up, we say we need to let go of the uncontrollable bad and pains, cherish the good that we have now and never give up on the better significance that we are building. 

In this post, I want to address the first part of just "Letting Go of the bad and pains". How we can let it go with greater ease and willingness and lesser pains.

Parts of the answers for "Letting Go Made Easier" are in the "Cherish the good that we have now" and the "Building of the Better". Our focus is the key issue. If we just focus more on the good that we have now, and the better future that can have, it will be easier to forget the unchangeable and uncontrollable past of pains.

Could it be our "Ego" (Our "Face")

When we have something better, we can forget about the lesser things. However, often we choose to ignore the good and concentrate on the painful fully realizing the harm it could cause. On deeper reflection, it is our ego that refuse to let go. Our ego is hurt and we want justice at least, if not revenge. We want apology. We want ..... It is the 'I' that comes out all the time in our focus.

Know the Love of Father God
When we don't know that Someone else is caring for us and we are the only one to defend and fight for ourselves, life could be very scary. I think the solution to our pains and our letting go is to be fully aware and to experience the Love of the The Father and Jesus. Not in mind only but also in the heart. We can do a google search on "The Love of the Father, God" and find many verses. We need to meditate on them. We need to talk to Jesus about that. Here a few verses that mean much to me. You may have other verses.

• (Rom 8:32) Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, freely give us all things?
• (John 14:1-3) “Do not let your hearts be distressed. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2) There are many dwelling places in my Father’s house. Otherwise, I would have told you, because I am going away to make ready a place for you. 3) And if I go and make ready a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that where I am you may be too.
• (2Cor 1:3) Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort 4) Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

Darkness is part of the Journey to Maturity and Burning Away of our EGO.
The literature on Spiritual Growth tend to have a phase of adversity, darkness, struggles, a sense of loss as if God does not care. This is the wall of the Six-Stage model of "The Critical Journey" (A summary is here).

Even if we don't feel the presence of God, trust in the Jesus that changed not((Heb 13:8) Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever!) and fully let it go.

By loosing our ourselves we gain the New Life

(Luke 9:23) Then he said to them all, “If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. 24) For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

Replace the 'his life' with 'his ego' and we can understand better.

Let our  ego go. Don't worry about loosing face. We gain back more. Let them go. Controlling others to prevent our loss of face does not work. Eventually, we loose all, our face and the others.

Value things as Jesus value them. See things from Jesus view point. Focus our eyes on Jesus and see as Jesus see. Trust Jesus to take you through this darkness part of the journey in the new life.

Letting it Go and Never Give up

I was emailed an article "Let it Go" by TD Jakes a 2 days ago. You can find many copies of it throughout the internet blogs, especially used for starting the year, 2006, 2007, and even 2010.

This morning I was reading Brennan Manning's "The Signature of Christ" Chapter Ten "The Courage to Risk". It ended with a quote of Winston Churchill, "Success is never final; failure is never fatal. It is courage that counts.". It was Churchill telling us "Never, Never Give up!".

Are they contradictory? One says 'let go' and the other say 'don't give up'.

When statements are seemingly contradictory on the surface, then the answer to break the contradiction lies a level below. Dig one layer deeper. Break it up. We have to find out what is it that we are to let go and what is it that we are not go give up.

What to Let Go? The Uncontrollable Bad/Pains that we Felt
Jakes tell us to let go the past hurts, anger, wrong relationship, addiction, bad attitude, judging others, depression, stresses ... i.e. all things that are bad. In Manning's book, one key thing that we need to let go is our pride or ego or for the Chinese, our face. Our fear of loosing face, stops us from trying new things. Fear of failure prevent us from fully trusting Jesus Christ and venture out with Him.

A way to help us change our feeling and making the letting go easier is to change our thinking.  The lost of our job could open up a better opportunity for us and so we don't have to hate the boss or the company that terminated our employment. We can let hatred go. We can be reminded by Churchill's "Failure is never fatal". We can be reminded by Paul exhortation in Rom 8:28 'all things work for good to those that love God" or in 1Thes 5:16-18  ¹⁶Be joyful always; ¹⁷pray continually; ¹⁸give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. This leads us naturally to the love of Jesus.


