PERSONAL CONVICTION

October 25, 2015

Thank GOD for a restful, refreshing and full Sunday.

I want to write today about personal conviction and how being true to who we really are is the one key to a fuller and more meaningful life.

The pastor’s sermon was fitting as he talked on being submerged under the influence of GOD’s holy presence.  He said that even though we call ourselves Christians, if we do not have GOD’s presence in our lives manifesting in the joy and desire for worship of HIM and fellowship with HIM and other people, be they members of our congregation, workmates, neighbours, family and friends, we are fakes and hypocrites.  I understand it to be kind of like being a light wherever.  True sources of light could never be dimmed and could never encounter shutting off due to low battery.  Whereas the kind that needs to be charged always is fake--a parasite even-- that would shut off whenever time passes and its energy bank gets drained.

His message once again is timeless.  He set up Moses, Joshua and David as good examples.  Moses, who grew up to a life of luxury in the palaces of Egypt, gave it all up when GOD called him and gave him a mission to take HIS people out from Egypt.  Joshua, who deeply loved GOD’s presence by always supporting Moses in everything he did, and yet never leaving the Tent of Meeting, was given the next mission to bring HIS people into the Promised Land.  King David meanwhile, was called by GOD from his life as the youngest child of a prominent family yet served as shepherd of his father’s flock, into a life of being Shepherd of Israel.  Though the pastor did not mention it, maybe for lack of time, but in the book of Revelation, JESUS CHRIST declared that David will also be serving as the Shepherd of all people who will be in GOD’s kingdom in heaven.  These three people dwelt in GOD’s presence and lived HIS words in their daily lives.  They might have committed mistakes while being human, still, it was their heart which had the desire to get to know HIM better and more fully, that was given more weight.

Of course, none of this would matter if a person does not believe that the Bible is GOD’s Holy Word and that it contains the recipe for a more abundant life in the here and now, and in the ever after.  But still, daily life makes us see what happens to people who do not have such faith and who believe that we are just random mutations of the evolutionary progression of time. 

I personally have observed these things when I was younger and until now, through all the church groups I’ve attended, school groups I’ve belonged to, work organizations I’ve been employed in, and neighbourhoods that I lived in.  When the pastor talked about many who have the form of Christianity or the form of being a good and nice person, but who lacked substance, he could very well be meaning that there really are more than enough Santo’ng Kabayo to go around wherever we go.  The truth of our nature leaks through the cracks of our persons if we fill the inside of our lives with apathy, callousness, narcissism, pride, and envy.

Sadly, even I sometimes fall to this group of people when I forget how to behave properly, watch what I say, and impose my preferences on others.  So, I guess I need to work a lot more on being submerged deeper.  Hopefully, my efforts will pay off in the end, so that when I leave this life for the next, I would have the privilege of hearing the Commendation of the Good and Faithful Servant, and not a Conviction for the Eternal Damnation of my soul.