Yes, that’s what the bible says. It doesn’t matter what I think, what other people think. What the world says, even. This lent, I got into a journey of, for lack of a better word, examination of my faith. It started with a movie entitled “Magdalena” which told a story in the perspective of someone who was freed by Jesus from bondage. What a bummer when the following night I was confronted again with the reality of my weakness. It led me to assess the reality of the relationship I have with him which started a lot of years before. When the reality of these weaknesses resurface, I have learned that the only way I could make sense of the situation is when I return to the decision that started it all, and reiterate to myself the Gospel.
Reading the book He Chose the Nails by Max Lucado started the search in my heart, and led me to remember the frailty and of the stubbornness of it. I remember swaying in the hammock outside our house, reading the words carefully crafted by the author, examining each motivation that God has for his plan for mankind— which is to save them from their sins. And as I draw closer to the realization of my own frailty and filth, all the more I am convinced again that this soul needs saving.
Being at home in a world that seemingly stopped, the silence of the otherwise hustling surroundings loudened the need of my heart to stop and listen to remember the gift of life Jesus offers— through a paradox of his death. Sensing the awakened desire to dig deeper, I watched Magdalena again the following day as I gave myself the time to meditate upon the events of how Jesus walked that road to Calvary. The Good Friday that succeeded was a much needed rest, not just for my body but for my mind. I continued reading the same book, and realized that the desire to know more about Jesus just increased.
The following day, I watched the American Gospel: Christ Crucified documentary and again got mindblown by the presentation of how costly it was for God to redeem mankind from its pit of sin. And that was when I was reminded that the life lived in safety is never what God wanted for me to have. The call to follow Jesus has always been that of risk because Jesus did not come to make people comfortable. The ransom that God had to give to appease His wrath for mankind led a sacrifice willingly given by God himself. As I wrapped my mind around that truth, I realize that one cannot just agree and do nothing. There has to be change. That change for me turned out to be a subscription to an RZIM Course to aid my continually hungry mind to understand and know God.
My mom watched certain parts of that documentary with me, and while we were at the dinner table I did not expect her to ask a follow-up question of what she heard from that film. She asked if that movie was about Christ's death on the cross, and I answered with a swift yes which then ensued a discussion of the purpose of that film. I then explained the essence of how I understood it which was basically about the reason why Jesus had to die on the cross, and how it is the greatest and only expression for mankind's ransom for a death punishment. Which sadly, many are having false preachings about this beautiful exchange.
The succeeding Sunday's commemoration of Christ's resurrection opened up a whole new lens for me. I started the apologetics course I took the day before and was ignited to know more about defending my faith. Though as Ravi Zacharias expounded from Peter's letter, I have to first set apart Jesus in my heart, then proceed with the noble task of giving an answer when asked about that which I deem important. Delving further in this world of apologetics reminded me that it's not just giving answers to questions that a follower of Christ should be pursuing, but to be concerned about the person himself as he tries to ask questions, which are just a glimpse of what's really happening inside him.
As I continued with the first three courses, I was reminded with the way how I should view suffering and how I should familiarize myself with different lenses to view life with, yet still be assured of Jesus' absolutes. Later on today, I watched
Jesus, a two-hour stage play. It was deep in the night but considering that tomorrow will be a start of another week, I thought indulging the remaining hours to remind myself of the lenten season won't hurt. So it's just quite funny how I'd tear up on certain scenes when Jesus' character was being magnified. Such ones were about his healing of the blind man near Bethesda, and how he defended the prostitute who was about to be stoned to death. I felt just poked to the heart as I was reminded of the character of the God whom I worship, and how I should ask him to give me the same heart that he also has! Oh how different this Jesus is, and how ironic that I might be one of those who might sneer at him if I were in that timeline!
Strangely though, the principles which stood out to me were also those which I learned from my courses as if to be reminded about and to be emphasized to me again— the part where God left the ninety-nine to pursue one and how we ought to answer questions with regard to the real state of the questioner himself.
This weekend was anything but stale. I could enumerate different reasons why but I could only pinpoint one thing: God's glory and His sovereignty. He desires us to know him more as much as He wanted to reveal himself to us. Isn't it comforting to know that this God whom we wanted to pursue is also in the business of committing himself to pursue you first?
Won't you wanna get to know this God? Let's talk.
