Monthly Archives: March 2012

March 25, 2012 · 11:08 pm

Secret of Success – Resilience and what it means to be a Judas

There goes Judas resigningWinston Churchill famously described success as the ability to go from failure to failure with no loss in enthusiasm. He described success this way because he understood that the difference between successful people and people who fail is resilience. While successful people fail numerous times but are undeterred and keep going, people who are failures usually fail once, take it to heart, get discouraged and quit. Whereas Churchill may have been drawing on the example of a certain Thomas Edison whom it took over 1000-tries before finally inventing a working light-bulb, we have to look no further than the bible to see how the power of resilience leads to success.

Lightbulb MomentLight-bulb moment: As believers,  the word failure should never be a part of our vocabulary because God who is love (see 1 John 4:8) never fails (see 1 Corinthians 13:8). If we fail, it is because we give up on God and not because God gives up on us.

Lets explore the above statement further.

Peter, the most prominent of Christ’s disciples had an abundance of resilience or “bounce-back-ability”. Previously named Simon (which can be translated as a wavering reed; blown in any direction by the wind), he grew into the rock that Christ used to build the early church. I specifically use the word “grew” because Peter was no rock at the beginning of his voyage with Christ. After all, this was the chap that began to sink because of his lack of faith (see Matthew 14:30), the fellow to whom Jesus said “get thee behind me Satan” (fancy being called Satan); the guy that swore loyalty to Jesus but denied Him three times. And when Peter denied Him, he just did not say “I do not know that guy”, but he denied Him vehemently with an oath, a curse, and a swear (see Matthew 26:72 – 74).

Yet, it was this same Simon that Jesus called Cephas (stone) when He first met him (see John 1:42). Why? Jesus knew Peter had a certain quality and potential (just like all of us) about him. Despite his failings, Peter had the qualities of boldness, courage, and a never say die attitude. We know this because it was this same Peter that had the gall to step out of the boat and into the sea when the rest stayed; he was the one that boldly told Jesus that He would never wash his feet; He was the one that swiftly cut off the ear of a servant when the guards came to take Jesus.Through his actions, Peter tells us the following:

Lightbulb MomentLight-bulb moment: Rather than being namby-pamby believers, we ought to be bold and courageous warriors who take the Kingdom of heaven by force (see Matthew 11:12). Our boldness is in Christ, for we know there is nothing He cannot fix.

What was so impressive about Peter was his ability to forgive himself, pick himself up, and press on after making a mistake or a fool of himself. No matter what happened, Peter maintained a stone like quality – he was unmovable in spirit. Jesus could work with that! Perhaps this is why Jesus called him Cephas when he first met him. All Peter needed was direction, and Jesus gave him that.

Similar to Simon, Saul was a bold and zealous man. Once Jesus got a hold of Saul, He went to work on him so that a zeal that was once applied to persecute the church was re-aligned into zeal to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. Hallelujah! What a gift Paul became and continues to be to the modern day church.

Lightbulb MomentLight-bulb moment: Christ is able to mold us from Simon to Peter, from Saul to Paul, if we would just allow Him the time and not give up!

A man that did not allow Jesus to mold him but instead gave up was Judas. In a sense, Judas did not do anything that the other disciples did not do. Yes, Judas betrayed Jesus, but so did the other disciples. They betrayed His trust by abandoning Him once He was arrested (see Matthew 26:56) – especially Peter. Note that Judas’s betrayal was a betrayal of trust, for Jesus was hiding from no one but instead taught openly in the synagogues in Jerusalem where His detractors could have taken Him (see Matthew 26:55).

The difference between the disciples (especially Peter) and Judas was that while they bounced back from their betrayal, Judas chose not to bounce back from his. Instead of asking Jesus for forgiveness, he hung himself even before Jesus was ever tried and condemned to the cross. As far as we know, Judas (unlike Peter who failed numerous times but was resilient) failed once and gave up. He saw his failure (betrayal) as too grave and therefore hung himself.

Seriously! After seeing all the miracles that Jesus performed, the least Judas could have done was wait to see if Jesus was actually going to do what He had told the disciples (including Judas) and perform the “Houdini Act” of being resurrected.

“Now while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up”…….”

– Matthew 17: 22 – 23

But no! He allowed Satan to convince him there was no way to bounce back from his failure. If Judas had only waited a few more days, he would have experienced the forgiving love of His Savior.

Lightbulb MomentLight-bulb moment: We should never give up and hang our dreams because of our inadequacies and failures but rather, we should wait a few more days and wait for God to show up in our lives and shower His love upon us.

We always have to remember that no matter what we have done, no matter how many times we have failed, nothing can separate us from the love of God. We have to stay resilient and resist the negative jabs of the devil. We have to break up our fallow ground and allow Christ to mold us, and He will bless us in ways we have never imagined!

