Hand in Hand

I wanted to share this quote that was shared during morning devotion two weeks ago,

"Truth tells us what we're supposed to do. 

Grace enables us to do what we should do."

It is not in our own wisdom or determination that enables to do
what is pleasing to God, it is only by grace.

//

In the last month of so,
(I have no sense of time in relation to how long my questions linger in my head),
I've been wondering about where one draws the line between truth and grace.
There is definitely endless possible situations that can occur that causes us to
feel stuck between clearly knowing that someone's character/personality/conduct is "wrong"
yet showing grace because they haven't been taught.

As far as I know, many times in the Bible,
Jesus got justly angry with the Pharisees and would rebuke them for their hypocrisy.
On the other hand, He shows grace to the vilest of sinners (according to society in that time)
which many people have difficulty doing here on earth,
and also speak Truths (because of His character and mercy) to them so that they can
 have an inward change of heart.

- on a side note, amazing how Jesus has mercy on them to teach them in a way that
takes into consideration their culture and societal norms -

So truth and grace go together, and can never or should never be seen separately based on
the different situations. That's also what I believe one's reaction to situations should be like.
If God shows grace to us who are unworthy of it, who are we to determine
if others are worthy recipients of our grace. Yet, we are not called to be weak,
instead we are to rebuke in God's love for the lost, and not out of anger.

Jesus has indeed lived a life on earth that teaches us and makes us think about so many things.
But there are so many lessons yet to be discovered and learned by an individual.
The more time we waste in refusing to submit our lives to Him,
the less time we have to experience His work in our lives through His Word.

But we also know that God is sovereign,
so no matter how many years we have "wasted", God uses them for His glory and work.
We usually can only see on hindsight, so I pray we don't keep
procrastinating our obedience because of distractions;
in the small and in the big decisions.

//

With love & in Christ,
Esther 

Being Content with Discontentment

To keep this short, you can do the following readings yourself :)

Read Ecclesiastes 1:1-14 (ESV)

Observe what the Teacher tried out/turn to in order to find meaning and fulfillment
and then what he discovered. 

Then read Ecclesiastes 2:24-25 
to hear what the Teacher (writer) wants us to understand about enjoyment on earth.

Read Ecclesiastes 9:1-12 
for a realization of why everything 'under the sun' is meaningless

and in view of that what can we hope for in life?

//

Ecclesiastes 1:13 (ESV)
"And I applied my heart* to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. 

It is an unhappy** business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with."

*The Hebrew term denotes the center of one's inner life, including mind, will, and emotions

**Other versions uses words such as 'grievous', 'heavy'. So its more than a "feeling".

Ecclesiastes 3:10-11 (ESV)

"I have seen the business* that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.
 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, 

yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end."

*NIV 1984 uses the word 'burden'

//

God has given us a desire for beauty, immortality and understanding that cannot be satisfied in this world.
That means that when we feel despair, it is normal, it means we haven't been too distracted

to seek understanding of the things around us. Which is by the grace of God.

Even when/if we have plenty of good things in life now,
the passage in Ecclesiastes helps us to understand why people can still feel utter despair about life.
It also personally helped me to understand that I wasn't weird in thinking that way haha
That "all work (even play) under the sun is in vain..."
- without God in the picture -

 Life in our physical universe is meaningless, regardless of who we are or how we live.

Therefore it is right and proper for us to feel blighted, even in our enjoyment
 it makes us face up to the truth about our lives
- we will decay and all our achievements and pursuits will be meaningless -
Those who are enjoying life also need to hear this.
We know that days of darkness will come to all of us,
and good friends will want to warn others out of their complacency.

It sounds so depressing doesn't it. Just thinking about it makes me feel depressed.
But because Jesus has died for our sins, God's act of love,
Those who believe and turn from their sin can now have the hope and assurance of
life after physical death.

//

I'm not saying it because "oh I want something good to look forward to",
but because God has shown me how sinful I am (humans are) in my (our) hearts
And then I realized - by God's grace - that we are totally dependable on Him.
In no way can we do anything to earn His favour, but to accept His grace with humbled hearts.

Even then, I do struggle with Satan's lies that "tells of the guilt within".
(Does it ring any bells? I like that song ^.^)
 "Upward I look and see Him there, who made an end to all my sin" ~ la la la! ^.^

Anyway, so because of that hope, there's a reason to live,
a reason to want to fight sin because we know victory is already on our side!
A hope that allows us to truly truly enjoy the enjoyment we have in this life.
Every good gift comes from the Lord, it's not "coincidence" it's not "incidental"
it's intentional, it's a gift. ^.^
"...how much more would our Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him.."
Matthew 7:11

But it's good to note that whenever we read something in the Bible,
we have to check if it's in line with God's character and whether there are teachings
 elsewhere in the Bible regarding that topic eg. 'blessings' so that we don't misinterpret it.
But that's for another time ;)

//

How apt, the time I was writing this blog post, I read another one of Jiamin's quotes :)

"Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Don't wait for something outside of yourself 
to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend,
whether it's at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored."

- Earl Nightingale 

With love & in Christ,
Esther