What Not to Give up? The Good & Significances.
Hence, Manning encouraged us to take courage and risks to live life fully trusting in the sufficiency of the love of God. It is better to try and fail than not to try at all. The detours, the hurts, the betrayals, are but the paths where we can experience and taste the love of God for us.

Loose our Pride and On with the Love of Jesus
Forget about loosing face and jump in into the love of God and come out with experiential knowledge of His love. We can love more and do more because we have tasted His love and know that He is fully trustworthy. We can learn by experience and agree with Paul, 2 Tim 1:12, I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day, and in Eph 3: 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Always have a balanced view of things. Don't just go off in a tangent.

For a related post on Let Go and Let God ... see Let Go & Let God - Spiritual or Just Plain Lazy?

After posting note: A friend added "Cherish what you have" besides the pursuing. So we may want to summarize as

1. Letting the beyond our control bad feelings go.
2. Cherish the good that you have.
3. Never give up on the significant better that you are building.

He also questions what is bad ? Bad could actually be good and good can actually be bad.
It is a counselor's job to help us see the good in the bad so that we may be comforted and the 'danger' in the good that we may not go overboard.

For Believers, we will follow the morale standards of the Bible to define right and wrong. We have to be careful that the Bible places a high standard on us - the journey and the objectives are to be righteous all the way. The ends cannot be used to justify the use of unrighteousness means.

The Gospel According to Jesus

The reason for this title of "The Gospel According to Jesus" is that there are many views of the Gospel over the years. Questions like below have many debatable answers:

1. What is the requirement for salvation?
   Some says just believe in Jesus. Others add repentance from sins, baptism by immersion, speaking in tongues and belonging to a particular true church etc etc. 
2. What is a truly saved Believers? How should a true believer behave?
   Some says we must have work of faith. Others say God's grace is sufficient. Some insists on following the Laws and accused those who said grace alone is sufficient as cheap grace and lawlessness.
3. Will we ever loose our salvation?
   Some say yes. Some say never. Some say maybe and only under very special conditions.

To answer those questions above, it is best to go all the way back to Jesus Himself. In John 17, the prayer of Jesus to the Father, provide very clear answers. This can be used as the foundational structure to link up all other verses.

Here is mind-map of Chapter 17 organized into 8 truths about Jesus and the Believers.

Q1 The Requirement for Salvation or How to Have Eternal Life?

Point 1 above, John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Point 2 above tells us that Jesus came into this world to let the the world know that He is the sent ONE (the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed of GOD) from the Father. His work is to let the world know about the true God as the loving Father. This point is further supported that the Believers' Oneness has the purpose to show the world that Jesus is sent from God. So, we may conclude that Eternal Life comes from knowing and believing Jesus as the one sent from God, representing God, and making God known to us. Eternal life comes from knowing Jesus and knowing God, the Father.

Notice this agrees fully with the many verses like the 10 ones below. There are of course many more.

1. John 3:15,16,18  Believe in Him, the name of the only Son of God, the Light.
2. John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life
3. John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. 
4. John 6:35 “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
5. John 6:40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” 
6. John 6:51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. 
7. John 8:24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”
8. John 9:38  He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
9. John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 
10. John 11:27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

Notice too, that the verses above, do not have repentance in them or in the context. The key requirement for salvation is not repentance but knowing and believing who Jesus is. Repentance without Jesus is no use - it does not give you eternal life; because eternal life is about knowing Jesus and the Father. Repentance is just telling us we know we are dirty and we want to change. But we don't know the power yet to change.

