Does Christmas mean any thing besides merry-making, gift-giving, parties, decorations, lights and all related activities that make our internal states hurried and harried? Should Christmas have any effect on us and make us change, or should it be just one of those holidays we use to enjoy more and pursue better our own personal pleasures which in our minds are none of any body’s business including God’s?
May we pause a bit from the hustle and bustle of this season and appreciate the significance of its reason?
Of course, we know: it’s simply the birthday of the one they call Jesus. “What’s up with that, dude?” We all celebrate birthdays… And yet why such a fuss? Why make the celebration so long and why is it such a good excuse for more merchandise and more commerce? Why the temporal and material hullabaloo?
Christian religious leaders would tell us: this date in December and the days before and after it are significant because they herald and mark the coming of the Savior of the world. Materialists would say: what has been saved of the world in all your years of celebrating Christmas? But they would add: please go on; we’re making more money out of your celebration; so we support you!
Is it possible that the materialist prism prevents people from seeing the non-material essence of Christmas as a personal choice of soul and spirit? Could it be that we don’t pay attention to the internal preferences we each have to make in order to be endowed with the blessings of redemption?
Could it be that we simply overlook the spiritual substance of the Word – the beginning and the end – coming into the continuing present in the form of a Body (which has been given up, once and for all time, for our healing and blessings) and through the nourishment of His Blood (which has been shed, also once and for all time, for our eternal salvation)?
In pawn shops, a valuable is placed as collateral for payment of a loan below the true value of the precious thing and it is redeemed by payment of the amount received with some interest; if payment is not made on time, the valuable becomes property of the pawn shop.
Each one of us is a jewel of great value to the Lord God Almighty. He wants us (His Divine sparks) to be one with Him forever. He so values and loves us that He begat His Son by the power of the Holy Spirit through the Virgin Mary, which event we now celebrate. It was such a materially insignificant event with the baby swaddled in wrapping clothes, placed on a cattle feeding trough, and announced by angels only to the shepherds (low class people) albeit Magi from afar were allowed to see His star. Though unheralded to every body else, the interpreted significance of this birth soon led to the massacre of so many innocents because power-mad Herod felt so threatened by the idea that wise men from the east came asking to pay homage to a baby born as ‘King of the Jews’ which man-concocted title he held at that time.
The true significance of that birth is our eternal redemption.
Jesus came to pay the price of our sins, plus interest, with His Body and His Blood. He has done all that was ever needed, and more, for our redemption, salvation and ransom. Consummatum est. But there is a little catch. He does not force upon us His Love, His Sacrifice, His Forgiveness and the Freedom from fear and guilt that are the consequences of our repentance and acceptance of Him as Redeemer. We have to exercise our free will and freely accept, take and receive Him as Lord and Savior and to repent of our sins – all in faith…
The birth, ministry, death, and resurrection of Christ (“The Anointed One”) also known in Hebrew as Joshua or Yeshua, in Greek, Iesous (“Yahweh helps”; “Yahweh saves”) and as Emmanuel (“God is with us” reinforced in His promise after the resurrection “I am with you always until the end of the age”), give us humans the opportunity to change our default or pawn destination which is hell, hocked by Satan-induced pride in Paradise resulting in selfish, egoistic and ungodly choices, which proclivity and weakness we have inherited and carnally manifested for uncounted generations, even as we remain endowed with free will and God’s image as we were made.
By our free and unforced acceptance of Jesus as Lord and Savior, that default direction or pawn forfeiture in hell gets changed to heaven as well as to guilt-free and fear-free living, because when we repent of our sins and receive Him (get baptized in the name of The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit), our sin-inclined carnal souls die with Him (through His ever-present Sacrifice-for-all-Time that, by His Blood, washes off our sins and our fear-guilt complex) and we resurrect with Him (get born again, clean and white as snow) in His Spirit, Who empowers us to learn, live, obey, manifest and share God’s Love. In Jesus, there is no more condemnation! If we sin again and repent anew, Jesus Christ is our Advocate before the Father!
To secure true blessings from His Redemption, we have to choose Him and His Spirit in the Kingdom within. This personal choice is and ought to be our main focus of celebration and sharing at Christmastime, not material gifts, Santa Claus, Christmas trees, bling-blings, occasions to splurge or any other material or physical thing or sensation our passions may lust for.
The foundation of that choice or the center, core and quintessence of Christmas is Jesus Christ.
