posted by Graciana@Home at 8:03 pm

posted by Graciana@Home at 1:52 pm

posted by Graciana@Home at 11:56 am

posted by Graciana@Home at 6:28 am

“People say 'Love is blind.' But Martin Buber in his book, 'I and Thou' said,' Hate is by nature blind.' To say 'Love is blind', can be thought as though love itself is worthless. True Love is not blind. True Love looks through clearly into the depth of the heart. It does not compromise even on the smallest flaw to be found. What love can embrace the unloving, the filthy, the despicable? Only True Love could. True Love deals with the imperfect and instead of rejecting it, embrace it and imparting its character of Love. Truly, True Love covers multitudes of sin.

Hate on the other hand is completely blind. No matter when, what or who, when hate IS, disruption and destruction WILL BE. Isn't this what currently happening? Those who are filled with hatred continue to destroy, disrupt and destruct whatever, whenever and whoever. What can True Love do? True Love dare to stare into the eyes blinded by hatred and say 'This must not be.' True love deals face to face with hatred and offer himself to suffer to stop the hatred steps. This kind of love leaves no trace in any religions/ teachings/ philosophies except in Christianity. The True Love manifested clearly on the Cross. The Redeeming Love; for God is Love.”

A.S

posted by Graciana@Home at 1:50 am

Musing on Love (1)

“If I love somebody, I don't care whether she loves or not. I would be grateful for her, not me. I would care for her, not me. I would think the better of her, not me. If she doesn't love me, and that's for the better of her, I would be fully pleased. Help me, Lord, to love, as You love me.Can I earn love? Let me not earn it, for I can't. Simply can't. For how could I earn something which I don't deserve? Let me not dream, but know the reality and be pleased with all things because they are from You.Oh make me realise; when can I realise that I am nothing? For not till then can I truly love, knowing fully that it is not my love, but Yours. For it is then will I be grateful for love, knowing that I don't deserve love at all.”

Musing on Love (2)

“When I pray, "Lord, show me the one you have chosen to be my wife," it does not mean a hesitation or shifting responsibility to God. My part is to be committed to the person I chose. And if I do believe that He is a sovereign God, I will not be afraid; I have nothing to lose, for He will provide. Whomever I choose, she is in God's sovereign will. And if I obey His moral will, I need not be afraid of making a wrong choice. My responsibility is to commit myself to love her. And God will help me to love her as He loves me. He is always the main figure. I am to love as He loves.”“Love is not worth begging. I cannot expect others to love me back. Love is to be given, not demanded. When I approach a girl, it is not to try to engineer that she would love me. If approach is to be correlated with such attempts, then it is better not to approach at all. Perhaps a better term would be a deeper friendship. And it may happen without any intentions whatsoever. It is when two persons are brought into an encounter where they know each other better. And when I am ready to commit, I must be really ready to commit, but I must not expect anything. Then I will be ready for whatever answer that may be given to me. It will be as simple as Yes or No. In each, God's will be done.”

Musing on Love (3)

“A man should never love a woman because he needs her. A woman should never love a man because of what he does for her. A prerequisite for marriage is when each party can say, "I can live without you." A true expression of love is when it can point both persons toward a greater love for God. It may not lead to happiness as we used to think. A true expression of love can only be proven by trials that God gives in our lives, for by them we really grow. It is not about satisfying our needs or what we think could be our partner's needs; it is not about pleasing ourselves or what we think could please our partner, but it is about pleasing God. The blessings will come at moments we will have never expected.

An invitation to commit into a lifelong relationship is not an invitation into a fairy tale, but more than that, it is an invitation into reality. And therefore there will not be any hesitation or fear, for we will see whatever there is for us to see. But "come what may, I will love you until my dying day." Because it is a reality, we have nothing to lose. For we are ready to receive whatever that may come.”

Unconditional Love

“Among the love stories of men, perhaps the love story of Hosea is second to none. His love towards Gomer, his wife, is a real example of what an unconditional love really means. Gomer was a harlot. They had three children from their marriage. But it was likely that not all of the children were Hosea's children. Eventhough Gomer had been married to Hosea, she was unfaithful to him. She left him and went after her lovers. Hosea would supply all that she needed, but she would not come back to him. Perhaps it took her a long time until she was stripped of all that she had, and she was sold as a slave by those who no longer wanted her. But out of love, Hosea went to her and bought her with a price so that she could live with him.

Actually, the story of Hosea was a picture of the love of God. The Israelites was an adulterous nation. They had turned their back against God. But God loved the Israelites so much that he would seek them and bring them back to him. How could God do so?If we move forward in time, we find another story of an adulterer in John 8. A woman was caught in adultery. According to the Law, the punishment for such a sin was stoning to death. The Pharisees had brought her in the temple courts, and they posed a question to Jesus to see what Jesus would do. In the middle of the crowds, the woman must not have been able to look up. Shame, fear, and regrets must have filled her heart. But imagine how amazed she was when she heard Jesus said to her, "I don't condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin." Imagine how she could only cry as she left the place.

