Monthly Archives: July 2015

“TRIUNE LIFE” MEANS COMMUNITY IN PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP, BY KIANG P LEE

Greetings once more from a typical warm and balmy day in Texas! You have heard me speak of the “Triune Life” often in my blogs. Let me delve deeper into the term, and make it more plain for you.

What is the essence of the “Triune Life” which I write so much about in my Blog, Bulamanriver, The Miracle of Triune Living? It speaks of community in relations. “Triune Life” means a believer who lives the 3-dimensional life with the Triune God, as opposed to the ‘solitary’ 1-dimensional life man lives in himself. It means God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, lives and walks in the Bulamanriver* who lives the “Triune Life.” Man’s union with the Triune God, makes the “Triune Life” possible. It’s made possible by Jesus, who Himself from eternity, is one in substance and reality with the Triune God, who took our humanity and glorified it in the very Being of the Triune Godhead.

What is this life we share with the Triune Godhead which I call the “Triune Life,” or “Triune Living?” I think author John P Murphree best articulate what goes on in the life of the Trinity we are privileged to share, in his book, The Trinity and Human Personality. He says, “In the Trinity, each Person “occupies” the Others’ personalities (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). This occupation is what we have called relational oneness. Each of the three Persons becomes a “home” for the other two. One is Host and the Others are Guests. As each inhabits the Others, each is Host to the Other two, and each is a guest to the Other two. It is so reciprocal that each one feels more at home with the Others’ personalities than His own. Trinitarian Persons do not exist in isolation; they live in and through one another, which makes their personalities relational. Each is “at home” with the Others. In this occupying relationship, each has intimate access to the Others’ deepest thoughts and feelings at all times” (The Trinity and Human Personality, Pg.135, emphasis added).

File:Holy Trinity Icon.jpg

The Trinity Community Bound by Persons in Loving Relations. Human Relationship is Based upon the “Triune Life” of God. Rublev’s Famous Icon of The Trinity (Wiki Commons)

The very foundation of the “Triune Life” we are privileged to live through and in Christ by the Spirit’s power is a Loving relationship with the Father as described above. Murphree goes on, “Our being filled with the Spirit is patterned on the Trinitarian model, but the pattern shifts a bit, making the analogy asymmetrical. In the Trinity, each person fills or occupies the Others in the same way. But we do not fill or occupy the Spirit of God in the same way that He inhabits us. There is an important sense, however, in which we do occupy the personality of Christ. His personality becomes our emotional and spiritual home. When we are wrapped up in our own personalities, we feel like aliens, estranged from our emotional home. We are made to reside in a brighter personality than our own.” (Pg.135)

As I said on more than one occasion, as humans we stress much of what we do as to the right and wrong of individual actions, instead of seeing them as arising out of a “conditional” response. That’s the foundation from which actions are generated. This kind of autonomous thinking arises principally from the human “solitary” state of existence as opposed to the “Triune” state of being. So, the concept of spiritual occupation we read above, refers to a person being controlled by an occupying force, thus creating the “condition” which in turn generates human activity. When we are occupied by the Spirit in the flow of His Love, we come under His control. If we are occupied by the spirit of fear of the devil we come under his rule.

United in Love, believers become the Christian community or church, emulating the Trinity, hence the “Triune Life.” Like the Trinity, we discover the fullness of our identity in the discovery of each other through Christ. It is Jesus who makes our relationships personal, one-on-one, and one-in-one, creating a community that’s occupied and bonded in God’s Love.

File:Day122ccountdownbb.JPGHumans – Created to be Free and to Find Meaning In Relationships (Wiki Commons)

Beware, because of the lopsided and skewed influence of the “solitary” state of existence of humans in the world, we can get caught unawares and find we have drifted away from the life of being centered in people through Christ’s Love, into a community as a group organism. (2 Pet.3:17) One’s identity shifts from people on a one-on-one Love-basis, to a group as a group organized and dominated by the legalism of rules and do’s and don’ts. In turn, the community loses the essence and quality of Loving relationship in the Spirit, to where the group has become society. This is how religion and denominationalism, provincialism, nationalism, racism, sexism, and disruptive idealism arise and take over and rule the community.

What happens is individual freedom is lost in pursuance of the corporate ideal. It becomes more compelling than our commitment to persons, personalities and the gifts of individuals, where respect for each other’s freedom in the Loving relationship of the “Triune Life” is left on the wayside and eventually forgotten. This is how “religion” as a corporate body has taken over the group, and Jesus becomes powerless. Jesus said this about the religious leaders of His day, “Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God. These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me” (Matt.15:9,8, NLB). Thus, Love is numbed and life succumbs to gradual emptiness.

