“Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely” 1 Corinthians 13:12, NLT.
Greetings and a Happy and Blessed New Year 2019 to all my readers.
As we face the New Year ahead, there is a foreboding uneasiness about the future we cannot deny – its uncertainty. We would all like to face the New Year with optimism, confidence, and an inner tranquility. But it is hard not to face it with some trepidation as we reflect upon the past year with all its events that form the cloud of uncertainty that hangs over us. That 2019 will bring more jitters than 2018. Uncertainty means the solace of the predictable which gave us comfort is going to be a rarity and worst off beyond our grasp. On the horizon, we see the storm approaching, and anxiety and tension fills the air. What will 2019 bring? It’s not my intention to sound like a prophet of doom, I am anything but as my readers will vouch. But if 2018 is something to go by, then the handwriting is on the wall for all to see – more change and more uncertainty. But what I do is try to offer help to those who will hearken, as to what you as a person can meaningfully do to make sense of your unpredictable environment.
The Jigsaw ? – As We Face the Future, There’s Uneasiness, What Will It Bring? (Wiki Commons)
Perhaps there is a place of solace where we can remain calm and collected in the midst of turmoil, and watch it pass us by in perfect peace. Perhaps this New Year can be a new beginning unlike any other before now. I am not talking about burying our proverbial heads in the sand, but the only real-life solution there is. Come with me on this journey in which I use a metaphor with which most are familiar – the jigsaw puzzle. The only difference is this is not some game with entertainment value. The game of life is real, it is serious stuff that can become a matter of life and death. Hence, the title of this post, “Life is a like a Jigsaw Puzzle.”
With the uncertainties of our changing world aside, we all know that human life with its life choices brings its own peaks and valleys and is a puzzle of and on its own. Hence, we are faced with two dynamics which are inexorably tied to each other. That’s to say, we cannot discount what is happening in our world without human activity and input. Change and uncertainties don’t happen haphazardly by themselves, they find their impetus from a first cause – human choices and self-determination. That is not wrong of itself, but it is a question of what influences our decision-making. So, the events in the world is a conditional response to human interaction and activity. Every effect finds its cause in human activity. That’s to say, if we point an accusing finger at a supposed troubling issue in the world, our other four fingers are pointed right back at us. In other words, humanity is collectively accountable for the conditions we face in the world, be it good or bad. Nothing happens in isolation, what is happening on the other side of our earth impacts everyone.
Take the issue of our environment and climate change. It is not simply a matter of the next person’s culpability, but the responsibility lies with us all because all the harmful activities to our climate impacts us all and are global in nature. Our climate have changed by a few degrees and it has threatened the web of life across our earth. Yes, from insects to humans, from deforestation to global warming, from one natural disaster to another like powerful hurricanes and devastating tsunamis, from pollution to our severely affected ecosystem, from increasing drought to the extinction of species, etc. Take the islands in the Pacific like Tuvalu. This beautiful idyllic paradise has been submerged under the ocean as a result through no fault of the people. Tuvalu’s only airport is accessible only at low tide since through rising sea level it is submerged at high tide. If the climate condition worsens, will Tuvalu disappear beneath the seas? (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/will-tuvalu-disappear-beneath-the-sea-180940704/). We live on this one earth as our only home, and there’s no planet to which we can migrate or escape to from our collective problems.
And it’s not just the climate issue, but a host of other matters which are just as imposing and menacing. Yes, every issue facing mankind must be viewed through the prism of who we are as persons in the subterranean of our common humanity. Therefore, the pressing problems in the world we will face this year cannot be seen or handled in isolation from one another, but the two dynamics must of necessity be handled together in one unified approach. It needs to be handled with care, wisdom, and without fear or favor. Unless we change in our core as persons and become responsible citizens of our earth and to each other, lamentably we will slowly but surely perish together. Having said that, we have laid the foundation to playing this real-life game of the human jigsaw puzzle.
A jigsaw puzzle is simple to play. There are essentially two parts. There is the picture of the puzzle seen on the box as a guide, and there are all the puzzle pieces of that picture to be put back together. There are puzzles that are easy to do, then there are medium to very difficult ones which requires time and patience to complete. The box gives you the number of puzzle pieces that comes with each box. In April of 2014, a teenage boy named Jack Brait completed the world’s largest jigsaw puzzle, which contained 32,256 pieces. It took him 432 hours to complete, it was 17 feet high, weighed 42 pounds and came with its own hand trolley. Every piece fits one way, so either it fits or it don’t. In other words, every piece of the puzzle has its own place in the picture and cannot be used for any other function other than its own purpose in the picture. If one or more pieces goes missing, the picture will be incomplete and defective, and defeats the goal of the puzzle.
There are simple rules to follow when trying to put a jigsaw puzzle together in an efficient manner. 1) First, pick a puzzle with a picture that appeals to you. Start with an easy puzzle before graduating to a more advanced one. 2) Second, observe the picture on the box, get some basic knowledge of what the subject is about? It can be wildlife, a landscape, a favorite pet, a city you know, outer space with its planets, even a favorite car, etc. 3) Third, find a flat, spacious, and smooth surface to layout your puzzle pieces. 4) Fourth, lay out the all the pieces face-up. 5) Fifth, methodically select all the ‘border’ pieces first from the inner pieces. Then begin assembling the border pieces first to give you the frame of the picture. 6) Sixth, then separate the inner pieces which goes within the frame in groups according to colors, patterns, and shapes of the picture. 7) Seventh, begin with one group of colors or patterns in the location within the completed frame/border. Follow through with the next group and so on, and with patience and practice you will have a sense of accomplishment when the final piece of the puzzle is inserted. Hooray, you have done it! So, it’s a fairly simple 7-step process on how to methodically put the jigsaw puzzle back together. However, as simple as it may sound, the same cannot be said when it comes to the human jigsaw puzzle we are about to bring together. Life is a serious matter, and the rules are clear: it’s about life and death – literally.
