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THANKS FOR GIVING, BY KIANG P LEE

“Give Thanks to The LORD, for He is Good; His Love Endures Forever.” – 1 Chronicles 16:24

Greetings Friends the world over! This is the time for Thanksgiving in America. Thanksgiving Day is on Thursday, November 26, 2015.

To be thankful is the essence of the human spirit which stands inviolate and knows no borders. It is the spirit which undergirds human relationships. It is the epitome for good in all people. Sometimes gratitude does not come easily because of our biases and prejudices. To say “thank you” is to express the dignity and decency of our humanity replicated in the Creator’s likeness. “Thank you,” (English) “Danke” (German), “Mahalo” (Hawaiian), “Merci” (French), “xiexie” (Chinese), “Terima Kasih” (Malay), “Takk” (Norwegian), “Kamasahamnida” (Korean), “Paldies” (Latvian), “Gracias” (Spanish), “Spasibo” (Russian), “Dhayavad” (Hindi), “Dziekuje,” (Polish), “Obrigado” (Portuguese), “Vinaka” (Fijian), and hundreds and thousands of languages and dialects all speak the language of this larger-than-life divine attribute. Let’s talk “Thanksgiving” today.

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“Rest and Be Thankful” Bench at Gortin Glens Forest Park, UK (Wiki Commons)

Where, how, and when did Thanksgiving began? In America we usually reflect on our colonial history and tell the story of the Pilgrims and native Americans coming together to celebrate their harvest in the autumn of 1621. That’s all fine, and I find the story inspiring each time I learn fresh bits of information. It was reported the Wampanoag native tribe arrived bearing five deer for the feast. And of course, an abundance of turkey caught in the wild, I’m sure. Although it was not known then by a thanksgiving label, it was obvious gratitude was the prevailing mood among the Pilgrims and indigenous natives. It was reported that they celebrated for three days, not just one. They were thankful to God for surviving the hardships they endured in the New World, for the religious freedom they now enjoyed, and for the successful harvest and bounty before them.

“Thanksgiving” & Eden

Much later, by Presidential edict a day was set aside for a national day of Thanksgiving. But let’s step further back in history and see where thanksgiving truly began. Let’s go back to the Garden of Eden – yes, as far back as the very beginning. Here, we’ll find where the spirit of “thanksgiving” all started. For the most part, the story of Adam and Eve almost invariably gravitate to their disobedience, right? We don’t look at the life they lived before being alienated from Eden. There is no record how long Adam and Eve remained faithful to God before the fall. Some have postulated that it was 33 years, the same age Jesus lived on earth. Whatever that may be, the point is it is sad that the brief moment of indiscretion had overshadowed the many years Adam and Eve lived in complete joy and happiness with their Maker. This is important, for the life Adam and Eve had with God was the kind of life God had in mind for mankind. It was a relationship that Adam and Eve enjoyed with God. It was a relationship based upon His Love for man which is the sole reason why He created man. What we see in history in the post-Eden era of man, is six thousand years of human experience lived apart from God. Though not apart from His supreme sovereignty.

Gratitude – A Way of Life in Eden

The truth is: being appreciative and thankful was a way of life for Adam and Eve as long as God was in their lives. Adam and Eve did not live like Neanderthal cavemen trying to eke out a living. No, they lived in God’s glorious company. Our educational system in supporting evolutionary science (so-called) place our children at a great disadvantage in this area of human origin. Think about this, Eden was a garden planted with God’s own hands. He handed it to our first parents with all the blessings of a home where they could live a life of unbelievable miraculous manifestation and live happily as humans. Adam never dropped a sweat off his brow. Eden was handed to him and his wife on a platter – literally. Flavius Josephus, the Jewish historian, said that fruit trees in Eden would automatically produce fruits right before our first parents’ eyes when they were hungry. Imagine what that’s like? Adam’s thoughts had the power to materialize what he desired into reality. What do you think happened when God brought the animals to Adam to be named? “Whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name” (Gen.2:19). The nature of things is revealed by its name. Could it be that God gave Adam to decide the nature of the living creatures. Adam was completely united with God in Love. All creatures were tame. Mankind has drifted so far away from God that he has no inkling of the kind of life He desires to give man.

Was It a Legalistic Union?

God could well have pointed a dense jungle to Adam and said, “I want you both to go out there and make us a garden-home where we can all live together. I know it’s going to be tough, but it will be good for character-building. Your performance will be a reward of itself when the garden is complete.” No, but unfortunately, many a legalist would have us believe God to be like that. And sadly many a believer has fallen for that kind of relationship with God. The legalist would have you believe God would never plant a garden for you—you are to plant it for yourself. He would not fight your battles for you—you are to fight your own battles. Of course that is what the “solitary life”** brings us. They are proponents of the belief there has to be something we do to earn God’s Love. If that’s so, then whatever man does in his “solitary” expression will be reward unto itself, so at the end of the day, he has no one to thank, but himself. Is it any wonder then that they live thankless lives, because they can’t see God as the Mover and Shaker in their lives? How can we see God in this way where He is the Mover and Shaker in our lives? How do we find every reason to thank Him? Or, is it hard to find reason to thank Him, if ever?

Instruction Was a “Thank You,” Not “Payback”

What was the only instruction God gave Adam? What were they to do with their lives and their beautiful garden-home? They were “to work it and watch over Eden, and to not eat from the tree of the fruit of good and evil” – or the forbidden fruit (Gen.2:15, 17, emphasis added). Adam and Eve were to take good care of Eden, their home. And right here – here’s where the origin of gratitude and where thanksgiving began. It began with the Creator giving Adam and Eve every blessing so they would enjoy living in His presence, and giving them a purpose and calling. This is the very first directive God gave man – what do you think was Adam’s response when he looked around him, and: 1> He was told he was created from the soil on which he stood. 2> He saw the most beautiful woman created with God’s own hands, his wife Eve, as his fitting life-partner. 3> He saw this most beautiful garden-home call Eden, with all the abundance to keep them alive and healthy. Then, they were to export this Edenic model in their dominion over the whole earth. 4> He saw God living and walking with them, and gave them gifts to live a purposeful life. 5> They saw how this relationship created the incredible ongoing miraculous life of living their destiny. There was nothing they saw in all this they could attribute to themselves and pat themselves on the back – none whatsoever. 6> Every single day they experienced the Love of the only Father they knew – God!

Here’s where the very first act of man to his Father comes through: Adam’s responsibility of “keeping and caring for Eden, and not eating from the tree of good and evil” was their way of saying “Thank You” to God for His Love. It was their act of worship and gratitude. That was the first and natural reaction of humans to God their Father – to respond to what they saw around them, acknowledge the Love of the generous Giver, and say “Thank You, God.” That was all – what else could be more fitting than a heartfelt “Thank You.” Nothing more and nothing less! The act of gratitude is an act of Love flowing back to the God who is Love and who lives for Love.

Cornucopia, Emblem of Thanksgiving for Abundance. Thanksgiving Dinner Aboard USS Ship (Wiki Commons Public Domain)

Love is “Free”

This was a relationship based upon Love that can only be exchanged “freely.” Love is unconditional. It also tells us the basic determination God had in mind when He created humans in His own image. And what’s that? He determined to give and bless man with everything out of His Love, so that man will enjoy living in His presence. And that was how the dynamism of God’s Love permeated all of Eden and Adam and Eve’s relationship with their Maker and Father. It was to make man see and never doubt where his happiness stem from, and how and to whom he is to respond with his gratitude and worship. There’s no price tag attached to this relationship. The relationship in God’s Love was very simple – there is a Giver who lives to freely give His Love for He is Love; and there’re humans who live to receive Love for he is the vessel for God’s Love – and whose response is to live life purposefully and worship and give thanks to the Great Giver. To give thanks is an act of Love. God will not spare anything from man, whom He has made in His likeness. That would be tantamount to denying Himself. Later, His Love would not hold back His only Son but sacrificed Him for man.

Love Cannot be “Repaid”

The act of taking care of Eden was not to “repay” God as it were a legalistic duty. Love can never be repaid. True Love travels one-way, and never expects to be repaid. Jesus said, “If you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? But lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High” (Luk.6:33-35). Jesus was talking about God’s divine Love. That is man’s purpose: to be a vessel for the divine Love through his God-ordained calling. If you pay for something, then it becomes a “trade.” By its very nature, Love can never be traded. Think of the sunshine, the air we breathe, the water we get from our rivers and lakes? Think of our earth that hangs in the blackness of space? Can man imagine a way in which to repay God?

God’s Love is His unearned favor to man. Love is priceless. What price tag do you place on His Love for you? For Adam, do you think “working and watching over Eden, and not eating of the fruit of good and evil” was enough to repay or earn God’s Love? There is only one response that God’s Love can generate and trigger in us – all we can say to God’s Love is – “Thank you.” There is nothing else to say. There is not a word in any language which could adequately express our gratitude to God for His Love. God’s Love is not for sale. You can’t buy Love. You can only live it by giving it away and pleasing the One who Loves you by Loving in return. We can’t say “If I obey God – “work and watch my garden, and be obedient” – He will bless me.” That’s extortion, not Love. The miraculous life in His divine purpose comes from a Love that cannot be earned, not because of our obedience. We don’t “obey” God, we Love God. For Adam and Eve, their calling in “working and watching over Eden and not eating the forbidden fruit” was an act of Love and gratitude, not legalistic “obedience,” for God’s Love for them. “Working and watching over Eden and being obedient” was going to be their life’s calling and purpose. Therefore, all of life with its gift, is an act of gratitude. Life is an act of gratitude. Gratitude is an act of Love.

We would find the true meaning to life if we remember God our Father did not create us out of a judgmental conviction so we may live in fear of Him, but out of the wellspring of His unmerited Love so we can Love Him in return. “Give Thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever” (Psa. 118:1-2). Humans are miracles waiting to happen when they believe God is the Mover and Shaker in their lives.If we don’t have thankfulness in our hearts, then we’re not living His divine purpose in the miraculous life springing out of His Love, which in turn generates joy and thanksgiving in our hearts.

God Provided “Freely” for Israel’s Well-Being

When we look in the Bible, do we find this miraculous life happening on this side of the post-Eden era? The answer is a resounding “yes.” More remarkably, it happened on a national scale. > This relationship with God, though alienated by Adam, was once more brought to earth with Abraham’s encounter with God. Through Abraham’s faithfulness God called him a friend and their relationship was bound by a covenant which extended to his descendants and eventually the nation of Israel. > Israel found itself a slave people in Egypt. God remembered His covenant with Abraham, and through Moses He brought Israel out of slavery from Egypt. > How did He do it? By a series of miracles with His own hands, just as He planted Eden with His own hands! We know the story. Israel experienced the miraculous life and saw one miracle after another until the final miracle of the Passover forced Pharaoh’s hand to free the people. (Exodus chap. 3 to 12) > They left with riches handed to them by the petrified Egyptians. > They saw the pillar of fire leading them by night, and a pillar of cloud by day. > They saw the Red Sea part with their own eyes which allowed them safe passage across it. > They saw Pharaoh’s pursuing army drown as the sea collapsed upon them. > They celebrated and gave thanks for their deliverance. > They saw God wrote the Ten Commandments with His own hands at Sinai. > He miraculously fed them for 40 years in the desert where nothing could grow. Their clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on their feet. (Deut.8;4)

Humanity’s Promise Land. View of The Earth Rising over The Moon’s Horizon from The Apollo 11 Spacecraft. (Pic: Wiki Commons Public Domain)

The Promise Land

> Finally, when they were ready to enter the Promise Land, He went before them and defeated Jericho in such a spectacular manner that it left no doubt in their minds God was leading them. > He drove out the inhabitants of the land, and gave > them cities they did not build > vineyards they did not plant > livestock they did not raise > homes they did not build or furnish > riches they did not acquire > wells they did not dig—with God Himself going before them as their Defense (Deut. 6:10-12; Ps. 46:1; Josh. 23:9-11). Just as God planted Eden for Adam and Eve, He handed Israel the Promise Land – on a platter. The one singular reason this miraculous life was possible was because God was in Israel, as He was with Adam and Eve in Eden. As long as they lived in such an environment their lives was one continuous miraculous expression after another. In that kind of situation, it was hard, if not impossible, to be thankless. The people had to see God as the Mover and Shaker in their lives to generate awe and gratitude.

Israel’s Instruction

What was God’s instruction to Israel? Recall, this is the path of disobedience and mayhem Adam took humanity into the post-Eden era. Mankind has lived through so much pain and death under the influence of the unseen enemy. The flood of Noah had come and gone. Israel’s instruction was to keep the covenant. God told Israel, “Now if you obey me fully and keep My covenant, then out of all nations you will be My treasured possession. Although the whole earth is Mine, you will be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exo.19:5-6).Israel answered, “All that the Lord has spoken, we will do” (Exo.19:8). Where Adam’s gratitude for God’s Love was “to work and watch over Eden and being obedient in not eating the forbidden fruit,” Israel’s gratitude was to “keep My covenant.” That was Israel’s purpose and calling in life. Life was to be lived in a certain way as explained in the Commandments. The decree at creation for man to “have dominion over the earth” remained a constant. All the physical and material ancillary benefits they enjoyed from the Promise Land sprung from their calling and destiny as explained in the covenant. The Promise Land was given to fulfill Israel’s purpose. Listen to what Moses told Israel before they entered the Promise Land, “But you shall remember the Lord your God: for it is He that gives you power to get wealth,” and for what purpose? “…that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day” (Deut.8:18).

Living that life was their expression of gratitude for all the miraculous manifestations which saved them from slavery in Egypt and establish them as a nation, which continued to be manifested in their national life and purpose. But instead of “keeping the covenant” as an act of gratitude, it became a burden for them. They forgot their roots and how they came to be a people and nation descendant from the Abrahamic lineage and promise. They became a thankless nation. They desired to serve the gods of other nations around them. The ongoing miraculous manifestation was withdrawn due to unbelief in their purpose, and their lack of gratitude and worship of the God who has always been their salvation. God was no longer the Mover and Shaker in Israel.

Outline, Review

We know what happened? Let’s look back at this scenario presented to us. Adam failed, and so did Israel. Israel found itself back to where they started as a slave nation carted off by the northern kingdoms. Eden – gone! The Promise Land – gone! The presence of God which brought the miraculous life and divine purpose – gone! Their security and defense with angelic host that stood guard over Israel – gone! The thankful heart – gone! Man in the pre-Eden era had failed. Man in the post-Eden era had failed. You can say both sides of Eden was experimented on, our “solitary” self-centered way of life was put to the test, and found wanting. What happens now? God gave man the only answer.

Jesus the Second Adam

God sent the Second Adam in Jesus Christ, His Son. After seeing a thankless nation forsook His purpose and flout His covenant, He had the prophet Jeremiah foretell the establishment of a New Covenant in the Second Adam to do what the first Adam and Israel could not do. God said, “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people” (Jer.31:33-34; Heb.8:10,12). Jesus lived a miraculous life healing all who came to Him with whatever disease and sickness. Not only physical but spiritual disease – He brought a spiritual message of the New Covenant from the Father. (Acts 10:38)

“Tree of Life”

Recall, it is sin which separates humans from God’s Presence and His miraculous manifestation in life. Jesus rectifies the mistake of the first Adam, redeeming man from the sin condition as Savior and Mediator, and takes man back to the Tree of Life. The Tree of Life is the metaphor for the Holy Spirit who brings to man the “Triune Life” of the “Bulamanriver.”* The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which we were made to partake through the first Adam, is a metaphor for a life of the self (the “solitary life”**) under the influence of the devil. Jesus said, “It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7). It is the Spirit who brings the miraculous life, and reveals our gift and purpose through which we live a thankful life.