We are not led by men to form cliques with humanly motivated convictions. We are led by the Spirit, as John tells us clearly, “But you have received the Holy Spirit, and He lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what He teaches is true–it is not a lie. So just as He has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ” (1 John 2:27). Also the Covenant says, “No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest” (Heb.8:11). This passage does not speak of an “every-man-for-himself” platitude, but rather it points us away from self-serving men to our true leader in the Spirit who lives in you. The unity of the Church of all Spirit-led believers are united by the Spirit, not men.

I hope you will answer the call of your Savior Jesus and participate in the inter-personal “Triune Life” He offers all humanity.

If you have any questions, please don’t 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 strong in the Lord’s joy.

Kiang,  

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

WHAT IS SIN ANYWAY? BY KIANG P LEE

Greetings once more friends. My hope is you are walking in the path of God’s light and all is well with you and your loved ones.

Sin has become such a religious word it has lost its true meaning. It’s important we understand what sin is, so we’ll know where God is coming from when He impeaches mankind of it, and the reason why He sent His Son to save us from its evil grips. Let’s begin…

The Bible says that “rebellion is the sin of divination.” (1Sam.15:23) In one statement, the Bible tells us what sin is and its source. Sin is rebellion, and has to do with divination, or the spirit world. Divination has to do with Satan and his fallen angels who sinned by rebelling against God’s rule over them, see Isaiah.14:12-15; Ezekiel. 28:13-15; and Jude 1:6. Rebellion is knowledge alternative to God’s Word which holds man captive from seeing the light which leads to a blessed life from God. That’s how Satan deceived our first parents saying, “the day you both eat from it (forbidden fruit), then your eyes will be opened and you both shall be like gods, knowing good and evil.” To “know good and evil” simply means extraneous knowledge through man’s self-determination of what’s right and wrong, which is rebellion or sin against God.

Paradise Lost 12.jpg

Lucifer (Satan) Cast Out of Heaven Because of Rebellion/Sin (Paradise Lost, Wiki Commons)

When Adam rebelled by eating the forbidden fruit, God told him, “you will certainly die” (Gen.2:17). God did not mean physical death, Adam did not just drop dead. So what died? Adam and Eve died spiritually. What died was the spirit of life (human spirit) God breathed into Adam at creation which made him a true “living being.” (Gen.2:7; Eph.2:1-7; Zek.18:20; 1 Tim.6:17-19). Through rebellion/sin he became a false “living being.” That is what rebellion of alternate/self knowledge does – it kills the human spirit. As long as Adam and his wife Eve lived in the presence of God (Eden) they remained true “living beings” both spiritually and physically (well-being). However, after they rebelled and were expelled from Eden and God’s presence, they became spiritually dead, but remained physically alive (ill-being).

Jesus said, “Life is spiritual. Your physical existence doesn’t contribute to that life” (John 6:63, God’s Word T.). But both lives are intertwined and inter-dependent, even though the physical contributes little or nothing to the spiritual. The human body is simply a house for the spirit we allow in to influence it through the choices we make with our minds (spiritual). Paul therefore explains, “Our struggle (with rebellion/sin) is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the power of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph.6:12). Therefore, what we see in man’s physical world is the result of the toing and froing in the spiritual realm. (see Job 2:1-4) So there’s the spirit life and the physical life, yet not separate but connected.

However, Paul speaks of the irony of both these elements being in conflict with each other, “The flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh” (Gal.5:17). He speaks of ‘flesh’ and ‘desire’ in the same breadth. It’s not ‘flesh’ in terms of human tissue, but of the the ‘heart’ and mind of man which expresses human ‘desire.’ So, here we see Paul uses the word “flesh” to depict both the physical and spiritual aspects in a single expression. The ‘desire’ can be good or evil depending on the spirit which resides and influences man’s body through his actions. The ‘body’ is simply a ‘temple’ which houses the spirit man allows to influence his physical actions. (1 Cor.6:19) The spirit in turn creates the ‘heart’ which expresses good or evil ‘desires.’  The ‘flesh’ merely expresses the fallen state of existence, or the ‘heart’ of man, which articulates evil ‘desires.’ The foundation of the ‘flesh’ is the dead spirit inherited from Adam.

