Free iPad!

For facebook users…did you receive a post that said this:  Hey “your name” I cant believe it, I actually got a free ipad to test out and keep. They are only giving away a limited supply, so I'm showing you this. There are still giving them away from the new years overstock! I absolutely LOVE the iPad :).  Ok, so did you click it?  Were you excited about the fact that you also could get a FREE iPad!  If you did, it’s either a “worm” entered your computer and sent this to all those in your friend list, or it was a deadly virus that hacked your account and closed it.  Or nothing happened.  Or, what’s worse, is that you really got a free iPad and that’s going to make me regret not clicking it!

But most probably nothing happened.  And when that happens, don’t you end up feeling like a fool for actually clicking on something, hoping to get something really big or expensive, but ended up with nothing?  Well, that’s what all of those worms or viruses do – they attract our attention, prey on the desires of our heart, and then when we click – bang!  we’re caught in their trap.  And you see it in your wall – your friends who clicked it are sending the same thing to everyone in their friend list.

That’s exactly how temptation works.  And if we’re falling into it in facebook, I wonder how we’re doing in our everyday life?
James 1:14-15 (NIV)
14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.
15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

The picture used by James here is that of a fish attracted to a bait, running after it because it looks delicious, not knowing that it is stuck to a hook.  And when the fish bites it is caught.  It ends up in the frying pan.  The same thing happens when we are tempted.  The sin looks so enticing, so delicious, too good to turn away from.  When Satan tempts us, he’s not going to show us the consequence of what we’re going to do, or the ugliness of the sin.  He’s going to focus on how good you will feel, how much you will enjoy it – even if it’s just for a few seconds.  And when we bite…bang!  We’re caught in the sin, and suddenly all the ugliness of what we did sinks in, and we feel bad.  Then the tempter becomes the accuser – He will accuse us to our face, making us feel down, depressed, causing us to fall away from God.

How important it is to temper our desires.  No, more than that, how important it is for us to surrender our desires to the Lord, and allow Him to place His desires, His will, His kingdom in our hearts.  Christians are not people who lift up their desires to the Lord.  Christians are those who live according to God’s desires for them.  “Your kingdom come, Your will be done…”.  How we’ve forgotten that aspect of the prayer the Lord taught us.

So, the next time we see a worm wiggling, or an iPad ad calling us to click.  Think twice, thrice even.
James 1:16-17 (NIV)
16 Don't be deceived, my dear brothers.
17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

If God has something good for you it may not necessarily come from a click of the mouse.  It will most probably come from working hard, saving up, and of course discerning well if that iPad (or whatever else you’re praying for) is really for you.

Blowing our Horn

I had a very interesting experience recently.  My car broke down and I had to borrow the L300 van of the church.  For the first few days of using the van I found out the horn was defective.  In other words it didn’t work.  And for Filipino driving the horn is very important!  Unlike in other countries where the blowing of the horn is considered disrespectful, here in our country the blowing of the horn is a necessity!  There are many occasions where we love to blow our horn.  When a car slowly or suddenly swerves towards us we blow the horn to warn them that we’re right beside them, or when they slow down at the middle of the road to talk to someone (yes, that still happens in less populated and small cities like where I live in) blowing the horn is important.  And with all the motorcycles and bikes in our roads it is so important to warn them that there are vehicles sharing the road with them!  Or even pedestrians who just choose to cross when and wherever they want to.  Of course there are those drivers who are just plain disrespectful, who blow the horn just like they talk, and just blow it whenever they want to.

And so imagine my predicament of driving a van without a horn!  It was a nightmare for a while!  Every time another car would slowly swerve my way, I couldn’t do anything but slow down.  When pedestrians would cross, I would be forced to give way.  And when driving beside a motorcycle or biker I would be watching them closely making sure that I would not hit them.

But after one day of adjusting, I found myself driving differently.  First I was driving slower, just to make sure that I did not bring myself into a situation where I needed to blow my horn.  If a car would swerve my way, I found myself giving way.  And if a car slowed down, or would not move right away when the traffic light turned green, I would just patiently wait, not able to blow the horn anyway to remind him to go.  It made me realize that there are times when we just blow our horn for such minor reasons that it becomes irritable, rather than necessary.

As I was driving I thought - this is what it must be like when we have to hold our words.  Just like cars we have a tendency to blow our horns, speak words recklessly and disrespectfully, whether it is called for or not.  Most of the time we are lead by our emotions, whether it is anger or irritation with others.  Sometimes, just like the traffic around us, people “swerve” into our space, or they may do things that we disagree with.  And we warn them, or shoo them away, with our words.

There are a number of commands of the Lord in Scripture that warn us of the misuse of our words.  For example:

Proverbs 17:27-28  A man of knowledge uses words with restraint, and a man of understanding is even-tempered.
Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue.

