Posts

Showing posts from June, 2016

"No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God." Luke 9:62

Obedience could be the hardest thing that a person could never really imagine. Oftentimes when we sing along on a mass “Kunin at tanggapin ang alay na ito. Mga biyayang nagmula sa pagpapala mo.” It’s all easy until we usually unconsciously utter “Lahat ng mga lungkot, ligaya’t pagsubok; lahat ng lakas at kahinaan ko; Inaalay ko’ng lahat buong pagkatao. Ito ay  isusunod sa’yo.” Easier said than done.  Looking back, if we check on ourselves, have we really offered everything to God? Are all the things we do were done for the glory of God? Are the problems, big or small, offered to God? Or do we do things for our own sake then just later thank God if it turned out well? Do we make sure that the things that we do honor him—sins included? Do we surrender every burden we have to Him or do we try to make things go our way? Do not be discouraged. This, perhaps, is the biggest challenge we Christians have: to fully be obedient to God’s call. It is indeed a challenge when we have to alw

“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."

Before you start reading, I want you to reflect for a short moment and ask yourself... Who do you say that Jesus is? In the gospel, Jesus was praying together with his disciples and He asked them who do they say that He is. The people randomly answered John the Baptist and Elijah... Some people from the crowd even answered that Jesus was an old prophet who has risen. After hearing what the people had said, Jesus shortly asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter immediately answered, "The Christ of God." After this, Jesus tells them that a time will come when the Son of Man must suffer, that He will be rejected by the elders and chief priests, that He will be killed, but will rise again on the 3rd day. Jesus said to them, "If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for My sake, will save it."  Through this gospel

"Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.” -Luke 7:47

Underserved love yet, given freely.   Ever since before, I've been really confused as to what this passage really means.  I understood it like this:  "The heavier the weight of the sin, the more your gratitude & love to our forgiving God." But is it really about the weight of the sin? Do we need to undergo a shameful bad past just to show a greater love & gratitude to God? Or is it about how we PERCEIVE what God has done for us?  In Jesus' parable, there were 2 debtors who owed money. They were both sinners(debtors). Undeserving of the love of God (the moneylender). No human action, no number of rules obeyed, could ever make them be worthy enough to "claim"  Gods love. It was out of Gods mercy and kindness that they were forgiven. And through the love we have received from God, we become able to love God back.  In the Gospel, there are 2 main characters who encountered Jesus:  Simon the Pharisee (Not Simon Peter) and the sinful Woman. A Phari