Then, is there no need for repentance? Repentance can come after knowing Christ. From knowing Christ and His words, we know the wrongs and we will repentance. Nevertheless, if anyone want to repent and then receive Christ as the Savior, that is indeed very good. There are many ways that lead one to know the very truth - Jesus as the sent One of God. Some found Jesus in times of needs. Some in sickness. Some in bereavement. etc. We don't have to limit ourselves and others to a particular way to know Christ. We just preach Jesus as the sent one from God to save us.

The shortest and most effective prayer of salvation is given in

• Luke 23:42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.”
• Luke 23:43 And Jesus said to him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” 
  (one may argue that v41 was his admission of sins and repentance. But repentance without Jesus is void)

In John 16:7-11, the Holy Spirit convict the world of 3 things sin, righteousness and judgment. The sin that the Holy Spirit convicts is "not believe in Jesus" (v8). The main sin of man is the rejection of Jesus. We don't know our God. The Holy Spirit will point us to Christ.
The Holy Spirit does not convict us from other kinds of sins. Our awaken conscious, our own spirit, re-birthed by the Holy Spirit, will convict ourselves of our other sins against the Words of God. The only sin that will not be forgiven is the sin against the Holy Spirit and it the sin of the rejection of Christ.

Q2 What is the conduct of a True Believer? What is his identity?

1. True believers belong to the Father and are given to Jesus (pt4 of mind map ).
   
2. True believers have Oneness:
   Firstly, oneness with one-another just like Jesus & His Father. We are to love one another. John 3:11, 23, 4:7,11, 12, 13:34-35.
   Secondly, oneness with Jesus and with the Father - Perfectly One.
   Thirdly, oneness in the Father's Love. We love with the love of Jesus 1John 3:23
   
3. We are in the world but NOT of the world. We belongs to Christ & the Father. Hence, the world that does not know their God will dislike us.
   
4. We are sanctified in the Truth of God's Words. The is the Growth to the Image of Christ.
   We are to receive and keep the Words of God.
   We will then experience the Joy of His and His Words.
   We will want to obey the Laws not just physically but in the spirit. The love of God and the Christ in us will cause us to surpass the requirement of the Law. We keep the laws naturally because of our new character. If we reject the Laws, then we are actually reject the giver of the Laws and we need to question ourselves whether have we truly believe and accept Jesus.
   
5. God is glorified in us through our works as in Jesus. John 17:4,10
   When we accomplish the work that Jesus give us, we glorify God.

Q3 Is our salvation secured?

Who is holding who? John 17:11,12,15 tells us that it is Jesus and the Father that are keeping us. Jesus does not loose the people v12. John 10:28-29. There are triple emphasis there, Jesus' hand, Father's hand, Jesus+Father=One's hand!

Peace - Biblical View

Grace, Mercy and Peace are found in many of the greetings in the Bible. We have covered
'Grace' in

• "Grace is Unmerited Favor" - This Common Definition is Wrong,   
• Grace - Wrong Definition leading to Shameful Behavior,  
• Degree of Grace - From Grace-less to Ultra-Grace
• Grace - God's Loving Power for You to become Your Very Best
• Grace Based Doctrines
• Salvation of Tripartite Man - The Details 
• Spirit Soul Confusion and 2 Types of Defeats 

In the above posting, we said that the way to discover the meaning of word is to do the following:

How to Judge the Correctness of a Definition?

1, Substitute the definition for term in the sentence/verse where the term is found.

2. Do it for all occurrences of the term in all the verses. 

So, I did a search for the word peace G1515 in the NT, and propose a meaning for the word peace in a table shown below (a subset for illustration only):

(I actually used Excel to do this. I can sort and highlight)

Here then is my summary of the definition of Peace.


Peace is 

1. Harmony - close relationship among people, and with God. It is unity of differences of uniqueness. We are different and yet we live in harmony with one another respecting and appreciating our differences. This will include reconciliation of relationship.
   
2. Rest and Freedom from or absent of fear, sickness, worry, pressures, conflicts, wars, the negative things.
   
3. Satisfaction and contentment as result of completion as in Luke 2:29. 
   
   
4. A good thing/power or influence or tangible thing from God and of God. That we can give and take back as in Mat 10:13.
   