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Rest and be Thankful Bench in England, Thought to have Been Built in the Late 19th Century (Wiki Commons)

Pentecost – Spirit of the Miraculous Life in Man

Pentecost, the day the Holy Spirit came, became the birth date of the Church. The main characteristic of its birth was the power of miraculous manifestation God gave it. It’s a power based upon God’s Love. (Rom.5;5) Prior to that, the disciples and the faithful were cowering in fear for their lives. We know the story in Acts 2. The Spirit gave them faith, purpose, conviction, and boldness they never had. They spoke in languages of the different populace that were there for the feast of Pentecost. Three thousand gave their lives to Christ that day. They healed the sick and maimed. With the Spirit’s move the people took the Gospel message back to their countries and homes. What a story to tell.

Man is given the Holy Spirit which brings this rebirth from the fallen condition he had in the first Adam, to the new life in Christ, the Second Adam. Jesus said, “No one can enter the kingdom of God (live the “Triune Life”) unless they are born of water and the Spirit.Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit” (John 3:5-6). This rebirth where, through repentance, we dispose of everything to do with the path of the “solitary life”** we inherited from Adam. The Second Adam comes with the Spirit who brings us the “Triune Life,” and the greater promise of eternal life. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 1:22, “He (God) set His seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” It is the Spirit who brings the continuous miraculous manifestation into the life of the believer. Not only in terms of the physical, but more so the spiritual – we have an eternal High Priest in Christ and the Spirit who brings Jesus’ mediatory work in heaven into our lives. Our “Eden,” our “Promise Land,” is a heavenly one in Christ, which the Holy Spirit brings to us personally, each and every day.

Once more, just as God gave our first parents Eden, and Israel the Promise Land, freely our the abundance of His Love, today He does it again and gives us the Holy Spirit without price to be with us “forever.” (John 14:16,16:7) Speaking of the Spirit, the ancient prophet said, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance. With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” (Isa.55:1-2, 12:3; John 7:38-39)

The Believer’s Calling – Eternal Absolution

What is our purpose under the New Covenant? Very simply, it is to receive with thanksgiving the Savior God has provided for our redemption. (John 3:16; John 16:8-11, note especially, V.9; Heb.8:10-12) He is Jesus Christ. It is the only way that God could “forgive our wickedness and remember our sins no more.” (V.12) Then in response to our faith in Jesus, our Father gives us the gift of the Spirit to “put My laws in their minds and write them on their hearts.” (V.10 a) Only then, through this Triune activity of God, He can now say, “I will be their God, and they will be my people.” (V.10 b) Man can now live the reborn “Triune Life.” How can we not respond in gratitude?

As fallen humans, we will never stop trespassing, and God will never stop forgiving us in His Son. That’s why Jesus taught us to pray daily for forgiveness. (Matt.6:12) This brings joy and gratitude in us because, as Paul tells us, we are declared “righteous” so we can remain in His Presence, and not be ejected from His Presence like Adam and Israel were. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor.5:21). That is the continuous miraculous manifestation of God’s Love we have in Christ – which we will have all the days of our lives to be thankful. Each and every day we are declared righteous to live the miraculous life which brings our purpose and all blessings physical and spiritual alike and to offer thanksgiving.

Our work, like Adam was given his work, and so was Israel, is to make this good news or Gospel of Jesus Christ known to all peoples and nations through the gifts and talents God has graciously blessed each of us. The gift represents your “Eden,” your “Promise Land,” whatever that may be in your life. You are to take care of it and God utilizes it to make His Son known to the people you come into contact. It doesn’t mean you have to be a preacher, but it is our example which counts. We are the living, breathing, practitioners of God’s Love. Our gifts don’t have to be of an ecclesiastical nature. The majority of us have secular occupational talents. Yet, God calls all believers part of His priesthood. (1 Pet.2:9) Your example speaks louder than your words. ”Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt.28:18-20). Paul tell us, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Eph.2:10) “Good works” means our gift, calling, and destiny in the body of Christ.

However We’ll Celebrate Thanksgiving 2015, Let’s Reflect and Thank God for His Profound and Immeasurable Love for His Creation and Mankind (Wiki Commons)

We should understand the effect of how the New Covenant is presented and the manner it is brought to work in human life in true Triune fashion: no human can adequately thank and Love God in the way God expects because God exists outside of our human reality in His most holy state of Being. God exists in all the mystery of His holiness we will never ever know or comprehend, while man, still exists in his fallen state of alienation from Him. Humans, in their fallen state of existence, will never be able to adequately thank God who lives in absolute holiness. The truth is, only another God who is equally holy as the Father, can thank and Love another God adequately, perfectly, and absolutely. That God is Jesus Christ, the Immanuel – fully God and fully man. (Isa.7;14; Matt.1:23) Jesus existed in the Triune Godhead as the Logos from eternity with the Father and the Spirit in their divine holy existence. But here is the most beautiful picture of humanity God our Father presents to us through the Gospel message Christ brought, and wants us to understand – we are there in their midst, living in the center of their holy Triune presence – the Immanuel who took our humanity in Himself to the heavenly abode of the most holy God – represents and stands for us until the time of our change in the resurrection. (1 Cor.15)

Spirit Unifies Man In The Triune Life

The Spirit is given to man as a gift flowing perpetually through human life. As He dwells in man, He is at the same time indivisibly and inseparably connected to the Triune God in heaven, for He is the third Person in the Trinity. So, as long as He lives in us, He is the union of man to the Triune God, and the union of the Triune God to man. He brings the Triune Life in Jesus to us, and as Mediator, Jesus takes all our inadequate and imperfect human responses to the Father, absolves them in Himself, so we can be declared righteous before Him. (2 Cor. 5;21)

Holy as His Father

It is through the Spirit, who takes our inadequate human responses, our hollow and many times meaningless “thank-you’s,” to Jesus who mollifies and perfects our shortcomings in Himself, and offers our “thanksgiving offering” suitably and perfectly to the Father. That’s the purpose of the Mediator, our High Priest, inside the Triune Life of God. Jesus takes the “thanksgiving offering” of our human existence and offer them on the altar of the perfect sacrifice of Himself to the holy God and our Father. (Rom.12:1) Only Jesus could do that for He is God as His Father. He is holy like His Father. There is no other way!

The High Priest

We recall what God taught the Israelite. No one was permitted into the holiest place of the temple where God was present with the exception of the High Priest. If an Israelite brought a peace offering, or a thanksgiving offering, he cannot offer it himself in the holy place. He remained in a designated court within the temple grounds but the priesthood was appointed by God to perform the role of intermediary between God and man. The high priest alone is permitted to go into the Holy of Holies into God’s presence. That is what’s happening in heaven today with Jesus who is our High Priest. The priesthood represent the work of the Spirit in God’s people today, and the high priest represent Jesus, the true High Priest in heaven.

Israel had a human high priest, who mediated for Israel, but this time God Himself in Christ, is our High Priest mediating for all mankind. The human high priest went into the Holy of Holies once a year on the Day of Atonement, Jesus has gone back to heaven to be with the Father as He was eternally with the Triune God. We recall, the moment Jesus died on His cross, a violent earthquake shook the land and the veil which cloaked and hid the holiest place in the temple tore from top to bottom. (Matt.27:50-51) The event signified the holy God Himself had come to open the way for all mankind to continuously enter and live in His holy Presence through Christ our High Priest.

“Holy Father”

Jesus, by addressing His Father, “Holy Father,” (John 17:11), portrays for us a God whose mystery is beyond our comprehension of Him in His holiness, but, at the same time He is also closer to us than we can imagine – by being our “Father.” Jesus is our elder Brother. The Holy Spirit is our Friend and Confidante, our Miracle Worker. His holiness does not mean He is distant and untouchable. In fact, it means the exact opposite. He sent His Son so we can enter and live in His holy Presence. Yet He will be the God as He will always be God – holy, exalted, and sovereign above all creation in the physical and spiritual realms. The holy angels could echo only one refrain, “Holy, Holy, Holy!” (Rev.4:8)

“No Matter What Happens…”

So we read Paul tells believers, “Always be joyful. Always keep on praying. No matter what happens, ALWAYS BE THANKFUL… No matter what happens, ALWAYS BE THANKFul…for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus” (1 Thess. 5:16-18, emphasis added). Life is now lived with a rejoicing and be thankful heart. Paul affirms this condition we have in Jesus, saying, “We are complete in Christ, for He is the head over every power and authority” (Col.2:10). Yes, indeed!

File:Witchampton, Rest and Be Thankful - geograph.org.uk - 474187.jpg

“Rest and be Thankful” (Wiki Commons)

We have come one full circle, from the first Adam to the Second Adam, and find ourselves where God has always wanted us to be in the first place: “to enjoy living in His presence” – that’s all the Father wants of His children. That, in its simplest form, is the heart and core of the Gospel message. We are to be thankful that He is our Loving Father, the Mover and Shaker in our lives.

Summation

How do we surmise the life of the believer? All of the believer’s life which subsists in the Triune Being of God, is now an expression of holy gratitude. Every cell in his body, every pint of blood in his veins, every movement in his muscle, every breadth he takes, every heartbeat in his chest, every expression of purpose and gift, all marches with a drumroll which voices a unified chorus: “Thank You, Lord! Thanks for Giving!”

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to write me in the space provided below, or email me on bulamanriver@gmail.com.

Blessing

Until we meet again in my next post, may the blessings of the God who ceaselessly expresses Himself in His dependable Triune Love, be with you always. May the Spirit enliven your spirit and make all things concerning you possible as you live the “Triune Life” as a Bulamanriver.* Be thankful, be strong in the Lord’s joy.

Kiang, (Your Servant in Christ)

* Bulamanriver” is the metaphor describing the union of man with the Love of the Triune God flowing in humans, making possible the “Triune Life” – the source of the miraculous life in man. To read the many facets of life of the Bulamanriver, go to my website www.bulamanriver.com where you can order a copy of my book.

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.

Note: All information is copy-write. Any information obtained from this website that is used for publication should be acknowledged by citing the website address, date of acquisition and information pertinent to original authorship. For general guidelines regarding web citations see The Guide for Citing Electronic Information.

THE HAPPINESS MINDSET – 3 REALITIES (PART 2), BY KIANG P LEE

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The Bible instructs us emphatically, “Be Happy Always!” (1 Thess.5:16)

Greetings once more Friends! Look at the picture below, it bears an uncanny resemblance of a smiley face. I thought it would be nice to share it with you in this write-up about happiness.

“Happy Islands,” Manukan Island, Sabah, Malaysia (Pic: Wiki Commons)

A “Happy Heart is Good Medicine!”

God would not instruct us to “be happy always,” unless He is that way Himself, and He has the way to bring this blessed condition to reality in humans. While putting this post to paper, my thoughts went to the pressing issue that’s currently affecting us all and has brought apprehension and fear– the Ebola virus that’s taken the lives of many in West Africa and more recently its introduction into the United States. Of course, I am not for a moment discounting the many other pressing issues facing us all. The World Health Organization (WHO) latest report (Nov. 2014) estimates 13,268 reported cases and 4960 reported deaths. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates the Ebola cases in three of the countries most affected is two or three times higher than reported.

I asked myself if continuing to write about the topic of happiness is still pertinent and relevant? Sickness and disease have been with humans since the dawn of time. The reason Ebola has grabbed so much attention is because the virus is fatalistic with no known cure. My prayers are with all those affected. Amidst all that, a passage of scripture came to mind, “A cheerful (happy) heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” (Prov.17:22) When we are uncertain and fearful, it crushes our spirit, and that’s bad medicine for the body. Happiness and fear don’t mix – like oil does not mix with water. So if anything, perhaps there’s no better time to prescribe some good medicine of a happy heart than now, to replace our apprehension and fear of an unwelcome virus. Besides, as long as God says, “Be happy always,” there’s always a way through this pressing times.

Happiness is God’s Will for You!

The opening passage above tells us to be always happy no matter the circumstance. And it adds, “Pray continually, giving thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s (your Father’s) will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1Thess.5:17-18) To be in a constant mindset of joy is God’s will for us. Why is that? We saw in Part 1 that God is the Source of joy, so He lives in eternal happiness. We would not know what joy and happiness is if we were not made in God’s image. (Gen.1:26-27) When people are uncertain and fearful it’s hard to be happy, and very unlike God’s image. It’s twice as hard when fear becomes irrational. It takes a lot of courage to be happy, in fact it takes the divine Love of God. The Bible tells us that “Perfect Love casts out fear.” (1 John 4:18). There is no fear in Love. Only God’s Love is perfect. It is through Love that we are cared for even in the most desperate of times by a God who declares Himself as our Loving Father. Human love is imperfect for fear is at its foundation. Remember, we closed the first part saying the happiness is a state of mind. So, let’s continue with this topic, which I feel is more relevant now than I realized at first.

The 3 Elements!

We touched on two elements of man’s experience he had with God when he lived in complete joy and happiness in Eden. These two elements were Adam’s purpose of “keeping the Garden,” and not eating of the “forbidden fruit.” Happiness is bound to a life with “purpose” and a moral obligation to your God and your neighbor. (Mark 12:30-31) Both are acts of Love reciprocating the Love received from our Father. The forbidden fruit was really called the “fruit of good and evil.” (Gen.2:16-17) “Good and evil” can exist primarily between humans through human relationships, thereby, the “forbidden fruit” has to do with man’s moral obligation to one another. So, happiness is tied to man’s purpose and moral responsibility. The third element was introduced after Adam’s fall. Adam’s sin had its repercussionary effect on man’s fallen, depraved, and corrupt existence which ultimately led to death. (Gen.2:17; Rom.3:23) Where there is sin, it has to be atoned for, it’s natural justice. Since humans are fallen beings, there cannot be found among mankind anyone to be man’s savior. There was only one option – God Himself, who is perfect, sinless, and holy, has to come and be man’s Savior. Jesus, the Son of God, who proceeds from the Father, became the sacrificial Lamb for man’s sins. He took our humanity upon Him to rescue man. Not only did Jesus rescue man, He glorified man in Himself through His life, death, resurrection, and ascension to the Father in heaven.

How does these three elements bring happiness? Let’s look at each and highlight their salient features which contribute to man’s happiness.

1 Human Purpose & Destiny

If we see the account in Eden, we will see that Adam’s purpose was given to Him by the Father. That is the first and most vital truth about a life of purpose. Adam did not decide for himself what his purpose was going to be. God gave him gifts to enable him to carry out his purpose and calling. God gave him instruction “to dress and keep the garden.” (Gen.2:15) Adam and Eve took care of Eden totally happy in what they were tasked to do. It was an act of Love reciprocating the Love of the Father who provided Eden as a gift. Adam could well have chosen other task for himself. Eden had rivers where gravel was gold and precious stones. (Gen.2:10-14; Ezek.28:13) But Adam’s calling was not to seek a self-centered life for himself and his wife, but to take good care of Eden. Now we must ask, what was Eden, what did it symbolize and represent? The answer to that question responds to the question of man’s purpose and the happiness it brings.