Let Him, His Grace and His Redemption not be adulterated or denatured by the dictatorship of political correctness. Let those who want to say and use Happy Holidays do so freely. We do not have the right to make them say and use Merry Christmas. Equally, they too do not have the right to make us say and use Happy Holidays. In the full exercise of our freedom of thought and of communication, let us express without hesitation what is in our hearts - Merry Christmas - while respecting and encouraging their right to express what is in theirs.
We the followers of Christ constitute His body. His body is also His temple. And now it seems the slow-creep of consumerism over the years has overgrown and is suffocating us, His temple, preventing us from seeing and appreciating the true meaning of His infinite love and mercy, which obstructive taking up of space and attention seems to parallel the eventual temple occupation by money-lenders (den of thieves) in His time.
Perhaps it is time for us to cleanse our temple of this external material focus of consuming more and more all for show. Perhaps it is time to give our attention to having Him more and more in us, and keeping less and less of our ego and pride. Perhaps it is time to celebrate Christmas with the prayer: “more of You, Lord, less of me; more of You, less of me…until there is no more me, only You…”
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
LIFE AND SELF
we spend our lives sliding with alacrity down the attractive slippery slope of
what turns out to be a whitewater experience that could be one, some or all of pelf, pleasure, possession, position, power… while avoiding or pushing away like jutting boulders and crags aches, complications, obligations, pains, responsibilities and troubles…
instead of living, moving and having our being in the One-Source-Of-All where all we need to be content, fulfilled, happy and peaceful are already present…set on a table… awaiting our savouring…in gratitude and oneness with the Father, in, with and through Jesus, the Christ, in unity with the Holy Spirit…
we live in the prison of self which is the “i” deludedly believing in the illusion of the ego – edging god out – that it is separate from and even a counterpoint to the Most High; identifying itself with incompleteness and inadequacy, this “i” engages in unending “sisyphusian” efforts at self-improvement, not realizing that every added “strength”, “capability”, “knowledge”, “flexibility” and other “desired attribute or possession” brings with it its own seeds of frustration and despair…
the Light of God reveals that the prison of self does not really exist but is merely the strongly-held illusion of the deluded “i” which also does not really exist in Self;
we free ourselves from this delusion-illusion by being aware that we are part of and one with Self, by having a personal connection to and relationship with the Almighty, and by living in faith not by sight: that He created us in His own image – good, perfect, whole; that we have been redeemed despite our sinfulness, mercy abounds for us and all we need do is accept Jesus and His sacrifice as our salvation while repenting of our sins; and that when Jesus is alive in us, we live, move, walk in the charmed circle of His infinite Love, where all things we need are already present and where we grow in the guidance of the Holy Spirit…
what turns out to be a whitewater experience that could be one, some or all of pelf, pleasure, possession, position, power… while avoiding or pushing away like jutting boulders and crags aches, complications, obligations, pains, responsibilities and troubles…
instead of living, moving and having our being in the One-Source-Of-All where all we need to be content, fulfilled, happy and peaceful are already present…set on a table… awaiting our savouring…in gratitude and oneness with the Father, in, with and through Jesus, the Christ, in unity with the Holy Spirit…
we live in the prison of self which is the “i” deludedly believing in the illusion of the ego – edging god out – that it is separate from and even a counterpoint to the Most High; identifying itself with incompleteness and inadequacy, this “i” engages in unending “sisyphusian” efforts at self-improvement, not realizing that every added “strength”, “capability”, “knowledge”, “flexibility” and other “desired attribute or possession” brings with it its own seeds of frustration and despair…
the Light of God reveals that the prison of self does not really exist but is merely the strongly-held illusion of the deluded “i” which also does not really exist in Self;
we free ourselves from this delusion-illusion by being aware that we are part of and one with Self, by having a personal connection to and relationship with the Almighty, and by living in faith not by sight: that He created us in His own image – good, perfect, whole; that we have been redeemed despite our sinfulness, mercy abounds for us and all we need do is accept Jesus and His sacrifice as our salvation while repenting of our sins; and that when Jesus is alive in us, we live, move, walk in the charmed circle of His infinite Love, where all things we need are already present and where we grow in the guidance of the Holy Spirit…
Thursday, October 20, 2011
DO YOU KNOW?
DO YOU KNOW?
My Friend,
Do you know that each one of us is:
a beam of God’s awesome Light that shines on
and reaches beyond All Universes?
a drop of God’s all-encompassing, unfathomable
and never-ending Ocean of Love?
a grain of God’s infinite, ever-shifting yet
ever-consistent Sands of Time?
a creative word of God’s unlimited and eternal
Word – the Alpha and the Omega?
