Arrgh!!! So Many Things To Do!!!

It is supposed to be the “most wonderful time of the year!” But why are we so busy? So stressed? In between our regular workload, school, and family obligations, we still have several hours long of shopping to do, gifts to wrap and deliver, heavy traffic congestion to contend with when we visit our loved ones and close friends, write letters and cards to our family and relatives who live far away, attend (and host) the obligatory office parties, neighborhood get-togethers, barkada parties, church socials, school programs…

Add to the fact that everybody is experiencing some sort of financial crunch. Business is slow and difficult; jobs have no security. No wonder many of us would wish to be Scrooges at this time of the year.

Do you know that when Jesus arrived on earth as a baby during the first Christmas, the situation was no different from the one we are experiencing at the moment? It was a busy time in Bethlehem as they were conducting the census. People from all over the empire were traveling to their ancestral hometown. They were probably jostling each other for souvenirs to buy and take away, spaces to rest and sleep, as well as sites to see. (That was why there was no more space in the inn for the God of the universe to be born.) Nobody realized, nobody noticed the birth of a Baby who would be the Savior of the world; except for a few shepherds.

Are you like the innkeeper, who was busy attending to his guests that he relegated the Baby to the manger? Are you one of those people, who are busy buying and sightseeing that they did not notice the special Baby at all? Or are you one of the shepherds, who upon hearing the good news, dropped everything important just to see and visit the Christ Child?

This is the season to remind ourselves that Christ came to earth to bring peace, joy, love, salvation. It is time to change our priorities and perspectives as well. Learn to quiet down and seek Him, so that we may be able to make this season truly the most wonderful time of the year!

search string: “TRUTH”…

Modern man can get any information at his fingertips. In a few blinks of an eye (depending on the speed of your modem and internet connections), you can access all the information available in the World Wide Web. Google (and googling) has replaced the need for traditional library research work. Wikipedia has replaced the traditional Encyclopaedia Britannica for quick references.

Convenient? Definitely. Good? Perhaps, but not entirely. For instance, emailing has replaced the traditional snail mail. It is good in the sense that emails can be transmitted to the recipient in a matter of nanoseconds, compared to snail mail which may take weeks. However, the art of handwriting has been replaced by speed on the keyboard, and that replacement is not exactly good.

Wikipedia as a source of information may or may not exactly be reliable. Contents of the traditional bulky encyclopedia were well-researched and well-documented, edited by many scholars and experts in their respective fields. The contents of Wikipedia, on the other hand, are volunteered by diverse sources. Sometimes it does give us the useful information we need, but Wiki does not guarantee its sources’ accuracy. More often than not, their articles may be written by any Tom, Dick, or Harry who simply has a web site. How do we know if it is reliable? Check the source, and the source of the source.

Google the word Jesus and you get 191 million references! Google the word Bible, you get 115 million results! Each of these sites has varying opinions and views about Jesus and the Bible. Not all of these sites are written by theologians, Bible scholars, seminary professors, or Biblical archeology and history experts. Which of these millions of sites are reliable then? Check out their source.

What should be our ultimate reliable source? The Bible!!! The Living Word of God (Hebrews 4:12) is the ultimate source of Truth and its standards should be our guideposts for living. The Bible is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16). It is the Word of God written down for you – His child -to read. It is unchanging. It is timeless. Throughout these two millennia, His Word still applies. It is inerrant – completely, totally. Wikipedia has received a lot of criticisms for many of its inaccurate contents. But the Bible has stood for Truth up to this new century, and will still be the Truth until the end of time (Mark 13:31).

Be like the Bereans, (Acts 17:11) who were described to be noble-minded. Receive the Word with great eagerness and examine the Scriptures daily, so that you would know what is true, what is good, what you need to know, and what you need to do.

CMN Breaking News: Neighborhood Water Station Not Charging…

Imagine that you are living in a dirty, polluted city. (Probably like Manila, a hundred times worse). But near your home, is a water fountain, always gushing out fresh spring water. It is free flowing, inexhaustible, clean and cool. It is very, very accessible. So, you enjoy the fountain, you enjoy the water. You keep coming back to the water. (It is free anyway!) It refreshes you and your whole family. It gives strength and energy to your life. Because it is the best water in the world, and there is none like it, you will never, ever choose any other water source or any other drink except the spring water from this fountain. You enjoy it so much, you tell other people about the wonderful qualities of the water. Soon, more and more people come to enjoy the water. This makes the water fountain very, very valuable. This is good, because soon, the water fountain will transform the dirty and polluted city into a cleaner city.

Do you know that in the Bible, God pictures Himself as a mountain spring of clean, cool, life-giving water? (John 4)

Your relationship with God should be like example of the fountain of spring water described above. We do live in a disturbing and dirty world whose priorities and values are different from the standard imposed by our Creator. By the abundant grace of God, we are given the water of life – Jesus Christ. We should enjoy this water and enjoy sharing the water of life with our family and friends. This is what God commands us to do.

And yet, why is it that we often look for other sources of water? Other sources of happiness? Other fountains can only provide temporal, fleeting happiness. Why do we put our trust in money, possessions, positions, titles and worldly pleasures? Do you know that it is a sin if you prefer the other fountains rather than the life-giving water of God?

Without God and a life of intimate fellowship and dependence on Him, our soul becomes like a desert, a parched land. The sad thing is if you keep indulging in other fountains, you will not even realize that you are already dehydrated to the point of sickness and death.

It is time to evaluate our lives and recognize the One True source of life-giving water. May we be like the Psalmist (Psalm 42:1) who says “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for Thee, O God.” And if we do so, Jesus has promised that we will be blessed, for “those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, they shall be satisfied.” (Matthew 5:6)