> What was Eden?

First and foremost Eden was the most beautiful, delightful, and magnificent garden that has ever existed, and ever will. With His own hands God planted it and freely gave to our first parents. Not a blade of grass was planted by Adam, nor was a flower bed seeded by Eve. Eden was handed to them on a platter. Second, Eden was their “home.” Eden had all a “home” could ever give our first parents where they lived in excellent health, secure, with untold abundance. But more than that, a “home” means family, it means there are other humans beside Adam he calls his neighbor. In essence, “home” or Eden means relationships. Recall, Adam was alone until God created Eve to be his wife and life partner. God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” (Gen.2:19) That’s how relationships was born in Eden. This is how God made relationships an essential part of Eden. In short, “dressing and keeping” Eden metaphorically meant maintaining their relationship with God who planted it, with each other, and their neighbor. Eden was about God, home, family, neighbor, community. Most of all, God was the central part of Eden. When God said, “Let us create man in our image and likeness,” the “our” referred to the Love of the Father, His Son, and the Spirit. Thereby, out of their brimful Love for each other, they created Adam and Eve, and their home, Eden. They in turn reciprocated this Love in fulfilling God’s purpose for them.

> God Replicating Himself

What was God doing? He was replicating the relational oneness God had in His Tri-Personal Being in the life of Adam and Eve. God is not a solitary, single-person, God. Jesus came and revealed God as Trinitarian and Love from eternity. (John 6:46, 3:16; 1John 4;8) This Loving relationship was and is the way God existed in His Triunity from eternity and He wanted them to understand and live in God’s image and likeness in a real, tangible way. (Gen.1:26-27) From eternity God the Father has Loved His Son, and in the same way included us in His Love for His Son. So the Son chose to include us in His Love for His Father. God is Trinitarian and their Love for each other as Father, the Word (before Jesus became human), and the Holy Spirit, was now being reproduced in our first parents. These two principles of living is the basis upon which Adam and Eve lived happy lives. Much later, Jesus repeated the two principles when the religious leaders of His time asked, “Which command in the law is most important?” Jesus answered, “Love the Lord your God…and Love others as you Love yourself.” (Matt.22:34-40) Eden was about relationship with God and our fellow humans. “Dressing and keeping Eden” was about maintaining those relationships in the Father’s Love.

> The 3 Drivers

There’s another important point about what Eden symbolically means for us today. We have the tendency to look at life in our human short-sighted view dedicating our lives selfishly to seeking human sustenance, security, and material desires. We’ll call them the ‘3 drivers’ for short. Jesus tells us, “These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs.” (Matt.6:32) Yet, that is not where our purpose and happiness lies – far be from it! In fact, what happens is the ‘3 drivers’ leads man down the path of self-centeredness and creates competition and greed, and before man realizes the spirit to dominate other humans is in control of him, and sadly, this becomes the motivation of his relationship with other people. God wants us to set our Love on Him as He is completely and genuinely focused on our welfare in His love for us.

> Relationship

Yet, God calls man to a purpose that consists of the most basic of tasks. It has nothing to do with your sustenance, security, or material needs, it has to do with relationships. Relationships calls for His Love to be at the forefront of our lives. Relationships calls for our commitment to obligations to God and fellowmen. This is the path to happiness. Love calls for creative living in our relationship with God and with others. Unfortunately, many think that such a path is not worthy of their attention, let alone dedication. They regard the path of relationships with its moral undercurrent as beneath their notice, and some go to the extent of associating it with weakness. Unfortunately, they fail to realize that the very energy that would propel them to happiness, is what in their blindness they have rejected to their own hurt.

SUSTENANCE SECURITY ABUNDANCE

> 3 Drivers – God’s Responsibility

Yet, unbeknownst to them, these ‘3 drivers’ that they have dedicated their lives seeking, God says emphatically is His responsibility in the first place, not ours! O what a relief that is – if we believe! Just like He provided for our first parents in their sustenance, angelic security, and material abundance in Eden, He does so today with believers. As I said in Part 1, what God had set in motion in Eden as it concerns man’s wellbeing, his joy and happiness, Adam’s disobedience could not invalidate or abrogate. That’s an unrelenting law that’s in motion then, and is still in motion to this day. It’s the law of His divine Love! In the areas of the ‘3 drivers’ Paul says this about God the Father’s continuing Love for man, “You can be sure (confident) that God will take care of everything you need, His generosity exceeding even yours in the glory that pours from Jesus. Our God and Father abound in glory that just pours out into eternity. Yes.” (Phi.4:19-20, MSG) Jesus said, “People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things (3 drivers), but you know both God and how He works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.” (Matt.6:33, MSG) Yes, this an eternal promise He has bound Himself to keep. Both Jesus and Paul reminds us that God already knows what we need before we ask, and it is His task to bless us, so we can focus out effort on His purpose in our lives of building Loving relationships. Jesus reminds us that we will face enough tension trying to focus on building Loving relationships as it is, not to mention the ‘3 drivers,’ so He assures us our Father’s provision for us. And that’s how happiness is cultivated and harvested in human life.

In uncertain times like the present when we are facing the Ebola crisis, God is not unmindful of our joy in His Son. He even promises healing so we don’t need to fear sicknesses and diseases. The Psalmist writes this, “Bless the Lord, 0 my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from destruction; who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies; Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” (Psa 103:2,3,4,5) His healing promise assures us, “I am God your healer.” (Exo.15;26, MSG) There is not a circumstance in our lives without a promise for our defense from our Loving Father – His Love is like a life insurance policy. This is the basis of our joy and happiness in His Son.

Frankly, I could give you five principles of happiness to follow like many how-to books on the subject. They are a dime-a-dozen, but I do not profess to be one of them. What I write about is God’s answers to human concerns and dilemmas, and happiness is one of them. (You may also read my blog post entitled, “Gift and Calling – What Is Its Purpose?” posted on 01/30/14)

2 Do Not Eat the “Forbidden Fruit”

Let’s be clear about one thing, by giving Adam and Eve the instruction to not eat from “the tree that bore the fruit of good and evil,” or commonly known as “the forbidden fruit,” God was not withholding something good from our first parents. Author Michael Reeves asked, “What, then, went wrong (in Eden)? It was not that Adam and Eve stopped loving. They were created as lovers in the image of God and they could not undo that. Instead, their love turned. When the apostle Paul writes of sinners, he describes them as “lovers of themselves, lovers of money… lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God.” (2 Tim.3:2-4) Lovers we remain, but twisted, our love misdirected and perverted. Created to love God, we turn to love ourselves and anything but God. And this is just what we see in the original sin of Adam and Eve. Eve takes and eats the forbidden fruit because of a love for herself – and gaining wisdom for herself – has overcome any love she might have had for God… The problem is deeper than her actions, deeper than outward disobedience. Her act of sin was merely the manifestation of the turn in her heart: she now desired the fruit, more than she desired God.” (Delighting in the Trinity, Pg.65)

Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise after Eating the Forbidden Fruit (Pic: Wiki Commons)

Moral Obligation

There was nothing wrong with the fruit per se, but it is about what it symbolized. Just as “dressing and keeping Eden” is symbolic of human purpose and relationships we have seen earlier, so is “the forbidden fruit.” What does it symbolize? If Adam’s purpose has to do with relationships, then it follows that the “forbidden fruit” has to do with man’s moral obligations in his relationship with one another beginning with his wife, Eve. Think about this, it is only in human relationships that we are called upon to act with moral civility – of Loving neighbor as one self. Of necessity this requires a determination of what civil means. It means there is a right and wrong way to live and relate with people. Otherwise, what could “the forbidden fruit” mean in the absence of human relationships and interaction? No other living species created by God requires the exercise of the mind to decide how to relate with each other through right and wrong choices, except man.

So, the symbolism of the “forbidden fruit” portrays man’s moral obligation to each other. In the ten commandments God gave Israel, He catalogs what the “forbidden fruits” are as we relate with our neighbors: do not steal, do not murder, do not covet what is your neighbor’s, do not lie, don’t commit adultery, respect your parents. The commandments also inform us about how we are to relate with God. (Exo.20:1-17) The commandments, given in future imperfect participle (“thou shall not”), is a type of reverse engineering of our fallen self in contrast with God’s Love, from which vantage point we take moral responsibility for our choices.

These two pillar truths of purpose and moral responsibility were sufficient elements for a happy life in the Father’s presence were it not for a momentous event which changed the direction of man’s blissful destiny in Eden. Here is man’s dilemma, not only as it relates to happiness, but to every human dilemma and its underlying cause: because of Adam’s (man’s) change of heart from loving God, he came under a cloud of deception and darkness resulting in his blindness by the devil. Everything God has set in relentless motion in Eden before Adam’s fall, the devil had turned around for his own dark and evil schemes. Man had lost all the spiritual energy and wisdom to live his true purpose on earth. What we witness in mankind’s history of cruelty, man’s humanity to man, of the carnage and untold suffering in the past 6000 years is testament to man’s fall from grace. Purpose was no longer tied to a moral code of loving relationship with others, but replaced with the loving pursuit of material vanity at the expense of others. People’s relationships were driven entirely materialistically by the ‘3 drivers’ without consideration for another’s wellbeing, let alone God. (Mat.6:32) And so, as we enter the post Eden era of man’s fallen journey on this earth, and in His time, God fulfilled His promise to send the Messiah to restitute what was wronged in Eden by man.

3 The Provision for a Savior & Mediator in Jesus Christ

In short, the provision of a Savior is to take man back to man’s original estate in Eden in the presence of the Father so happiness can be part of his life once more. Let me now explain God’s plan for doing this in the post-Eden era. When Jesus came He came bearing the most joyful of all messages for mankind from God our Father. Jesus came revealing God as Father whom we can approach and be loved as His eternal children. (John 3:16; 1:18) The angelic hosts announced the wonderful news to the shepherds in this way, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy (happiness) for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace (happiness) to those on whom His favor rests.” (Luk.2:10-11, 14) When Jesus embarked on His 3-year ministry as an adult, John the Baptist presented Him to the world with these words, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.” (John 1:29, 34) What was happening here? The apostle John affirms, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” (John 1:14) Jesus is the “Word” who dwelt in the Triune Godhead from eternity, and Loved by the Father from everlasting. Now, He is human like us – adopting our weak, frail, vulnerable, fallen, sinful, humanity. The prophet Isaiah foretold the Word’s coming in this way, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). (Isa.7:14; Matt.1:23) God has come close to humanity as a Father does out of the depth of His Love.

Cross to the Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry, Ireland. (Wiki Commomns)

I am presenting the above scriptural passages so we know for certain only God, revealed to mankind as Father, could have saved mankind from his fallen depraved nature he inherited from the devil through Adam. How can fallen man save himself? It cannot be done, it’s impossible! Albert Einstein, in an indirect way, speaks for man and affirms this conclusion, saying, “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” (‘Atomic Education Urged by Einstein,’ http//Icarus-falling.blogspot.com/) It has to take a transcendent external Being who is Creator, who is none other than the Word, eternally Loved by the Father, who became Jesus Christ, the Son of God and now the Son of Man. (Matt.16:13-17) The Word, holy in His Being, becomes the Immanuel, “God with us” incarnated, to rescue man from death. Paul said, “It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God–that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.” (1Cor.1:30) Sinful man will always exist vicariously in the perfect, glorified, life of Christ, in the Triune Godhead.

The Word took our humanity upon Himself and became Jesus for the purpose taking man back to his original estate with the Triune God. Jesus lived a perfect sinless life in man’s place, was crucified as man’s Savior, He was resurrected and ascended to heaven, taking our humanity into His eternal place in the Triune Godhead of the Father, Son, and Spirit. Before Jesus departed this earth He promised to send the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, to dwell with and in man forever. “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth.” (John 14:16-17a) So, here we see the “Triune Life” man is called to live in his physical body, involving the Father, Son, and Spirit. By saying “forever,” Jesus affirms the Spirit’s role to ultimately take man across the chasm from mortality into immortality. (2Cor.5:5; 1Cor.15) Of course, this is the ultimate answer to man’s question of happiness – for in the presence of God man will experience everlasting joy. (Psa.16:11; Isa.61:7)

In our present human estate, happiness becomes man’s inheritance in this way: the Bible says that man becomes a “temple” for the Spirit to make His abode. (1Cor.3:16) And right here we see the spiritual process by which happiness is made to shine in the heart of man. For through the Spirit, man is being spiritually and constantly transported to the very presence of God to replicate the Adamic life in Eden with purpose and be our brother’s keeper. The only difference is Adam was in physical Eden, and the believer now lives in spiritual Eden. The spiritual is made reality when the Spirit brings the miraculous life to man. Let me be the one to testify to you, when you experience the life of miracles, nothing could be more real.

So, what does all we have read here tell us as it relates to happiness? It tells us that Eden is the place of happiness – but Eden is not as far-fetched as we might think. Jesus came as Savior to reopen the way back to Eden. The way back to Eden was closed because of man’s sin, remember. (Gen.3:23-24) The Spirit takes us to this wondrously happy place every moment of every day of our lives. It is in spiritual Eden where God gives us a purpose and the Love to live with moral responsibility with our fellowmen. This is not the place to live in fear in our fallen humanity, but a place of Love, of purposeful living, and lasting happiness, and the new person in Jesus.

God wants all humans, regardless of who they are, to return to Eden and to the bosom of the Father who loves us beyond words can ever tell. (2 Pet.3:9) To prove His intentions, He did not spare His Son He has Loved from eternity, the Son who was the Creator of man, to take our sinful humanity, so through Him we may return and find joy in His Fatherly presence. I have said this catchphrase in several of my previous posts, God made man to enjoy being in His presence. That, in its simplest form, is the essence of the Gospel message. It is a message of happiness. (Ps. 16:9,11; Neh. 8:10; John 16:24). God has a purpose for us all, but we must not lose sight of the purpose of our gifts, and not live in self-righteous legalistic mode in them. Reeves says, “The Spirit of the Father and the Son would never be interested in merely empowering us to “do good” (purpose). His desire (which is the desire of the Father and the Son) is to bring us to such a hearty enjoyment of God through Christ that we might delight to know Him, that we might delight in all His way, and that therefore we want to do as he wants and we hate the thought of ever grieving Him.” (idid, Pg,101) I sincerely hope you will stretch your hand and take hold of Jesus’ hand so He can lead you back to your Loving Father, and to the happiness that is deserved yours.

Blessing:

Until we meet again in my next post, may the blessing of the God who ceaselessly expresses Himself in His dependable Triune Love, be with you today and give you strength for authentic creative “Triune Living” as a Bulamanriver.*

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to write me in the space provided below, or email me on bulamanriver@gmail.com.

Kiang, (Your Servant in the Lord)

* The “Bulamanriver” is the metaphor describing the union of man with the Love of the Triune God flowing in humans, making possible the “Triune Life” – the source of the miraculous life in man. Man is the “riverbed” and the Spirit is the “living waters” that cover him and flows to all in his valley (destiny). (John 7:37-39)

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.