The Picture on the Jigsaw Puzzle Box Tell Us What The Puzzle Pieces Are About (Wiki Commons)
In the human life jigsaw puzzle, every box represents a human being. The human population as of December 2018 was 7.7 billion and counting. (www.worldometers.info/world-population/) We are all God’s creation. He made this abundant and fabulously beautiful earth for our home. (Gen.1:26-30) He said this about humans, “This is the word of the LORD, your Maker, who formed you from the womb and will help you…I have chosen you” (Isa.44:2). Again, He says, “See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands” (Isa.49:16). Further on He says, “The LORD called me before I was born. He named me while I was in my mother’s womb” (Isa.49:1). Although the context of these verses refers to Israel under the Old Covenant, after Jesus Christ came and established the New Covenant, salvation was extended to all humanity. (Heb.8:6-13; Jer.31:31-34; Ezek.11:19-20) Therefore, His Word the Bible, is for mankind and all peoples who seek to find the Creator and His purpose for them.
The basis of the New Covenant was stated by John, “For God so Loved the world (not just Israel) that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16, italics mine). This was further reinforced to Peter, the leader of the original Church. God had arranged a meeting for Peter with the Gentile named Cornelius. Apparently, God’s basic message was to clarify to Peter that the message of the Gospel was universal, and the true purpose for sending His Son was to save the whole world, not just Israel. Peter said, “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears Him and does what is right” (Act.10:34-35; also 1 Tim.2:5) Paul said, “There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you” (Gal.3:28-29). The old has been superseded by the new, therefore, His Word must be understood and applied under the context of the New Covenant, not the old. His Word is for all of humanity. Be that as it may, Paul said the things that happened to Israel was recorded for our example to help us avoid the similar pitfalls where Israel failed to continue in their covenant with God. (1 Cor.10:1-13; Heb.8:9)
The Psalmist said, “He (God) determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name” (Psa.147:4). According to astronomers, “There are about 10 billion galaxies in the ‘observable’ universe! The number of stars in a galaxy varies, but assuming an average of 100 billion stars per galaxy means that there are about 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (that’s 1 billion trillion) stars in the observable universe!” (https://scienceline.ucsb.edu/getkey.php?key=3775) That is just the “observable” universe, and we have no idea what’s in the other “unobservable” universe. Now, if God remembers the names of each of those unimaginable number of stars, would He have any trouble remembering you and I who constitute part of the 7.7 billion on earth today? Of course not! The human population is a trivial number when compared to the number of stars in the ‘observable’ universe. Job asked, “Who does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number… Can you fathom the deep things of God or discover the limits of the Almighty?… The Almighty is beyond our reach; He is exalted in power!” (Job.5:9; 11:7; 37:23). So, God knows the picture of each one of us on the 7.7 billion boxes of human jigsaw puzzles.
Since every box represents individual human beings, the picture on the boxes is a depiction of YOU that was painted by God with His own hands. He said, “I have engraved you on the palms of my hands” (Isa.49:16). Jesus said this concerning you and all humanity who believe, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one” (John 10:28-30). No human picture on the puzzle boxes are alike so the 7.7b pictures depict God’s power and diverse gifts He has conferred to each human being. Gifts identify a person’s calling and purpose, and forms the basis for communication and relationship between the divine and the mortal. Its ultimate role is to be a beacon of light on the pathway to humanity’s eternal home in God’s spiritual realm. (Rev.21) Each of the 7.7 billion humans are unique whole beings with distinct gifts. No one person is identical with the next. Forensic science has shown that no human fingerprint are alike, even with identical twins. That ought to give us pause for thought about God who in His profoundest mystery and incomprehensible power calls each by name. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fingerprint)
Now, from all these human jigsaw puzzles an even greater puzzle emerges, much like a puzzle within a puzzle. After the individual puzzles are completed and made whole, all the 7.7b perfect pictures eventually dovetails into a universal holistic picture comprising all of humanity unified to form God’s dwelling place with mankind. Peter said, “And you are living stones that God is building into His spiritual temple” (1 Pet.2:5; 1 Cor.3:16). No one knows how the final universal puzzle (temple) comes together except God. So, there are two sets of human/spiritual puzzles, one is personal and individual, and the second is holistic and universal comprising all of mankind. Every picture we see on the human puzzle box reflects God’s Love in its incalculable images, for He made us in His likeness. (Gen.1:26-27; 1 John 4:8) We are all uniquely different because God’s divine Love is infinite and past finding out. Imagine, we are all part of the 7.7b exclusively whole Love-personalities. The Bible states, “O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments, and untraceable His ways!” (Rom.11:33, BSP; Job 11:7; Eccl.8:17) God knows each of us well through the picture He painted on each of our personal jigsaw puzzle boxes. Needless to say, the obvious and most pressing question ought to be, do we know really who we are? Unquestionably, the Creator knows each of us better than we know ourselves as individuals. That ought to be the place to begin this journey of putting our human jigsaw puzzle pieces together. Aristotle said, “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”
A Puzzle Within The Universal Puzzle – Each Human Being United Becomes Part Of The Universal Puzzle Globe Representing Humanity For God’s Dwelling – 1 Peter 2:5 ; Romans 8:19; 1 Cor.3:16; Rev.21:3. (Wiki Commons)
When God first created humans, Adam and Eve were perfect in every way and lived in divine harmony with God in the Garden of Eden. Our first parents represented the perfect picture of mankind as God created in His Love-likeness. (Gen.1:26-27) Then something ominous and devastating happened. They rebelled against God and His Love. They ate the forbidden fruit they were commanded not to eat and severed the Loving relationship they enjoyed with God from their creation. (Gen.3:6, 11) From this point of rebellion, the perfect picture of man living in harmonious joy with his God in Eden was shattered to pieces. This crushing blow created the first human jigsaw puzzle, so to speak. Rebellion and sin was the hammer which pummeled the once perfect picture of humanity into a mountain of fragments. This is the birthplace of the human jigsaw puzzle. But God’s plan for humanity is eternal and He will bring it to pass, listen, “This is the plan determined for the whole world; this is the hand stretched out over all nations. For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart Him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?” (Isa.14:26-27).
