Joie de Vivre A Wretched Man’s Quest To Follow Jesus Christ

Resurrection Sunday is over; most of us have been soberly reminded of the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ who came to bear upon Himself the suffering and death that we deserve for our sins so that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16)!

Many Christian blogs I visit on a regular basis celebrate the Resurrection in their posts and on quite a few occasions, I have left comments in agreement.

One comment I usually left was “Hallelujah! Our LORD is risen!”, and the first time I wrote it I had a prompting that has been on my mind since then — I was asked “What do you do now, then?”

I answered, “Er, Lord, love you with all my heart, soul, mind and strength and to love my neighbor as myself?” (Matthew 22:37-40, Mark 12:30-31, Luke 10:27)

“Besides that,” the prompting came.

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This article was written by John Piper March 19, 2008.
© Desiring God.

The love of Christ for us in his dying was as conscious as his suffering was intentional. “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us” (1 John 3:16). If he was intentional in laying down his life, it was for us. It was love. “When Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (John 13:1). Every step on the Calvary road meant, “I love you.”

Therefore, to feel the love of Christ in the laying down of his life, it helps to see how utterly intentional it was. Consider these five ways of seeing Christ’s intentionality in dying for us.

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Mike at Still A Night Owl tagged me with this meme to list at least two posts from blogs I read that have resonated with me.

Rules:

1. List at least two posts (with links) that have resonated with you. Do not include your own posts!
2. Give a brief explanation why you like the post.
3. Tag four other people.

Without further ado:

The Righteousness That Exceeds That of the Scribes and Pharisees

Mike Ratliff’s blog, Possessing The Treasure, is one that warrants a daily visit if you are into good, Biblical insights on the Christian life.

In The Righteousness That Exceeds That of the Scribes and Pharisees, Mike talks about how most Christians today have never experienced real Christianity because they are not regenerate and languish in the “Religion of Do“.

What is the Religion of Do? Mike sums it up succinctly to mean those who those who “… being full of unbelief, are in the process of developing their own righteousness and are working to be conformed to it.”

It’s a great reminder to us who seek to become matured, Spirit-filled believers that our lives must be “… saturated by the Word of God…” and our obedience to God includes our “… relationships with others.”

Christians Get Mercy And Grace

Ray Comfort’s Comfort Food is another must-visit-daily blog.

Though short, Christians Get Mercy And Grace is a lovely reminder.

Why We Shouldn’t Work for the World’s Applause

I kid not when I say that I do need to re-reference my dictionary on occasion when I read Daniel’s blog Reformata Et Semper Reformanda. That’s not to say that he doesn’t write well nor clearly, but that I like how sometimes I learn new terms whenever I visit his blog.

Why We Shouldn’t Work for the World’s Applause isn’t one of those posts that requires checking the dictionary, but a direct look at how as Christians we are susceptible to succumb to peer pressure and group-think in church.

We are to work for the applause of One — God — only.

Standing For Righteousness

I was particularly encouraged by how Justin at Awesome Purpose stood for righteousness at work in his account. Mostly, we just keep quiet and mind our own business when faced with ungodly speech or behavior because we don’t want to stick out like a sore thumb.

In the process, we become tolerant of ungodliness and that, if I might take the hypothesis a little further here, could translate into allowing the same forms of ungodliness creeping into our own lives. Just as how churches have invited heresy and worldliness in, bit by bit.

The Resurrection Was Not On Sunday

Finally, this topic of which day the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ fell on is amply and well-addressed by King’s Kid at her blog Just the WORD - Please!.

I have always maintained that the Lord’s Day is not Sunday, but that there’s Biblical evidence to indicate that the Resurrection was on the Sabbath instead of Easter Sunday. This post will help you with the math and see for yourself that there’s no new day or days that need be observed besides what God had ordained.

And now I tag:

1. Casey (You’re going to get tagged until you post something new, brother, ha ha!)
2. Shane
3. Shalene
4. Hannah (welcome back to blogging!)

Have a great week ahead!

Shalom Aleichem.

Reading all the hoopla surrounding the deaths of famous people like the recently-departed Heath Ledger and others in years past made me just wonder what today’s mass media might say about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ if the event were to be set in these days.

It just amazes me sometimes how much people grieve and mourn when their favorite celebrities (or idols, which I think would be a more appropriate word here) pass on, when the latter didn’t know them from Adam (or Eve) all that time.

Some even succumb to the extreme act of taking their own lives to either ‘be with their idols in the netherworld’ or to express their inconsolable grief, as in the case of a fan or two of some celebrities like Leslie Cheung (a Hong Kong actor/singer).

Don’t get me wrong — I am not against feeling sad over the death of one’s favorite celebrity, but such extremities are uncalled for in my opinion.

Anyhow, coming back to my thoughts…

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