NOTE: All information from this website is copyrighted. Any use of its content should be acknowledged by citing the website, address, date of acquisition and information pertinent to original authorship.

“DELIGHTING IN THE TRINITY” – BOOK REVIEW

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Greetings friends!

In my blog #18 more than a year ago I introduced the online “Bulamanriver Trinitarian Book Center.” I have encountered many hurdles as I thought of the best and most economical way of doing this, realizing our limited resources. I am happy to start this with the introduction of a “Book Review” post, where I will present a book for your viewing. As I stated I will attempt to bring books which promote the “Triune Life” which I have advocated in my book, “Bulamanriver, The Miracle of Triune Living,” and through my blog posts. Why so? Because it is by living the “Triune Life” that we will experience the ongoing miraculous life God intended for man to have from the beginning. I am sure you will find this book most beneficial as I did.

In this lively book by Michael Reeves, we find an introduction to Christianity and the “Triune Life” that is from start to finish rooted in our Triune God – the Father, Son, and Spirit. Not only do we understand the Person and work of Christ through the Trinity, but also prayer, the Church and every aspect of Christian faith. The book is a good introduction to the “Triune Life” I have often advocated.

The books that really sell like hot cakes are the “how to” books where it gives you something to do. To the “how to” junkies, the thought of reading a book about the Trinity is something hard going and pointless. Yet Christianity is not so much about lifestyle change as it is about knowing who God IS. For in getting to know God better we would make more profound change living the “Triune Life” than we would otherwise. As Reeves aptly says, “No exaggeration: the knowledge of this (Triune) God turns lives around.”

The book is available from Amazon for $13.37 (paperback), and as an ebook for $9.39. I am sure you will agree that’s a modest investment in exchange for a treasure trove of insights in its pages which will enrich you immensely. Please click on the underlined phrase above and/or product image below and you will be taken to the Amazon site to complete your purchase.

Please remember, as I said in my post, all proceeds from the book sale will go towards furthering the Lord’s work of promoting the collaborative “Triune Life” to all peoples. Until we meet in my next book review, may the blessing of the God who ceaselessly expresses Himself in His dependable Triune Love, be with you today and give you strength for authentic creative “Triune Living” as a Bula man-river.*

Kiang, (Your Servant in Christ)

*The “Bulamanriver” is the metaphor describing the union of man with the Love of the Triune God flowing in humans, making possible the “Triune Life” – the source of the miraculous life in man. Man is the “riverbed” and the Spirit is the “living waters” that cover him and flows to all in his valley (destiny). (John 7:37-39)

ONLINE GIVING – AN INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE, BY KIANG P LEE

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Greetings friends around the world!

You may have noticed a change on my blog site – there’s now a navigation menu at the top of the page. For reasons unbeknownst to me this was completely omitted from my blog site. My sincere apology to you all for this oversight. I encourage you to navigate the menu and obtain more information about who we are and what we do. I would like to draw your attention to a vital matter on the menu, that is, the “Donate” button.

The “Donate” Button

In the “Donate” button I am requesting your assistance to voluntarily give online for the advancement of the Lord’s work throughout the world. It’s an open invitation to participate in the “Triune Life” with God through your active donation in His Work. I have often wrote about the “Triune Life” which is a participatory life with The Father, our Savior, Jesus, and our Friendship with the Spirit. You can read about our Mission, Vision, and Value statements by clicking the “Mission” button on the navigation menu.

Living The Triune Inclusive Life

The Bulamanriver Trinitarian Ministry promotes the participatory “Triune Life” to all peoples. Readers of this blog will know that this participatory focus is the foundation of this Ministry. Through the “Triune Life” we experience the miraculous life God intended for man to live from the beginning. The last thing on my mind is the Lord’s work is done disingenuously to the Trinitarian essence which is the underlying motivation of the Spirit’s miraculous movement in human life.

Open to All

God’s work is open to all peoples, without favor as to race, religion, culture, nationality, or one’s station in life – only then we can remain true to His Trinitarian nature of inclusiveness and oneness. It is a truthful saying that you cannot plow a field by turning it over in your mind, but by actually putting your hands to the plow for real. (Luk.9:62) There are ways you can do this, and your participation in the Lord’s work through the Bulamanriver Trinitarian Ministry makes it possible.

This work will only be as effectual as our participation in it – in union with the Tri-Personal God. God has not given us ‘solitary’ herculean abilities to do His work. No, His work is a Triune participatory labor of Love. Only God has super abilities to do this work single-handedly, but He has chosen not to, because in His Tri-Personal Being He Himself lives the participatory life, and calls upon us to share in His Triune Loving nature.

“He Doesn’t Miss A Thing”

The Lord invites you, as do I, to participate as partners in His work to bring light to the spiritually poor and needy in this world. They too are in dire need to receive and experience His miraculous activity in their lives. (John 14:12-14) It is truly a worthy cause to invest in, as He reminds us through Paul’s words, “God is not unjust. He doesn’t miss anything. He knows perfectly well all the Love you’ve shown Him by helping the needy, and that you keep at it.” (Heb.6:10-11) The Bible says there is a beneficial follow-on effect in the good you do, especially when you do good for God’s Loving purpose. God says He remembers, He never forgets!

Thank YOU!

Your participation in the “Triune Life” comes with our heartfelt thanks. The Lord will bless you for your giving as He spontaneously blesses all who helps the cause of the needy. (Prov.19:7; 11:24-25; 22:9)

Please click the Donate button above and follow the prompts to complete your online giving.

We also ask you to participate with me in your prayers that the Spirit will give us all the strength to be faithful stewards of the work He has given us to do.

Blessing

Until my next post, may the blessing of the God who ceaselessly expresses Himself in His dependable Triune Love, be with you today and give you strength for authentic Triune Living.

Kiang – Your Servant in the Lord

THE HAPPINESS MINDSET – 3 REALITIES, BY KIANG P LEE

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Greetings precious friends around the world! Happiness is a finicky thing. You can’t pin it down and say here it is, I have found it, and it will never escape my grasp again. Let’s talk happiness today!

If there is a plausible reason for a person doing anything, it’s most certainly to find happiness. In the everyday distractions and disruptions of life, we may not subconsciously realize this, but happiness is the underlying motivation for everything we do. Happiness is a universal pursuit! Happiness makes us do extraordinary things with our lives. We work and struggle for it; we fight to defend it; we rest our hopes and dreams upon it. We can go to a person of any nationality, language, or culture, and you will find this assessment to be unanimously true for all people. No one goes out to seek ways to inflict pain and misery upon himself or his loved ones. It’s inhumane, if not sadistic! The pursuit of happiness and joy is the universal occupation, past-time, and reason for human existence.

“Happy Islands” in Outline of Smiley Face, Malaysia (Pic: Wiki Commons)

Happiness is Fleeting

If you ask anyone the question – what is happiness for you? – you will probably get as many answers as there are people. Why is that? Because with humans, happiness is a transient thing – it is temporary, it comes and goes and is fleeting. Happiness means different things to different people. At different times and phase in life, it changes color. For someone, happiness may be finding a job because he is unemployed. Then for another, it is to find the right person to marry. Or, it may be taking a vacation to an exotic location. Then, there can be a person who wants nothing more than getting out of an abusive relationship. As a parent with a child, an ice cream would guarantee that innocent broad smile that just lifts our spirits. And so the endless definition of happiness goes on and on.

Coping Needs & Happiness

On the other side of the pendulum we find many people struggling to find the meaning of happiness. For them, their constant struggle to find three square meals a day is their interpretation of life. Or, to survive a day in a war torn country is the only reality they know, let alone happiness. People do not universally live like we do in America, and happiness is defined differently, if there is such a thing, for them. Then there are people who are dirt-poor but live happier than those who surround themselves with an abundance of material things. Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) theorized that one must satisfy his or her coping needs like physiological, safety, love and belonging, and respect, before moving ahead to higher level of needs of true happiness. So, for the majority of people, happiness may be defined as just meeting one’s ‘coping needs.’

Maslow’s Pyramid of Coping Needs (Wiki Commons)

Fountain of Joy

Coping needs are usually temporary like satisfying one’s hunger, shelter, finding a job, etc. But to reach the higher level of needs that is not temporary but lasting and permanent, requires something transcendent, a spiritual rejuvenation. I realize that once I mention ‘spiritual,’ people tend to back-off, it’s not somewhere they want to tread. But humans are intrinsically spiritual beings, whether we want to acknowledge it or not, does not change the status quo. As Karl Barth said, “We can speak about man only by speaking about God.” (The Humanity of God, Pg.70) We want to investigate happiness not as a temporary emotion – temporary joys occurs all the time in people’s lives. But we are investigating happiness as a source of joy that’s resilient and enduring. A fountain of limitless joy, if you like! Is there such a thing and place, anyway? I would like to propose to you that there is. If there is a God, there is boundless joy, for He is the Source of it. I will present this article in two installments, and you can judge it for what’s it worth for value. And I invite your comments.

Two Types of Happiness

Let’s come back to the person who was elated and happy beyond words at finding a job. Years on, he now finds himself struggling to finish the day in his job because routine and boredom has set in. What was at one time the source of happiness has turned into a prison-like place of unhappiness. And this emptiness, this temporary happiness, is being repeated rampant across the spectrum of human experience, only the circumstances are different. People are experiencing this temporary form of happiness all the time. It’s time to understand and experience lasting happiness. The happiness that is defined not by transient and coping circumstances, or money and material stuff, but by true and enduring happiness! If that is what we are truly seeking, then we will have to tap into the spiritual component of our lives, because that is where the fountain of joy which brews happiness can be found. In other words, happiness can be defined into two broad categories: one is temporary and will empty out in due course, and the other is resilient and enduring.

God and Happiness

All spiritual matters organically leads to God, who is the Creator and the Sustainer of all life, and the Source of joy. God lives in eternal joy, therefore, He is eternally happy. Some may say, how can God be happy when there is so much evil in the world He has created? O, you can be sure He is grieved by what man has done in this world, but it does not remove the underlying joy which is inherently part of His nature. He is who He is – Love and joy undergirds His divine Being. Sadness and grief is a temporary emotion, but joy is permanent like God is eternal. (Rev.21:3-5) Good and evil in this world has much to do with Love and freedom. They both go hand in hand, you cannot have one without the other. God cannot remove man’s freedom to make choices, and Love man at the same time – it’s a conflicting statement.

Happiness, Freedom, & Evil

You can be certain God can end all the evil in this world in an instant, but would that truly solve man’s problems, would it fulfill His purpose for creating man? God made humans to have minds like He has, so man can have the freedom to choose like He does in His Love. Author Micheal Reeves speaking on the Triune God says, “The creatures (humans) of the Triune God are not mere extensions of Him; He gives them life and personal being. Allowing them that, though, means allowing them to turn away from Himself, – and that is the origin of evil. By graciously giving His creatures (humans) the room to exist, the Triune God allows them the freedom to turn away without Himself being the author of evil.” (Delighting in the Trinity, Pg.58) Unlike all other species He has created with pre-set instincts, humans have minds like God for making choices, for He made man to have separate personalities yet unified as one like He is in His Tri-Personal Being. In the final analysis, God’s happiness is not defined by His creation or the circumstances that stand up against Him, but by who He is in His Love. Love is expressed by its fruits, and joy is one of them. We forget that inherent in our freedoms is our search for happiness. Freedom and happiness are flip sides of the same coin. So, man has to have the freedom to choose, right from wrong, good from evil, and grief from happiness. In His Love for man, God cannot take away His Love and freedom from him. But God does show man the way out of his dilemma if he so chooses to follow Him. And God has been doing this from the beginning since Adam freely chose to rebel against His way of Love. But man has turned down His offer time and again as the Bible adequately shows us.

Love Is The Source of Happiness

Does anyone goes out of his way and deliberately make himself miserable and unhappy? Of course not, and that proves that we are all, no matter our nationality, race, or cultural norms, made in the Creator’s joyful image – for we are ever seeking ways that makes us happy. All our actions are motivated by our pursuit of happiness. God has implanted in our DNA His joy from which happiness springs. It is for man to tap into that spring and find true happiness. Sometimes we find people’s reasons may be sadistic, like people with extremists views, but it is what they imagine will bring them ‘happiness.’ They are misguided, but happiness is still at the end of the search in their journey – so they think. We have not found the elixir which make us happy permanently, like God is in His Triune nature. And that elixir is God’s divine Triune Love. Intrinsic in His Love is the fruit of joy, the very wellspring from which happiness springs forth. We were created to reflect His divine image of joy. (Gen.1:26-27) The Bible tells us that when we have this Love, then we also have this joy that no man can take from us. (John 16:22) This joy brings happiness in good times and bad. Our circumstance, be it our coping needs or otherwise, is not the determinant for the expression of this joy. Like a spring it is always bubbling with joy to overcome any and all adverse circumstances.

Divine Love – the Basis of Happiness (Wiki Commons)

Man – A Vessel for Joy

Try to think of yourself as a container. When your container is full with the right stuff, you are happy no matter what the circumstance. But you feel empty inside when your container is filled with the wrong stuff – your joy is human and dissipates like vapor. This right “stuff” is what I call the elixir which brings lasting happiness. It is the wellspring from which joy erupts into a life of happiness. The elixir is the very Love of God, and His Love is His nature. (1 John 4:8) And God tells us clearly He created us so we can share in His image of Love. (Gen.1:26-27) We have probably heard of this Love described to us in many ways, and called by various names, but I’m not sure we are talking about the same thing. There is a love that’s entirely humansitic, that’s not it. When I say the Love of God that is Triune in its expression, I mean there is only one way this Love can enter the human container. The Bible is very clear and unambiguous about this. It says this, “The Love of God which is deposited in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.” (Rom.5:5) There are only two “stuff” that can fill us as human containers: it is the spirit call the self – whose entire focus is on self-love (the wrong stuff), or it is the Holy Spirit who instills in man the divine Love of God (the right stuff). The Bible says man is a “temple (container) for the Holy Spirit.” (1 Cor.3:16; 6:19) We were made to be containers for God’s divine Love. That’s man’s purpose and reason for being.

Back to Eden

I would like us to travel back in time to the story of man in Eden. Here, we’ll find the source of joy and happiness. Eden was the reservoir for God’s Love, and since Adam and Eve lived in it, their lives were filled with God’s Love. Adam and Eve knew happiness like no other human has ever experienced before and after Eden. They were living in the very fountain of joy – a joy which exists in God’s Triune Being in the Father, Son, and Spirit. They knew all the joys God wanted man to have. But after they alienated themselves from God’s presence, they were expelled from Eden, and came to live outside Eden. What lay outside of Eden was the life of self-centeredness Adam chose to live without God’s Triune Love. He lived a life with the ‘self’ as its core, with all its fallen, depraved, evil, and self-centered form of expression. In compassion, God promised to send a second Adam to rescue man. He was Jesus, and He came and took all our wickedness upon Himself, and rescued us and took man back to Eden and into the presence of God’s Triune Love.