The ‘heart’ can change depending on what spirit we allow to influence it. Paul says, “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (1 John 4:1). The opposite of the ‘flesh’ is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit refers to the state of existence arising from man’s reborn living spirit. God promotes His nature of Love and life through the Holy Spirit to remake us into the image of His Son (Rom.8:29). The devil instills his nature of fear and death stems out of an imprisoned life he has incarcerated human kind. (1 John 4:8; John 13:34; Act.13:10; John 8:44).

Belmont Cemetery (1809218994).jpg

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom.6:23) (Wiki Commons)

With the demise of Adam’s spirit, he was powerless to hold his dominion over the earth given him by God. (Gen.1:26-30) Satan, now holding sway over Adam and mankind, wrests earth’s dominion and brought darkness and death through rebellion. (Matt.4:8-10) Rebellion becomes man’s way of life. The Scriptures say, “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (Luk.20:38). Satan is not the god of the living, but of the dead. Adam chose his lot with him, albeit by the devil’s cunning and deception. So Adam and Eve were expelled from the presence of life in God (Eden), and took up residence in Satan’s world where death reigned through sin and rebellion. Man’s access to the Holy Spirit symbolized by the “tree of life” was cut off. (Gen.3:22)

After Jesus sent the Spirit on Pentecost He reunited man back to God by reviving his once dead spirit since Adam’s rebellion. (John 16:7; John 3:7) The Spirit gave the dead human spirit a new birth through man’s faith in Jesus as Savior and Mediator. Jesus said, “You must be born again of the Spirit” (John 3:3, 5-7). Only a living human spirit regenerated and sustained by the Holy Spirit will empower man’s spirit to relate and communicate with God. Recall, the Holy Spirit was inaugurated into man’s existence through the second Adam, Jesus, when the Spirit rested upon Him after His baptism in the Jordan by John, and more broadly upon His followers on Pentecost. (Matt.3:16-17; Acts 2) Then He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to enter into a titanic battle for man’s freedom against Satan. What Jesus did was to once and for all defeat rebellion at the very heart and core of rebellion itself – Satan and his deathly realm! (Matt.4:1-11) The final deathknell to his dark world came when Jesus died as mankind’s Savior on the cross. Satan’s dominion, ruled by his cohorts of rebellious fallen angels succumbed to the power of God’s Love in Christ. The evil spirits of this dead world, the powers and authorities of rebellion which reigned and held sway over mankind since Adam, was defeated and Jesus sets mankind free forever. 

Sin, rebellion, and death, has no power over man, for Christ has defeated sin in our place. We are no longer in the “sin condition” which condemns us. We are in the “Spirit’s condition” which saves us. (Rom.6:14, 12-13, NLT) Paul said, “God made Him (Jesus) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him, we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). Paul explains how this is done and made possible,”You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ” (Rom.8:9). God’s ultimate promise to believers is He will bring them into immortality in His presence in His realm and Kingdom.  (1Thes. 4:16-17; 1Cor.15:12-58)

The dominion over this earth is now retaken by Christ and His Kingdom, and is His alone – “far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come” (Eph.1:18-21). That age of life and freedom is here, but its full manifestation is yet future at God’s appointed time of complete restitution. That means rebellion and death still reigns over this world as God allows, and man’s only hope is Jesus through whom we receive the Spirit who brings the Love of God to revive the human spirit and replace the rebellious heart. (John 16:7; Rom.5:5) Yes, in the Spirit’s power, a living spirit and Loving heart now reigns in the lives of believers. Satan will be put away from the presence of mankind. (Rev.20:1-3)

File:Fountain of Eternal Life crop.jpg

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom.6:23) Fountain of Eternal Life, Downtown Cleveland, Ohio, USA (Wiki Commons)

The prophet tells us what the devil has done to the heart of man making him adversarial and rebellious toward God, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked (rebellious). Who really knows how bad it is?” (Jer.17:9) Yes, the devil has made man’s heart deceitful like his own. This speaks of human personhood, of the “false self” living the “solitary life” under the devil’s influence, and speaks of the darkness of the human soul and how the Spirit defeats it by bringing in the light of Jesus’ life and Love. The prophet says, “We look for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows…we are like the dead… Our sins testify against us.” (Isa.59:9, 10, 12)

Rebellion is the essence of the “false self” in human personhood. The prophet proclaims, “The people walking in darkenss have seen a great light; of those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.” (Isa.9:2) Love is the light of God’s own heart which shines into the darkness of the human soul. And from the glory shone out of the light of Jesus’ life, man can live in the ever increasing glory of His brightness which recedes and ultimately extinguishes the darkness in our rebellious hearts. Like every work of God in man, it is a process, and will be the practice of decision-making as we live our “true self” in Christ. As humans, we can change, unlike spirit beings like fallen angels. Beginning with a rebellious nature we can change to have a fuller appreciation of God’s divine Love. Paul said, “So all of us who have had that veil (of rebellion) removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord–who is the Spirit–makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image” (2 Cor.3:18, emphasis added, NLT).

