UNKNOWN

In the past week, I have been doing research on a health complications my dad is having at the moment. One thing that still remains from my research is that because the cause is unknown so also is the prevention unknown.

Even though there is active research, there are still no known causes. I have been reading through Ephesians and Colossians. In Ephesians 6 starting at verse 19 through 24.

19Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
21Tychicus, the dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you everything, so that you also may know how I am and what I am doing. 22I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage you.
23Peace to the brothers, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.
Ephesians 6:19-24

Paul is writing to the church in Ephesus. In the last chapter, he talks about obedience then the full armor of God. That is where we start.

Paul says whenever he opens his mouth he wants to boldly make known the mystery of the gospel. In Ephesians 3, Paul expounds upon the mystery in verse 6.

6This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

For this gospel, the gospel that breaks that dividing wall of hostility, the gospel that has a chief cornerstone, the gospel that has Gentiles as heirs together with Israel and the gospel for which Paul is willing to die for not on the testimony of others but himself.

To be known by Christ.

14Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. 16Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Because the cause is known, so also is the prevention.

This photo is called old and new. This photo reminds me of Paul's second letter to the church of Corinth.

Therefore if anyone
is in Christ,
he is a new creature;
the old things
passed away;
behold,
new things have come. 2 Corinthians 5:17

Paul is encouraging the church by literally saying as a matter of fact that the old has passed away factually (parerchomai) and now is new or recently made or fresh or recent or unused or unworn.

Now all these
things are from God,
who reconciled us
to Himself through Christ
and gave us the
ministry of reconciliation,
2 Corinthians 5:18

It is all about Christ and that he gave us the ministry or service opportunity of exchange. Ministry is service. It is one who executes the commands of others. That is the ministry Christ gave us. Other centered focus on bringing people to Jesus.

namely,
that God was
in Christ reconciling
the world to Himself,
not counting their trespasses
against them, and He has committed
to us the word of reconciliation.
2 Corinthians 5:19

Twenty-Five!

Finally, I can rent of car and not pay the 25 and under fee. I will have lower car insurance, unless I get in an accident to raise my monthly rate. If I did not get any of those benefits, it does not matter. I am breathing. I thank God for breathing.

I started the day of my birthday with a Destiny(niece) on my chest then blessed me with vomit to the shirt. A wonderful big breakfast. I went to the park with my family. Relaxed until it was time to go to Hannah's graduation. After the graduation, it was a great time of food, fellowship and exhortation.

Leading up to May 22, I was reflecting on this verse.

A good name
is better than fine perfume,
and the day of death
better than the day of birth.
Ecclesiates 7:1

This verse as well:

A good name
is more desirable than great riches;
to be esteemed is
better than silver or gold.
Proverbs 22:1

TICKET!

Raffles always are popular at work because the ideal of a chance to win motivates the staff to participate. Raffles remind me of Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory. I was humming the song I've got a golden ticket. I was skipping around going to drink out of an endless fountain of milk chocolate or at least in my head. It is funny how simple things like a raffle could bring such joy.

In reflection about joy, The church of the Thessalonians comes to mind.

16Be joyful always;
17pray continually;
18give thanks
in all circumstances, for this
is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Paul gives the church final instructions. In verse 16, it is a command for them to rejoice exceedingly. Even in the midst of suffering.
6You became imitators of us
and of the Lord;
in spite of severe suffering,
you welcomed the message with
the joy given by the
Holy Spirit. 7And so you
became a model to all the
believers in Macedonia and Achaia.
8The Lord's message rang out
from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—
your faith in God has
become known everywhere. Therefore we
do not need to say
anything about it,
9for they themselves report what kind of reception
you gave us. They tell
how you turned to God
from idols to serve the
living and true God,
10and to wait for
his Son from heaven,
whom he raised from
the dead—Jesus, who rescues
us from the coming wrath.
- 1 Thessalonians 1:6-10

In verse 17 and 18, again, Paul is commanding them to pray (in all circumstances which includes suffering) and to give thanks, for thelema - the purpose of God or of what God wishes. So we give thanks for God sent his one and only Son to pay the penalty of sin. Because of sin the wrath of God is on you, which is why Jesus is our Propitiator.

I am reminded of this church because I was frustrated this morning at work but God used this ticket for me to give thanks. I was given a monotonous task was writing each staff member on a ticket. About halfway through, my boss says not to waste a ticket so write the names on both the top and bottom. She had no idea where I stopped to go to write on the bottom but God did. So, I wrote start at the beginning with a new set of names and literally when I finished the list every employee was counted for without waste. The tickets evened out without my counting them or anything. They evened out and I just laughed because certain tedious task frustrate me. Opening up envelopes and writing down someone's else name, do not ask why.

LAMENT!

The dictionary states that Lament is a cry of sorrow and grief; to express grief verbally and a mournful poem.

I reading through Lamentations currently and I am thoroughly enjoying it. I had some introductory hurdles but God got me through those opportunities. The book is still a little difficult to grasp considering the context as a whole.

One of my favorite passages is Lamentations 3:24-26 but the whole chapter of three is solid.

I say to myself,
"The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for
him." The LORD is good to those
whose hope is in him, to
the one who seeks him;
it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.
Lamentations 3:24-26

After careful reading, chapter 3 of Lamentations really captures the whole book. You have desolation, destruction, desert, and defilement in this book and in this chapter. Now, we know that all this happen as a result of disobedience. The best place that really encapsulates Israel's disobedience and the outcome is Deuteronomy 28:15-68.