Food for thought: Just like the disciples, we are all guilty of betraying Jesus. We choose to become Judas when we choose to give up on God

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March 17, 2012 · 3:11 am

Superman’s Kryptonite – How did Jesus Stay Perfect?

We are all undergraduates in the school of righteousness. The moment we think we have graduated is when we become a menace to anyone we come across and society at large. If we fail to admit our weaknesses, it is because we are wearing a mask to hide our true identity, except it is more like a balaclava (what robbers wear in movies) rather than a super-hero’s mask. Many of us try to mask our weaknesses because we are uncomfortable with who we are and so are uncomfortable allowing others to see how we truly are. Unfortunately, this mask wearing is rampant amongst those of us that have convinced ourselves that being conformed to Jesus’s image is to be conformed to the image of perfection. While this is correct, what we get wrong is our definition of perfection. We wrongly convince ourselves that perfection means that we have no chinks in our armor – no fears, no wavering, and no weakness! Therefore, we wear the mask of false fortitude because we want to show ourselves “strong” for we do not want to be counted as a weakling!

But I have not yet found where in the bible being perfect is equated with having no weaknesses. What we find instead about being weak and being perfect is that we should rather boast in our weakness, for God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness through His grace (see 2 Corinthians 12:5,9). It is important to say here that this is not a license to sin. Rather the passage is telling us that we can only achieve perfection (not sin) through His grace and by His strength when we are weak (susceptible to temptation).

This is exactly what Jesus did – rely on God’s grace when He was weak! If you are asking yourself if I am saying that Jesus in his humanity had moments of weakness, then I am guilty as charged. Yes He did. The reason He is such a wonderful intercessor for us is because He himself had weak moments – times when he had chinks in His armor. Here is what the bible has to say about it.

“For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin” – Hebrews 4:15

Lightbulb MomentLight-bulb moment: Weaknesses are areas in our lives where we are susceptible to succumb to temptation (disobedience); this may be different for different people. Perfection for man is found in resisting temptation (not sinning) despite our weakness.

Now, we know that the devil tempts us at times and in areas we are weak – that is why we at times have crazy and unspeakable thoughts. It is not surprising that we are tempted for this earth is Satan’s domain (see Revelations 12:9). Likewise, it is not surprising that superman (Jesus) was tempted when He walked the earth as a man. Note that Jesus as God (not in his humanity) has no weaknesses and hence is not tempted.

“…for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone” – James 1:13

The question then is:  How was He able to overcome His kryptonitic (weak) periods to remain perfect (sinless) as a man.

Here is how He did it.

How Jesus Stayed Perfect   

The scripture tells us that Jesus asks that God pass the cup from Him (see Matthew 26:39). WHAT! Pass the what? The whole purpose of Him becoming flesh in the first place was so that He would drink from the cup; that he would pay the wages for the sin of mankind and thus redeem us to God (Himself). Jesus knew this, He said it many times, and he had no doubt that it was coming. Yet, when the hour was upon Him, He buckled as Satan unleashed an unfathomable spiritual attack upon Him. Satan did this because the stakes were extremely high – the souls of man. This attack was so intense that it brought Jesus to the cusp of disobedience (sin). It took all that Jesus had to resist that attack. The bible puts it this way:

“You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin” – Hebrews 12:4

The author of Hebrews here is referring back to when Jesus prayed three separate times in the garden and his sweat became like blood (see Luke 22:44). But  glory to God that when his “star” disciples deserted Jesus by sleeping and thereby leaving Him to fight this battle alone, He stayed dogged in doing the will of God (being obedient) and got on His knees in prayer. When He did this, God showered His grace on Him by sending an angel to strengthen Him in His time of weakness (see Luke 22:43).

Lightbulb MomentLight-bulb moment: In our weakness, God shows Himself strong when we purpose in our mind and heart to do His will and pray. Thus, a consecrated mind and fervent prayer are keys in warding off temptation and remaining perfect.

Second, Jesus shows some weakness when He screams out ““My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me””. Here too, Jesus being God knew exactly why, but that did not stop Him as a man who had weak moments from crying out all the same. Superman was still after all man with some chinks in His armor until He went back to heaven to take His rightful place as God (without the humanity)

Lightbulb MomentLight-bulb moment: With Christ in us, we can be supermen too, but that does not mean we have no weaknesses. We all have our kryptonite, but we can overcome it by the blood of the lamb; by God’s grace

Lastly, the gospels describe Jesus coming under attack when He was tempted in the wilderness. This time, the keys to remaining perfect were fasting, rebuking the devil with the Word of God, applying the Word of God correctly, and acting on what the Word says.