When our first parents were banished from Eden, they handed their children (mankind) each their own shattered life in pieces which required reconstituting to their original pictures. The human jigsaw puzzle represents that shattered life-picture which reveals to each their heritage from the Creator. The perfect picture of divine relationship with God from which all good, all joy and abundance, of security and harmony, was dashed to pieces and now requires restoration. This is the birthright we are given to recapture. This is the underpinning, the nuts-and-bolts, of the cause of all humanity’s ills, of man’s inhumanity to man we see in history, which continues to this day in various forms. But how do we go about bringing humanity back to recapture the picture of its former glory? Ever since that day of rebellion, mankind has sought to put these human puzzle pieces back together and find the path to the glorious divine destiny that is every person’s birthright, but to no avail. Mankind has failed miserably at every attempt to find the true picture of their God-given purpose on this earth.
Instead, the enemy (Satan) who beguiled our first parents and deceived them into eating the forbidden fruit, gave humanity a whole set of his own devious puzzle pieces with its equally depraved picture he has deceived and continues to deceive mankind to adopt in place of the Creator’s picture. They are puzzle pieces with the picture of rebellion, fear, and sin. Unfortunately or fortunately, his puzzle pieces could not fit into the mold of the divine Love-image which lies beneath our basic human frame God created. (Gen.5:1; 1:26-27) The Love-frame in which God created humans remains constant and immutable. It cannot be altered by anyone, not even the devil himself. The enemy’s depraved jigsaw pieces will never fit into the picture of God’ Love-frame. Hence, we see evil at every level human life and discourse in the world today because man has accepted the devil’s jigsaw puzzle. Mankind has been trying to work on a picture that is totally foreign to and at odds with God’s picture of humanity. Sadly, humans are none the wiser because people don’t have the right picture to begin with, let alone restoring their broken lives.
But God did not leave us to languish and die in our brokenness. Instead, He sacrificed His only Son in order that we be saved from rebellion and sin, and restitute our shattered lives back to the original picture of Love we were created. (John 3:16-17; Rom.5:18-19) In giving us His eternal Son, God established a new humanity that is perfect and sinless so we can be fashioned after Jesus’ own likeness. Paul affirmed this divine plan, saying, “For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters” (Rom.8:29; also Col.1:15). Let us follow God’s lead in piecing together this real-life human/spiritual jigsaw puzzle pieces.
First, recall the first rule we covered when starting a jigsaw puzzle: 1) Pick a picture which appeals to you. In human/spiritual jigsaw puzzle terms, it means to pick the box with your picture on it. Everyday, you will do whatever it takes to physically stay alive and well to walk upon this earth. Each day you get up and head out to work and earn a living to ensure you and your loved ones are cared for in every way. We do it intuitively almost without thought. That ought to show what appeals most to you – You, and everything related to You! We said to start with an easy puzzle before advancing, hence you choose one with your name written all over it. We are all uniquely different in gifts and talents, so the picture on the box is You!
With the bridge of social media leading us into every facet of our culture, people today are inclined to lose themselves by morphing into a personality identity crisis of idolizing prominent figures. These figures can be famous athletes, actors, politicians, or whoever or whatever we adore and worship. The underlying motivation seems to do with wealth, influence, and success. We can go down this ill-advised path at the expense of losing our identity in the gift God has conferred upon us and may never find who we are as unique one-of-a-kind personality. Jesus asked a pertinent question in this regard, “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” (Mar.8:36). Your soul is who you are in your gift and passion bestowed upon you by your Creator. Each of our calling has its own builtin success mechanism that is personalized to each in line with our respective gifts. It is absolutely unnecessary to try to emulate others when you are already in a class of your own. God possesses all riches and tailored your success in line with the ‘true self’ He created you to be, not the ‘false self’ – your true puzzle pieces, not the depraved ones from the enemy. (Hag.2:8; Psa.24:1; 50:10) His blessings doesn’t come with the usual stress and emotional disorders like the success this world brings. Solomon, the wisest and richest king in Israel, said, “The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, without painful toil for it (stress)” (Pro.10:22, italic mine). This occurs only when your gift and your work are one and the same. We are not living the “square pegs in round holes” life.
Each Jigsaw Puzzle Box Represent A Person With Your Picture On It (Wiki Commons)
Second, the next rule is, 2) Observe the picture on the box and get to know what the subject is about. The picture you must choose on your human puzzle box is not someone whom you idolize from the world, but it is the picture of YOU! You are the reflection of God’s Love, so you get to know about yourself as someone created in God’s image. (Gen.1:26-27) God knows you by name and He identifies you with the gift He conferred upon you at birth. A person’s gift is the medium of communication he/she will have with God throughout life. If you and I broke up our respective puzzle pieces and put them back together again, it would be impossible to refit and complete the puzzle without recalling God’s vision of us He painted on each of our human puzzle boxes which He gave us to see the first time. (Gen.1:26-27)
The Bibles teaches us this beautiful truth through the life of Joseph. He was given a dream of His true self as God made him to become. The dream was God’s picture on Joseph’s human puzzle box. God helped him fit the pieces together through his life. Yes, all through his life, his dream was his guide through the tumultuous times of his life, and it was the means by which the divine will was communicated to him. (Gen.37:1-44:9)
Just as He has a name for every star, you are more valuable to Him than the stars. He says you are more precious to Him than fine gold or whatever measure of success the world uses. (1 Pet.1:7) He knows the number of hairs on your head, that is how well He knows you. (Luk.12:7) At the risk of sounding presumptuous, God goes as far as saying that creation itself is waiting for you to be revealed so you can contribute to its splendor and glory. (Rom.8:19, NLT) Yet, presumptuous or not, only God can carry out what He says He would. (Luk.1:37; Isa.41:4) Paul said, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rom.8:18). Surely, more than anything we must want to dig deeper into that unique person God has made you and I to become. God says to Israel, and by extension to all believers under the New Covenant, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are Mine” (Isa.43:1). Let’s us seriously take upon us this task of putting our human puzzle together and see this unique person God created.
