New Life

There comes a time when you have to make a decision on the path that you want to set out before you. One path leads to death and the other path leads to life. One path leads to a hollow life filled with emptiness and the other path leads to a new and fulfilling life. At times we might be confused about the certain path that we are on, we might think that we are walking in a manner worthy of the calling of Christ. But if you take a hard look at the steps that you have established in your life, you might realize that your faith has taken the look of this tree. Though there is the look of life, it is mixed with the look of death. That is a deadly mix that the bible calls lukewarm. Look at what Revelation has to say about the lifestyle of those that are lukewarm:

 ’I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth’
- Revelation 3:15-16

Just as this tree eventually branched out from the death that crippled it’s growth, so you might need to branch out from what cripples your growth. There is so much life to be lived, yet we are so easily crippled by ourselves and held back from living a life worthy to be called a follower of Christ. We must learn to deny ourselves:

‘And he said to all,   “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.’
- Luke 9:23

Break away from your past and from a life of being lukewarm! The time is now to live your life for the fullest! Make the change!

Can you imagine seeing someone who has been turned into a pillar of salt? I’ve always been amazed by the story of Sodom and Gomorrah and the way it was destroyed. I wish it would become a Hollywood film. I think it would be so cool to catch a glimpse of the way this all went down. Genesis 19 gives us a pretty good idea of how God feels towards unrepentant disobedient hearts. In the midst of a city that is completely engulfed by sin God calls Lot to leave, to no longer live in the midst of sin, and not only did he tell him to run, but he also told him “don’t look back“. As to say I don’t even want you to see the sin you were surrounded by. Flee, sprint, take-off, and do whatever it takes to get away with your family! I imagine Lot never ran faster than this in his life. he probably could’ve given Usain Bolt a run for his money. He must of been so filled with adrenaline. And then tragedy strikes Lot. His wife looks back. What was she thinking? Instantly she is turned into a pillar of salt. Could you imagine how many pillar of human salts would be frozen around this world if we were punished for looking back at the sin we once lived in? It reminds me of all the statues in Narnia.

Earlier this week I was diving into the Gospel of Luke, and today I was reading chapter 17 and verse 32 jumped out at me like never before. “Remember Lot’s wife!” That’s all it says. A three word verse, but perhaps one of the most powerful 3-word verses in the Bible. I could just hear Jesus’ voice escalating as He said this. As if to say don’t return to your sin, don’t try to hold on to the life you once lived in the flesh. In other words, it’s not worth it! Don’t long for the life you lived before Christ took over, don’t journey back to the destruction where the enemy is waiting to destroy your soul. Move forward, advance, even if it’s only step by step, crawl, but whatever you do…….Don’t Look Back! Keep moving forward, keep growing, keep praying, keep reading, keep dying to self.

New Creation - B. Wang

I feel that a picture is worth a thousand words. I don’t know if you would agree, but as I was hiking a few weekends ago I came across a tree that I feel everyone can relate to. When I say everyone I’m speaking of myself especially. As you look at the picture you can tell that both death and life is represented within the foundation of the tree. I see this as a daily picture of the sin in our lives as we continually fight the battle of good and evil. The problem is that our hearts are trapped in the middle of this until we give it over completely to the Lord. This tree represents my heart as I’ve confessed my need for him as it mentions in Romans:

‘because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.’
(Romans 10:9-10 ESV)

Now the issue is of the new life and how my heart will be transformed from my past. It is this process that takes time and takes determination as my heart is renewed daily through scripture and prayer. It’s a process that as many begin to tackle they will encounter parts of their hearts that are hardened as the new life grows to overtake it. As your encounter this new creation take heart in the following and let it be your prayer.

‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.’
(2nd Corinthians 5:17 ESV)

This is what we look more into next week as we relate this verse to the picture you see of this tree. The old has passed away, but behold what is growing!

WWJD? What would Jesus do? We all remember the cliche’ bracelets that encouraged everyone to live more like Christ. My favorite response to someone wearing those bracelets one time was, “He would do everything opposite of me.” It’s not that those bracelets served as some force-field against the enemy and sin, but more as a reminder for all to strive to be more like Christ. Not perfect. We won’t ever achieve perfection this side of heaven.

