On R.Zacharias’ 3 part sermon on the temptation of Christ, Ravi dissected the temptations of Christ and explained it in 3 different philosophies- 1. Humanism 2. Utilitarianism 3. Hedonism.  After listening to all of the sermons, if you could sum up everything, although that would lose all that good stuff and such a complexity of rich flavors, it would be this in my own processed translation: with all our intellect, with all our gifts, with all our finite qualities and limited capacities, we try to be over and above wisdom through the exclusivity of reason without faith; over and above power as a hero to influence and/or control the lives of others; and over and above eternity by denying God and our need for Jesus- the ONLY way, the ONLY reason. We think we can live the way we want in freedom from the shackles and constraints of God’s laws. But when we do so, it is freedom that we forfeit when we are slaves to sin.  Our flaw is that we don’t have eternity on our minds.  We really live in this world to live for ourselves, to do what we want, to indulge in its pleasures and indulge in it well, without regret or thought of consequence, to experience ALL there is to experience and taking in every opportunity to feel, hence therefore really living. That is the distraction that the spiritual principalities of Satan uses to deviate us from what is really true- which is to live for Christ.

Satan tempts us, saying, “why not?  Do it. Everything is yours and take what you want. Satisfy your curiosity and have no reservations. This world is meant for you and everything in life is there for you to taste. Take the fame, acquire more and more, experience love and lust everywhere, feed your pleasures, think that you are better than your friends, forget fellowship with those that challenge your character, believe in your validated reason and your intellectual superiority…etc.”

Man lives for man, and man only sees what man sees, and thinks he thinks like God.

Man self justifies his worth without God and refuses his basic inherent quality- which is ‘to need.’  Man thinks and forgets that he was born with the quality ‘to need.’  Man needs bread.  Man needs shelter.  Man needs love.  Ask Maslow; man has basic needs, a hierarchy of materialism, but needs nonetheless.  But God, who has fashioned the earth and holds the galaxy and all there is outside of our imaginative realm, does not need.  God does not need. 

So why does man think that his wisdom can be above God?  Why do our actions confront God with such audacity instead of fear? Why does man live as if he’s only living for his present lifetime and for himself?  Our worship which was intended for the creator has been displaced for that which was created.  But King David had it right, he said, “Who is man that you are mindful of him?” (Psalm 8:4).  David realized our insignificance objectively, but subjectively, to God, we are significant.  As Louie Giglio termed it- our “significant insignificance.” 

To illustrate, I’ll share a story: while driving home one night, I looked at my daughter Emma who was overly snuggly strapped into her car seat.  Neither hungry, wet, nor scared, she kept crying because she wanted to get out of her car seat and be held, or be patted, or have a little to drink.  Whatever her reason, she let us know that we had to give her attention.  To her, the world was Emma-centric and she wouldn’t cease until she was appeased temporarily, and then complain again for something else.  She didn’t know that outside of her tiny shell were her two parents in the car who are trying to follow Ravi’s elusive thoughts.  She didn’t know that outside their car were her grandparents waiting at home to smother her with hugs and kisses.  She didn’t know that outside her grandparents’ home were their neighbors, then developments, then cities- states- countries- planets- galaxies.  Her concerns are absent of national tragedies, world calamities.  To her, everything is nonexistent and insignificant compared to maybe a wet diaper.

My second example is my last: one day, after Emma’s routine of waking up and smiling to greet me a new morning, she started getting antsy because she was getting bored of being on her back.  Being 3.5 months, she thinks she’s a big girl.  She wants to do big girl things like join the big people table when we eat, or stand all the time like a big girl, and these days she refuses to lean back on my legs when I prop her to sitting position.  Nowadays, she persists to sit like a big girl and tries to support her immature body.  She even smiles proudly when you gawk at her in amazement and mention how she’s become such a big girl.  When I propped her to stand in front of the mirror that day, she smiled at herself, paying no attention to the 122lbs big girl in back supporting her.  Knowing exponentially more than she does, I ask her, “who is that baby?”  Through reflection, I’d like to think that she sees that she is not as big as she thinks she is, and is not to par physically as the giants that carry her.  And if she could just see the reflection of the mirror, and see the entire picture of me holding her, she’ll see how small she is compared to me, but ultimately and nonetheless precious and a beloved wonder to me.

That’s how we are.  Because we have one view, we are sometimes selective of what we see and what is out there.  We look out and we think our lives are the most important to us. But at those times of reflection, we give ourselves the allowance to see how big we made ourselves to be to the reality of our smallness in comparison to God.  And that is possible by reflecting on the whole image, the bigger picture, in seeing who is carrying us, through grace to live.

That’s how we are.  Our view, compared to God’s, is that of a baby’s perspective.  And it’s funny when I think of how Emma thinks, how limited her world is, and how big things really are.  But it’s not so funny when we look at ourselves, and our wet diapers in comparison to what God sees.

Live for Jesus. And you don’t have to commit your life to full time missions, or save a thousand souls, be a speaker on a soap box, take a profession in clergy, be on the praise and worship team, lead a small group, or even go to all the retreats and convention conferences and attend every hot upcoming Christian concert.  Living for Jesus sometimes means working on your integrity, leaving away messages on your online journals/IMs that don’t contradict your testimony, talking to that person who just doesn’t reach out to others, being an example to your children, down playing your ego, pride, and self-bloatedness, mastering an unspoken sin, or vice, or habit like cursing, indulging in slothfulness, jealousy, excessive competitiveness, sexual immorality, backbiting, drunkenness, perversion, adultery, materialism, popularity, etc…And sometimes living for Jesus means trusting he’s got your back when you’re kicked down, acknowledging he’s working in every aspect of your life [like your love life, your relationships, job, family, financial standing, school, friends, your future]. Living for Jesus could mean humbling your life to him by strengthening your QT with him, meditating on his word, being quiet to listen to him, and spending time to know him- know him- not just his name, or that he exists, or that he’s just there to answer prayers; find out about His love, seek His character, research of His goodness, and be sensitive in allowing him to reveal to you his nature of who he is.

Be relevant; daily; living for Christ is a lifestyle that sets its eyes on eternity.

-marchesa ababa

        

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 13th, 2007 at 12:06 pm and is filed under Christian Living. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.