Do you know that because we are sparks of His Divinity
God cannot help but love us even unto death?
And that is why despite our sinfulness – blinded as we are
by pride, greed, gluttony, lust, sloth, envy and wrath -
He still loved us so much that He gave His only begotten
Son to become both sacrificial lamb and escape goat;
to be the final sacrifice according to the laws given
through Moses so that God’s covenant with Abraham
got sealed with the blood of the Christ and its blessings
got delivered once and for all time – consummatum est?
Do you know that the blessings in the Abrahamic covenant
are eternal salvation, health, prosperity and well-being of
family and they are ours by grafting in, with and through Jesus?
Do you know that through Jesus, in faith and by free choice,
accepting, receiving and declaring Him as our Lord and Savior:
we, too, are gods, sons or daughters of God and co-heirs of Jesus?
Do you know that by choosing Life in, with and through Jesus, the Lord,
we in effect change our default destination from hell to heaven?
Because when we accept Him in the name of The Father, The Son and
The Holy Spirit, we die with Jesus to our carnal nature and we resurrect
with Him in the Spirit who empowers and enables us to live and obey
the law of Love?
Do you know that indeed without faith we
cannot have any salvation and redemption?
But that even with faith that gets us invited to the Lord’s
wedding feast, we could still be thrown out for not having the
right garment of righteousness and obedience to the Father?
Also, that even with faith that showers down talents
the Lord expects us to invest His Word and gifts
otherwise we will be adjudged wicked and lazy?
And that with faith receiving the seeds of His Word,
we are expected to be good soil bearing much fruit
and not be distracted by affliction or persecution,
by worldly worry or the deceitfulness of wealth?
Do you know that all we ever need are already done –
His Mercy, His Forgiveness, His Healing, His Abundance,
His Joy, His Peace - have all been prepared for us by Christ
and set as a table before us in the presence of our enemies
and that unbelief bars us from them?
Do you remember Jesus said: ask and you shall receive,
seek and you shall find, knock and it will be opened to you?
Shall we not then ask His help with our unbelief, so that when
we pray we can believe we already have what we pray for?
Shall we not seek the Holy Spirit’s help Who groans in prayer
for us because we do not know how to pray to the Father?
Shall we not knock on the Holy Spirit’s heart Who readily
aids us with knowledge, understanding, wisdom, discernment?
Do you recall Jesus saying that His true followers are those who
hear his words and obey them, and that His true kin are those
who do the will of the Father? Shouldn’t we hear, obey and do?
Do you know that, for Love, Jesus was sent as The Atonement so that
we can be At-One-Ment with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit?
Shall we not then ponder on and appreciate these, my friend?
And thus dwell in the Shelter of the Most High and abide in His Shadow?
And, knowing the Almighty respects our free will, choose wisely?
Edwin D. Bael
ambachrist@gmail.com
My Friend,
Do you know that each one of us is:
a beam of God’s awesome Light that shines on
and reaches beyond All Universes?
a drop of God’s all-encompassing, unfathomable
and never-ending Ocean of Love?
a grain of God’s infinite, ever-shifting yet
ever-consistent Sands of Time?
a creative word of God’s unlimited and eternal
Word – the Alpha and the Omega?
Do you know that because we are sparks of His Divinity
God cannot help but love us even unto death?
And that is why despite our sinfulness – blinded as we are
by pride, greed, gluttony, lust, sloth, envy and wrath -
He still loved us so much that He gave His only begotten
Son to become both sacrificial lamb and escape goat;
to be the final sacrifice according to the laws given
through Moses so that God’s covenant with Abraham
got sealed with the blood of the Christ and its blessings
got delivered once and for all time – consummatum est?
Do you know that the blessings in the Abrahamic covenant
are eternal salvation, health, prosperity and well-being of
family and they are ours by grafting in, with and through Jesus?
Do you know that through Jesus, in faith and by free choice,
accepting, receiving and declaring Him as our Lord and Savior:
we, too, are gods, sons or daughters of God and co-heirs of Jesus?
Do you know that by choosing Life in, with and through Jesus, the Lord,
we in effect change our default destination from hell to heaven?
Because when we accept Him in the name of The Father, The Son and
The Holy Spirit, we die with Jesus to our carnal nature and we resurrect
with Him in the Spirit who empowers and enables us to live and obey
the law of Love?
