His supremacy and His church.

"He (referring to Christ) is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ's body, in which He speaks and acts, by which He fills everything with His presence." - Ephesians 1:22-23 (MSG)

The church is not a human institution, made up of men and their traditions passed down from their founder. The church is a living organism, made up of men all across time professing faith in Christ, thus the Body of Christ.

The history of the church, therefore, is not a narrative of the rise and fall of varying 'dynasties' tracing a common lineage to Jesus Christ the Founder. Instead, the history of the church is an ongoing narrative between His First and Second Coming. A narrative in which believers filled with His Holy Spirit live and carry out His will in a world that does not want His will to be done. The progress of this narrative can be charted, but its direction ultimately belongs to Jesus Christ.

The ubiquity of the church itself is not a human tradition either, but a principal directive set forth by Jesus Christ Himself in what is commonly referred to as the Great Commission. A part of it reads like this, "...go and make disciples of all nations...", thereby requiring that the church be found in every location where men reside, since nations are made of men, and not land.

The work of the church is also enshrined in the same Great Commission, stating that the making of disciples be the primary occupation of all church members. The imperative words "go" and "make" define the Great Commission as a command, an instruction. The Great Commission itself includes additional (though not optional) descriptors of the work - "baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you". It is interesting how at the end of this Great Commission Christ states how He is with the church always, even till "the end of the age". In essence, He states that He is not absent from this work, but facilitates it by His presence.

Thus, the greatness of the church is not built on its political clout or capital, though these are reasonable things which we tend to possess by virtue of the church being made up of people from all walks of life. But all walks of life mean exactly that, we will have the rich, the poor, the celebrated, the unwanted, the outcasts, and lastly, not forgetting the common man. The greatness of the church is found in its adherence to the Truth, who also happens to be the Founder, who spoke of Himself as "the Way, the Truth and the Life."

In the same vein, the culture of the church cannot be like the world in how it continually searches for meaning in activity. Instead, we have the truth found in the person of Christ, who instructs us in His teaching that meaning in life does not come from groping in the dark, but by 'abiding in Him', so that He may 'abide in us'. Fruitfulness, then, comes not by working to find something meaningful to do, but by remaining secure in Him and doing whatever is available in that God-ordained 'space'. Furthermore, the church must remain relevant to the world it is called to reach without relinquishing its roots in the person of Christ, who is the living Word of God. In other words, the church is a pipe or vessel, bringing freshwater from the aquifer who is Christ, without changing His essence. We are not to be electrical transformers, attempting to step down His power to a more tolerable voltage.

What then is the church? Once again, it is the Body of Christ, by which "He fills everything with His presence". In other words, we are His vessels, designed to pour out who He is into every aspect of earthly life. Till Kingdom come, but that is another topic for another time.

Comfort vs Comforter.

The following is a preface about why I've been MIA, so skip it if it's a waste of time to you.

It's been a while since I made any entries in here. I have been too busy.

Too busy trying to fit in. Too busy trying to juggle. Too busy trying to make everything fit into a limited timeline. I had to cut corners, but in the stress of everything, I cut the parts of my life that represented the 'full and abundant' life that my Savior wanted me to take part in - His life. I guess I missed out. Honestly, for 'recreation', I just took the equivalent of 'painkillers' in the form of video gaming and YouTube surfing. Brain-numbing, that is all.

But I haven't died, and thus the war for my affection continues. I would like to make a resolution to return to this station. And so this marks a soft reset of my writing days, older and hopefully wiser. 

For what it's worth to others, I have received a dose of bad news this week. I didn't make the cut on something considered routine and ordinary for teachers in my position and bracket. The only thing that surfaced as the news was broken to me was really this: "Did I miss out on God's plan to bring me forward to where He has called me?"

I mean, I embarked on this teaching career because of a clarion call from the Lord. No, I have not lost faith in His call, but I am questioning if my present predicament has been due to my lackadaisical approach to the whole matter. Yet, in reflection, am I really willing to abandon the other things I hold dear? One expendable thing remains though: my expectations of comfort.

I think I have become soft. Soft on myself, soft in dying to myself and my selfish desires. The life that the Lord called me to is one of action and waiting on Him, but I have looked for comfort instead. Subtly, with the influx of income, I started to settle for more material comforts. Nothing wrong with this...till I realized that I stopped looking for the Comforter. It was no longer about Him directing me and leading me, but myself finding the easiest way. I stopped working as hard, and I do suppose that this is how I ended up with this dose of bad news.

I feel like I have messed up His plans, but I take solace now in what Scripture states about His faithfulness - "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Yes, I believe I have messed up, because I settled for comfort rather than the Comforter. I should have remained focused and give up on expectations of comfort, other than what the Lord blesses me with. At least though, I know His grace has been poured out in the manner with which the news was broken to me. For this, I choose to be thankful instead of being upset that I "didn't get what should have been mine."

Gold of my soul.

O God, Thou art the gold in mine soul.

Without Thee, mine soul hast nary a rest.

Thou shalt be my Reward forevermore.

Justice, Thy throne's foundation,

And Mercy, Thy great delight.

May they be mine too.