Faith Journey

 Hi everyone, it's been a while not writing any post here. I hope you are all doing great. 

Well, just counting days to Christmas and just a couple of days left we will end this year. 2020 - 2021, days seemed so difficult for most of us. Most people have been struggling over financial difficulties, losses, business and relationship failure and it realizes me that able to survive until this day is a grace & privilege after seeing the chaos of pandemic in Indonesia last July. 

Well, I realize that this year I'm not giving my life to the fullest for Jesus yet. I still have my own ambition, I feel less enthusiast and less on fire, and more anxious than before. I don't often read my Bible and I don't socialize much with others nor talk about Jesus like what I used to do before. I think that since I broke up with my ex I feel so insecure that in my 27th I'm not getting married yet. I think I idolize a marriage. I feel so guilty after I rewind every moment I have been through lately. 

I think I need discipline and focus. Honestly, I have no idea really what the future will take me. I don't even have any future plan in the next year. But I do hope that every Christmas reminds us (again) that there is someone who loves you unconditionally and He is with us. He is not a myth, He did come here incarnating to the world 2000 years ago and now His spirit is with us.  

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

And Christmas reminds us of what God has done for us, it reminds us of the victory and the beginning of His death at the same time. He didn't come to something pleasing, He came to redeem us. He became the substitute to our sins to bear God's wrath & God's promise to deliver His people from sins was fulfilled:

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21) 

I think maybe that's all my reflection  for Christmas. Sometimes I give up, I'm not content, and I'm not grateful for the job, for the life, in fact my life is only by His Grace. I don't deserve to live well, I deserve God's wrath, I deserve curse, however He has taken all of the curse to Him and He give me the life. He is so beautiful. That's it, Christmas is about Jesus Christ. And if I could say to God I just wanna say I'm truly sorry that often take Him for Granted.  

These are the glimpse of Christmas 2021 I want to share with my sweet niece 😄

Since I learnt Bible through the Reformed Theology perspective a year ago has changed everything in me and quite hit me to the core. To be honest I'm not that expert to explain systematically nor detailly what is Reformed Theology nor Calvinism etc, maybe if you would like to know deeper about the Doctrine you can google it to learn about it. 

But one thing that changed me after learning Bible from Reformed Theology perspective is about our evil nature, God's attributes, which are often corrupted & His sovereignty, which is often forgotten. I think it's been so common to know Jesus Christ has died for us to take away the sins of the world, yet have we comprehended enough what it truly means?

 

The Truth opens up my eyes how far I have fallen short of God's Glory, yet at the same time the Truth also reveals how deep God's mercy upon me. 

(Romans 5:8) But God demonstrates his own love for us in this While we were still sinners Christ died for us 

If you take a look at the picture I inserted at the top in this post, I firmly hold the 5 pillars & the 5 points of Reformed Theology for my faith and as my standard to distinguish every teachings. 

I used to think that I have the ability to do righteousness and Jesus only took part maybe 50% to get me into heaven, therefore for the rest 50% at least I have to earn by my efforts. However this statement breaks it all

We have the sinful nature since the first man fall into sin, we are able naturally to do evil without ever we get taught of it, that's proof that we are born sinful, which means that we are spiritually dead. Before the truth opens up my eyes, I tend to do righteousness simply because I'm afraid of hell, not because I sincerely love Jesus. We implicitly only think of our own benefits and ourselves, we don't have an ability to love God first.

 

(Romans 3:23) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

That's why by own works, it's impossible to reach God's standard, as His standard is an absolute perfection. We may think that we are good enough, however once we sin in our life, we are not worthy and we have failed. 

(James 2:10) EXB [ For] A person who ·follows [keeps; obeys] all of God’s law but ·fails to obey even one command [stumbles/falls in one point] is guilty of breaking all the commands in that law.

And only someone who is absolutely perfect, and pure, that is worthy to draw near to God.

(Isaiah 6:3) Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty 

(Matthew 5:8) Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God

(Hebrews 12:14) Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. 

Now we see that our sins have brought the separation between God's holiness and us, therefore we do not have the ability and the qualification to draw near to the holiness of God. Other than that, God is also just and every sin must be accounted for.

(Romans 14:12) So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.

 

God is not human, that he should lie,
    not a human being, that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not act?
    Does he promise and not fulfill? (Numbers 23:19)

His word must be fulfilled, if not so, He denied himself. So, believers, if you believe that you are saved & you are now children of God, & inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, please take this note, 

God doesn't forget our sins. He set us free, because there is someone, His son, Jesus Christ, has borne your sins on the cross. And Christ's righteousness that is now clothed to us.