So what is the true definition of sin? Jesus reveals it plainly to us. Speaking of the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives, he said, “He will convict the world concerning sin because they do not believe in Me.” There you have the true definition of sin: our basic sin is man’s stubborn refusal to believe God’s provision of a Savior to save mankind from sin and rebellion. That Savior is none other than Jesus, His Son. Sin will never leave us in our fallen and dead state of being, no one can revive the human dead spirit we inherited from Adam except God. Sin is not wrong-doing, if you understand what I’m saying. Sin is the “condition” or state of existence of the dead human spirit living under the influence of the devil’s dead spirit, which cannot communicate nor relate with God. Holiness is not right-doing, either. The “forbidden fruit” produced “good and evil” acts – but the “good” was human goodness which can’t save us. Only God’s goodness saves. What saves us is the “condition” of the reborn human spirit living under the Holy Spirit which can now relate with God and produce Love. God sent His Son to give us a new birth through His Spirit – to live again with a spirit discovering true knowledge in Jesus, from the false knowledge of sin and rebellion. Only through Jesus can man be saved.

I call upon you my readers to pray a simple prayer and receive Jesus as your personal Savior, experience the rebirth of your dead spirit through the Holy Spirit, and to “live life that is truly life” (1 Tim.6:19). Read the materials I bring in this blog site to keep you spiritually alive.

If you have any questions, please don’t 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 strong in the Lord’s joy.

Kiang,  

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 CHRISTIAN & MONEY, BY KIANG P LEE

Greetings again Friends! I hope this post find you in good health and in the best of spirit.

Money is important to everyone. Without it we cannot get far in life. But if we have lots of it, we can just about do anything we wish – well, almost anything! So we spend our time trying to acquire more and more of it. Let’s talk money today.

File:Us dollars one hundred banknotes.jpg

US ONE HUNDRED DOLLAR BILL (WIKI COMMONS)

Definition

What is money? Let’s get a brief definition before we start. The world’s economy revolves around it, without money the world as we know it will come to an abrupt halt. Money is a medium of exchange which we all agree to accept for making transactions. Each country has its own money, or currency, that is used as a medium of exchange within that country. Whereas the money system was based on the gold standard or silver standard or some combination of the two, today’s money system is based on fiat money. That means money derives its value by being declared by a government to be legal tender; that is, it must be accepted as a form of payment within the boundaries of the country, for  all good and services, all debts, public and private. This legal practice causes fiat money to acquire the value of any of the goods and services that it may be traded for within the nation that issue it. The currency of one country can be exchanged for the currency of another via a currency exchange. The current exchange rate determines how much of one currency must be used to purchase a specified amount of the other currency. (http://economics.about.comhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money; http://www.investopedia.com)

The reason I want money is because I know other people want money, so I can use my money to get goods and services from them in return. Everybody works for money because it is the medium of exchange for making transactions which affects almost every facet of their lives. So in the sense of defining life, one can say that money liberates, protects, rescues, and even regarded as a ‘savior’ for it saves us from just about every imaginable situation and circumstance – well, almost all!  If I believe that money will have a value in the future, I will work towards acquiring it. So, people sell their labor (work) to acquire money now to purchase goods and services they desire both now and in the future.

File:Mercato di Campo di Fiori Open Market, Rome - 1851.jpg

Market Where Money Is Exchanged For Goods (Wiki Commons)

The Christian & Money

Here is the connection between the Christian believer and money: If money ‘saves,’ and we have seen that it does, and we believe Jesus is man’s Savior, then money and Jesus is synonymous. In other words, they exhibit the identical ‘saving’ quality. You can say,  they are one and the same. Well, not exactly the same, because there is only one Savior, not two. Money is a savior invented by man. Jesus alone is the everlasting Savior of mankind. People worship money because it has this ‘saving’ quality. The Bible states, “You cannot worship God and money” (Matt.6:24). In other words, a Christian cannot have two “Saviors.”