Do you know that indeed without faith we
cannot have any salvation and redemption?
But that even with faith that gets us invited to the Lord’s
wedding feast, we could still be thrown out for not having the
right garment of righteousness and obedience to the Father?
Also, that even with faith that showers down talents
the Lord expects us to invest His Word and gifts
otherwise we will be adjudged wicked and lazy?
And that with faith receiving the seeds of His Word,
we are expected to be good soil bearing much fruit
and not be distracted by affliction or persecution,
by worldly worry or the deceitfulness of wealth?
Do you know that all we ever need are already done –
His Mercy, His Forgiveness, His Healing, His Abundance,
His Joy, His Peace - have all been prepared for us by Christ
and set as a table before us in the presence of our enemies
and that unbelief bars us from them?
Do you remember Jesus said: ask and you shall receive,
seek and you shall find, knock and it will be opened to you?
Shall we not then ask His help with our unbelief, so that when
we pray we can believe we already have what we pray for?
Shall we not seek the Holy Spirit’s help Who groans in prayer
for us because we do not know how to pray to the Father?
Shall we not knock on the Holy Spirit’s heart Who readily
aids us with knowledge, understanding, wisdom, discernment?
Do you recall Jesus saying that His true followers are those who
hear his words and obey them, and that His true kin are those
who do the will of the Father? Shouldn’t we hear, obey and do?
Do you know that, for Love, Jesus was sent as The Atonement so that
we can be At-One-Ment with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit?
Shall we not then ponder on and appreciate these, my friend?
And thus dwell in the Shelter of the Most High and abide in His Shadow?
And, knowing the Almighty respects our free will, choose wisely?
Edwin D. Bael
ambachrist@gmail.com
Friday, February 18, 2011
ATTY. JESUS CHRIST
We have heard lots of jibes against lawyers. Classic is the following exchange: “How would you like your coffee, Sir?” asks the waitress; “Black as a lawyer’s soul” says the customer. Of course, lawyers’ souls have the same characteristics as those of other humans; but they have become portrayed as black in the sense of being evil. ‘Liar’ is a common appellation, perhaps because in advocating one’s theory of the case, a lawyer - whether for the complainant or the defendant - must stick to that line which the other party would tend to think is a lie being contrary to that party’s viewpoint; both advocates then tend to be seen as ‘liars’ from the prejudiced perspective of the opposing group. But this is only a result of the judicial adversarial process, which human civilization has come to accept as the less costly way of settling disputes than killing each other in battle. Put another way, lawyers engage in debates to ferret out the truth in a case and establish the ‘proofs of facts’ of their respective theories, thereby giving judges proper grounds for finding ‘judicial truths’ which, together with applicable law and jurisprudence (established decisions held as precedents) form the bases of new decisions. Seen from this angle, lawyers serve as champions of their respective clients in the legal arena so that truth can be illuminated and seen from as many sides as possible or at least from those of the contending parties. This happens in the earthly realm.
In the spiritual realm, there is a heavenly Supreme Court, where only two can appear before the Final Judge, namely: the accuser of the brethren (Satan) and the advocate of love and light (Jesus). The Bible’s books of Job and Revelation identify Satan as the accuser. In the book entitled “The Strategy of Satan”, Satan’s attack modes are uncovered and revealed as that of deceiver, destroyer, ruler, and accuser. He deceives our minds with lies to make us ignorant of God’s will; he destroys our bodies with suffering to make us impatient with God; he rules our will by fomenting pride in ego to make us independent of God’s will; and he accuses our hearts and consciences to make us feel and believe we are indicted by God and so can do nothing about our sins. 1/ In the Our Father’s ‘but deliver us from evil’ petition, evil is not an abstraction, but refers to a person, Satan, the Evil One, the angel who opposes God. The devil (diabolos) is the one who "throws himself across" God's plan and his work of salvation accomplished in Christ. "A murderer from the beginning” ... “a liar and the father of lies", Satan is "the deceiver of the whole world.".... 2/
Standing at the bar against Satan is our righteous advocate, Jesus Christ. “My children, I am writing this to you so that you may not commit sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one. He is expiation for our sins and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world.” 3/ As the spotless One Who, being Love Divine, paid the full price to redeem us with His excruciating passion and death on the cross (consummatum est – it is done), yet Who gloriously resurrected from the dead and ascended to heaven, Jesus gives us: (a) the inspired Word of God against deception; (b) the imparted grace against physical suffering; (c) the indwelling Spirit of God against pride; and (d) Himself, the interceding Son, against accusations of sin assailing our hearts and consciences, assuring us that God forgives our sins if we are truly sorry for them and if we ask the Father’s forgiveness in His name. As our representative through the merits of His atonement, Jesus gives us the chance to change our default destination (hell) by our acceptance of what He has already done: He enabled us to be at-one-ment with the Father (in heaven) and allowed us to abide in the Holy Spirit while we live on earth. Thus it was written: “Just as through one transgression condemnation came upon all, so, through one righteous act, acquittal and life came to all”.4/ But we must exercise our free will and ask Him to be our Lord. Without being invited, He can not and does not enter our hearts nor give us the joy of being born again in the Spirit and thus He could not impart to us the grace of "acquittal and life". Having breathed God’s spirit and image into each one of us, He respects us – a respect we might want to emulate when dealing with kin, kith and others.