The third rule calls us to: 3) find a flat, smooth, surface to layout your puzzles pieces in an orderly manner. In terms of the human/spiritual jigsaw puzzle, this refers to our spiritual foundation. With an uneven, slanting, slippery, surface with inadequate space, it would be impossible to complete the puzzle. The Bible points us to the foundation we are given upon which to build our lives and put together the life-puzzle we have been handed from Adam. Jesus charges his listeners to use the foundation of “rock,” and not “sand.” (Matt.7:24-27) What does rock metaphorically mean? Jesus answers, saying, “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matt.7:24). He goes on, “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand” (Matt.7:26). By saying “Words of Mine” Jesus is revealing Himself as the Personal “Word of God.” (John 1:1, 14) He is the personified Word, as John stated, “His (Jesus’) name is the Word of God” (Rev.19:13, italics mine). The Bible is the literal Word of God and reveals Jesus to humanity in written form. We all have the same foundation – the Word of God or Jesus Christ who gives us the proper grounding (foundation) to build our own picture puzzle back together. Jesus is the Savior God sent to rescue us from rebellion and sin so we can work successfully at putting our human puzzles pieces back. (Rom.5:8)
Why is a proper foundation indispensably crucial? Because the next rule asks: 4) to arrange the pieces so they are intentionally “faced-up.” In the spiritual puzzle, this can’t be done without the proper foundation of Jesus. When you turn the human puzzle pieces right side up it means you are given eyes to see for the very first time your various colors and patterns, albeit in shattered puzzle format. Being given sight spiritually means you can see the sin you must repent of and ask forgiveness for. (Act.2:38) When you remain rebellious and refuse to change something wrong in your life, that is equivalent to leaving your puzzle pieces faced-down so you remain blind to your true self. If you refuse the eye salve offered by the Lord to give you sight to see, you and I cannot start this journey of recovery. (Rev.3:18) Yes, it is rebellion (sin) that paralyzes and blinds you from seeing life’s puzzle pieces with their faces right-side-up, in order that you may begin discovering your true reflection and start rebuilding your ‘true self-life.’
Yes, by receiving Jesus, the foundation for life, through repentance and forgiveness we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit who gives us the sight to see, and the guidance to start the journey to restoration. (Rom.2:4) Though it sounds simplistic, but without the proper foundation we will not catch the first glimpse of our true picture as God engraved us on our human puzzle box. (Isa.49:6) Yes, we can have that very first view, or at least a semblance of our identity in terms of color, perhaps distinguishable textures, albeit in weird and bent jigsaw shapes. But much more is to be done before we can see greater detail, traits, and shapes materialize. But spiritually speaking what’s important is the foundation of Jesus Christ as it gives us the grounds to take this first peek into our lives so we may travel on our journey of self-discovery with the help of the Spirit. (John 16:7)
The fifth step requires us: 5) to methodically separate all the border pieces from the inner pieces. Then begin assembling the border pieces first to give you the frame of your picture. In human life-puzzle terms, this forms the substantive aspect of our journey. If we get this first lift-off stage right, then the next phase will be coherent, the puzzle pieces will find their proper places and help us see the path forward. Or else, we can become lost in the maze of our own puzzles, as mankind has been since the fall of Adam, aside from contending with the enemy’s wrong puzzle pieces. If we fail at being vigilant here, we can be out-of-step in the convoluted actions of our own making. We do not want our own life-puzzles to inadvertently confuse and lead us astray into the self-imposed wilderness where we may languish without any forward progress. Remember, self-determination or freedom is a God-given gift. With it comes a great responsibility to carefully choose the border pieces of our human frame and so make our journey more transparent. We still live a life of ‘bondage’ as long as our human jigsaw puzzles remain ‘puzzles.’ Puzzles exist to ultimately materialize into the picture of freedom: You!
So, you are at the pivotal juncture of erecting the borders which gives the frame of your picture, but above all it reveals the perimeter and boundary of your gift – of who you are in your true self. Without a boundary we can be unwittingly taken out of the zone where our pieces are supposed to remain, and we will find life slowly becoming irrelevant and disconnected. We may find ourselves as misfits and losers living the proverbial “square peg in a round hole” lifestyle. Our picture frame provides for us that guidance as to who we are as personalities. Human personality is empty without the gift that gives it character and magnetism. This is not just any gift, but one that has been divinely conferred since we were conceived. The Psalmist said, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (Psa.139:13-16). The border reveals the ‘secret’ of our God-given gifts. From here, we are given a passageway to fitting the remaining inner pieces which can only go inside your picture frame. Obviously, we cannot let the enemy’s pieces distract us for they do not fit our basic underlying Love-picture.
Completing the ‘Border’ Pieces First Before Attempting The ‘Inner’ Pieces (Wiki Commons)
Because we are unique personalities individually, all our picture frames come in the shape of God’s divine Love. Most jigsaw puzzles come in rectangle or square shapes. But not so the human jigsaw puzzle, we come in one single frame shape, but the pictures within the Love-frame are countless as there are people in the boundless gifts and personalities the Creator has conferred upon humanity. Hence, I have called this aspect: the incalculable pictures within God’s Love-frame. If we were to give a shape to God’s Love-frame, it would be a triangle since God is a Tri-personal Trinity and we find life and existence in it. Each of our picture frame tells us the perimeter within which our gifts extend, so we do not live presumptuously like we are actors and impersonators of another person’s gift. Paul said, “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us” (Rom.12:6). The aspect of hero and idol veneration we touched upon earlier doesn’t work here because they don’t fit our personalized gift model. We are to be as wise builders using our personality model fashioned after God’s Love to guide us. God assures us, “See, I have engraved you on the palm of My hands; your walls (picture frame/border) are ever before Me” (Isa.49:16, italics mine). From this, we know we are given divine guidance on how to build our personalized gift border or picture frame.
Paul said, “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith (gift) God has distributed to each of you” (Rom.12:3, italic mine). As I said earlier, peer pressure can lead us to idol veneration which blinds us. This is the devil’s work. We must be careful not to become conceited and wise in our own eyes and attempt to fit our personal puzzle pieces into a frame that was never designed to fit nor accommodate our picture. (Pro.3:7; Isa.5:21; Rom.12:16) Another passage of scripture states that if we allow presumptuousness to dominate us, we may stray away in the process and not discover our true person. (Eccl.7:16) Essentially, the frame of our gift guides us to see how the remaining inner pieces come together harmoniously.