The Two Elements

Before the fall of man in Eden, man was totally happy like God, who was the source of their joy. In this joyous state of existence, they happily performed two tasks given them by God. These two tasks contributed and enhanced their happiness. They were to “dress and keep the Garden” God had planted for them, and they were not to eat the “forbidden fruit.” These tasks were done more out of reciprocating Love than legalistic obedience often taught today. From this, we deduce that their happiness was tied in with their “work” and to a “moral” obligation done in Love. When Proverbs says, “The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, without painful toil for it,” it speaks of a life where joy and happiness is the essential part of life. The fact that these two elements never diminished their joy and gratefulness, proved they only contributed to and enhanced their joy. In other words, God’s Love expressed in their “purpose” and “responsibility” equals happiness!

Recall, this way of life was normal and brought joy before our first parent’s fell from grace. Their adherence to these two trump way of life was not legalistic, where one party says ‘I will do this for you, and you will do that for me,’ as is common in human interaction. No, it was an act of free and costless Love. Love can’t be repaid, it can only be given freely. There was a “destiny” to be lived, which is tied to our “responsibility for each other.” In other words, to “dress and keep the garden” metaphorically means our calling and direction in life. The “forbidden fruit” means our moral responsibility to be “our brother’s keeper” by owing nothing to each other but the debt of Love. (Rom.13:8) Morality can exist only in human relationships, therefore, the “forbidden fruit” relates to actions which we are to desist as prescribed by the commandments. So, happiness was and is essentially tied in with a person’s purpose and calling in life, and his expression of Love for his neighbor.

Garden of Eden (Wiki Commons)

The Third Element

I want us to understand this as the foundation of happiness: the fact these two elements of man’s life was an essential part of man’s happiness when he lived in complete unity and happiness with His Maker before his fall. The Bible does not reveal how long Adam and Eve remained faithful and united in God’s Love before their fall. Some have postulated that it was 33 years, the same age Jesus lived on earth. Whatever that may be, the point is their disobedience could not nullify or invalidate the elements of happiness which were already established by God in Eden before man’s fall. In other words, man’s happiness will continue to be validated by these principles. This is the same with the institution of marriage which was given to man before man’s fall. The two elements of purpose and responsibility are constituent parts of man’s happiness as God determined from the beginning. However, after the fall these elements were used for selfish purpose by man – not God’s purpose.

So, a third element was brought to bear in man’s happiness. All the institutions God tried to establish with mankind after the fall were conciliatory in nature. That’s to say, they were intended to bring man from his fallen state of existence back to his intended unified state of existence with God. And the most important of these institutions was the Passover, or in short, man’s need for a Savior through the second Adam, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He came to reinstate man’s place in Eden through the cross. And now, man have these three elements in his life which will bring the happiness he once knew when he lived in the fullness of God’s Love which dominated his existence.

The Three Elements of Happiness

So, these are the three elements for lasting happiness – the first is a person’s purpose and destiny, second is his moral responsibility to Love his neighbor, these were given before man’s fall in Eden. And the third came after man’s fall in the provision of a Savior to take man back to man’s original estate. It has been said that “happiness is a state of mind.” Nothing could be more true, for it is in how we put these triune elements into practice as they affect us personally through the decisions we make in our minds, that we begin to sow the seeds of happiness in our lives.

Jesus told the disciples, “I will ask the Father and He will give you another Advocate to help you and be with you forever – the Spirit of truth.” (John 14:16-17) Happiness is not about following humanistic theories, but it is the Spirit that counts. (Rom.8:13) In practical (spiritual) terms it is the role of the Spirit to take man back to “Eden” where he can drink from the spring of perpetual joy. (Rom.5:5; John 16:13-15)

In my next segment I’ll touch in detail on these triune elements of purpose, responsibility, and man’s Mediator, and how they affect our personal realities on this important topic of happiness.

Blessing:

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to write me in the space provided below, or email me on bulamanriver@gmail.com.

Kiang (Your Servant in Christ)

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.

NOTE: All information from this website is copyrighted. Any use of its content should be acknowledged by citing the website, address, date of acquisition and information pertinent to original authorship.

“PREACHING” THE GOSPEL – YOU’RE ANSWERABLE, BY KIANG P LEE

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Greetings once more friends! There is a great disservice being done to the work of the Gospel in the world today. And a greater disservice for not informing believers their role in the matter of the Gospel’s work. Let me elaborate.

We have this mistaken belief that the Gospel can only be “preached” through television, social media, outdoor crusades, radio, churches, and church programs, and what-have-you.This has been the great shortcoming in modern Christianity in the “preaching” of the Gospel. The gathering of believers in a “church” setting in the first century, which was really ‘house churches,’ was not for preaching the Gospel. The Gospel was already known to believers who gathered in house churches. They came together to “break bread.” What does that term mean? It simply means sharing a meal. In today’s terminology we may call it a potluck. The phrase was also used to describe partaking of the Lord’s Supper. Whether that was the case or not, the essential meaning is sharing of common meals. (Acts 20:11) And, as is usual in such gathering, the converts would have shared their experiences and testimony of the Lord’s work in their lives. They retold stories of the move of the Spirit in the work of the Gospel. It was a place to come together and receive encouragement and be fortified in the Lord’s work as they leave for their homes and journeys.

Crucifixion of Jesus (Wiki Commons)

The preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ was focused on non-believers as Matthew 28 clearly shows. (Matt.28:18-20) History shows that in about two to three centuries the whole Roman Empire had adopted Christianity, so much so that even the Emperor was a convert himself. The open persecution had stopped. But how did that happen – there were no television, social media, great outdoor crusades, radio, or any decisive programs to speak of. In fact, the exact opposite was happening – Christians were being persecuted for their faith and many faced martyrdom. They congregate underground to avoid tremendous and severe persecution. Despite such opposition, the work of the Gospel grew and expanded. Essentially, it was the work led by the Spirit, as is shown amply in the New Testament, beginning at Pentecost.

Recall the story of Pentecost in the book of Acts. Three thousand were converted that day in the move of the Spirit through Peter’s testimony. But that was not all Herald (Spirit) did, He worked in the 3000+ and they became the prime carriers of the Gospel message to the Roman world. Wherever they went, they spread the sweet aroma of the Gospel message of Jesus Christ. Like an unstoppable tsunami, the message was taken across the empire, so much so that it was said, “These that have turned the world upside down.” (Act 17:6) Yes, their influence profoundly impacted the empire that the world was beginning to witness a sea change in the religious order of the day. They did what no television or radio network could have done. Or for that matter, any other programs. All 3000+ on Pentecost, and the multitude that came to Christ thereafter, were living, walking, talking, Gospel of Jesus Christ. The work of the Gospel was not centralized in the lives of the twelve apostles, it was impossible for them to do on their own, and they knew this. They knew it had to be the work of the Holy Spirit. The work was decentralized in the believers as the Spirit led them. Paul explains, “The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)” (Rom.8:9,11)

Humans – Natural Attractants Like Rivers

What we see here is how people’s gifts are brought to bear to make the Gospel known in their unique way as the Spirit moved in them. The circumstances and environment may have changed from the first and second centuries, but the method remain constant – people and their respective gifts endure as platforms for the Gospel dispensation. Likewise, the Spirit is using our hearts and our gifts to share the Gospel with the people of our valleys. People are natural attractants because of the uniqueness of their personalities and gifts given them by the Creator. Their gifts and their destiny are like rivers with life-sustaining “living waters.” (John 7:38-39) Humans naturally gravitate to rivers because of its life-giving waters. We do not see rivers flow to people, rather, people flock to rivers for sustenance and life. This is the same way people’s gifts work – a river is the metaphor for a person’s gift and is an attractant to people. Each human has a gift from God which attracts a person to him or her.

A person has a gift which can be helpful to someone. It is an attractant to people and they naturally go to that person and ask for his or her gift which one lacks. We see this happening all the time. We go to a person with the gift of plumbing because he can help us fix our plumbing problems. We go to a motor mechanic who has the gift of fixing cars to help us fix our car problems. I go to a teacher for knowledge in a particular area of life I wish to advance myself. Everybody is searching for something in life, and there is someone God has given the gift to fill that void. The Spirit will orchestrate a meeting of minds so the gift is made the platform upon which the Gospel can be made known. This is how God intended for relationships to be built with those in your valley and community. Your gift is the platform for the Gospel, not to place yourself on a open market for goods and service to sell to the highest bidder. Just as the goal of every business is make a profit monetarily, so the core aim of God’s spiritual business is also to make a profit – spiritually! In man’s business, profit is defined by money. In God’s business, profit is defined by Love and the fruits of Love! When we keep the Gospel as priority in our lives, God will bless us materially as well, but this is not true in man’s business when we keep money as our primary aim. (Matt.6:33)

We Have Corrupted Ourselves

But here is the Christian’s conundrum, we have turned our gifts into a product for commerce. Jesus did say we cannot serve two masters – God and money! Either we will hate one and love the other. (Matt.6:24) We have turned our gifts into ATM machines for a materialistic life. We have a repugnant term we give those who have corrupted and debased themselves by selling their gifts for monetary gain. Jesus asked a poignant question in regard to life and gifts, “What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you?” (Luk.9:25, The Message) We have converted our gifts for a mint to print money, and for the exchange of goods and services; when rightly, the true purpose gifts are conferred upon humans is to glorify the Maker, from whose treasure trove gifts are bequeathed upon humans. This is the biggest difference between the first century believers with us today. We must return to the model laid down by the Spirit. We are not doomed, all is not lost, for Paul speaks of how this situation is remedied.

“As To The Lord”

Paul said, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ” (Col.3:23-24,17; Eph.6:7) In other words, don’t sell your gifts for money, it is for a greater purpose and for a greater inheritance that’s beyond any material thing you can ever want. Paul said it this way, “What no eye has seen, what no ears has heard, and what no human mind has conceived – the things God has prepared for those who Love Him.” (1 Cor.2:9) Modern churches have turned people’s gifts into a money mint to fund ministries, churches, programs, and many other projects. They are oblivious to the fact that the Gospel dispensation is primarily the work of the Spirit. And He chooses the method for its dispensation. We have not been taught to use our gifts to the Lord first. That is to say, to use it as a platform to make the Gospel known to people who come to us as rivers with “living waters” (Holy Spirit), not for goods and services, and the exchange of money, primarily. Again we turn to Paul for inner focus, “It’s God we are answerable to – all the way from life to death and everything in between – not each other. That’s why Jesus lived and died and then lived again: so that he could be our Master across the entire range of life and death, and free us from the petty tyrannies of each other.” (Rom.14:7-9, The Message)

The Correct Paradigm

Can you imagine how far the Gospel message can go if this was the paradigm that’s utilized to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. This is the Trinitarian way of taking the Gospel to the world for it involves the Father, Son, and Spirit. Jesus said, “As You sent Me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify Myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in Me and I am in You. May they also be in Us so that the world may believe that You have sent Me.” (John 17:16-21) What we see here, is the blueprint presented in a nutshell, on how the Gospel is to be taken to the whole world, for all time. When we live the “Triune Life” in the Spirit, we enter into the miraculous movement of the most powerful Being in the universe to do His will and purpose. Why do we think any other way would be more effective – be it television, radio, or any method we think. I’m not saying radio and television and other methods are wrong and should not be used. They have their place, no doubt. Am I saying money is not needed, no. All I’m saying there is a Trinitarian blueprint. As a matter of priority, the effectiveness of centralized focus compared to the decentralized Triune method of the Spirit, is institutionally deficient and will be found wanting. There is no better way than to spread the Gospel through human relationships, for that is based upon the relationship of the Father, Son, and the Spirit.- the Trinitarian way!

…To Build a Sanctuary

Why has God chosen this decentralized way in the Spirit? Because the use of gifts is intended for more than one purpose and activity – it is not only for the spreading of the Gospel, but in the midst of the work of God, the Spirit is preparing a people for God’s dwelling. So, the Gospel has a two-pronged interface. Peter said, “Present yourselves as building stones for the construction of a sanctuary vibrant with life, in which you will serve as holy priests (“bridge builder”) offering Christ-approved lives up to God.” (1Pet.1:5) The work of the erecting the sanctuary – how we fit into God’s overall familial structure – is known to no one except the Spirit who does the will of the Father and the Son. (John 16:12-15) No religion or church can erect this sanctuary except God’s own hands. He has not divulged nor devolved this responsibility to man. It is Christ’s responsibility. (1 Cor.15:20-28; Rev.21:1-5) And the Spirit remakes us into the image of Christ through the work of God (Gospel). (Rom.8;29) So the work of the Gospel through the Spirit has a two-fold purpose – it makes the Gospel known while erecting a sanctuary for God’s dwelling. (Rev.21) We cannot sit idly in church and expect religion – those in charge of church institutions – to do the “preaching” of the Gospel for you. How can we share the work of the Spirit’s move in our lives like the first century ‘house church’ gathering did, if we are not out there doing the bidding of the Spirit with our gifts? You are to take ownership of “preaching” the Gospel, and as we’ll see, you will be answerable.

One Centralized, The Other Decentralized

The work of the Gospel in the first century was not centralized in the 12 apostles, but decentralized in the converts beginning with the 3000+ on Pentecost following the blueprint in John 17 we saw earlier. A centralized model is not the way God has chosen to do His work. We say we give our money so the church can take the Gospel – let me be clear about one thing. God does not need money to get His work done. Jesus told the Jews, “And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.” (Matt.3:9) God could utilize anything to get His work done following His blueprint. We don’t have to follow the old tradition as ‘gospel truth’ and only way. One is a centralized form of getting things done in a religious setting, and the other is a decentralized way in the Spirit’s power, through and in the gifts of the people interacting with others through the Spirit’s lead.

Using Your Gifts as Platform for Making Christ Known (Photo: Wiki Commons)

Let me repeat, it pales into insignificance what man can do in any modern centralized setting. So, wherever you are, do something for the Lord today – invert the paradigm and use your gifts for the Lord first. We live in a world where just about everything is commercialized and traded. Don’t let that happen to you as far as your true self in Christ. Do not look to the centralize method through man’s doing, instead take ownership of the Gospel in the Spirit’s power, and let Him use your gift as the platform to make the Gospel known to all in your valley and community. You have the Spirit flowing in you as “living waters,” and you are the riverbed He flows through. (John 7:38-39) God has set a steadfast destiny for you like the course of the river’s flow. You cannot communicate the Gospel other than where God has called you to share and convey His word. The Bible says a person can do “only what is given to him from heaven.” (John 3:27) Your gift is your God-given validation on how you are to live your life on earth, and His sanction to reach the people you have been predestined to share the Gospel. Jesus said that when we put His business (Gospel work) first, He promises His blessings will follow into our lives. (Matt.6:33)

The Parable About “Gifts”

In the parable of the ‘bags of gold,’ Jesus shows clearly individuals are answerable for “preaching” the Gospel, not institutions or ‘churches.’ (Matt.25:14-30) He gave and entrusted each with gifts (bags of gold) to his servants, not to religious institution. (see my post, dated 08/26/14, “Bags of Gold”) They were to trade and bring back a profit for the master. The faithful servants had made one hundred percent profit based upon the gifts they were given. The commodity that was traded was the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But to the servant who did nothing with his gift, he was called out to account for his actions. He said he was afraid and went and buried his gift instead of trading with it. What does this mean, where did he bury his bag of gold (gift)? Look, there is no doubt he had used his gift during his life.There is no human who is without gifts with which to find meaning and purpose in his or her life. This is the Creator’s blessing to each and every human.There is only one way to look at this: you either use it for the benefit of the master’s business, or you use it for your own self-centered objective. So, burying your talent symbolically means to put it to death. Its demise results from not being utilized for its intended purpose. It refers to a person who buried his gift (bag of gold) in himself for his self-centered ambition and selfish gain. He has turned his gift into a commodity for goods and services to be traded for material gains. Gifts are for one purpose, and one purpose only – to glorify God and His purpose for our lives. Is it wrong to be materially prosperous? No, but there’s an authentic way to it, as John said, “Dear friend, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.” (3 John 1:2) We become enriched materially with our gifts as a consequence of doing God’s work, not for our selfish objectives. Jesus said, “God will give them (material stuff) to you if you give Him first place in your life and live as He wants you to.” (Matt.6:33) Such blessings from the Lord don’t come with all the heartaches, worries, and stress common to man. When our lives are misdirected, we will not find His true purpose for our destiny. The Bible tells us this about God’s blessings on His people, material and otherwise, “The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, and He adds no sorrow with it.” (Pro.10:22) His blessing is true prosperity which brings abundance with joy and contentment.