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. (1 Corinthians 6:20)

(Romans 6:20) When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.

(Romans 6:18) You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

So friends, the Cross of Christ is the most beautiful & precious thing to ever be revealed & spread. It is the cure for sins, the good news that Christ is the mediator & the only way to reconcile the Holy God & the sinful man. 

I hope that as the Truth, which has changed my life, will do the same for you. 

To God be the Glory forever. 

God bless you!

It has been 2 years since our movement is restricted due to covid-19. I thought 2021 the world was getting better, but I'm mistaken, the worst was just yet to come. Last June was obviously the second wave of the covid-19 outbreak in Indonesia and the hospitals seemed to collapse. I hear ambulance siren passing by more frequently and people died multiply everyday and I've never been this exhausted & insecure before since this virus hit all countries. Even when my mother wanted to get vaccinated, I was so worried to let her out of the house to gather with bunch of strangers to get vaccinated. 

Somehow in my insecurity, something crossed my mind "where do I put my hope all this time?" for His Grace is sufficient for me and He is enough. 

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) 

Since I submit my self to Jesus, I realize that He never promises me comfort, wealth, prosperity even though I admit that those are form of God's blessings too, otherwise, He instead told us about the price to follow him ;

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  (Matthew 16:24)

what He certainly assure us is His constant present; Himself;

“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5) 

"I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen." (Matthew 28:20) 

In these hard times, most of us must have been exhausted dealing with financial problems during this pandemics, the grief of losing our families & friends and the bad news doesn't seem to stop, further we have no clue when this pandemic shall pass. God absolutely has the authority to stop this pandemic, but I think it's not the point, instead wish the situation to change, we need to change the way we see towards the suffering. In the midst of chaos that doesn't seem to have no end, I hope we still find hope & peace in Christ alone.

For me personally, as I reflect, this pandemic indirectly has revealed every "idols" inside my heart; the fears of loosing the loved ones, jobs, future, that have stolen the joy in my life lately remind me that I still have "idols" that replace Christ. When everything is running well, we easily say Jesus is enough, however when God takes our comfort one by one away we realize His word is not enough.

Last week I got reminded from IG which is saying 

"good vibes do not raise a dead heart to life, only God, who can raise a dead heart to life"  

I know most of us lose heart & hope during these hard times, I felt that way too, but friends, what we can do is focusing on Christ, focus on eternity will make us less worried . Only the Power of God who can give us the true peace. 

We may be weary and want to give up, but take heart, friends, He who has started the good works in us, will finish it until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6) 

He is not bound by time & space; for he has seen the end of the history, and he won the battle already. We, who are in him, will inheret what he has accomplished. God was in the past, he is in the present for he sees our struggle, yet he is also in the future knowing we can get through this with him.

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ....... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." (Romans 8:35,37) 

 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

For believers, death is not the end, it's the beginning of life. We are suffered yet we have consolation that we are in the right hand.  

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

We are in this together, friends :) keep trusting Him and let our soul find rest in Christ alone, the cornerstone. 

Do rejection, failure and heartbreak really mean "bad things" for us? 

But what does the Bible say about it ? 

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

As I go deeper, and I ponder upon it, we consider it as bad thing because it is not likely what we expect; our will. And "our own desires & expectations" that fail us to see clearly what's God's will upon our life, as a result everything that does not turn out as we plan & we expect, we call it failure, it disappoints us, because we know that letting go of something we are truly desiring is painful. 

These past months have taught me a lot of letting go my expectation and starting to resting in Him. Maybe you do too. Since covid-19 hit all countries, I have seen a lot of loses; losing of the loved ones; relationship failure; business failure. As persons we must have a lot of dreams, ambitions & expectations in our career, our relationship and our future-life. I used to think why does He let all the bad things happen in human life? Yet it reminded me back that all the chaos of this world is the consequences of the fall of man at the first place; and our heart tend worship something or someone else other than God. 

We tend to impose our will yet in fact we were never made for ourselves, we were made in His image for His Glory alone.  

For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.. (Romans 11:36)

Our relationship, family, job, business, wealth are not ours; they are meant to glorify God in substance. If we wrongly place them then it will replace God. I do agree what Tim Keller says that idols are good things that we make into ultimate things. 

I think it's normal for human being to be sad and it's also okay not to be okay. When something doesn't turn out as we expect, our friend abandon us, and when we fail, I do see many figures wept in the Bible, Jesus even ever wept when He knew Lazarus died. 