Sixth, in the next productive step we are: 6) to separate the inner pieces in groups according to colors, patterns, and shapes. There’s a big difference between the two puzzle types. Whereas regular puzzles come with pictures that can be seen and identified, the human puzzle holds the picture of you that only God sees in its complete form which He is more than eager to reveal to each of us. But what we see instead is a foggy dim picture of ourselves presented in the shattered puzzles of the perfect picture from creation. God created every human complete and knows each by name, but we have our shattered life-puzzles to bring together. However, as we work on our puzzle with the Spirit’s help, our picture image will begin to emerge and become clearer with the passage of time. Paul gives us the scripture which is uncanny in its parallel, “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely” (1 Cor.13:12, NLT). What a passage that’s so relevant to our jigsaw puzzle metaphor. What is of first importance is that the underlying picture and framework is fundamentally God’s very Love-nature. We are all flickers of His Love like the stars in the heavens which shines together to illuminate and enrich humanity like they do the night sky. Our Father will guide us to see where and how each puzzle piece fits and how they all come together so we can see what is marvelously obvious to Him from the start. Our role is to use our freedom and live within the triangular framework of the divine Love.
Separate Puzzle Pieces into Groups of Colors and Patterns (Wiki Commons)
Since Adam, we have been living under the enemy’s sway in his world where he has camouflaged each of our picture with his own corrupt version of humanity based upon fear, rebellion, and the sin-condition. The Bible calls this fake version of us the ‘false self’ stacked upon the ‘true self’ beneath. (Eph.4:22-24) All the troubles we will face in this world moving forward, finds its first cause in the ‘fake self’ reared in the sin-condition that has taken humanity over the ‘true self’ and influencing our human activity upon earth. That fake self has a heart that is bent on doing evil. (Jer.17:9) The Bibles says they “call evil good and good evil, and put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (Isa.5:20). Paul said this about what we must do to remove the spiritual camouflage of the fake self, and like an uncut precious stone allow God to chisel through the dross and distractions of the enemy’s fabrications and shape the beauty of the ‘true self’ beneath. The Bible says, “Throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception (false self). Put on your new nature, created to be like God–truly righteous and holy (true self)” (Eph.4:22-23). I have often used the term “Adamic human” to describe the ‘false self,’ and “Immanuel human” the ‘true self.’ The ‘Immanuel human’ lays at the subterranean depth of life in pieces of the puzzle. (You can read about the new humanity in my post: http://bulamanriver.net/9718).
Finally, the seventh step launches us: 7) to begin with one group of inner pieces in the area of the frame where each color, pattern, and shape is located within the frame. Start with one category or with another pattern simultaneously until the last piece is done. We begin assembling our own unique picture puzzle with the Spirit’s help. His work of sanctification aids us with putting the pieces of our lives in their correct places. (1 Pet. 1:2; 2 Thess.2:13) He helps us make some sense of all these fragmented and weird pieces of our lives, knowing full well that the final picture is our own version of God’s Love-image. (Rom.8:26) Jesus said this, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible” (Matt.19:26). God assures us with His sure promise, “I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’” (Isa.46:10; also Isa.14:24). Yes, we will become this utterly unique person that God says we are as His treasured possession. (1 Pet.2:9-10; 1 Pet.1:2; Rom.15:16; Tit.2:14) Paul said, “We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves” (1 Cor.4:7).
Organizing your life-pieces in their colors, patterns, and texture means God has a plan for your life which He intends to carry out in logical flow through His Spirit. When we don’t follow His plans, we get ahead of ourselves and pick the wrong pieces that doesn’t fit. Trying to do something in its wrong time and place is a common human blunder. Our timing is not in sync with His plans for us. Perhaps a puzzle piece (pursuit/task) should be done later in life, but not now, not yet. The Bible says, “People may be pure in their own eyes, but the LORD examines their motives” (Pro.16:2) Yes, even with all the right pieces, we can still make blunders – it is called self-righteousness or self-love. (2 Cor.10:18) Maybe the piece ought to wait for other pieces which goes ahead before finding its rightful place in the picture. Somehow we can become attracted to a piece (activity/relationship/conviction) which is not its time and place yet. God our Father realizes we are still living in the world of the enemy, so He is well aware that selfish points of view can afflict us from time to time. The devil never lets up with his depraved work of tempting humans as he did with Adam in the garden. If he cannot embed his own depraved pieces in our lives, he will try to trip us with our own puzzle pieces through self-righteousness. (1 John 1:10; 1 Pet.5:8). Keeping in sync with the Spirit’s (Love) move is vital. (Rom.5:5) Jesus taught us how to deal with the devil when He overcame him in the temptations. (Matt.4:1-12) (Read about the “Four Temptations and God’s Promises” at: http://bulamanriver.net/11339)
The journey of a lifetime begins now. This activity of putting the human life picture back to its original image will take the length of our lives upon earth. But how do you plot your progress in this divine activity of putting your life puzzle back together again as God made you to be? The yardstick of your progress, the needle which moves your human puzzle gauge, and how they are being put together is when Love, God’s very nature, is dynamically active in your life and mine. Realize, Love is God Himself, for the scriptures tell us, “God is Love” (1 John 4:8). And Love is further broken down into fruits. So, Love is manifested through its divers Love-fruits as Paul explained to the Corinthians. (1 Cor.13:1-12) Paul ended his discourse about Love, saying, “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known” (1 Cor.13:12). Yes, though our journey may seem futuristic and unknown, at times drawn-out and even perplexing, we live the miraculous life under God’s care and we will see how everything come together as the Spirit gives us eyes to see the beauty of His power in His Love. (1 Pet.5:7)
“I’m bankrupt without Love”- 1 Corinthians 13:3, The Message (Wiki Commons)
Let’s take a Love-fruit as an example: patience (1 Cor.13:4). If a person is by and large impatient and easily loses himself/herself and becomes unglued, then putting life back together by becoming a more patient person opens doors to other avenues he/she would not otherwise realize, let alone reap its accompanying benefits. The spirit of endurance, fortitude, courage, and serenity comes as byproducts of the Love-fruit: patience! These virtues are vital pillars in life and keys to success. They are catalysts to helping discover your true self as patience is utilized in various circumstances, favorable and unfavorable, friend and foe, in good and bad times. And so it goes with all the fruits of the Spirit (Love). Think of patience as a person you can relate with, and so to with all the remaining fruits of Love itemized below. And indeed patience is a person for it is a Love-fruit, and God is Love. (1 John 4:16) Whether we say God is Love or Love is God, they are identical and inseparable from the Person. Armed with this refreshed orientation, we look at the Love-fruits with a renewed sense of awareness to help build relationships with people in a more organic lively way.