In the first portion of the this chapter, we see the confusion, frustration and curses. In the latter portion we are reminded that the Lord is gracious and compassionate.

Deu 4:31 KJV - (For the LORD thy God [is]
a merciful God;) he will not
forsake thee, neither destroy thee,
nor forget the covenant of thy fathers
which he sware unto them.

Deu 4:32 KJV - For ask now
of the days that are past,
which were before thee,
since the day
that God created man upon the earth,
and [ask] from the one side of
heaven unto the other
, whether there hath been
[any such thing] as this great thing [is],
or hath been heard like it?

Deu 4:33 KJV - Did [ever] people hear
the voice of God speaking out of
the midst of the fire,
as thou hast heard, and live?

Deu 4:34 KJV - Or hath God
assayed to go [and] take him
a nation from the midst of
[another] nation, by temptations,
by signs, and by wonders,
and by war, and by a mighty hand,
and by a stretched out arm,
and by great terrors,
according to all that the LORD your God
did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

Deu 4:35 KJV - Unto thee it was shewed,
that thou mightest know that the LORD he [is] God;
[there is] none else beside him.

Deu 4:36 KJV - Out of heaven
he made thee to hear his voice,
that he might instruct thee:
and upon earth he shewed
thee his great fire;
and thou heardest his words
out of the midst of the fire.

Deu 4:37 KJV - And because he loved thy fathers,
therefore he chose their seed after them,
and brought thee out in his
sight with his mighty power out of Egypt;

Deu 4:38 KJV - To drive out nations
from before thee greater and mightier
than thou [art],
to bring thee in,
to give thee their land
[for] an inheritance,
as [it is] this day.

Deu 4:39 KJV - Know therefore this day,
and consider [it] in thine heart,
that the LORD he [is] God in heaven above,
and upon the earth beneath: [there is] none else.

Deu 4:40 KJV - Thou shalt keep therefore
his statutes, and his commandments,
which I command thee this day,
that it may go well with thee,
and with thy children after thee,
and that thou mayest prolong
[thy] days upon the earth, which the LORD thy God giveth thee,
for ever.


Let us lament. When we lament, it brings about a needed repentance and exaltation of our Great, Compassionate And Awesome LORD GOD.

CAREER?

I want to preface before I continue writing this blog.

Preface: In preparation to write this blog, I have read Working For God by Andrew Murray and the scriptures extensively.

This post has come out of several conversations with friends and even for myself I want to biblical go through this topic. Also, I remember listening to a chapel services from Dallas Theological Seminary on this very topic.

I want to pose a theme question. Can you work a career(job) and fulfill a calling at the same time?

You may read this and automatically say "yes!" I think the question is simplistic in nature but very complex because we need a proper definition of career and calling.

Career connotes objects of authority. When I think of a career, I think of one's occupation as defined by the dictionary. Another definition would be "a general progression of your working or professional life." When I think of career think of choice. You choose to receive training in this area and now you need "dadada (drumroll please)" experience. You work on experience to enable yourself to manage those with no experience some designated time in the future.

Is that it? Is there no more to working in a career than that? Not trying to demean the process but doesn't a follower of Christ live for more than that. Now, I do want to state that the work itself can be done to the glory of God.

Colossians 3:23 - "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,"

A career has objects, A calling has an object.

In the 27th chapter of Working for God he says, "The gospel never takes away anything from us without giving us something better in its stead. It meets the desire for riches by the command to be rich in good works. Good works are the coin that is current in God's kingdom: according to these will be the reward in the world to come. By abounding in good works we lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven. Even here on earth they constitute a treasure, in the testimony of a good conscience, in the consciousness of being well pleasing to God (1 John 3) in the power of blessing others."

Titus 2:14 - who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Calling.

John 1:12 - But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

When I think of calling, I think of life and the "Christian" answer Jesus giving His life for me. I think of the everyday of life, though. Calling does not have words like retirement. Your calling is a lifelong endeavor for the glory of God.

Andrew Murray spoke extensively about good works and the first passage of scripture that comes to mind is James 2:14-26 for me.

James 2:26 - For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

I do not like sharing stories of myself but I am qualify because that is what I am about to do. My very first job out of college that I took with a temporary mindset and the job was only temporary to me. Before I continue, when I say temporary I mean ready to leave and go do something else. I will perfect every task but I know this job has a definite end date. Initial it was in hopes to go overseas with the Peace Corps which requires a hard-earned Bachelor's degree. This job, however, does not need a degree. By definition, I would be over-qualified to work. I began to question statements or phrases like over-qualified, thank God it is Friday t.g.i.f, the weekend is almost here, or my favorite phrase when things are slow is to not say that it is slow. Who is over-qualified to work? Why thank God only for Friday? What happens when the weekend comes? What happens when you say it is slow or fast and how does that change the pace of work that is already taken place and will continue? Maybe, I have too much time on my hands to think about those kind of questions. Are those questions not valid, though?

If I can work, I work with all of my heart. Colossians 3:23,24 - Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
If I can give thanks, I thank God in unceasing reverence. 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18 - Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
If I can have weekends, I want to look for the opportunity to rest. I want to look for the opportunity to find solitude in Him. All the instances of Jesus withdrawing from the crowds and even the apostles. Here is one instance, Matthew 26:36-39 - Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, "Sit here, while I go over there and pray." And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me." And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will."

A career can only fill. A calling fulfills.

Do what you are called to do not what you are supposed to do.

I hope that answers the theme question.

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