Thus, Jesus warded off temptation and remained perfect by doing the following:

  • Relying on the grace of God (to help Him out)
  • Having a determined and consecrated mindset (to resist to the point of bloodshed)
  • Fasting and praying
  • Rebuking the enemy with the Word of God
  • Knowing the Word and always doing what it says to do and refusing to do what it tells not to do

If we are to be Christ-like, then we have to do what Jesus did. We have to rely on the grace that God has already granted us rather than receive it in vain (through non-reliance). Like Paul asked, we should also ask God to take away our weaknesses (see 2 Corinthians 12:7-8). He can do it! For the ones He chooses not take away, it is because He does not want us in pride and so we become our own gods (which leads to destruction). He wants us reliant on Him so He can bless us beyond all measure when we have resisted and stayed obedient. So what’s stopping us?

Food for Thought: If we are superman because He lives in us, we should stop pretending and acting like Clark Kent

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March 9, 2012 · 3:30 am

Temptation – Oh the Forbidden Fruit

The bible says that God does not tempt anyone (see James 1:13). Yet, Jesus includes “lead us not into temptation” when teaching His disciples how to pray to God (see Matthew 6:9 – 13). So what then is Jesus saying? Is He saying that God allows us to undergo temptation…or leads us into temptation? While it is certainly implied in The Lord’s Prayer, the proof can be found in the gospel of Matthew where it states:

“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” – Matthew 4:1

Jesus being specifically led into the wilderness to be tempted tells us that God (the Holy Spirit) does allow us to be tempted. It sounds crazy until we take a look at what the temptation that God allows looks like.

First, the temptation did not occur till Jesus was well prepared. See, Jesus had just undergone spiritual calisthenics (fasting) and so was buff and ready to swat away any temptations the devil would levy against Him. Likewise, God does not allow us to be tempted without readying us and giving us the tools to handle the temptations that come our way. So does that then mean that God allows us to be tempted to test our spiritual maturity and our readiness to handle what He has for us? Absolutely! Jesus was led into the wilderness to be tempted to gauge His level of readiness for the ministry to which God called Him. We know this because the temptation occurred before He ever started preaching.

“From that time, Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”” – Matthew 4:17

Jesus passed the test in the wilderness and so moved on to the ministry which eventually led to salvation for all humanity and His glorification.

Lightbulb MomentLight-bulb moment: Many are called but few are indeed chosen because we keep failing the test that God levies on us to see if we are ready. In the process, we miss out on the glory (honor, distinction, prosperity) that God wants to shower on us.

Thus, while all temptation comes from Satan, God allows us to be led into some temptations to test our readiness for His goodness.

Second, the temptation that God allows will not be more than we can withstand.

“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” – 1 Corinthians 10:13

Therefore, God makes a way out for the temptations He allows through His grace; we just need to follow it. When Jesus foiled Satan’s plan, the angels ministered to Him, and He left the wilderness. He was ready!

Temptation we allow

But now, there are those temptations into which we lead ourselves. These are not of God and these are no good for us. This is what happened in the garden! What I have always wondered is this: Why of all the places to hang-out in the garden were Adam and Eve anywhere close to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; why were they hanging about the forbidden fruit in the first place?

Lightbulb MomentLight-bulb moment: In the story of Adam and Eve, the bible teaches us its first lesson – stay away from temptation. Thousands of years later, we are still having a hard time learning it.

Just like Adam and Eve, we tend to willingly put ourselves in situations God would not have us be a part, all the while using every reason, excuse, and rationale to justify our behavior. To illustrate this, imagine a recovering alcoholic who deliberately steps into a wine bar to get away from the rain outside. When asked why he stepped into the bar, the excuse is instant – to get away from the rain. When asked why not choose an adjacent store, again the justification is instant – the bar was the closest. All the while, Satan is laughing all the way to the bank to deposit a “slip” into the account of the man who ended up having a few too many harmless “samples” from which he ought to have stayed away.

For the man described, the act of going into the bar iteself was an act of disobedience because the man did not abstain from every appearance of evil (see 1 Thessalonians 5:22) – for the bar was his evil. He was disobedient to the word of God, and so it was not God that led him to be tempted…he led himself. In this situation, we are simply reliant on God’s mercy to pull us through.

Lightbulb MomentLight-bulb moment:  We set up a snare for ourselves when we disobey the promptings of the Holy Spirit and lead ourselves into situations where we are likely to compromise God.

In summary, we have to be prepared to swat away the devil by keeping ourselves battle ready through renewing our minds, our fasting, and our prayer.  We also have to make sure we are being obedient and so do not lead ourselves into temptation.

When we do the above, we find that what the bible says holds true:

“…he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him” – 1 John 5:18

Food for thought: If you look too long at the apple, you will eventually take a bite.

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