5. There is degree of peace, since peace can be multiplied. There is some peace and more peace and full of peace.
   
   If this is the case, how can we have more peace?
   
   The answer in focus on the giver of and the Peace Himself-Jesus Christ as in
   
   Phil 4:7-9 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.
   
6. There is the peace of world and there is the peace of Christ as in John 14:27.  Phil 4:7 They are in panic but you are all calm even you don't understand how can you be that way. The mind who stay on Christ will have the peace. Then you will have breakthrough solution.
   
7. Not just passive absent of fear but a positive presence of courage. To go on a mission as in John 20:21, Acts 15:33. 2Tim 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
   
8. Overcoming the tribulation and pressures as in John 16:33. Not escaping. But overcoming in the midst of it and coming out victoriously.
   
9. Peace is the fruit of the Spirit. It is an attribute of Character.  Gal 5:22, Jam 3:18, 2 Tim 2:22
   
10. Power of sanctification as in 1 Thes 5:23. Much strife, quarrels and blames come from lack of harmony. The power of peace is able bring recompilation and harmony.
    
11. Orderliness & Clarity of mind vs confusion as in 1 Cor 14:33 ; refer point 7 above.
    

In short, Peace is the power to overcome chaos, fights, fear and panic and bring harmony and rest in midst of all the waves. It gives the confidence and the courage to move forward. It gives assurance of hope.

May you have peace in the midst of all the activities and pressures in your life. Let your mind be focused on Christ.

The Golden Rule for Success - The OT Version

I have in many previous posts share the Golden Rule for Success - Mat 6:33 See BJ#1 The Golden Rule for Business Success  (Mat 6:33) But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Here is a similar one in the Old Testament:

Joshua 1:8 (King James Version) This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

 

We can see the 'Be-Do-Have' in the above verse.

1. Be - Internalization of the Law

The Law is summarized by Jesus in Mat 6:33 as "the Kingdom and its righteousness". We must be fully identified with the Law or the righteous of His Kingdom. This done by confessing and meditating on it day and night. Unless we are full of His thoughts, we cannot be like Him. Believers who do not read the Bible could not understand what he is in Christ. Do not know the thinking and feeling of Christ. They will not be able to be like Christ.

2. Do - According to All written
Once we internalized the values and mindset of the God, as taught through His Law, we can naturally act out those values and mindset. This part emphasize DOing and ACTing OUT of the internalized values. It also emphasize "according to ALL" and not subset. We cannot cheat a little. Integrity and trust are such that a little off is not longer acceptable. Once we break a trust, just once, we actually loose all the trust we build in the past. Unless it is 100%, anything less, even 99% is not trustworthy. People could not decide this time whether is belongs to the 99% proven or the 1% failure. Big failure tends to come from the little details - just a little bit off. Josh 1:7 tells us to be bold in doing all precisely, not to the right or to the left. It takes boldness to follow the Law exactly.

3. Have - Prosperous Way & Good Success 道路就可以亨通，凡事顺利。
The outcome for walking in the Law of God is naturally good flow of abundance and success. The original Hebrew word translated success is H7919 is prudence or wise. The Chinese translation is closer in meaning to the Hebrew. It says the ways will be smooth and opened flow without any obstruction. What you think and you will get. Whatever you can visualize, you can achieve it. The Laws of God is actually the Laws of Success for men. How did we get deceived that the Laws are restrictions for our freedom and keep us from the good life???

While God has surely promised abundance and success for all of us, it takes us to respond to His promises, by trusting in His ways, and following His righteous ways precisely, not omitting the details, and then receiving His promised abundance and success.

What says saved believers don't need to follow the laws? If we are truly saved, it is only natural that we follow the laws, and possess the success that bring glory and satisfaction to God. God's grace is to enable us to do the things that we formerly could not and do the things that we should - to be just like Him.