So every time we encounter anyone negatively portraying a lawyer and/or his/her soul, there is always the other portrait that balances and overcomes it: Atty. Jesus Christ. The same principle applies to other professions, thus one could say: Dr. Jesus Christ, Teacher Jesus Christ, etc. But the choice of which image to accept is always ours.
_____________________________________
1/ Warren Wiersbe, Tyndale House, 1979
2/ Catechism of the Catholic Church #s 2851 & 2852
3/ 1 John 2:1-2, NAB
4/ Romans 5:18, NAB
In the spiritual realm, there is a heavenly Supreme Court, where only two can appear before the Final Judge, namely: the accuser of the brethren (Satan) and the advocate of love and light (Jesus). The Bible’s books of Job and Revelation identify Satan as the accuser. In the book entitled “The Strategy of Satan”, Satan’s attack modes are uncovered and revealed as that of deceiver, destroyer, ruler, and accuser. He deceives our minds with lies to make us ignorant of God’s will; he destroys our bodies with suffering to make us impatient with God; he rules our will by fomenting pride in ego to make us independent of God’s will; and he accuses our hearts and consciences to make us feel and believe we are indicted by God and so can do nothing about our sins. 1/ In the Our Father’s ‘but deliver us from evil’ petition, evil is not an abstraction, but refers to a person, Satan, the Evil One, the angel who opposes God. The devil (diabolos) is the one who "throws himself across" God's plan and his work of salvation accomplished in Christ. "A murderer from the beginning” ... “a liar and the father of lies", Satan is "the deceiver of the whole world.".... 2/
Standing at the bar against Satan is our righteous advocate, Jesus Christ. “My children, I am writing this to you so that you may not commit sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one. He is expiation for our sins and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world.” 3/ As the spotless One Who, being Love Divine, paid the full price to redeem us with His excruciating passion and death on the cross (consummatum est – it is done), yet Who gloriously resurrected from the dead and ascended to heaven, Jesus gives us: (a) the inspired Word of God against deception; (b) the imparted grace against physical suffering; (c) the indwelling Spirit of God against pride; and (d) Himself, the interceding Son, against accusations of sin assailing our hearts and consciences, assuring us that God forgives our sins if we are truly sorry for them and if we ask the Father’s forgiveness in His name. As our representative through the merits of His atonement, Jesus gives us the chance to change our default destination (hell) by our acceptance of what He has already done: He enabled us to be at-one-ment with the Father (in heaven) and allowed us to abide in the Holy Spirit while we live on earth. Thus it was written: “Just as through one transgression condemnation came upon all, so, through one righteous act, acquittal and life came to all”.4/ But we must exercise our free will and ask Him to be our Lord. Without being invited, He can not and does not enter our hearts nor give us the joy of being born again in the Spirit and thus He could not impart to us the grace of "acquittal and life". Having breathed God’s spirit and image into each one of us, He respects us – a respect we might want to emulate when dealing with kin, kith and others.
So every time we encounter anyone negatively portraying a lawyer and/or his/her soul, there is always the other portrait that balances and overcomes it: Atty. Jesus Christ. The same principle applies to other professions, thus one could say: Dr. Jesus Christ, Teacher Jesus Christ, etc. But the choice of which image to accept is always ours.
_____________________________________
1/ Warren Wiersbe, Tyndale House, 1979
2/ Catechism of the Catholic Church #s 2851 & 2852
3/ 1 John 2:1-2, NAB
4/ Romans 5:18, NAB
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)