August 26, 2015

For my school blog.

Why I am free

Aug 25, 2015 8:43 PM

To spiritually exercise during the school year, I am going to write a Bible study for anyone who wants to read it. This is mostly for me. Recently I have done a civics discussion for school. One of the questions was when and how should anyone resist the government if it is acceptable at all. I came to believe that the government should protect freedom. One of my classmates said that the government is made of men, and men are naturally evil. Now, my post doesn't have much to do with that topic at all, but I came to wonder if the government isn't perfect, how can it be the one that defines freedom? Naturally, their definition wouldn't be perfect either. Today I read a passage in the Bible that talks about this. The first part of it somewhat explains the respect one should have towards the government.

1 Peter 2:13-17 New International Version (NIV)

¹³Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, ¹⁴or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. ¹⁵For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. ¹⁶Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. ¹⁷Show proper respect to everyone: love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.

     Obviously, we should respect the government, but that is not what I want to talk about. Ultimately, my King is Jesus. If the government should go wrong, I will follow Him. I will follow Him first anyway, though. In this world our job is to make disciples of all nations. (Mt. 28:19) That's the mission field. What would freedom be defined as in God's present kingdom on earth? In the US, many people think that freedom is the right to be able to do anything they want to do. They are "free" to think whatever they want to. They may live in whatever way is the easiest for them. I've been guilty of thinking like that too. A lot of times, that is true for the United States.

     Jesus is perfect, so He should be able to define freedom for a human being. This passage says that to be free is to be slaves of God. At first that makes no sense at all. In fact, even Christians around the world who live as slaves of God don't seem very free sometimes. That's one of the amazing things about God. He is not only able to grant His children physical, worldly freedom, but He also gives spiritual freedom. He sets the heart free and filled with joy when His children do His commands. All the hard work and persecution a Christian may go through will not be done in vain. Instead, he/she will be rewarded greatly for the battle they faced on earth.

      That is why I am free. Not because I live in America. Not by any worldly measure or definition of freedom. No. I am free because I am a slave. I am free because my Master is perfect. He is good. I am free because I don't have to worry about life in this world; I have hope in the life to come. Most of all, I am free because my Savior came to earth to die for me. I was sinful, but Jesus paid for it with His own life. I am free because He is holy. I will live a life worthy of what I believe in.

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Welcome to my blog.

Hello! My name is Silas. God is always blessing me with many good things, and I am using this blog to list them down and share them with others and to praise the Lord. A blog is certainly an old fashioned way of sharing my life on the internet, but I feel like it gives me a chance to be a real person and not have to compete with everyone else. I want to share things that are meaningful that will last longer in someone's mind than one or two seconds as it scrolls across the screen. I want to write what I believe and share my art /projects so everyone can enjoy them. I want God to be glorified in this blog.
Silas Emmanuel

Featured Post~

Purpose

With more and more entertainment filling our lives, more messages entering our brains, more false morals being taught in movies, books, television, advertisements, and more, the idea of anything having purpose has slipped from our thoughts, as Satan wants it to. Purpose is a thing that makes us uncomfortable, and we strive to avoid interacting with it for that reason, but we end up fulfilling a purpose anyway, God's or the world's. Wouldn't it just be great if we could just sit on the fence and not worry about making any moral choices? Maybe. . . . If you completely ignored the consequences of choosing or not choosing to love the Creator God.

       Let me clear this up a bit. This whole controversy revolves around a dilemma: every human being has a purpose, so are we gonna choose the purpose designed for us or are we gonna live our own purpose; act out a play written by ourselves? If God knew our names before the creation of the world, if He knit us in our mothers' wombs to all be fearfully and wonderfully made, if He cared enough to fulfill all of history with His coming, dying and resurrecting all to be united with us in Heaven to the amplification of His glory in the universe and the heavenly realms, that the angels and demons may see the power of God, then He has a plan, a purpose, for you. For me. For all people on Earth, if only they will choose Him.

       Why does anyone choose anything else, then? Well, generally, human beings tend to forget the love of God. Obviously. But also, there is someone else we forget about too: Satan. He likes to be anonymous, old, and forgotten, because that means his job of distracting us is much easier. He talks to to us and we hear his voice all the time in the music, movies, and other media we allow ourselves to interact with. Though we do not see his face or recognize it as the devil, his incantations are blaring in our ears, flashing in our eyes, its sounds waves vibrate the windows and doors to our hearts. And he will sneak in as the walls disintegrate and crumble away. And this is usually gradual, when a person seemingly grabs hold of his own life and world piece by piece, becoming his own god and expecting the world to yield to him, whereas he is unconsciously paying homage to the father of lies and both will be cast into the lake of fire. All of that because we slowly start believing the lies of the world that are carefully and deceitfully woven into the common, everyday media we experience. Same for those who are saved as well; these lies distract us and try to pry us away, they make us arrogant and demanding, and they take the focus off God. It starts with our sinful desires and it continues as long as we leave our hearts unguarded. We forget our purpose or choose another one because we let the voice of lies drown out the truth.

       SO. You don't want that, do you? Me neither. You wanna hear what your unique, individual purpose is? Alright, I'll tell you. Hehe, I don't know. But it follows the basic format of being a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ: love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Guard the Holy Spirit of love in your heart (don't let it get crowded by lies of the world), devote all parts of your being to his service, think about Him and retain a pure mind by staying in prayer with Him and by filling it up with the wisdom of His Word, and work for Him, do righteous things! Wait, though, let me make this clear. It's a bit of a touchy subject and I don't want to be misunderstood. You don't have to do righteous things to be saved. Doing righteous things comes from being saved. All you gotta do to be saved is to believe the Truth, and doing righteous things is the immediate outcome of knowing and believing the Truth (<--- Capital 'T' there).

       What is the Truth? God so loved the world that He sent His only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jesus came to live a perfect life, die a gruesome death, and pay for the sins of the world, specifically for you. But He didn't stay dead. He rose from the grave, condemning death and darkness, that we believers, who have His Spirit in us, may also defeat death and live with Him for all eternity. That is the Truth. For more information on Truth, see the Bible. Please don't start in Leviticus, though. Start with the gospels at the beginning of the New Testament. :D For more information on living by the Spirit, see Romans 8.

       Your unique, individual purpose will be revealed to you as you walk humbly and faithfully with God. Don't be deceived by the world!

I'm done. :)

       P.S. I do not want to plagiarize my Lord. I referenced, paraphrased, or quoted His Word several time in there, and do not want to look up the references right now.

Canticle 8:6 from the book, Hinds' Feet On High Places, by Hannah Hurnard

Set me as a seal upon Thine heart

Thou Love more strong than death

that I may feel through every part

Thy burning, fiery breath.

and then like wax held in the flame,

may take the imprint of Thy Name.

set me a seal upon Thine arm,

Thou Love that bursts the grave,

Thy coals of fire can never harm,

but only purge and save.

Thou jealous Love, Thou burning Flame,

oh, burn out all unlike Thy name

the floods can never drown Thy Love,

nor weaken Thy desire,

the rains may deluge from above

but never quench Thy fire.

make soft my heart in Thy strong flame,

to take the imprint of Thy name.