To worship something means it has a powerful hold over you that you have dedicated your time and life to its values. So, the passage presents a choice to the believer who to worship: God or money? The Bible says this of Jesus, “Salvation (i.e. in a saved condition) is found in no one else (except Jesus), for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Act. 4:12, emphasis added). This is what the Bible says about the money-god. There will come a time when people “will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will be treated as a thing unclean. Their silver and gold will not be able to deliver (save) them in the day of the LORD’s wrath. It will not satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs, for it has caused them to stumble into sin” (Ezek.7:19, emphasis added). It’s obvious from this passage that money has its limitations and cannot save us completely, most of all not spiritually. In fact, when money is worshipped, it becomes a curse instead of a blessing. It’s a curse because it pretends to be a savior. Only Jesus is the complete Savior. His name, Jesus, means Savior, and He saves both physically and spiritually.

But here is the interesting side of money we have not seen,  money can save if it becomes the impersonation of Jesus. That means Jesus becomes the personification of money. Once that happens, then Jesus and money are one and the same, not two distinct entities. When the Bible says, “You cannot worship God and money,” it is not saying money is evil and you should not have any of it. Remember, the source of all riches is God who created them, including money. When God finished creation  of the earth He  pronounced creation, “very good.” Listen to God’s claim on all riches upon the earth, “The gold is mine, and the silver is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills, the fowls and the wild beasts are mine, the earth and its fullness and all that dwell in it” (Hag. 2:8; Ps. 24:1; Ps. 50:10-11). It simply means because riches originate from the one Source but man has made the mistake of separating it from God into a separate entity of worship. We must choose not to turn money into a god in its own right. God does not want His people to worship lifeless objects which can’t save them. All inanimate things like money and other material things cannot and will not save us, just as an idol can’t save because it has no life in itself. Listen, “Whoever loves (worships) money never has enough (lacks); whoever loves wealth is never satisfied (or happy) with their income. This too is meaningless (worthless)” (Eccl.5:10, my emphasis). (Read Eccl.5:10-20 in Appendix 1 below)

Those who spend their lives in search of money, thinking money is the answer to everything and bring the fulfillment they seek, will instead discover emptiness to their disappointment. It is the wrong use of money which creates evil and make a false god of money. The only way is for God and money to become One – this is a Trinitarian principle. Nothing exists in isolation, solitarily, but everything is inter-dependent, collaborative, and united like God’s Triune nature. Money does not save, Jesus does, therefore only Jesus is to be worshiped for He is God, not money. I can’t let money be my master and Jesus too, “for I’ll hate one or the other, and become devoted to one and despise the other” (Matt.6:24). So, when I see money as Jesus Himself, then money becomes a divine attribute. When this happens, what is usually a curse brought about by the money god, now becomes a blessing from Jesus Himself. It is a question of personal leadership in my life. (Read article “Money is A Curse” by Sheldon Drobny in Appendix 2 below) 

How do we do this? How do we merge the two so that Jesus and money become a single expression and a true blessing in the believer’s life?

To worship Jesus means to take on Jesus’ Person. (Matt.6:24) I live life vicariously in Him. He said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matt.11:29). Paul said, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you?” (2 Cor.13:5). I think of money as a servant of Jesus. Money becomes a blessing coming from and through Him as the offshoot of my relationship with Him. Anything that’s a blessing (the good money can buy) in my life is the reflection of God’s grace in my life. James says this, “Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens” (Jam.1:17). Grace is the presence of His Spirit in my life. (Heb.10:29) The Spirit’s role is to magnify Jesus in my life by enhancing my Love relationship with Jesus, so I am being conformed into His likeness as the Son of God. (John 16:14; Rom.8:29) Herald (Holy Spirit) is the One who gives me the wisdom and empowers me to make money become an expression of Jesus Himself. God tells us, “But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore” (Deut.8:18, NASB). The Bible quotes God as saying, “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,” says the LORD of hosts” (Zech. 4:6) Yes, it is not the power of money and what money can do that counts – the Spirit (grace/Love) of God and what He can do in me and for me. (Rom.5:5) So, this merging of Jesus and money begins with God’s grace through the move of His Spirit in my life. It is what I often refer to as the “Triune Life.” That’s to mean, that all of life is interconnected, and nothing exists independently by itself.