A student asked me the other day if Jesus was on earth today would he Twitter. The question was more of an attempt to convict me for twittering. A few months ago I was engaged in a discussion with a good friend of mine who stop twittering because it had a sense of narcissism to him. I understood his point, if we tweet with a heart that is motivated by everyone needing to know who we are and what we’re are doing it can be completely self-centered. But I suppose if Jesus did tweet it would be tweets filled with forgiveness, repentance, love, Scripture and hope. I don’t think He would tweet things like, “Laughing my head off, Peter just fell out of the boat and screamed like a girl.” But I think the amazing think to consider here is not whether Jesus would tweet or not, but to realize that Jesus has communicated a powerful message that has spread throughout the world more than any other message, and He did it without twitter, facebook, youtube, or blogs. I’m pretty confident that if Jesus did tweet he wouldn’t check to see how many followers he had everyday, not that you do that or anything.

I think Paul would be more apt to twitter than Jesus, but Jesus would really have no need to twitter, everything He needed to say and communicate has been on the best-seller’s list year after year. So I don’t think the question should be, “Would Jesus twitter?” but rather, “What is MY motive for Twittering?

“I prolonged writing this mainly so I didn’t have to face the music. But I can’t take this anymore. I am the most self-righteous person I know and I hate it. I am the very thing that pushes people further away from Christ. I sit back with my judgemental thoughts and remarks all the while I continue to be trapped by my iTouch to pornography. I feel like the biggest hypocrite ever! I know what I need to do, but maybe just getting this out there is the first step to freedom. I’ve been hiding this for so long.

Pray for me, for my addiction, for my repentance, and especially my self-righteousness which hinders me from being able to be open and onest with others. And for those of you that have seen a poorly painted picture of Christ because of me I apologize with all that I am.”

-Moving Forward, Male Age 16

B. WangB. Wang

When life takes a turn that we least expect it, it usually has something to do with what we love. And when we lose something we love, we often lash out at everything surrounding those circumstances. That is just the problem though, we focus on the circumstances at hand. We do that instead of focusing on the root of the problem. It’s like a Doctor that is treating a patient for the symptoms he is experiencing due to a particular sickness, as opposed to focusing on the sickness that is causing the symptoms. That obviously is not a Doctor that you would want to see. On a daily basis this is what we do with the sin in our lives. We focus on the things that we struggle with: evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. Though we focus on these things and work on improving these, they are the symptoms on what is really going on. What is really going on is that we have lost our first love, which is Christ our Savior. We have become so trapped and desensitized by what this world has to offer. That our hearts become hardened from that which we first knew….to that which we first loved…
The way to get back to our first love is not to abstain from that list of things that we struggle with. It’s to pursue our first love, Christ, and through that pursuit He will guide us as we work through the symptoms. This is what the Church of Ephesus struggled with in Revelation:

‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my names sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fall; repent, and do the works you did at first.’  - Revelation 2:2-5

As you encounter trials, make sure that amid them you don’t abandon your first love.

This is the lakeside manor where the Link Year students are currently staying for the month of February. The students will be writing a daily blog and posting daily pictures at linkyear.com. This picture was taken just this morning.

As I type this post I’m sitting under a a slogan painted on the wall that says,”Head*Heart*Hand*. A saying I know that John Brown University loves to model in their approach to life.

HEAD: Romans 12:2 calls us to renew our minds, to be life life-long students. In being transformed, and by not conforming to patterns of this world will we be able to test and approve what God’s will is. His good, pleasing, and perfect will. God calls us to renew our minds. This takes places through study and reading. Not through video games and Facebook stalking.

HEART: All head and no heart is pretty ineffective. Knowledge puffs up, and if we’re not careful It separates from others. We become so much about knowledge that we forget how to build and keep relationships. We are called to learn, but we are also called to serve others, and love others. Mark 12:30-31 commands us to love God first, and love others second. There’s an old adage that states, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

HAND: Knowledge without application is meaningless. If we learn but have no heart to apply it our hands will only serve self and not others. So may we learn so as to develop a heart for others that will move us to serve. After all Jesus was a perefect example of Head, Heart, Hand. (Matthew 20:28)

B. Wang

The Lord calls us to Him on a daily basis yet there are so many times we don’t hear Him. We have so many other voices that simply put Him in the background. We think we hear something, yet when we turn around we shrug our shoulders thinking it was nothing. At least that’s how I feel it works in my life. So this weekend I’m taking a trip to my favorite spot to meet with the Lord. It’s a place where He has met me time and time again. As I slip from the crowd and meet Him in his creation, I would ask that you think about doing the same. He wants you to come to Him, yet we never find the time to be still.

‘Be still and know I am God” – Psalm 46:10

“To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”

Ephesians 2:8-10