I'm in the position that do believe God's sovereignty in every aspect of this life even a little thing that insignificant for us. And I thank God for it. Personally nothing console me than knowing God is in control of every aspect in my life.

Lord, I know that people’s lives are not their own;

it is not for them to direct their steps (Jeremiah 10:23)

A man’s heart plans his way,

But the Lord directs his steps. (Proverbs 16:9)

Terrible things may happen to human life in fact because we live in a broken world. But you know what is most comforting in that situation ?

                The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:18)

Everything may not turn out as we want, and it may disturb our comfort and break our heart, so that it's important for us to find peace only in Him. God uses something or someone that break our heart is for the good and for His Glory. The situation may break our spirit, yet He remains faithful, He satisfies us that the world can't do. So let's find rest in Him and keep knowing that all things good-and-bad [according to us] both aim for the good [according to Him]. And further nothing consoling than knowing :

                He is in control; God is sovereign overall things under the sun. 

What we need is only to trust Him in every situation 

TUHAN Allah berfirman: "Tidak baik, kalau manusia itu seorang diri saja. Aku akan menjadikan penolong baginya, yang sepadan dengan dia. (Kejadian 2:18)

Lalu TUHAN Allah membuat manusia itu tidur nyenyak; ketika ia tidur, TUHAN Allah mengambil salah satu rusuk dari padanya, lalu menutup tempat itu dengan daging. Dan dari rusuk yang diambil TUHAN Allah dari manusia itu, dibangun-Nyalah seorang perempuan, lalu dibawa-Nya kepada manusia itu.  Lalu berkatalah manusia itu: "Inilah dia, tulang dari tulangku dan daging dari dagingku. Ia akan dinamai perempuan, sebab ia diambil dari laki-laki."  Sebab itu seorang laki-laki akan meninggalkan ayahnya dan ibunya  dan bersatu dengan isterinya, sehingga keduanya menjadi satu daging. (Kejadian 2:21-24)

Kita + KRISTUS = Pasangan 

BUKAN 

Kita + Pasangan = KRISTUS 

Di mana ada kebenaran di situ akan tumbuh damai sejahtera, dan akibat kebenaran ialah ketenangan dan ketenteraman untuk selama-lamanya. (Yesaya 32:17)

Kamu yang masih single ambilah waktu sesering mungkin untuk berdoa agar Tuhan mempersiapkan hatimu hanya bisa fokus kepada Dia & utuh di dalam Tuhan, bukan berdoa agar pasanganmu dapat memenuhi mu. 

2. BE CHRISTLIKE 

Okey dan apa yang ada dalam pikiran ku setelah aku membaca beberapa Artikel bahwa setelah hati kita siap hanya bersukacita di dalam Tuhan adalah Tuhan akan mempersiapkan karakter kita untuk semakin serupa dengan Dia. 

TUHAN Allah berfirman: "Tidak baik, kalau manusia itu seorang diri saja. Aku akan menjadikan penolong baginya, yang sepadan dengan dia. (Kejadian 2:18)

Tentu hubungan yang baik adalah pasangan yang SAMA-SAMA SIAP (TEPAT), bukan hanya salah satu belah pihak saja yang SIAP. 

Tuhan mempersiapkan karakter kita untuk semakin serupa dengan Dia sebelum kita bertemu dengan orang yang juga sedang dipersiapkan untuk kita. Ketika kita sama-sama SIAP, sudah sama-sama memiliki sifat kristus maka disitulah WAKTU YANG TEPAT. 

Pastikan pasanganmu bukan hanya ber-KTP Kristen tapi ia juga adalah yang menghidupi KRISTUS. 

Janganlah kamu merupakan pasangan yang tidak seimbang dengan orang-orang yang tak percaya. Sebab persamaan apakah terdapat antara kebenaran dan kedurhakaan? Atau bagaimanakah terang dapat bersatu dengan gelap? (2 Korintus 6:14).

Dalam masa penantian ini Tuhan mau karakter aku lebih diubahkan lagi untuk seperti Dia lewat segala apa yang Tuhan tanggung jawabkan sama aku saat ini dari aspek pekerjaan, kehidupan di rumah dan apapun yang saat ini Tuhan berikan dan menghasilkan buah Roh Kudus :

Tetapi buah Roh ialah: kasih, sukacita, damai sejahtera, kesabaran, kemurahan, kebaikan, kesetiaan, kelemahlembutan, penguasaan diri. Tidak ada hukum yang menentang hal-hal itu. (Galatia 5:22-23)

Bayangin kalau pasangan kamu tidak seimbang dalam hal kerohanian, kedewasaan atau pemikiran pasti akan berat sebelah. Ingat pernikahan Kristen adalah pernikahan sekali seumur hidup, choose wisely whom you will spend the rest of your life with.