Using words with restraint is a characteristic of a man of knowledge.  Keeping silent and holding our tongue is a wise and discerning thing, even for a fool.  There are times we need to speak, but this does not mean that we speak what we want and when we want.  It always pays to discern and pray for what words to use.

Ephesians 4:29  Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

The use of our words must come from a proper and pure motive – to build others up according to their needs.  There are reckless people who need to be corrected.  There are those who hurt us, jump start our anger, who need to be told.  Never in Scripture is it taught for us to hold our emotion, even anger, but it is clear that the words we use are to be wholesome, encouraging, rather than destructive.

Let us live life as if our “horns” were defective.  If someone tries to swerve recklessly our way, or does something we disagree with, let us discern and pray before we blow off our words out of our mouth.  It is better to be silent, patient, understanding, rather than destroy someone with our words.

A “Baguio” experience

I miss Baguio.  Ever since I can remember, from the early 60’s when I was born, my family would always go up to Baguio.  It became a family tradition for us, going up summer time, and then again during Christmas time and new year.  Even when we were teenagers and we had our own gimmicks already, we would still find ourselves with the family.  Especially when I started to drive, and my Dad trusted me to drive up to Baguio – from that moment I looked for that drive, every opportunity to just go through the highways, and up Kennon road.  During my college days my friends and I (The “Friday Club” – Hi guys, just in case you’re reading this!) would just go up at the spur of the moment, leave at 4am, arrive just in time for breakfast at the old Camp John Hay, which was still a US base then.  Our family used to own a property that had a beautiful view of La Union and a river heading out to sea.  All of us would go and build a bonfire, roast marshmallows and hotdogs, and just enjoy nature at its best.  You can just imagine what me and my friends would do while we were there! 

Even when all of us siblings were married, my Dad would still plan trips to Baguio.  He made sure that the “apos”  would enjoy Baguio just as we did.  Eventually the trips lessened, and now that all of us have gone our separate ways, and our parents are now too old to travel, the Baguio trips with the whole family stopped.

Even when I was already in the ministry, and I needed a break, I would drive up by myself and just stay there and rest.  Both the drive and the place would be used by the Lord to restore my soul.  Any chance I could get to go up I would grab it.

That’s why I miss Baguio.  Last December I sort of shot up a small prayer to the Lord, wondering if we would have the time and budget to be able to visit Baguio again with my wife and kids.  But it didn’t push through.  But I’m still hoping that one day we will be able to go up and enjoy the place as much as I did.
But it wasn’t as if God didn’t answer my prayer.  A few days ago our church had a 3 day prayer and fasting in the foot of Mt. Kanlaon, in a place called Rafael Salas Nature Park.  When we arrived this was what greeted me:

                                               

                                            

                                            

The cool air, the fog, the trees and plants, the view – it all reminded me of being in Baguio.  And I found myself thanking the Lord for answering my prayer.  I wasn’t in Baguio, but He allowed me to enjoy the same cool air, the same ambience, that I was looking for.  He answered my prayer not by giving me exactly what I asked for, or by bringing me to Baguio, but in His own way.

This is how God answers prayer.  Many think that God is like a vendo machine (that’s what we used to call them) – choose what you want, drop a coin, and out it comes.  But it doesn’t work that way with the Lord.  Sure we have our desires…but God does too.  He has desires for us, desires that fit in with His kingdom and His plans for us.  So when we bring a prayer to the Lord many times He doesn’t answer us exactly as we wanted it to come out, but if we just sit down and rest on Him and trust Him we will eventually realize He does answer our prayers.

We are assured in His word that God is after our enjoyment:
1 Timothy 6:17 (NIV)
17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

But true enjoyment does not come from external things – circumstances, material things, wealth, etc.  True enjoyment comes from the heart.  One child can have enjoyment with his expensive “nerf” gun, while another child can have the same enjoyment with his gun made out of pieces of wood put together.
True enjoyment comes from being thankful, being content, and recognizing that all blessings, small or great, come from the hand of a God who loves us and does want us to enjoy life.  The Lord hasn’t answered my prayer to go to Baguio yet, but He did answer it by allowing me to enjoy a much simpler place but with a similar ambience.  And my soul was satisfied.

I pray your souls may be satisfied too with what God provides for you each day for your enjoyment.
Ecclesiastes 8:15 (NIV)
15 So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun.