The following passage shows clearly that God and money are one and the same: “The blessing (grace/Spirit) of the Lord brings wealth (money and what it can buy), without painful toil for it” (Pro.10:22; also see Psa.24:5). There’s a far-reaching point being made here, i.e. it identifies money in two broad categories. When money is part of, and comes from Jesus, it brings an abundant life with peace, joy, without pain. It produces true life. But when money comes from the money-god then it brings the opposite effect – fear, depression, curses, pain, and ultimately death. When I merge money with Jesus and see them as One, I uncover and find genuineness in my humanity because I am able relate with Jesus on a person-to-person basis in Loving relationship. When I worship the money-god I am relating with an idol, and I lose my humanity because I cannot speak nor relate with an inanimate object (idol). Relationships only happens between persons, like what’s taking place between the three Persons of the Trinitarian God. Man, who is made in God’s image, live relational lives because God is relational in His Tri-Personal Being. Many lives have been destroyed because they can’t see this crucial difference – an inanimate idol, like the money-god, cannot relate, so fallen man is dominating the one-way dialog. And man in his depraved nature is influenced by the devil who is the author of confusion. Only a living Person, Jesus, saves.

File:Exchange Money Conversion to Foreign Currency.jpg

International Money Exchange (Wiki Commons)

By saying money will come to the believer “without painful toil for it (money),” or, as another translation put it, “and hard work adds nothing to it (money)” (Prov.10:22b, emphasis added), it is saying my labor is not what “brings the bacon (money) home,” it is the grace of God in my life, His blessing, He is the first-cause, the trigger effect, directing my footsteps to His abundance. His grace is the undergirding safety net I tread upon throughout my life. There’s something else this passage conveys to me: the kind of life Jesus brings does not come with all the stress of negative repercussions, heartache, and broken dreams and pain, for it has nothing to do with my toil and performance. The truth of the matter is, this is not “my” work; this is the grace of God in action in my life.

It has to do with God’s unconditional love for me. By freely giving and sacrificing His Son, the Father brought mankind into union with Him to make this abundant life possible for me. Does the “living waters” of His Spirit of Love flow in my life because of my effort (toil), or does it flow freely immaterial of my performance? (John 7:37-39) Grace is the free gift of God flowing from the depth of the Father’s Love. Paul asserts, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; (nothing to do with my labor/toil) it is the gift of God” (Eph.2:8). As someone said, of what consequence is my performance, if I am not placed on an assured path which leads to and guarantees my success? If I’m on a path which leads to doom and failure, no amount of effort and performance will save me, no matter how grandiose it may appear.

Life is like riding a train, it depends upon which track I take. In life, there are only two tracks, one leads to true life and the other to false life or death. If I worship the money-god, then I’m riding a train-track which ends abruptly like an unfinished road, plunging me into a deep ravine to my death. Everything I have worked for and done with my life, represented in the train engine (me) and all the cars it’s hauling behind it, will all be for nothing. If I believe in Jesus then He puts me on His track with the Spirit leading me to my destination with a glorious future. Here’s God’s promise to me and those who take hold of His Son, “I know what I have planned for you,’ says the LORD. ‘I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you a future filled with hope. (Jer. 29:11, NET).

File:Bishops peak from the Coast Starlight.jpg

Life Is Like a Train Ride-It Depends Which Track You Take. The Mountain in the Backdrop is Symbolic of God’s Overarching Sovereignty and Presence, Guiding Us by His All-Embracing Love  (Wiki Commons)

It’s About Relationship

As intimated earlier, it is about who we choose to relate with: Jesus or money? The following passage tells us how to merge the two into one expression of life, “They (God’s people) will receive the Lord’s blessing (money) and have a right relationship with God their Savior” (Psa.24:5). So, it’s all about relationship – my relationship with Jesus brings abundance (money as part of it). That’s how money and Jesus is made One. My Love for Jesus must be the primary focus of my relationship with everything else, including money. I can’t have relationship with inanimate things, like money, jewelry, gold, land, real estate, cars, my job, boats, hobbies, pet projects, etc. But they are filtered through my relationship with Jesus. In fact, when I have relationship with inanimate things, the Bible calls it idol worship. Idols has no life and cannot respond in any form of relationship. Only Jesus alone who is the manifestation of God’s Love is the One we have relationship. When I see all the material riches, including money, I see them as the by-product of my relationship with Jesus, and it is never separate from it. I am never in love with money and things, my first motivation is to Love Jesus, and everything else become offshoots of my relationship with Him.