Many a human life has been destroyed for lack of these Love-fruits in one form or another. These fruits reveal the power of God in His Love. By being charged with God’s Love-power, we are given a great responsibility through the choices we make upon which we will be judged in this life and at the last judgment day. (John 12:48) For Jesus said that when we exercise (“feed”) our fellow humans with these Love-fruits, we are actually doing it to God Himself. (Matt.25:31-46) How so, because humans are reflections of God in His Love-image. (1 John 4:8, 16; Gen. 5:1) When we Love God and His creation, God reciprocates with His grace and blessings and we find our true self through His Love. Since all of humanity is part of God’s Love-kind, naturally we feed, nourish, and nurture our fellow humans with the Love-fruits. This is relational, a two-way street. (Luk.6:31) God has been feeding, nourishing, and nurturing humanity with the Love-fruits since man’s creation. This is His natural life-style we have been charged to emulate. There is no other spiritual food we can utilize to generously give, nourish, and nurture our fellow human brothers and sisters other than with the fruits of God’s Love. Paul said, “Owe nothing to anyone–except for your obligation to Love one another. If you Love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law of Love” (Rom.13:8, NLT, italics mine). Inherently, the divine Love food for our spiritual sustenance is more necessary and needed than the material food for bodily nourishment, for one is eternal while the other is temporary. Jesus had destroyed the enemy’s temptation on this very issue when He answered the devil, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt.4:4).
In the above passage from Matthew, Jesus speaks of the time of His return, and all the nations are gathered before God’s judgment seat. Here, every human being is judged according to the manner each have fed and provided for their neighbors spiritually with the divine Love-fruits. (Matt.25:31-33) Jesus as King, will say, “‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of Mine, you did for Me'” (Matt.25:40). Then Jesus gave real-life situations, “For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me’” (Matt.25:42-43). This passage speaks of denying people in need of the fruit of kindness, hospitality, generosity, and honor. (see list of Love-fruits below). Peter said this, “As good stewards of the manifold grace of God, each of you should use whatever gift he has received to serve one another” (1 Pet.4:10, NLT). All the human ills in this world can be traced back to humans abdicating their divine calling to serve one another in Love. Paul said we ought to be single minded, “Don’t run up debts, except for the huge debt of Love you owe each other” (Rom.13:8, The Message; also Ezek.11:19). Yes, all human troubles and failings can be traced back to a single issue – the total absence of divine Love and the provision of its Love-fruits in human relationships.
And here is the most vital aspect of Love with its accompanying fruits: THEY ARE KEYS WHICH OPENS DOORS SO WE MAY DISCOVER OUR GIFTS AND LIVE REBORN LIVES. The puzzle pieces of human life and the divine Love-fruits are one and the same. As such, our puzzle pieces will eventually reveal our unique self that was framed in God’s divine Love. (Psa.139:13-16). Sometimes, if not most times, we don’t know the gifts we possess until we enter the doors the Love-fruits open for us and discover something totally new about ourselves. These are keys to reclaiming the true picture of us as we were created to be. We know this because in the final analysis “God is Love,” and He is the Giver of all gifts in and through His Son. (1 John 4:8) Paul describes for us the goal of life, “My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in Love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col.2:3; also Rom.11:33).
Yes, the mystery and richness of all our gifts are treasures hidden in Christ alone. The Father gave His Son to mankind to reveal the truth of our ultimate human destiny in Him. He took our rebellious sin-filled humanity and made it holy and glorified it in Himself so we can be glorified and not be destroyed as sinners, but live not as rebellious beings, but as Love-beings in Christ. (Rom.6:23; 2 Cor.5:21) The fact that our life’s gifts are vested in Christ shows that the Love-fruits are not activities solely in the realm of the physical, nor are they mere intellectual exercises which many mistakenly believe. Rather, the Love-fruits exist as a way of life in the inter-personal relationship of the Triune God in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (Matt.28:18-20; 2 Cor.13:14) Thus, humans participate in the same way of life through Christ’s Person. Our relationship with the Tri-Personal God is made possible by Jesus as mankind’s Savior. That is how the power of the Love-fruits is transmuted to humans through faith in Christ.
THEREFORE, THE LOVE-FRUITS ARE THE JIGSAW PUZZLE PIECES TO HUMAN LIFE AND GIFTS. Each of our picture will reveal itself through the divine energy in the Love-fruits we utilize to nourish others on a daily basis. Every Love-fruit we give to feed others – that very act creates the dynamism and unseen flow-through effect that will help a person discover the mystery of who they are in the divine essence of God’s Love. That is to say, the only way to finding our true self is through a personal relationship with others, by way of the fruits of the Spirit (Love) with which we feed and nourish the relationship. Remember, Love-fruits opens doors of personal revelation about our gifts, which sometimes surprise us for the first time. So, we have our basic blueprint where we sow Love-fruits into the lives of people, which sequentially opens up new dimensions of the self which reveals God’s Love-image (gift) in us. This is what true relationship based upon the divine Love is supposed to bring out in each of us.