A few months after, looking at Jesus being nailed at the cross, she would finally come to understand why Jesus could have let her go without condemning her. She finally understood what is the meaning of an unconditional love. She realised that Jesus was bearing the punishment she ought to have borne.Gomer and the adulterous woman are exactly who we are. We seek after our own pleasure. We seek to please ourselves with our own ways. We have rejected God. Not until we are humbled to the lowest point that we begin to seek God. But we can't. We can't get back to him unless he get us back. And that is precisely what he has done. And he could do so because he has left our punishment on Jesus. This is the unconditional love.”

On Marriage

“Marriage doesn't exist only because a couple loves each other. For if they truly love each other, they will know that they are not good enough for each other, and if they care for the best of each other, they will not marry. Marriage doesn't exist only because a couple loves each other, but above all, it exists because God loves them both. If I know that God has her; that she is His own, my heart will be at peace because He is the one who can perfectly satisfy all her needs. I need not be disappointed at my shortcomings, and pretend that they are not there, because I know that God, the Perfect One, owns her. Neither do I need to be disappointed with her shortcomings, because He owns me, too. And in Him I find a perfect partner. He is the one who can really satisfy all my needs.”

Eve

"When God created Eve, we often assumed that Adam was lonely because his need of love is not fulfilled, so God created Eve to fulfil Adam's need of love. This must not be true. Adam did not thirst for love. He had the fullness of love in his relationship with God. Otherwise, God is not a perfect God. But God is a perfect God, and Adam enjoyed every fullness of blessings in his relationship with the perfect God. God created Eve not to fulfil Adam's need, but so that she could be a suitable helper for him. Now it might seem that if there was a helper then there must have been someone to be helped. But we have seen that this was not the case. A more precise explanation would be: God created Eve for His own glory; God created Eve so that she could be a suitable helper for Adam; God created Eve so that Adam could love Eve."

A.K

posted by Graciana@Home at 5:31 am

posted by Graciana@Home at 7:59 am

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. (Psalm51:17)

When I feel this sentence of death in my heart, it is so because God wants me to rely on Him. Thanks I.S and S.K for fighting in prayers with me!

posted by Graciana@Home at 8:32 am

posted by Graciana@Home at 4:54 am

posted by Graciana@Home at 3:24 am

posted by Graciana@Home at 7:39 am

posted by Graciana@Home at 7:30 am

Sermon was not given to cumber us, but to tell us what GOD is like. =) His character is the urtext of it. To state the great distance, and any attempt to reduce that distance misses the point altogether. It leaves me nowhere to land but in the safety net of absolute grace. =)

Thanks to A.K for his 'Putting amazing back into grace". Surprisingly very warm chap. Was willing to let me highlight his newly-bought book. =P

posted by Graciana@Home at 4:49 am

posted by Graciana@Home at 4:36 am

Ardent strides towards perfection never results in any resemblance of peace or serenity. Kept circling back to the rueful theme of failure. Ah the antagonism between the real and the ideal haunts. Too honest to self deceit, I could not silent the conscience that convicted me because I know the conscience to be true. Contrary to those who say the gospel solves our problems, it actually adds the burden.

posted by Graciana@Home at 4:22 am

posted by Graciana@Home at 5:20 pm

Meet the Lover. Meet the Accuser.

Sin often starts from an offer to dazzling, shortcut method. The allure toward an easier painless way. Why move thy feet so slow to what is best what is pleasurable, it asks. Being human. Not everything is known in advance, it is to live by minutes and hours and thus to encounter now instead of just forever. Sometimes, I concede, I wish that He uses a heavier touch. I had hard time coping with uncertainties. My faith suffers from too much freedom. Too many temptations to disbelieve. I want God to overwhelm me, to overcome my doubts with certainty, to give final proof of His existence and His concern. I want Him to take a more active role in human affairs as well. In my personal history. I want God without ambiguity. The more I get to know Him, the more I get so amazed by His restraint, His refusal to perform and overwhelm, His terrible and absolute insistence on my own freedom. Every lover knows, love can be rendered powerless if the beloved chooses to spurn it. Love consents to all and commands only those who consent. Love is abdication. God is abdication. Only love can summon a response of love. Because of the increased wickedness, the love of most will grow cold. Yet, He has “prayed for you, so that your faith will not fail.”

posted by Graciana@Home at 4:47 pm

Floundered over the high ideals of Sermon on the Mount. No matter how hard I tried, I could not find an easy way around or through it. Like a low-grade case of depression, my cognitive dissonance over Jesus' words kept me in a state of spiritual restlessness. If the Sermon on the Mount sets forth God's standard of holiness, I concluded, then I may as well resign from the start. The Sermon did not help me improve, it simply revealed all the ways I had not.

posted by Graciana@Home at 2:34 pm