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The Wells We Draw Water From

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Our Old Testament reading today begins with these words from Exodus 17: “ From the wilderness of Sin …” Now, that doesn’t sound like a good place to be, does it? The Israelites found themselves in quite a messy situation—and honestly, it’s one we may find all too familiar. Have you ever been absolutely sure your plan was going to work out… only to watch it fall apart? That sinking disappointment? That’s where Israel was. God had already led them victoriously out of Egypt, through miracle after miracle. They were on their way to the Promised Land—but patience, as we all know, is not a common virtue, not then and not now. How patient are we this Lenten season? This time, Israel faced something serious: Lack of water. In the desert, that’s a death sentence. It’s serious! But, remember, this was supposed to be a people of faith! And yet, what did they do? They panicked. They freaked out! They looked at the problem—and forgot God’s promise. Before long, they were arguing, blaming Moses, a...
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You Must Be Born From Above!

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Most of us have seen what a full house renovation looks like! I don’t mean a little cosmetic here and there, I mean a complete transformation of the house. It can be such a joy to see the final result of a house being renovated! But the process is messy! We all want to see quickly the finished product but it takes time! Time to plan/ to refine, to remove walls and roof, to apply a new roof, new windows, new paint, new chimney, new Kitchen, new bedrooms, new pantry closets… It takes time to remove old things! I wish I can show you the before and after picture of a renovated house! It is simply amazing! Just to gaze at the transformation! Jesus did not compare human transformation to house renovation, I did. Jesus compared human transformation to a new birth! A Jewish leader in the Great Sanhedrin (Nicodemus) had come at night to ask a question about our souls’ salvation. What is beyond all this that we see in this world? He knew Jesus was a teacher from God with great revelation from h...
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The Best Of Divine Intimacy!

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The Gospel of John begins with the words: “ In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God. He was with God in the beginning .” John is a brave man. If it were you, what words would you have used to convey the idea of the God the Father’s relationship with the son? Obviously, John is calling Jesus God’s Son, the eternal word. Many OT passages talk about things done by the Lord, as done by the word of the Lord. John provided clear evidence that Jesus is the Son of God, who did not come into being only when he was born here, but rather he was already eternal before he came to be born into the world that he created for us. The Father speaks through the son as the son speaks to the Father about us, which is an amazing relationship that is observed in the words of Jesus especially when Jesus told us that He speaks the words that he heard from the Father. The more we know who Jesus is, the more the light of Christ shine forth through our lives, so others can b...
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Obedience Of Faith!

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God’s love for us is amazing! He never gives up on us! We see God’s tenacity to the promise he had made to Israel’s ancestors. By the time of the prophet Isaiah, God was still communicating the same promise concerning the redemption of humanity. The story is that all generations have made a mess of things, but God’s promise remained intact through time. God always tried to steer Israel back on track, sadly many times in vain. Here we are treated to a conversation between the prophet speaking for God and King Ahaz. Ahaz had already chosen his allies to save him in case he is attacked. Then God comes into the picture: to bid him to choose a sign so God would show him how powerfully He can save him. But Ahaz refused because he had trusted the Assyrians, their forces and their gods, and would not place himself under the God of Israel anymore. Beloved, Ahaz symptoms are still with us today, especially when our own choices reflect a level of rebellion to God’s ways. When we are conscious of...
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The Posture Of Those Who Truly Seek God

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Our readings (Isaiah 2:1-5 and Psalm 122) inspire us to reach out towards the house of the Lord or to the mountain of the Lord, looking beyond this mortal life. It’s a state of a person always seeking God in life. But sadly, often enough it’s when we realize that we have no options left, that we begin to genuinely seek God for guidance/rescue. That sounds a lot like Israel’s journey! Today as the first Sunday in Advent, we are encouraged to seek God regardless of our circumstances during this new church season to prepare for the coming of the Lord. How fitting that the prophet Isaiah is instructing Israel the correct posture of those who are seeking the Lord at the same time as we, ourselves are preparing to celebrate the coming of Christ our Savior into the world. What should be our posture in this new Church season? Will we be found reaching out to God in the house of the Lord? btw God’s house is here! It’s not going anywhere. Also, wherever you are, you can talk to God and worship ...
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The Importance Of Work In God's Kingdom

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Our OT lesson begins with a word from God by the prophet Malachi a contemporary of Nehemiah. The Temple was already rebuilt, but there was still idolatry and neglecting the Temple service. We would think that since they had already returned from exile and had suffered enough that they would shape up for now, but no. Malachi helped them discover where they went wrong and showed them that God’s true intention was to heal them and to tell them of his plan to send them the Messiah who would to take away their sins. His words were scary; they are a warning! He said: “The day is coming burning like an oven! The day that will burn all the arrogant and evildoers!” As good people of the book, Israelites understood that this wasn’t good at all. It was a warning from God against those who were sleepy, complacent, indifferent to God’s word. They were dishonoring God in those very things where they should honor him. Paul saw this danger in Thessalonians and warned those who were idle and careless....
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Celebrating the Saints

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Today we celebrate the Feast of All Saints! If there is one thing to recognize in the lives of the saints, it would be that they came to know their need for God. This is the very heart of the matter for Christians in every age – a recognition of our need for God. This is a world of confusions and anxieties; with so much fear about the future – we often wonder …where is it all going? We certainly have asked this question during the cold war era. Has it all changed now? No. We still wonder if we are closer to WW3. This is a world that has increasingly gone ungodly/unspiritual. A world that seeks no longer its solutions in God the creator. Yet here in the lives of the saints, we have sure signposts for the Church in the present and into the future of how they lived Christian lives in their world with so many tough challenges. They faced unimaginable executions like being put in a barrel full of hot burning oil. This torture is still existent today: In some places in Africa, on account of...
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