It is sad, as much as it is true, but people choose to have relationship with these inanimate things (money and material stuff) which cannot save them, but brings curses instead. People think money will supply and sustain them physically, provide for their security, and furnish the riches they dream of. But it is a fool’s paradise. They don’t realize, let alone understand this ludicrous form of relationship with money which brings curses and pain. The saying “all that glitters is not gold,” rings true. They spend their whole lives in aggressive pursuit of money, building up and bolstering these relationships with inanimate things, when God wants them to have relationships with Him, His Son, and with our fellow humans through His Love. The truth of the matter is, all these created inanimate things are simply the personification of the One who created them – Jesus. Yet He is Spirit and does not need to be defined by them to prove His abundance. Jesus is super rich! In the same way, my life does not need to be defined by things. I only need to be defined by One Person with whom I can have personal relationship – Jesus. He is the Personification of all wealth. (1 Cor.3:21-23; Rom.8:17)

The prophet says this, “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 spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare” (Isa.55:1-2). Yes, it speaks of a promise of being sustained physically, materially, and in every other way, without money. The answer is my relationship with Jesus.

File:1 Dollar Münze rückseite.jpg

US DOLLAR COIN, SUSAN B ANTHONY DESIGN, MINTED 1979. NOTE PHRASE, “IN GOD WE TRUST.” TRUST GOD, NOT MONEY (WIKI COMMONS)

What Defines You?

Answer the above question as true as your heart can in your spirit: am I defined by things and money, or, am I defined by Jesus who is the Personification of creation and abundance. Listen, when you give something to your children, like a toy, don’t you think it odd if the child thanks himself/herself or even the inanimate toy, for bringing him/her happiness, and ignores the source of his joy, you, the parent? Yet, we do this all the time with God when we lack faith. A wise child will realize that to keep his/her joy sustained will depend upon his/her relationship with the source of joy – the parent. Not the child herself, and certainly not the toy!

Learning to Wait

The Spirit which governs my actions defines who I am. One is He gives me power to make me “wait on the Lord.” Many don’t know how, or don’t want to, or lack the patience to, “wait on the Lord.” Again the Psalmist, “Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.” (Ps.37:7) Yes, many times I look at the next person, my neighbors, those I work with, and compare myself with them and what they have in terms of money and material stuff. This is the most unwise thing to do, and many have fallen into the money-god’s trap of anxiety and impulsiveness. There is only One with whom I am called to compare myself – Jesus and none other.

Faith

What it comes down to is faith. I live and act upon what I believe will bring me and my loved ones happiness. Do I have an unwavering faith in Jesus as the source of all true wealth, not false riches acquired by the money-god through selfish means? Jesus warned that everything happening in this world is working against my faith in Him and in the true riches He desires to give me. So, He instructs me to live one day at a time, for each day will bring ample doses of money-drug called “filthy lucre” which debilitates me with narcissism and self-love. And the aim of money-god is to keep me from reaching my dreams. (Matt. 6:33-34; 1 Tim.3:3) But the truth about my life of faith is I’m not alone, the Spirit is with me to empower me in my relationship with Jesus. Jesus says to me as He did with Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor.12:9). Further, he said, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus” (Phi.4:6-7) 

Faith takes me further and brings me to the reality of my calling and God’s purpose for me. Many unbelievers view the Christian faith as a cop-out, an excuse for facing up to the reality of life. Is it, or does faith actually guide me into the reality of life? The Bible says, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a Rewarder of those who seek Him” (Heb.11:6). That’s another way of saying, without faith I don’t have a footing to stand in discovering my relationship with God, and thereby my life’s destiny. Listen, Jesus said, “Life is spiritual, your physical existence doesn’t contribute to that life” (John 6:63). But both lives are intertwined and codependent. What I see in the physical world is affected by what’s happening in the spirit realm. (Eph.6:12) And if a person does not have God in his/her life, then that’s a cop-out and evading the reality of life. To have a calling is a gift from God our Father, and Jesus, and it takes living faith to believe that my gift is activated from the divine source. Here is the crux of the matter: real money which truly blesses comes through my gift and calling, from the spiritual Source in Jesus, not a physical source in me.   

Calling & “Life-Gift”

He blesses and gives me rest within the context of my purpose and “life-gift.” (Psa.37:7) That’s the important thing to remember about ‘Jesus and Money.’ A person’s “life-gift” defines the valleys and people he or she has been called to flow through life and where He or she will find abundance. God gives me abundance (money) through His purpose for my life. Material wealth must be funneled through my gift and dream-life, for God’s blessing comes through each man’s gift to glorify Him. I do not seek money for money’s sake, but wealth comes through the passion for my gift and calling in Christ.