3. MINTA BIMBINGAN TUHAN 

Dan yang terakhir adalah mintalah bimbingan dari Tuhan agar setiap pilihan kita SESUAI dengan kehendakNya. Manusia memang punya kehendak bebas untuk memilih, tapi apapun yang kita pilih pastikan itu sudah sesuai dengan Firman Tuhan. 

Percayalah kepada TUHAN dan lakukanlah yang baik, diamlah di negeri dan berlakulah setia, dan bergembiralah karena TUHAN; maka Ia akan memberikan kepadamu apa yang diinginkan hatimu. (Mazmur 37:3-4)

 

Sebab rancangan-Ku bukanlah rancanganmu, dan jalanmu bukanlah jalan-Ku, demikianlah firman TUHAN. (Yesaya 55:8)

 

Sebab Aku ini mengetahui rancangan-rancangan apa yang ada pada-Ku mengenai kamu, demikianlah firman TUHAN, yaitu rancangan damai sejahtera dan bukan rancangan kecelakaan, untuk memberikan kepadamu hari depan yang penuh harapan. (Yeremia 29 : 11)

 

Percayalah kepada TUHAN dengan segenap hatimu, dan janganlah bersandar kepada pengertianmu sendiri. Akuilah Dia dalam segala lakumu, maka Ia akan meluruskan jalanmu. (Amsal 3:5-6) 

 

”Kasihilah Tuhan, Allahmu, dengan segenap hatimu dan dengan segenap jiwamu dan dengan segenap akal budimu." (Matius 22:37) 

Apa yang dituntut oleh Tuhan adalah percaya dengan segenap hati, jiwa & akal budi kita. Ia menginginkan keseluruhan dari diri kita hati & perasaan kita untuk bersandar pada Tuhan. Pernikahan bukanlah hanya status atau perlombaan. Jadi jangan tergesa-gesa. Mintalah bimbingan dari Tuhan untuk setiap jalan yang sedang kita alami. 

Menikahlah DISAAT SIAP. Karena sejatinya Pernikahan adalah tentang BELAJAR MELAYANI & BERBAGI sukacita, bukan sebaliknya. Pastikan kalian adalah pasangan yang SUDAH sama-sama UTUH di dalam TUHAN. Jadi nggak ada lagi penuntutan untuk "minta" dibahagiakan, agar bisa saling sama-sama melayani TUHAN secara UTUH dalam pernikahan. Kalau dalam diri kita masih hanya ingin DILAYANI, DIPENUHI oleh SESEORANG bisa dipastikan kita BELUM SIAP MENIKAH. 

Oh iya satu lagi. Mungkin terasa sulit untuk percaya pada saat kita sama sekali belum bisa melihat "clue" atau tanda, seolah berjalan tanpa tau arah apalagi pada saat pandemi seperti ini mungkin berfikir kita belum punya komunitas, terisolasi, bagaimana bisa bertemu jodoh kita? Tapi ingatlah selalu bahwa segala sesuatu terjadi atas KEHENDAK TUHAN bahwa Tuhan BERDAULAT untuk apapun yang terjadi di bawa kolong langit. Tuhan MAMPU membuka jalan untuk menghancurkan akar dosa manusia yang sama sekali tidak ada jalan lagi untuk manusia bersatu sama Tuhan, apalagi permasalahan ekonomi ataupun jodoh.  

Bukankah burung pipit dijual dua ekor seduit? Namun seekor pun dari padanya tidak akan jatuh ke bumi di luar kehendak Bapamu. Dan kamu, rambut kepalamu pun terhitung semuanya. Sebab itu janganlah kamu takut, karena kamu lebih berharga dari pada banyak burung pipit. (Matius 10:29-31)

Jika burung pipit yang nggak punya akal budi berharga untuk Tuhan, apalagi kisah hidupmu, kisah hidupmu adalah bagian dari KisahNya dan berharga bagi Tuhan, dan apapun yang terjadi saat ini He is in control. 

Oke sekian dulu refleksi saya akhir-akhir ini. Kiranya bisa menjadi berkat. 

Tuhan Memberkati!

Inspired : https://corelya.wordpress.com/2016/06/16/pacaran-kristen-part-2/