When you get right down to it, Love by its nature is relational because God Himself is relational in His trinitarian Being. The depth of abundance in the divine Being is unknown and incomprehensible where all human gifts abide. God is not solitary but relational and interpersonal in His Tri-Personal Being as the Father, Son, and Spirit because He is Love. (Matt.28:18-19; 2 Cor.13:14; Eph.4:4-6; Jud.1:20-21) When we enter into a true Love relationship with people we automatically participate in God’s Tri-Personal Love relationship through Christ, the very fountain of Love and all things good. God has existed eternally in His One Triune Love-Being. (1 John 4:8; Mar.12:29) Hence, mankind was created to have the corresponding divine relational nature with each other replicating the Creator in His trinitarian Love-Being and be made one with Him. (Gen.1:26-27) In truth, everything in creation is interconnected (interrelational) to reflect the Creator God who is interrelational in His Triune Being. Nothing has solitary existence (life unto itself) in creation.
Rublev”s Icon of the Trinity (Wiki Commons)
As we apply ourselves to the Love-fruits, we are putting our human puzzles pieces back into their place, and like a seed which germinates invisibly underground then sprouts and grows into a fruitful tree, we too eventually will sprout to life and become more and more whole persons made in God’s likeness and evolve into our own distinctive and gifted personalities. This is a divine miracle we are given to see functioning before our very eyes. It is really God recreating us into His likeness by His Spirit. But we must choose freely to participate in His plans for each of our lives.
Of course, God could confer gifts by fiat for a specific purpose like He did with Samson, whose gift God vested in the locks upon his head. (Judges 13-16) However, in general gifts by fiat is not the way God deals with mankind, but through the channel of His Son who restored humanity back to Him, and through His Spirit who supplies His Love and Love-fruits. Peter said, “Salvation comes no other way; no other Name has been or will be given to us by which we can be saved, only this One – Jesus, the stone you masons threw out, which is now the cornerstone” (Act.4:12,11) The example of Samson aside, let us not forget the ‘miraculous life’ the Father has given us all the privilege to live under the charge of His Son and His Spirit. (John 6:39-40; John 10:28-30) I use the term ‘miraculous life’ to mean God’s divine involvement in your life and mine, and that’s why we can be confident that every detail in our lives is being worked into something good. (Rom.8:28) Paul assures us with these words, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people, and His incomparably great power for us who believe” (Eph.1:18-19, also read Eph.1:19-23) (To read more about the ‘miraculous life’ in my personal miraculous story entitled, “The Miraculous Life – No Ordinary Living. “Go to: http://bulamanriver.net/2634
God’s Love-Fruits, Key To The Divine Jigsaw Pieces To Discovering Human Self-Worth (Gifts) (Wiki Commons)
Here is a summary of God’s Love-fruits from the Bible: *patience, *kindness, *contentedness, *the fruit of being modest and unboastful, *humility, *the fruit of honor, *the fruit of unselfishness, *the fruit of calmness and dignity, *the fruit of forgiveness and compassion, *the fruit of delighting in good and shunning evil, *the fruit of tolerance, *the fruit of responsibility, *the fruit of enduring hope, *the fruit of steadfast perseverance, *joy, *peace, *goodness, *faith, *gentleness, *self-control, *the fruit of zeal and spiritual fervor, *The fruit of gratitude and thankfulness, *the fruit of friendship, *the fruit of sharing and generosity, *the fruit of prayerfulness, *the fruit of hospitality, etc. (1 Cor.13; also Gal.5:22-23; Rom.12:9-21; Col.3:12-15) Any act which stands opposed to these Love-fruits are the ungodly fruits and depraved puzzle pieces of the devil. Man has been using these corrupt puzzle pieces of the enemy since Adam’s fall, and is the underlying cause for all the troubles and uncertainties we will face in the world. Yet, since Christ came, that time of ignorance is now past for He has defeated the work of the devil, and the Spirit is made available to man again since Eden (Tree of Life). And every one of the Love-fruits shown in detail above requires humans to engage and apply the divine emotional energies of Love in human relationships. We examine ourselves to see how they fit into our lives and so live victoriously so the work of the enemy finds no place in our lives, but remains ineffective and defeated in Jesus. And we will emerge as a people radiant and full of life revealing our true humanity as we were created to be in Christ, if we don’t let down or become weary in doing good, but like good soldiers persevere to the end. (Gal.6:9; Matt.10:22) (You can read about the Fruits of Love and their opposing deadly fruits going to my blog post at: http://bulamanriver.net/9199)
“Knowledge puffs up, but Love builds up” – 1 Corinthians 8:1. (Wiki Commons)
As we face the New Year and ‘play’ this human life jigsaw puzzle, let us be mindful about certain relevant points as it relates to what we have discussed. Living in a saved condition in Christ does not remove us from the rebellious impulses of our fallen human nature, and the evil influences of the world around us. God cannot remove us from the liberty within which He created us to exist because freedom reflects His own Loving nature. Love and freedom are opposite sides of the same coin. Then there are the flawed ingrained habits formed as consequence of living all our lives under the enemy’s rebellious, fearful, and self-centered way of life in his world. Poor habits can take time, experience, and at times distress and affliction to contend and work with. But for every poor habit there is a fruit in the Spirit’s Love arsenal that can counter it and renew and remake you into a more whole person modeled after God’s Love-likeness in Christ.
Faith, a Fruits of the Spirit of God (unsplash)
So we see an existence in duality happening – the ‘false self’ and the ‘true self’ – living side by side while we are in the process of putting together the puzzle pieces of our true personal picture through the Love-fruits. Because this dual existence happens in real time, we can be in a state of friction and constant tension. Although every person is gifted differently, yet we transition from one personality type (false self) to another (true self) when we make the deliberate choice to pick up our puzzle piece or Love-fruit and exercise them in our relationship with our fellow humans in order to discover our true selves. Our hope is that in Christ alone in whose image our true picture is transfigured, we will find abiding purpose, acceptance, and peace, and we certainly will. (Rom.8:29)
Paul makes our human predicament clear when he said, “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin… As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom.7:14, 17-25) Yes, though life will bring its own storms through the sin-condition, let us always be mindful that Christ is the axis who makes everything about us turns and come together. (Col.2:10) We have all His promises to face every trial and live confidently and victoriously.