God Use Our Gifts For His Glory and to Bless Us (Wiki Commons)

When you live your God-ordained purpose (Bulamanriver), all your life’s activities are magnetizing to your gift and dream-life, like Joseph of the Bible. Remember this: for a blessing to be true it must be a holistic blessing comprised both of spiritual and material/physical aspects, or, ‘Jesus and Money.’ You can’t have one without the other. This is what abundance as defined in God’s Love means. It is not just spiritual without the material/physical aspects, neither is it vice-versa. When that happens, miracles become part of your life because the Spirit flows in you. ‘Jesus and Money’ can’t travel in separate  and different direction, they are of one and the same essence and existence. So, we see why it is about relationship because the two are connected – one cannot do without the other.

If you have any questions, please don’t 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 strong in the Lord’s joy.

Kiang,  

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

APPENDIX 1:

Riches Are Meaningless – Ecclesiastes 5:10-20

“Whoever loves money never has enough;
whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income.
This too is meaningless.

11 As goods increase,
so do those who consume them.
And what benefit are they to the owners
except to feast their eyes on them?

12 The sleep of a laborer is sweet,
whether they eat little or much,
but as for the rich, their abundance
permits them no sleep.

13 I have seen a grievous evil under the sun:

wealth hoarded to the harm of its owners,

14     or wealth lost through some misfortune,
so that when they have children
there is nothing left for them to inherit.
15 Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb,
and as everyone comes, so they depart.
They take nothing from their toil
that they can carry in their hands.

16 This too is a grievous evil:

As everyone comes, so they depart,
and what do they gain,
since they toil for the wind?
17 All their days they eat in darkness,
with great frustration, affliction and anger.

18 This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot.19 Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God. 20 They seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart.”

APPENDIX 2:

“Money is a Curse” By Sheldon Drobny 

Posted: 05/09/2006 12:46 pm EDT Updated: 05/25/2011 11:50 am EDT (an excerpt)

A few days ago Bill Gates was quoted as saying that he wished he were not the richest man in the world. For a society like ours that admires wealth so much, this statement seemed to be strange. Yet in fact, the endless accumulation of money for its own sake is the worst thing that can happen to a person and for the society in general.

I have observed many people who have become extremely wealthy since I am a financial advisor, CPA, and venture capitalist. In most cases, those who become very wealthy lose their psychological motivation to provide the means of support to their families. People who no longer have to earn money to survive unwittingly must turn to other things in order for them to seemingly have a purpose in society. And most of these other purposes are bad. Once anyone has achieved wealth, they usually turn to achieving power and influence in society and they are usually ill prepared to do things in the best interest of humankind. Rather, they turn to family wealth accumulation to create legacies much as the Pharos did in ancient Egypt.

In the musical, Fiddler On The Roof, Tevya is told by his future son-in-law Perchek, that “money is a curse.” Tevya responds by saying that “God should smite him with this curse.” Perchek was an early 20th Century socialist who understood the exploitation of the masses by those who had money and power. Tevya then sings a song called If I Were A Rich Man. One of the great lines of that song is, “…when you’re rich they really think you know.” And that is the trouble we have with rich and powerful leaders. People really think they are wise because they have money and power. My experience is that wisdom and competence are inversely proportional to the desire for wealth accumulation

The qualities of good leadership have nothing to do with money and wealth accumulation. Occasionally wealthy people have qualities of good leadership, but that is only coincidental. There are many factors that make for a good leader. Many people have written about the subject and it is an extremely rare talent. Unfortunately, the choices of leaders are based mostly upon wealth and influence and accordingly we are stuck now with many corporate, community, and political leaders who are incompetent.

Money is essentially a “zero sum game.” Most people do not understand that. The obscene salaries of many corporate executives are not going to the rank and file workers or the shareholders. That is why the middle class in America is struggling so much. And without a strong middle class, the U.S. will be heading towards an eventual insurrection as we almost had during the Great Depression. And the current political situation has exposed the corruption and cronyism involved in wealth accumulation.

A few years ago I visited my daughter in Spain while she was an exchange student. One of our tour guides was politically savvy and asked me why the rich and powerful in America are insensitive to the needs of the masses. He explained to me that after the death of Franco in 1975, the emerging socialist movement gave the wealthy classes two possible choices. Plan A was an insurrection in which they would lose all their property. Plan B was that they pay higher taxes to create the safety net needed by the masses and more fairly redistribute the wealth. Given that choice, the wealthy in Spain chose plan B.

I am afraid that in our country, it may come to the fear of losing everything through an insurrection that will finally convince the wealthy class that it is time to make a change. But, it will take a massive grass roots effort to make that happen. Hopefully the very wealthy will recognize this before they self-destruct.