Let’s Rededicate Ourselves in Our Gifts and Purpose

So, let us rethink this matter about our gifts and talents as it relates to our participation in the work of the Gospel. As we approach the time and season when we are going to be inundated by our consumer culture, let’s rededicate our lives for the Master’s purpose. For the Bible clearly tells us that our personal gifts are what He has “given out of His wealth and treasure.” (Matt.25:14-15) So, gifts, talents, calling, purpose, and destinies, are blessings He has given humans out of His treasure-trove. Peter reminds us, “Be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” (1 Pet.3:15) Doing what Peter says cannot happen unless the Gospel is at the forefront of our minds and marches with our heart-beat.The Gospel will see to it that our examples will speak for itself and will be a light that goes before us. Let’s give ourselves as instruments in the Spirit’s hands in the work of the Gospel. Remember, you have the ‘bag of gold,’ what are you going to do with it? – you’re answerable!

Wrought iron cross on Blassenstein mountain (Lower Austria), with fog over Erlauf valley and Danube (Wiki Commons)

Blessing:

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to write me in the space provided below, or email me on bulamanriver@gmail.com.

Kiang (Your Servant in Christ)

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.

NOTE: All information from this website is copyrighted. Any use of its content should be acknowledged by citing the website, address, date of acquisition and information pertinent to original authorship.

FAITH FOR SANCTIFICATION – WHAT DOES IT MEAN? BY KIANG P LEE

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Greetings once more from Dallas, Texas!

Why is the saving faith of Jesus given to man? I said this in one of my posts on the subject (“The Faith of Jesus,” July 26, 2014), “Human faith is incompetent for spiritual matters. So what is the answer to this faith question? It is clear man was not born with this saving faith. Paul makes the answer plain to the Roman Christians, “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ to all and on all them that believe.” (Rom.3:22, AKJV) Yes, the answer is Jesus’ very own personified faith! You may have heard it said, “Believe in yourself.” My message to you today is, “Believe in your true self” – in and by Jesus’ faith! So, your faith-scale has to be reversed and tipped in favor of the faith of Jesus over your human faith. People may and can believe Jesus with human faith alone, but ultimately they will find it incapacitated in situations requiring deeper spiritual discernment, especially as it concerns God’s will and personal destiny for them. Jesus is not for mere intellectual inquiry, but for a far more deeper spiritual infusion of living faith.

Brooklyn Museum – Jesus Heals the Blind and Lame on the Mountain (Wiki Commons)

“The human mind is not for cerebral activity alone, it possesses a transcendent quality with infinite capacity. The difference is like night from day. Science today continues to be baffled by the complexities and mysteries of the human mind. We may see Jesus through mere human faith as a historical figure, a great moral teacher, a miracle worker who went about doing good. One faith is activated by mere human intellect and physical capacity, while the other is produced by the miraculous life God promises those who receive Jesus as Savior and Mediator. Where the divine and physical intersect, miracles happen. Paul said, “For the Kingdom of God is not in word but in power.” (1Cor.4:20) Faith in the spiritual brings the miraculous activity to life in the believer which the five senses or mere cerebral response has no answer. This is the spiritual aspect of the mind where the Spirit of God moves.” (Quote from “The Faith of Jesus,” posted July 26, 2014)

In that post I tried to differentiate human faith from the spiritual faith of Jesus to help understand how to live the life God has called us to live. Now that we understand what’s needed in terms of human and spiritual faith, let’s answer this question: What ought to be the principal focus of the faith of Jesus which we are given as a gift from God? This is a legitimate question to ask because too many people believe in faith as a tool for their own manipulation. Whether it is for some material desire, or for something they have dreamed to have, even for healing and wellbeing. When we use faith for that purpose we get disappointed because when we don’t receive what we ask, we say our faith is weak, or faith does not work at all. It’s not that, we still have the human faith, and our focus is in the wrong direction.

So what is the purpose of faith?

We must understand the one and only reason faith is given, and when everything fall into their place for this one reason, we’ll see miracles happen. If it doesn’t, then our understanding of the situation is lacking. So, here is why faith is given, and for no other reason: FAITH IS GIVEN PRIMARILY FOR MAN’S SANCTIFICATION IN THE SPIRIT’S POWER. If we lose sight of this basic purpose of the miracle-working faith of Jesus, then we are using faith for the wrong reasons, and we will be disappointed with the results.

Listen to how Jesus lays out the Spirit’s work of sanctification in the believer, “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear (still babes, needing maturity). But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth (act of sanctifying man). He will not speak on his own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come (reveal the will of God). He will glorify Me because it is from Me that He will receive what He will make known to you (enhancing the faith of Jesus). All that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from Me what He will make known to you.” (John 16:12-15) Before this Jesus explained the Spirit’s work of sanctification moves in three areas of man’s life: the conviction of sin and righteousness; the conviction that sin is essentially not believing in the Savior God has provided for man’s forgiveness and redemption; and the conviction that the enemy and his lawless work has once and for all been defeated by Jesus. (John 16:8-11; Mat.4:1-11)

The Bible says, “We walk by faith, and not by sight.” (2Cor.5:7) Sanctification is not a ‘sight’ thing, it is a ‘faith’ thing. Paul explains what faith does, “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” (Heb.11:6) The faith of Jesus enables a believer to live a life pleasing to God. Therefore, a life pleasing to God cannot be other than a sanctified life. Therefore, only the faith of Jesus has the power to sanctify man for God’s pleasure and use.

People are told to have faith. But whose faith, and have faith in what? Faith is not to use for the material gain we seek. Faith is not for physical healing, either. Faith is not to make our ‘wish list’ come true. That’s how our human faith is inclined, and so misguidedly we apply the faith of Jesus the same way. Human faith when it’s blended into Jesus’ faith has a singular focus. It’s singular focus is to sanctify man for God’s pleasure – period! And God’s pleasure is to see His self-giving, self-sacrificing Love press forward in the life of all who have received Jesus’ faith! God, by nature is not self-seeking and a egocentric- He is self-giving and self-sacrificing in His Loving nature, and wants mankind to live the same way.

Thereby, every request we make in prayer enters through the validating path of Christ’s saving faith which brings sanctification to man. That is to say, only when a prayer request is not self-centered, but Love-centered, and other-centered, for the purpose of sanctification, will our words become authentic and valid before God. God will not compromise His holy Love which demonstrates His glory. The prophet Isaiah quoted God as saying, “I am God; that is My name! I will not yield My glory to another or My praise to idols.” (Isa.42:8) His glory in His holy Love which He will not sacrifice to our human faith that’s founded upon our fallen depraved self and self-egotism. So, when we ask according to His Love-destiny for each of us, Jesus says this about our prayer request, “I will do whatever you ask in My name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son (‘s faith). You may ask for anything in My name, and I will do it.” (John 14:13-14) Many of us read this promise from Jesus and we wonder why His words does not find reality in their prayers. The answer is simple, we are using our human faith, not the faith of Jesus. Our human faith must surrender to the faith of Jesus. (Rom.3:22; Gal.2:20)

Jesus said, “According to your faith, your life will be lived” (Matt. 9:29-30). But what faith does He speak of? I said in my book, “The Miracle of Triune Living,” God does not give us material wealth, healing, or our ‘wish list’ to be consumed in our selfish ambition; rather it is an outcome and consequence to our primary gift in the Spirit and our personal calling in Jesus (Jam. 4:3). A man cannot fully and completely express himself in his gifts and talents to reach his destiny unless he has the faith of Jesus. Material things comes as an outgrowth of the believer’s Love-destiny in Christ.

Think about this for a moment: God wants those He has gifted with music to have the “best” pianos, guitars, and any other instrument so the person can cultivate those talents to the fullest potential. Without the “best” instruments to do it, man’s talent cannot be fully realized. God will give a person the “best” there is to fulfill his divine purpose. Therefore, the material enhancement that comes to the person is through his “life-gift” or purpose and is given primarily for his calling, and for God’s glory. His calling comes from God’s Love, and the fruits of love are the currency of abundance. Money is not the currency of abundance, God’s Love is!

The Proverbs tell us, “Above all and before all, do this: Get Wisdom! Write this at the top of your list: Get Understanding! Throw your arms around her – believe me, you won’t regret it; never let her go – she’ll make your life glorious. She will garland your life with grace, she will festoon your days with beauty.” (Pro.4:7-9, The Message) Wisdom and understanding means to find God’s purpose for your life. For God’s blessings in your life (not what you imagine your life ought to be) will come to you as an outgrowth of your destiny in Christ. Your gift and calling in His divine purpose is the road map of our life-journey, not the destination. The destination is the foregone conclusion based upon how we live our lives, whether by human faith or the faith of Jesus!

Blessing:

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to write me in the space provided below, or email me on bulamanriver@gmail.com.

Kiang (Your Servant in Christ)

*The “Bulamanriver” is the metaphor describing the union of man with the Love of the Triune God flowing in humans, making possible the “Triune Life” – the source of the miraculous life in man. Man is the “riverbed” and the Spirit is the “living waters” that cover him and flows to all in his valley (destiny). (John 7:37-39)

To read the many facets of life of the “Bula man-river,” go to my website www.bulamanriver.com where you can order a copy of my book. Remember, when you purchase my book you lend a hand in Jesus’s Work, for all the proceeds go towards dispensing the Gospel worldwide. (Mark 9:41; Matt.28:28:18-20; Eph.2:10). Thank you for your support.

NOTE: All information from this website is copyrighted. Any use of its content should be acknowledged by citing the website, address, date of acquisition and information pertinent to original authorship.

CHANGE IS IN THE AIR, BY KIANG P LEE

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Greetings friends everywhere! Let’s talk about a topic that’s least understood on Christianity – change or repentance!

Butterfly Morphing

Repentance means to change and is a vital part of the Christians life. Jesus said, “Unless you change (repent), you too will all perish” (Luke 13:3, 5). The Holy Spirit, on the day of Pentecost, uttered a powerful message of change (repentance) to the people through Peter, “Repent (change) and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). The repentance and the ‘cross’ are two separate acts that dovetails into the other in one movement – you cannot have one without the other. Sometimes, repentance can take time depending on the person’s response to it, and his or her subsequent grasp and need for it. When time is of the essence, the Work of the ‘cross’ is held at bay by the person’s response, waiting for repentance to bring the person to the foot of the ‘cross.’

Missing Link
But here is the question to do with the ‘missing link.’ When a person comes to the point of understanding and sees the need for repentance, however long or brief that may take, is the awareness of his or her sins enough to take the vital second step to the ‘cross’? The answer is, no! Our awareness for repentance, which the Holy Spirit gives us, does not equal repentance. Awareness simply makes us recognize the need for repentance. It is not repentance. For it is humanly impossible for man to repent of his or her sins. Man does not have it in himself to repent unconditionally and absolutely as God expects of him. That is why Jesus had to come. That is why He is the Good News (Gospel).

Only Jesus, in His perfect sinless divine/human reality, has done that. If it takes the ‘cross’ to save man from his sins, then how is it possible man can repent of his sins? Jesus does and mediates in both these vital activities in man, it’s that simple. People have wrongly assumed repentance is ‘man’s part’ and the cross is ‘Jesus’ part.’ No, salvation is entirely God’s Work, which He does in man through the power of the Spirit. If only He can save us from our sins (‘cross’), then only He can repent of our sins in our place. This is what the Triune love of God is, and what collaborative Triune living means. We are never left to ourselves, and He never leaves us. We cannot accept one without the other – we can’t accept His ‘cross,’ without His repentance. They both go hand-in-hand in one movement of faith in His complete saving Work.

In our awareness of our fallen state of being which constantly generate wrong choices in life (sin/trespasses) that brings on heartaches and pain, repentance and the ‘cross’ enables us to live vicariously in the perfect glorified humanity of Jesus in heaven, Whom the Father accepts on man’s behalf as the only sure and complete mediation for man. This does not gives us the license to live in care-free abandon, but rather, sin or the mistakes we make in life that brings on suffering, pain and eventually death, creates in us the awareness for the need of a Savior to help us repent so we can be forgiven and follow the right path blessed with life, not death. It is a life which Paul told young Timothy, “the life that is truly life” (1 Tim.6:19; 4:8).

Repentance and forgiveness (the ‘cross’) initiates our relationship with the Triune God through and in Christ. Our need to repent on an ongoing basis is intended to take us to its reality in Christ. Just as no other but Jesus saves man at the ‘cross,’ only He can repent for our forgiveness on a continuous basis. I explained this in my Book, “Bula man-river,” this way,

“A person cannot repent and forgive his own sins, but it’s done for him by the miraculous act of the Spirit through faith in Christ. Jesus, though He had no sin to repent of, assumed the “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” of John the Baptist in the place of man (Luke 3:3; Matt.3:13-17; Rom.6:3-4). Likewise, though Jesus was sinless and did not deserve death, He was crucified for mankind’s sins (John 19:16-18; Rom. 6:6-8 2 Cor. 5:21) Jesus’ baptism/repentance marks man’s point of true conversion, and His death, resurrection, and ascension marks his point of true forgiveness and entering the new life in the Spirit (“living waters”). He is now the Bula man-river who takes his stand in the finished Work of Christ (Rom. 5:12, 18-19, 21; 6: 4-8, 23; 1 Cor. 15:22; Eph. 2:1, emphasis added).”

I go on to say, “Man repents because Jesus has already done it for him, not because man is capable of doing it for himself. These are gifts from God our Father, which today, are ritualized in church ceremonies. Jesus ministry encapsulates His complete mediation for humans which began at the repentance for man’s sins in the Jordan, and ended at Golgotha for the forgiveness of mankind’s transgressions. His life in between these two momentous acts, embodied all our human responses He carried in healing all our pain and suffering, in body, mind and spirit. He is the “author and finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12:2 NKJV).” (“Bula” man-river, The Miracle of Triune Living”, Pg.41-42)

“The Words I have spoken to you–they are full of the Spirit and life.” – John 6:63

Repentance and forgiveness are important because they are vital steps that takes us into the realm of living the miraculous life in the Triune Being and existence of God in the Father, the Son Jesus, and the Spirit. And make no mistake, this miraculous life, springing from these two pillar-decisions we make in Christ, makes all the difference how you and your loved ones will live life to the full today, and by extension, your community and the valley (people) you will flow through as a “Bula man-river.”* For it is in our encounter with the Triune God that the miraculous life is lived and articulated.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to write me in the space provided below, or email me on bulamanriver@gmail.com.