Based on Paul’s assessment of life, a good rule of thumb to help us face the year as we play this real-life puzzle would be to think progress not perfection. That’s to say, life starts with a puzzle piece (Love-fruit) that must find its place in your picture frame which epitomizes perfection. After all, this is not life with a single puzzle piece, but heaps of puzzle pieces to work with. This journey of a thousand miles begins with a single puzzle – a step at a time. It is a voyage with storms but ultimately progress and perfection is its ultimate goal. As the saying goes, “Rome was not built in a day.” It is going to be an adventure of a lifetime for we have God’s sure promise, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Heb.13:5). Perfection will come in God’s own time at the resurrection to immortality. (Phi.3:12-16, NLT; 1 Cor.15:42-44)
Humans – Like Pieces of A puzzle (Wiki Commons)
The Spirit’s work of sanctification (miraculous life) in us keeps us united to Christ and to the Father’s grace constantly and forever. (1 Pet.1:2; Rom.5:5; 2 Cor.5:21) It is the Spirit (Love) who guides us with putting the pieces of our lives in their right place in God’s plan through the Love-fruits. He help us make sense of all these fragmented and seemingly weird but disguised puzzle pieces. But when we see them as Love-fruits we utilize in human relationships, we discover and become this absolutely unique one-of-a-kind person that God says we all are to Him. (1 Pet.1:2; Rom.15:16; 5:5) The picture of life of the human jigsaw puzzle we are called upon to assemble is so we can see God’s glory in each of us. Our life-journey begins here.
Each and every day Christ His Son is being formed in us with each puzzle piece (Love-fruit) fitly framed into place. (Rom.8:29; Phil.3:21; 1 John 3:2) Each of our individual gifts are lights of Love that’s lit from the candlestick of Christ Himself who said “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). Light is the symbol of a person’s gift and eternal identity. As each piece of our puzzle is put in place, our light grows brighter and brighter. We are all the reflection of the divine One who took our sinful humanity upon Himself, saved humans from condemnation and vicariously glorified mankind before the Father by His life, death, resurrection, and ascension. In so doing, He we have been given to live eternally in our own person with the Triune God through Christ.
Your Jigsaw Puzzle Finds Its Final Piece About You – A House for God’s Dwelling (Wiki Commons)
As the year 2019 rolls in, perhaps the most pertinent question we ask ourselves is, are we ready to see a semblance of our true self, and more importantly to do whatever it takes to follow through and get it done? Jesus gives us pertinent advice about how to live in this world, “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes” (Matt.6:34, The Message). What puzzle pieces (Love-fruits) of our lives will we be drawn to pick up and put into its rightful place this year? Will we respond positively to the Spirit’s (Love’s) move in our lives? (Heb.4:11-12; Rom.5:5) Paul said this about human life, “All that I know now is partial and incomplete – like puzzling reflections in a mirror – but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely” (1 Cor.13:12, NLT)
Like the jigsaw puzzle, as you place your life in God’s hands, at the year’s end and the beginning of another, you will have witnessed a noticeable difference in how you thought and felt about yourself. If you are committed to your heavenly Father’s Love for you, you will have come past certain milestones about you and your true self, and hopefully become the change you and humanity wish to see in the world. (Rom.8:19) There’s no doubt about that, for God says His Love will never return to Him fruitless. (Isa.55:10-11) Just as numbers are countably infinite (uncountable), there is no end to His Love and His care for you. (1 Pet.5:7) The key is to seize every opportunity to feed, nourish, and sustain our fellow humans with the Love-fruits (puzzle pieces) of God’s very nature, which in turn engages Him in your life. For when you Love others genuinely, only then can you Love yourself best. For such is the Love reflecting the likeness of the divine image. (Mar.12:29-31)
I hope you will see this personal endeavor as genuinely worthy of your pursuit. I sincerely hope this New Year marks a truly amazing new beginning for each of you and your loved ones. The world is waiting for the TRUE YOU to be revealed – like a phoenix rising from the ash-heap of the shattered puzzle pieces of life into the glorious beauty of the divine destiny in your God-given birthright. (Rom.8:19, NLT; Gen.1:26-27) The future is in your hands, what will it be?
Our Collective Future is In Your Hands – What Will It Be? (Wiki Commons)
If you have any questions on this vital subject, please do not hesitate to contact me on my email: bulamanriver@gmail.com.
Blessing:
May I wish you my readers a year of discovery and promise, and may you find true success and happiness. 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.” Be strong in the Lord’s joy.
Kiang,
(Your Servant In Christ)
**“Triune Life” means to inherit human personhood identifying us as true persons with gifts in Christ and living according to the image and likeness of God. (Gen.1:26-27; Rom.8:29) It means a believer who lives the 3-dimensional Love relationship with the Triune God, as opposed to the ‘solitary’ 1-dimensional life in himself (“Adamic humanity”). It means to experience the attributing relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who lives and walks in you (“Immanuel humanity”). Man’s union with the Triune God, or “Triune Living,” is made possible by Jesus, who Himself, is one in substance and reality with the Triune God, who took our humanity into the very Being of the Triune Godhead. To live the “Triune Life” is the miraculous expression of the Spirit in us. The miraculous life is the promise of the New Covenant, “I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My ordinances, and do them” (Ezek.36:27) This is a life of divine power. You can read more at: http://bulamanriver.net/9092, also at: http://bulamanriver.net/?p=8036)
>>> Miraculous Life: I use the term ‘miraculous life’ to mean God’s divine involvement in your life and mine, and that’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives is being worked into something good. (Rom.8:28) Read about the ‘miraculous life’ we are privileged to live in my true-life miracle story I shared in my book and post, titled, “Miracle Living-No Ordinary Life!” I hope you find it inspiring and encourages you to receive Jesus and live the “Triune Life.” Go to: http://bulamanriver.net/2634
***Bulamanriver: To read the different facets of the life of the Bulamanriver, go to my website, www.bulamanriver.net, www.amazon.com, www.barnesandnoble.com, xulonpress.com, and other book store sites where you can order a copy of my book, “Bulamanriver – The Miracle of Triune Living”
Mission Statement: Read the Triune Life Mission, Vision, and Value statements at: http://bulamanriver.net/8664
All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.
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