The Progression of our Faith - From Pre-believers Seekers to Believers

In the story of the Healing of Man Born Blind in John Chapter 9, we can find 3 types of people.

John 9: ¹⁶Therefore said

1. some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. 
2. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles?
   And there was a division among them.
3. John 9:38 And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.

Type 1 Pre-Believer: My Way or No Way.

These group of people have their own fixed mindset about how God is like and should behave. If God does not do it our way, it is not God. Guess who is God? It is us!
If he does not think like us, he is a heretic, a false prophet, a false teacher. How many of us falls into such a trap?
When we prayed to God to help us, do we specify the exact way God should follow to help us? How often we miss God because we are only looking for God in our specified way.
We can be specific in our goals as the Fourth Dimension preacher David Paul Cho Yong In taught us. But we should not be specific in the how.

For this group of people, we need to tell them to allow God to be God. Let God works in His own ways. We are to humbly observe and acknowledge and hopefully believed as in type 3.


Type 2 Seeker: Let the Evidence Speak - Challenging present dogma

This group is able to question the present thinking framework. Could we be wrong? Sinners don't do miracle is a believe held about God. This believe is subject to challenge as well as we know that devil can also do miracles. Miracle alone does not proof or disproof God. It is a necessary but insufficient condition. But this is a different topic. The key issue here is this group of people allow their favored belief to be question - God don't work on Sabbath.

Type 3 Believer: I Believe.
After examination of the evidences, the group is willing to make a commitment to belief and worship God.

Our belief in Jesus Christ may go through these 3 stages of ignoring, considering, and acceptance. Don't be discouraged when our sharing of the gospel fall on deaf ears. May be we can proposed a challenge that they examine their own world view so that they can move to type 2 and then hopefully type 3 acceptance of Jesus.

From Be-Do-Have to Be-Do-Have-Share

I covered "Be-Do-Have" in the past two posts below;

• Be-Do-Have" of Grace Based Doctrine 
• Be-Do-Have Repeat and Grow

I find the above is too self-centered and would propose to add a share to become

Be-Do-Have-Share

After we have, we should share it out with others.

We can share:

1. what we have - the wealth and resources gained. That is too easy. It is just giving 'fish'.
2. what we have learned so that others can learn on their own to have. This is a bit more involved. It is teaching them 'how to fish'.
3. motivating others to fulfill the calling of their life. To know his identity, his being through your own experience and sharing of your have's.  I must quickly add that a person calling is not just about full-time ministry as a missionary or pastor. But be what God makes you to be - be in any profession or works and excel in it. It is about expanding your influence in your unique sphere of work, family and social life for God.

Be Graceful in Our Criticism

If one was to read through the posts of the internet about people and their beliefs, we can find that the distinguished quality of a Christian, sadly to say, is not love, but a critical spirit of criticism. We are so quick to quote a verse, a statement, a clip of video, a paragraph from a book, and condemn the author and speaker as a false teacher, preacher, prophets preaching lies, doctrines of the devils, heretics, etc, etc. All in the name of truth. In the name of rightly dividing the words. In name of arresting lies at its source. We are so afraid that others may be easily misled, whereas we are smarter and we don't.

There are many criticisms against the Word of Faith preachers like EW Kenyon, Hagin, Copeland, etc. Against grace preacher like Joseph Prince,  Watchman Nee, etc. Against more seeker-friendly like Rick Warren etc Against evangelist like Billy Graham etc. Against the Calvinist preachers. Against the Armenians preachers etc. It is not that I am agreeing fully with the above list of preachers and doctrines, but that we should do a better job of pointing out where the error is, where is the truth (mostly ignored), and refrain from labeling and attacking the people. We are taught to judge. We know how to take the nutrients and spit out the bones or toxin. It is not uncommon to find that the very people who are being criticized as false, are also preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, of salvation through Jesus Christ by faith in Him and are bringing many people into the Kingdom of God. How one is saved will make for a full discussion by itself. I will address it in future if I have not already done so in my postings here. But in this post, I wish to present some guidelines for graceful criticism. I need to quote this by someone great person "In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity."