True Friends

In facebook I always catch myself accepting a friend request from someone I don’t know.  The usual thing that I check is the “mutual friends” part.  Some I guess want to “friend” me because I am a friend of a friend, or sometimes it’s because there is a group or organization that connects us.  But it really hits me when the birthdays come up.  I find it hard to greet someone I don’t know a “happy birthday”.  I know I can just type it in their wall, and they will appreciate it.  But it seems very superficial to me.  So I usually don’t.  Whether they’re hurt or not I don’t know.  Sometimes I feel guilty, but realizing that facebook is just a social site, and not real life, the guilt usually flies away.  Of course this does not mean that I will not send a greeting from time to time to someone I don't really know, but generally I find it hard to greet someone I don't know.

Actually, that should work even for our real friends.  There are some who take facebook so seriously that when a friend does not respond, react or greet they are affected.  We need to be reminded that facebook is not real life.

Anyway, this lead me to reflect, and research – what does God say about true friends?  Who are our true friends?  Allow me to share what I have found.  It will help us bring our friends through the litmus test, and also test what kind of a friend we are.
1.  A true friend will not lead us away from the Lord.
Deuteronomy 13:6-8 (NIV)
6 If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, "Let us go and worship other gods" (gods that neither you nor your fathers have known,
7 gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other),
8 do not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him.

2.  A true friend will love at all times. 
Proverbs 17:17 (NIV)
17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
Let’s admit it, there are many times we are unlovable!  Those who love us no matter what are our true friends.

3.  A true friend is not just there because you have the money, or because you’re popular, or you have a nice car. 
Proverbs 18:24 (NIV)
24 A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a broth

4.  A true friend can be brutally honest, even when it hurts him to say it.  There are always times when we have to “wound” a friend.
Proverbs 27:6 (NIV)
6 Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.

5.  A true friend will give earnest, good and righteous counsel. 
Proverbs 27:9 (NIV)
9 Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of one's friend springs from his earnest counsel.

6.  A true friends will help a friend who has fallen.  This works also in relation to sin – a true friend will help a Christian get up from his sin, and not leave him to be kicked around by the devil.
Ecclesiastes 4:10 (NIV)
10 If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!

7.  A true friend will lay down his life for a true friend.
John 15:13 (NIV)
13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

This is why many consider Jesus as the truest of true friends.  Why?  Not only did Jesus lay down His life for us, but He lay down His life for us while we were still sinners!  That’s how much He loved us – enough to give up His life.  He did not have to, and He shouldn’t have.  But He did.  This is what makes Him the greatest friend that anyone can have.  It lasts up to eternity.

The Doctor Knows Best

The Doctor knows best.  Of course this does not mean that doctors are infallible and perfect, and that they can’t make mistakes.  But generally speaking our doctor knows what medicine to prescribe for our ailments.  I’m not talking about just any doctor out there, but the doctor who knows us, who has been checking us ever since.  Just like my doctor for my allergies – my asthma more specifically.  After all the tests and frequent visits I have made to her office because of my asthma she prescribed to me an inhaler that has practically solved my asthma problems – as long, of course, as I take it as prescribed.

Recently I ran out of that specific inhaler.  I was hesitant to buy a new one because of it’s price – very expensive.  It just so happened that a friend of mine had given me a free sample of another inhaler similar to what I was taking, but not exactly the same.  So I asked my doctor if I could take it instead, since I already had it with me.  My doctor told me that it wasn’t exactly the same dosage and medicine she prescribed, and that I should buy the usual one that she prescribed.

Well, as hard headed as I am (and cheap!  hehe) I decided to still use the free sample I had since, first of all, it was free!  And secondly, it might just work.  I tried it for a few days, but sadly it did not sustain my asthma, and I slowly started to “wheeze” and cough again.  So, eventually I ended up buying my usual doctor-prescribed inhaler.  And after just one puff my wheezing was gone!  I should have listened to my doctor from the beginning.  In this case the saying is true - “the doctor knows best”.

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

We do that with the Lord, too, don’t we?  Those of us who walk with God, know Him as our Savior and Lord, and who have made Him our Shepherd, know that God knows best.  He is always after our good.  All the commands, the standards of righteousness that He sets for us, are all the best for us, they’re all for our good.  Our hearts know that.  But sometimes we face life’s situations and problems with our own understanding, instead of following our Great Physician’s advice (of course God’s commands are not just “advice”, but commands meant to be obeyed).

And so what happens?  When a child of God disobeys God, and tries to do things his/her way, it just won’t work.  We have been transferred to the kingdom of light.  Dealing with things in the ways of the world, or with our flesh, just won’t do it.  We have to accomplish things in this life according to the ways of God’s kingdom, according to His ways, not ours.

This is why we are to trust in the Lord with all our heart.  When He says humble ourselves, we should do exactly that.  When He says forgive, we should forgive.  When He says walk in righteousness, we walk in righteousness.  In all our ways we are to acknowledge Him, and His ways, so that our paths may be straight.

Though we may not understand, His ways are still the best.

Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV)
8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.
9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.