Blessing

Kiang (Your Servant in Christ)

* The “Bula man-river” is the metaphor describing the union of man with the Love of the Triune God flowing in humans, making possible the “Triune Life” – the source of the miraculous life in man. To read the many facets of life of the Bula man-river, go to my website www.bulamanriver.com where you can order a copy of my Book.

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.

Note: Any information obtained from this website that is used for publication should be acknowledged by citing the website address, date of acquisition and information pertinent to original authorship. For general guidelines regarding web citations see The Guide for Citing Electronic Information.

INVEST IN GOLD – TRUE GOLD! BY KIANG P LEE

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Greetings once more friends everywhere!

Jesus charge to His followers is to take and share the good news of the Gospel message to every living creature to the ends of the earth. The heart and core of the Gospel message is God’s desire to bring humanity to be with Him forever as His immortal children. (John 3:16-17) How does Christ expect us to play our part? The answer is in a parable He gave in Matthew 25. Beginning at verse 14, Jesus spoke this parable of the ‘bags of gold’ :

“Bags of Gold” (Wiki Commons)

“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. ¹⁵To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. ¹⁶The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. ¹⁷So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. ¹⁸But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. ¹⁹“After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. ²⁰The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’ ²¹“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ ²²“The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’ ²³“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ ²⁴“Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. ²⁵So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ ²⁶“His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? ²⁷Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. ²⁸“‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. ²⁹For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. ³⁰And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’” (Matt.25:14-30).

Parable of Gold – Matthew 25

“Gifts” Metaphor for Gold

Every one of the servants was entrusted with the Master’s wealth. The “gold” is the metaphor for a believer’s gift, a person’s calling, his/her destiny in Christ. It belongs to the Master which He gives out of His wealth. Our gifts are “Love-gifts” from the Father. Let’s call it “life-gift” for the purpose of this post. It is given according to your ability which is your gift. So, it’s obvious our “life-gift” or calling is not ours, but given to us as part of the Master’s wealth. So, Paul tells us where our “life-gift” comes from: “Out of the generosity of Christ, each of us is given his own gift. That is why it says, ‘He climbed the high mountain, he captured the enemy and seized the booty, he handed it all out in gifts (gold) to the people’” (Eph. 4:7-8, 9-13, The Message).

Free Stock Photo of Kids Gift Shows Childhood Box And Occasion

True Gold & Fool’s Gold

We go out in search of physical gold and precious stones like diamonds, and measure our human worth by them, not realizing we possess an abundance of gold (gifts) from our Creator. We fail to realize that it is through our gifts and abilities that we acquire material riches. But we are not defined by material stuff, but spiritual gold. So the question is, what and how will we invest our lives searching – for true gold or fool’s gold?

Gifts are Magnets to Life

Life and gifts (gold) comes fused together and are inseparable. No human can claim to be without a gift given him or her by the Creator. Therefore, a person’s “life-gift” or dream is always magnetizing to him or her. A gift is like a magnet. That’s to say, the “life-gift” is the magnet in the person’s life. We have heard the adage, “Life is a gift.” Indeed, for the gift that comes with life is what makes life a gift. Think about this: A musician does not find his music, his music finds him. An author does not find his subject to write about, his subject finds him. An entrepreneur does not find his business niche, his niche finds him. We are all free to accept the prompts of our calling or reject them. We either flow with our gift or swim against it. Every prompt from the heart of our “life-gift” is a jigsaw piece that fits into a picture of your destiny that’s constantly magnetizing to us. Whoever a person is and becomes is only as good as the gift that defines him or her. That “life-gift” is the “bag of gold” in the parable.

Jesus – the “Gift-Giver,” Giving out of His “Treasure”

God is able to be all things to everyone through our varied gifts and that reveals His greatness. Paul said, “Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to each of us…in proportion to our faith, let us use them” (Rom. 12:6). Paul again said, “[Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight. (Phil.2:13, AMP) Again Paul emphasized, “… In order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures (the wealth of the Master) of wisdom and knowledge.” (Col.2:2-3). No one can ever come to know about his or her “life-gift” without knowledge and wisdom. The application of gifts is a ‘mind-matter’ that begins with knowledge and knowing what your gift is, and its function through God’s Love.

Dove in the air with wings wide open in-front of the sun

Dove, Symbol of the Holy Spirit. First Gift of Holy Spirit – “God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us: Rom.5:5 (Pic: Wiki Commons)

The First Gift

The first gift we receive from God is the gift of the Holy Spirit – just like the original apostles and all who were gathered on that memorable Pentecost day. So, here we see how God is working in humans through His Tri-Personal Being. God is our Father, who gave us His Son to be our Savior, and His Spirit to empower us. Before Pentecost the disciples were cowering in fear, afraid for their lives. Then, the Spirit came and fear went out of them and Love entered and gave them something they never had – a new birth. A new person! Peter went out and preached a powerful message that converted 3000 that Pentecost day. People were surprised, ‘weren’t these the same people, the fearful followers of Jesus who scattered after Jesus was crucified? What has come over them? Here they are speaking in our own language and dialect.’ They don’t know what to make of it , that some thought they had too much to drink. The work of God in us is always the work of the Spirit’s Love in us. (Rom.5:5)

It can’t be done by human effort, although human effort is essential. There is a difference. It is a work of faith. Human effort alone is devoid of the Love of God. And we see how the Spirit makes all the difference before, and after Pentecost. Human effort can be done through human fear or through the Spirit’s Love. God will not possess you and take your life over and live it for you. That’s what the devil does using fear as a weapon. God’s Love does not force people, but He lets His people reason it out for themselves what to do. God says, “Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (Isa.1:18) If we are forced against our will, then we are fallen human still.

Love Creates a Life of Tension

It is similar to walking on a tightrope like a balancing artist in a circus, we don’t want our fallen human heart based upon fear to take over, and on the other hand we know we must allow the Spirit to use us in His Love. And every step of the way, there is this tension that exists to go this way or that – and it is normal in God’s way of Love for us, and we have to be free to make up our own minds to lean to the Spirit’s inclination, and deliberately stay away from our fearful and evil nature. And in this very dynamic of walking this tight-rope act, we enter the environment we commonly call facing trials. It’s not a bad thing, as I said, God can’t force us in His Love, and so we’re always living life in tension. Over time good habits take hold and it becomes easier.

“God is Love” 1 John 4:8, 16.(Pic: Wiki Commons)

Trials are Magnet for Destiny

But here is the beautiful thing about this life of tension in God’s Love, the trials are magnets drawing you to your “life-gift” – to your destiny in Christ. God doesn’t give you His Spirit then suddenly you wake up one morning, and you say, “I’m going to be a scientist or whatever your dream may be…” No, this pattern of living in God’s Love attracts test and trials which leads us to our destiny. Why, because the world is functioning in an environment different from God’s Love – it runs on fear, and we see it all around us every day. The fruits of Love and the fruits of fear which Paul speaks so eloquently about to the Corinthian and Ephesian Christians, create this dynamism which we confront in all seasons of life, and they come in every way, shape, and form.

Profit and Loss

In this Love/fear dynamism, a kind of trade takes place which Jesus metaphorically speaks of in His parable – we make profits and we make losses. (Matt.25) Because God’s Love is at work in our penitent minds, we will make more profits than loses. We encounter losses because we are still weak in our humanity. When we do make mistakes (because we are humans) we acknowledge our wrong and ask for forgiveness and move on. That’s how Jesus taught us to pray daily. (Luk.11:4) He has promised that no trial will come beyond our ability to cope, but will make a way of escape. (1Cor.10:13) What does that mean? It means God can create circumstances so you are always making a profit, despite intermittent loses, through the weakness of our humanity. Loses are lessons that teaches us how to make a profit the next time around, isn’t it? And if we’re making profits whatever way, then all things work together for good. (Rom.8:28) Mistakes and trials are magnets drawing us to our destiny. Each weakness that we change, we automatically assume its opposing strength. If you cease to hate then you learn how to love. If you acknowledge your pride as the source of your problems, then you will learn to be humble. If you don’t change then your weakness will strangle you spiritually and you will suffer loss. But if you change and learn to Love and respect, then you can only make a profit. God has provided His eternal absolution for human mistakes in His Son’s sacrifice and mediation.

Love is patient Love is kind printed on burned paper

The Fruits of Love as Taken from 1 Corinthians 13 (Wiki Commons)

Joseph the Dreamer

The Bible is filled with examples of this. Think of Joseph… each step of the way beginning with his dream – his destiny, his gift, his calling – attracted trials that was magnetizing him to his destiny. (Gen.37, 39-47) Sold as a slave by his brothers at age 17, he was placed on the human slave market in Egypt. He was bought by Potiphar, an Egyptian military top brass, and put in charge of his business. He was thrown in jail under false accusation. Then he met two servants of Pharaoh who had dreams which disturbed them. God revealed the meaning of the dream to Joseph. Two years later, Pharaoh had a dream. Joseph was called on to make its interpretation known to Pharaoh because the Egyptian wise men and magicians were helpless. Now, he came face to face with the destiny he saw in his dreams. He was made second in command in all Egypt.

His destiny was to save the known world from a worldwide famine which Pharaoh saw in his dream. When Joseph’s family were reunited and his brothers stood before him, afraid that Joseph might say it’s pay-back time for what they did to him, he told them God was behind it all along. (Gen.45:4-7) Joseph’s life teaches us never to look at life and the trials that come with it in isolation from your “life-gift” – your destiny in Christ. Each trial, insignificant as it may appear to us, is a piece in the puzzle that fits into the picture of your dreams. If God had not given Joseph his dream to aspire for, he would have remained a shepherd like his brothers. Christ is your dream because He has the Giver who has given us gifts out of His wealth and treasure. He was the one who gave Joseph his dream.

Free Stock Photo of Gift Kids Blocks Means Youngster Surprise And Children

‘Life-Gift’

We all have different strengths, and we must focus on them. That’s our gift given us out of the wealth of the Master. Always believe in your uniqueness and difference and realize you’re that way for a purpose. The “life-gift” identifies your place in the plan of God and how each of us play a role in it. It need not be ecclesiastical or religious in nature. As I said, people seem to have this perception that when God is involved in a person, his calling ought to be religious in nature. It’s a myth that stems from the enemy who wants to vilify the good in people’s varied talents. We are given the freedom to be whoever we want. That obviously means in the area of our strengths, which most likely don’t lean towards things religious. Joseph’s gift was not of a religious nature. He was an administrator and manager of people. A person can be a plumber, or engineer, a doctor or gardener, an architect or builder, a marine biologist or fisherman, a basketball player or botanist, or whatever the gift. Gifts evolve as the Spirit supplies the faith. Peter was a fisherman. Then Jesus called him and said from this day forget the fish, let’s do something different with your skills – let’s fish humans. A person may be a basketball player with a short-term career. Then he moves onto something else. This is the way a person’s “life-gift” works in the Spirit’s influence and guidance.

person using chisel while curving wood

Blessed with Various Gifts (Wiki Commons)

Proud Owners of Destiny that Can’t Be Bought

Jesus said, “You are blessed when you are content with just who you are – no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought” (Matt. 5:5 MSG). God gives us purpose in the football field as much as in the pulpit. There’s divine purpose in being a housewife as well as a company executive. Think about this: a housewife who is a mother has a better defined view of seeing and applying God’s Love in her family situation, than a company executive whose mindset is to make more money for the shareholders. Unless of course, if you work for a company whose whole objective is service over money. God is present and involved in all of life. In our weak areas of life, where we may feel inadequate and make mistakes, He wants nothing more than to guide us the right way to our strengths to avoid harm and discouragement to ourselves. In the area of our strengths, He is the first to rejoice with and bless us (Ps. 37:23-24).

The Commission

So what is the answer to Jesus commission for us. The answer is, your gift – the “gold” you were handed when you received Jesus as your Savior and Master – that is your ministry to the world. You are the breathing, living, walking, Gospel of Christ. Where you are at present – in your job, in your hobbies, in anything you may be gifted to do exceptionally, with your family, is the place for God’s will and purpose for you. Even if you are considered unemployed or underemployed, Love always has a job for us. You’re never unemployed when it comes to God’s Love. Love transcends socio-economic conditions.

Deeds More than Words

Our actions speaks louder than our words, don’t they? Our gift speaks louder than our words. Words don’t have the effect that our actions do on people. Words are easier to forget, while our actions and abilities leave a more lasting impression. To put it in a nutshell, actions is what make people believe in you. When they see the personification of your gifts in the good you do to them, then your words carry weight – then your word has integrity. Not the other way around. Peter tells us, “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” (1 Pet.3:15). So Peter supports this model of how we are to take the Gospel – we are to lead with our gifts. He said, “in your heart revere Christ as Lord.” That means we follow His command and lead. He has given us “gold,” or our gifts to trade with. Your gift is the vehicle for our Father to show His Love with those we come in contact and relate with. Then once you have impressed people through your actions (His Love), then we convince them with your words. The Spirit will lead us to say what needs to be said, just as He did with Peter on that memorable Pentecost.

woman sitting on concrete pavement using smartphone

The Best Gift is Who You Are in Christ – Col.1:27 (unsplash)

Don’t try to convert anyone, that’s not our job, only the Spirit can convert the human heart. Did Peter convert the 3000, no, the Spirit moved and convicted the hearts of people. That’s exactly as Jesus foretold what the Spirit would do before He was crucified – He told the disciples it was good that he went away, because that way, the Spirit would come and He would convict the hearts of people of sin. (John 16:8-9) The name of Christ have been discredited and maligned because we have tried to force our words down people’s throats, so to speak. We have done that which is not our place to do. We have failed to heed the words of Peter “to do this with gentleness and respect.” Your job and mine is to sow the seed of the Gospel through our gifts followed by our gentle and respectful words, then leaving it to the Spirit to convert the heart. I have known people who heard the Gospel for the first time, and many years on a change of heart took place. Don’t ask me how and why – only the Spirit knows that. Jesus did not force people to accept His words. He just laid it out for them. He went about doing good through the miracles He performed. And it was through the gift of miracles, His good works He did among the people, that brought people in droves to come and hear His words. (Acts 10:38) His gift was the platform which attracted people to come and hear the Gospel.

Jesus gave us another parable that essentially means the seeds of the Gospel God sows through our gifts will get only 25% response, and the remaining 75% of the people won’t even bother. (Matt.13:3-8, 18-23) Don’t be discouraged, Jesus had only 120 by Pentecost, even though he miraculously fed 5,000 hungry people in just one of His numerous miracles. He healed 10 lepers, only one returned to give thanks, that’s a 10% response. The parable says there are those whose heart are like the ground that’s full of weeds that kills the seed. Then there are those who have no depth for the seed to take a foothold because they have hearts of stone. There are seeds that fall on the pathway and never had a chance from the word go, and the birds come and eat the seeds. Only 25% fell on good ground. (Mark 4:1-19) And even the 25% can dwindle if we don’t look after them.