Again, one can spend much time debating what is the essential minimum of the Gospel of Christ. But here is the proposed framework:

1. Present a higher level framework or model of the truth
2. Say what is the right truth of the saying (this will help us to be less critical emotionally)
3. Say what is the wrong part of the saying
4. Don't attack the person. Just stay on the saying.
5. Please remember to check the context of the saying. Did we quote the saying out of context? 
6. Abstain from imposing your opinion as to the intention of the speaker. We are no God and we do not know the intention of the speaker. Stay on the saying.

Coming back on the 'Grace' Preacher.

The essential for most Christians is "Salvation is by Grace through Faith in Christ Jesus"(Eph 2:8-9). The differences come in the subsequent phase of sanctification. Some forgot that we need grace too, in this sanctification process. An in-depth discussion of this is given in  Degree of Grace - From Grace-less to Ultra-Grace.

The sufficiency of Christ's death on the cross to save from our sins is very very important. The only part we play is our humble acceptance of Christ's redemption work for us. We don't add any more to a completed work of Christ. We just receive and trust Him and go on for it. Our salvation is not dependent on us and we could not spoil it is a great assurance to those being abused by some Church leaders who use fear to drive their members to participate in church activities and tithings. Our salvation is based on Christ and not on us. Christ salvation is not just for paying the penalty of sins, removal of sins from our life, but most important of all, a new birth, a new creation in Zoe (God's kind) Life. Without the rebirth of the Holy Spirit into God's kind of life, we cannot have an intimate relationship with God and we do not have the attributes of Godly life. We have new godly attributed life, we are righteous and can, therefore, walk in righteousness. Grace is the empowerment for us to do the things we could not formerly do (in our sinful nature) but now we are able to do - the righteous and godly things that glorify God. While we don't have to follow the Laws to be saved, yet our lives should have conduct that surpasses the requirements of the Laws. The Laws become a minimum checklist mirror for us reflect and tell us our new godly life.

While we are not saved by work, we are saved for good work. Most grace preachers quote Eph 2:8-9 but forgot about the immediate subsequent verse 10 which says "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them". How is God glorified? Through our conduct in this life. We are called to be salt and light to the world. Matt 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. 

How can we live out this Christ live within us? By faith is shown in obedience and good work. 1Thess 1:3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. This is what James tried to point out that faith(internal) without work(external expression of inward faith) is dead. James 2:17.

The potential error of grace preachers(e.g. Joseph Prince) is the neglect of emphasizing the obedience of good work of faith. Work tends to be taken as work of the flesh and then condemned (see Fleshy Work & Spiritual Work).  

There is also the neglect of the time element of growth. Complete is mistakenly taken as already arrived rather than complete, completely equipped, with Christ within, to begin this new life of GROWTH into the maturity of Christ (Full Image of Rom 8:29). A durian seed is not a durian fruit. Both are complete durian except one is the seed of potential and one is an end result fruit of a grown durian tree. A seed is complete. Plant it and it will grow to a tree and bear fruit.  An incomplete seed will not grow. Like a fertilized egg, given the right temperature and time, it will hatch to become a chick. An unfertilized egg is incomplete and no matter how long you put at the hatching temperature, no chick will come out of it.


This process of growth will include discipline, training, trials, testings to build up one's Christ's like character. While Christian life may not be a bed of roses, it is a journey of overcoming victories with Christ within and along with us. I recalled a preacher said that Billy Graham, with all the accomplishments, can only say "It is all the grace of God". Grace is not needed if all we want to do is sit at home. Grace is only needed when we move out in faith to answer the calling of God. It is work of faith and of grace that brings glory to God and to ourselves! Because God works through us. We become the heads and not the tails. God help us and we share in His glory. It is all grace, from the beginning of salvation to sanctification to glorification. Praise and thanks to God for saving us and using us to be part of His great work.


A summary of Grace doctrine in the mind-map format: