The First Christmas Gift - A Tribute To The Lord Jesus

He was a servant, yet He is a King
He died, yet He rose
He was tempted, yet He never sinned
He was poor, yet He fed
He is the truth, yet many turned away from Him
He loved, yet He was despised by many
He is far, yet He is near,
He was quiet, yet He was strong
He suffered, yet He brought joy
He was man, yet He is God
We were doomed, yet His grace is sufficient.

By Hsien Lit Chew for His glory

This man is no other than Jesus Christ. Borned in the manger, with no biological father, He grew up as a carpenter making a living on wood and ironically, He died on a wood. He wore a crown just like a king, but it was the only crown that has thorns.

My friends, you and I, your first Christmas gift ain't the bicycle, the first guitar, the first nintendo set, or your underwear. Our first Christmas gift is Jesus Christ. Whether you like it or not, whether you receive it or not, Jesus Christ is the reason for Christmas and He was God's gift to us on that first Christmas day. He was the greatest gift that any person can ever receive at anytime. Sadly, many rejected the gift.

I would like to reiterate what a pastor in the Liberty Christian Centre preached. According to a survey, the most favoured item that symbolizes Christmas was the Christmas tree. So it was, there are 3 important items on Christmas. The gift list, the tree and the gift. And God too has the same thing for Christmas. He has a gift list, the tree and the gift. You guessed it right, the tree is the cross that Jesus died on, the gift is the salvation, and the list as it is. However, there are huge differences. We select gifts according to the list. Your best friends get the better gifts, your good friends get the ordinary ones. But God did not do that for all men have fallen short of God's glory. Our gifts depreciate but His gift keeps on giving and giving and giving till the end of time. God's gift is good for all ages, all seasons and all situations.

Let us give thanks to God for Christmas. Let us give thanks for the First Christmas Gift. Hope more will receive this gift with open hearts.

Merry Christmas!

Breastplate to Protect the Heart

That was it. I was praying alone in my room, and all of a sudden, it struck me so hard. I had to write it in my blog. My fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, I felt the urge to remind ourselves that we are in a spiritual battle and the importance of wearing our armor. Many of us are not, and no doubt we keep falling to the devil's trap. The armor is often overlooked by Christians. But God put it clear to us that we indeed have armor and armor is to be worn for battle.

Ephesians 6:10-18
Finally, be strong in the Lord and his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the FULL armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and ALWAYS keep on praying for all the saints.

I would like to talk about breastplate of righteousness here this time. I always thought that righteousness is like doing the right thing at the right time even if it might be something that hurts. But later on I realized that that is only part of it. To be fully righteous, I believe requires something more than that. We can never know for sure whether we are fully righteous just by our acts. There's so much in life that requires righteousness, and what we do is only a result of what we know and the fact is we do not know everything about righteousness. According to Luke 18:10-14, the Pharisee who talked about all the good deeds he had done really did not mean anything to God. But the tax collector humbled himself and acknowledged that he is a sinner was the "righteous" one. From here, we see that righteousness is not what we do, but it really is our identity in Christ.

People may say, ahhh, that is just Christian belief. Moreover, it's all coming from a "story book". Does not make sense for me to believe in that. But really, think about it. How sure are you that you are righteous? By your good works? Truth is, we never know. There's so much in life, that we can never be righteous in all aspect of life. Our quest to be righteous goes on and on and it will not stop because you can never. For me, I would be honest with myself and just admit that I am a sinner and will never be able to attain all righteousness unless I surrender that to God. It is my identity in Him that will result in me doing righteous work. It is not what I do that makes me righteous. It is who I am.

Well, I guess now putting on the breastplate of righteousness to me pretty much means seeing myself as a sinner and to surrender that to God so He can take over and produce fruits of righteousness. And remember, the armor goes through wear and tear as it is being used. We need to maintain it which is the tough part. OK, getting late now. The next armor will be in my next post. Have you put on your breastplate of righteousness? Does it need maintenance? Are you sure you have put on the right size of armor? Do you even have the armor?