Reflection…

Let us reflect on the “gold” Jesus has handed us in our “gifts” and see how we can allow the Spirit to lead us to trade them more efficiently this year for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Pray about it. What do you think the person who buried his bag of “gold” was thinking? I think he thought that his gift was not important to him or Christ. He wanted to do his own thing. Or, if he thought it was important, he turned his “life-gift” into a “life of needs and wants” for his own selfish objective. Yet, his gift and the gifts of all His people was the very vehicle Jesus prepared for the Gospel to be taken to the farthest reaches of the world. It’s not hard to turn our gift into an ATM machine and forget the purpose for which it was given in the first place. We see it happening all around us. We live in a self-absorbed society and world where we mistakenly think that everything we have in our person is ours, and for our own self-centered ambition. They are cashing in on their talent, and sadly there’s even a “prosperity gospel” to promote this life-style for “believers.”

gold love balloon

“God is Love” 1 John 4:8

It took between 2 to 3 centuries for the Roman world to accept Christianity. But you know what, it was not easy. No amount of words could convince Rome. What changed Rome ultimately was the gifts, the blood, sweat, and tears of untold number of Christian martyrs who gave their lives for their faith. It was an unimaginable account of personal sacrifice and loyalty. That was the extent they were prepared to go for their Lord. Today, we are not called upon like they were then, although there are countries where Christians are persecuted. The framers of our constitution were Christians, thanks to the Christians before them who followed their Master’s commission to take the Gospel far and wide. The pilgrims came to the New Word seeking religious freedom. The baton is passed on from one generation to another with the Spirit at work in the midst of His people doing the Lord’s work.

Consider, when Paul was inspired to write that we will be conformed to the image of Jesus, it means we will take upon us all that He is in His Sonship, His gifts and abilities, His generosity, His charity, His powers. That is what it means when Scripture says that “all our treasures (gifts) lie hidden in Him” (Col.2:2-3; Rom.8:29).

Let’s reflect on that, and ask Jesus for conviction about the gift (gold) he has given us, and wherever we find ourselves, to give Him our best efforts, fully cognizant of the commission of Matt. 28 that the Gospel will be taken far and wide and accomplished on the backs of the gifts He has blessed and given His people. In the end, it is about investing the gold (gifts) Jesus has invested in us, so we can gain a greater return in His eternal riches.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to write me in the space provided below, or email me on bulamanriver@gmail.com.

Blessing

Kiang (Your Servant in Christ)

*Bulamanriver: To read the different facets of the life of the Bulamanriver, you may obtain a copy of my book, “Bula” Man-River, from Amazon.com; xulonpress.com, barnesandnoble.com, and other online book stores. All proceeds will go towards furthering the work of Gospel of Jesus Christ around the world.

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Mission Statement: Read the Triune Life Mission, Vision, and Value statements at: http://bulamanriver.net/8664

* The “Bulamanriver” is the metaphor describing the union of man with the Love of the Triune God flowing in humans, making possible the “Triune Life” – the source of the miraculous life in man. To read the many facets of life of the Bula man-river, go to my website www.bulamanriver.com where you can order a copy of my Book.

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.

Note: Any information obtained from this website that is used for publication should be acknowledged by citing the website address, date of acquisition and information pertinent to original authorship. For general guidelines regarding web citations see The Guide for Citing Electronic Information .

DEPRESSION – BEAT IT! BY KIANG P LEE

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Greetings friends around the world from Dallas, Texas!

With the sad passing of the beloved celebrity comedian Robin Williams, the subject of depression is once more brought to the forefront of world attention. Williams’ work will be remembered by many millions worldwide. Our sincere condolences to the Williams family for their untimely loss.

I will not get into a lengthy explanation of depression and its medical types and terms. I offer the following quote, “depression is a mental, emotional, and psychological disorder, usually characterized by a pervasive and persistent very low mood, low self-esteem, loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. Major depression significantly affects a person’s family and personal relationships, work or school life, sleeping and eating habits, and general health.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/)

The World Health Organization (WHO), reported in 2012, “Depression is a common illness worldwide, with an estimated 350 million people affected. It can cause the affected person to suffer greatly and function poorly at work, at school and in the family. At its worst, depression can lead to suicide. Suicide results in an estimated 1 million deaths every year. The burden of depression and other mental health conditions is on the rise globally.” In May 2012, WHO called for a comprehensive, coordinated response to mental disorders at country level. (http://www.who.int/mediacentre)

It is obvious that depression, in whatever form it takes, is prevalent at epidemic proportions worldwide. I will, as I have always dealt with issues in the past, confront the matter at its root cause. Treating a problem at the root cause will spontaneously take care of symptomatic affects and provide remedial solutions. As readers of this blog have known by now, I have always tried to view any given issue through the prism of the Trinitarian nature of God. Why is that? Because man and all creation was made in God’s Triune image, and thereby creation and man is forever connected to His Maker. (Gen.1:26-27) Man once lived in perfect union with His Maker in Eden and had no inkling of any depression whatsoever. Then rebellion became a way of life, and Adam and Eve were evicted from their Maker’s presence. What happened to man from then on is an open field day for man’s future destiny, as his disconnection from the image of his true triune self is now overturned and distorted forever. As long as man is disconnected from his Maker he will live an unfulfilled life, and will suffer from low self-esteem, unhappiness, and ultimately depression. It’s that simple. To liken oneself to the image of the Creator, is to psychologically be lifted above created life to the level of the divine with all its glory. This is the place where depression has no footing to start with. It is a place of complete Love, peace, and joy unbound. It is the place to defeat depression. It’s the place to start and restart life when a person has depression.

Think about this, God is Trinitarian, that’s to say, He is One God existing in three hypostasis (shared existence) in the Father, Son, and Spirit. God is not only Triune, but He is Love. (1John 4:8) All creation has this 3-dimensional stamp bearing the expression of His Love. The universe is made of three primary and independent, yet interdependent components: time, space and matter, which makes up one universe. The atom is formed from three particles: electrons, protons, and neutrons. The three states of matter are solids, liquids, and gases. All colors begin with three primary colors, red, yellow and blue. From these three come the three secondary colors, purple orange and green. With the additions of various shades of white and black, an endless color spectrum can be created. There are three basic forms of energy, motion energy, heat energy, and light energy. (Reflections of the Trinity, by Perry J Webb) The human family, fashioned after the Trinity, has three components, the father, mother and children. I could go on.

And here is the crux of the matter, man is no different in his constitution. Man was made to reflect the Trinitarian image of his Maker. To be a whole person, he has to express himself in his 3-dimensional nature in which he was created: that is, through body, mind, and spirit. Or, as author Fred Sanders put it, ‘head (mind), hand (body), and heart (spirit).’ Until man expresses himself holistically in his inter-connected makeup, he cannot exist in his Maker’s likeness. Man is triune in his makeup like His Maker. Within himself, man lives a shared 3-dimensional inter-connected existence. So, God creates to reflect His Triune Self, in Love. Nothing in creation lives in “solitary” form of itself, all of life and creation is interconnected like the Trinity exists in Love.

The obvious question for man is this: is he using the three integrated components of his makeup to live his life? Or, is he leaving out any component part of his triune person? All of creation around him by which man lives and subsists, openly display and witness to him about this inter-connected life that’s the stamp of the Creator who is Triune. The Psalmist say, “Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. 3 They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. 4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. Creation declares the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.” (Psa. 19:1-4)

What would happen to our universe if suddenly we find there is no matter but only time and space? There would be no universe as we know it. Or, what would happen to our world if the atom’s electron should cease to exist, can the neutron and proton particles do the job of creating energy on which the universe subsists? What if the color blue were to disappear, how would our sky look like? Our capacity for distinguishing light, shade, and other objects, would be hugely affected. You get what I mean? What would happen to humanity if a man and woman have no way to procreate? Humanity would cease to exist! The only living organism that’s living contrary to this 3-dimensional interconnected way of life, is man. Why? Because, unlike creation which has this interconnected life hard-wired, man was made to live a dynamic life with his mind – in the image of his Creator! Nothing else in creation has this Godly mind power, except man. Whereas animals have a purely physical life and governed by preset interconnected instincts, humans have both a physical and a spiritual life that’s reigned in by the mind. Man’s body, mind, and spirit life is lived through his mind and thought process. With the mind, man face choices – through his perspective he makes decisions. In other words, man has to make a deliberate decision to live by his integrated 3-dimensional life. He has to pay attention to his body, his mind, and his spirit. And the underlying influence governing their integration is the divine Love. (Rom.5:5) To leave out any one would be detrimental to the person.

Just One of Three Reasons for Depression

Of course, this is one of the three explanations of man’s search for answers about depression – the spiritual aspect. There are legitimate medical explanations as it concerns his body and mental (mind) faculty. Here, I quote from an article title, “It Can’t Be Depression, I’m Christian,”: “In the late 1990s and early 2000s several groundbreaking studies brought significant insight into the biology behind depression. In laymen’s terms, these studies showed that some people’s brains simply do not have the capacity to recover from the biological effects of stress and crisis (Kramer, p. 131). This in turn literally shrinks a part of the brain that controls feelings. The cause of depression is rooted in brain chemistry. The chemicals necessary to maintain this particular area of the brain are not sufficient. As a result, one’s mood is affected, and depression eventually can set in. Genetics has a strong impact on a person’s tendency to become depressed. It isn’t a matter of being Christian or not Christian, converted or not converted or saved or not saved. As Dr. Peter Kramer states in his book, Against Depression, when talking about a study focused on twins: “Even bleak environments elicit depression only in the vulnerable. That a shared environment rarely shows up in the chain of what causes depression pushes a good deal of what we call environment into the background” (ibid., 135). We all accept the fact that our bodies wear out and run down and are susceptible to disease. We can even accept the fact that our brains can be ravaged by diseases such as Alzheimer’s. But some Christians will not accept the fact that clinical depression also has specific biological causes. They’d rather categorize depression as a “bad attitude” or “lack of faith.” (www.gci.org). In other words, depression is not just about man’s faith, that’s just one aspect, there’s medical explanation also for his body and mind or brain function. Man is body, mind, and spirit no matter what his religion. His spiritual impoverishment does affect him both bodily and mentally, and vice-versa.

All aspects of this dreaded affliction must be aggressively investigated. What I cover here is the ‘trunk of the tree’ aspect of the issue. Let me continue. Often, man likes to live his 3-dimensional life separately and “solitarily” and it can’t be done. The illustration below show what I mean:

The three circles represent a person’s makeup: body, mind, and spirit. When we try to live these three components in “solitary” mode we don’t properly understand the integrated life of the body, mind, and soul so vital to human well-being. If we live only two of them without a third, then we’re headed for trouble. Hence, when God told Adam, “You shall surely die” (after he disobeyed), it meant Adam had replaced the Spirit life he had with God with a spirit which stood in opposition to Him, and thereby disconnected man from a vital aspect of his 3-dimensional life. And sadly, many times we leave out one of the triune components to our own detriment. The Psalmist say, “In his pride the wicked man does not seek Him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.” (Psa.10:4) They are living under the rebellious spirit of Adam which had him evicted from Eden. This is how humans are wired, and we see it in all creation. The only difference is the human mind is what differentiates man from the rest of creation. In fact the illustration above should be rendered as follows, showing the integrated reality of man’s 3-dimensional existence in body, mind, and spirit:

The three functions are integrated into a single expression of life. It can never be separated or function “solitarily,” because if we do, we do so to our own hurt. G.K. Chesterton said that humans are incomplete thinkers. He said, “We want things in fragments, that way we do not have to think of our inconsistencies. That way, we do not mind when our work contradicts our ideals (or principles), or when our politics contradicts our faith, and we keep each thing in its watertight compartment.” (The Apostle of Common Sense, Pg.19) Yes, we try to live this “solitary” persona compartmentalizing our actions and living a life of contradictions. We live a ‘double life’ when we ought to have one unified triune life. You are living against the grain of who you are as a person, and sooner or later it catches up with you. The end-result of that is we bring upon ourselves unnecessary stress which works against us and leads to all kinds of issues, especially to mental health. If this is not corrected, depression sets in, and the condition worsens with time unless we do something about it. However, where Love is unifying the 3-dimensional life, depression has nothing to hold on to. Does depression exists in God presence? No, Christ came to give us a life in the Father’s presence through Him. Depression thrives only when Love is non-existent.

The Bible is clear about this 3-dimensional aspect of man’s life and that it is to be expressed in unison and in harmony in a Trinitarian way. Paul said, “May God Himself (“God is Love” – 1John 4:8), the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul (mind) and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1Thes.5:23) Yes, Love and peace will dominate your life to the end of your days. The Bible shows also that only His Word, His guidance for us in this life, is capable of reaching down into the deepest parts of our being, to tap into our innermost feelings, our profoundest thoughts, where one else can, so we can find meaning and purpose in life. Without it, we’ll live empty lives, always in search for answers, and without direction we turn to the wrong sources which do us more damage than good. Paul says to us, “For the Word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Heb.4:13) The root cause of depression was told to us in the story of Adam and Eve, it was the spirit of rebellion, that’s passed down to mankind. Unfortunately, it continues to this day. It’s mainly our refusal to activate the spiritual component of our 3-dimensional makeup, or inheriting the wrong spiritual component, which is the basic cause of mental and many other issues. Yet, the Bible speaks of a second Adam, Jesus Christ, who came to right the wrong Adam had done. Jesus came to give man back the Spirit life Adam lost in Eden. We can start a new journey with a genuine 3-dimensional integrated healthful life by giving ourselves to Him.

I invite you to think about this matter with urgency as it concerns yourself and those of your loved ones. If you are already suffering from depression, then please find an excellent professional who can help you, someone who is licensed by the state and/or country where you reside. Most especially, embrace God in your life and activate the spiritual component of your life. Paul comforts us with these words, “God can do anything, you know – far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, His Spirit deeply and gently within us.” (Eph.3:20, The Message) I close with the Psalmist expression of God’s Love, in The Message translation:

“God’s Love is meteoric, His loyalty astronomic, His purpose titanic, His verdicts oceanic. Yet in His largeness nothing gets lost.” (Psa.36:5-6) This is not the place of depression, but of peace, joy, and Love!

Blessing:

Our prayers are with those who suffer from this dreaded condition. Our sympathies with those who have lost loved ones to this affliction. May the God who heals extend His compassionate hands and make you whole and comfort you.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to write me in the space provided below, or email me on bulamanriver@gmail.com.

Kiang (Your Servant in Christ)

*The “Bulamanriver” is the metaphor describing the union of man with the Love of the Triune God flowing in humans, making possible the “Triune Life” – the source of the miraculous life in man. Man is the “riverbed” and the Spirit is the “living waters” that cover him and flows to all in his valley (destiny). (John 7:37-39)

NOTE: All information from this website is copyrighted. Any use of its content should be acknowledged by citing the website, address, date of acquisition and information pertinent to original authorship.

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.

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THANKS FOR GIVING, BY KIANG P LEE

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DEPRESSION – BEAT IT! BY KIANG P LEE