This past Sunday, Matt preached on Ephesians 6:14-15
“Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;”
Having gone over half the components of the divinely originated “armor of God” that call us to obedience, Matt explained that we must commit to truthfulness, seek righteousness, and be prepared with a solid, steady footing in the gospel.
Sometime in the middle of the week, my realization of needing wisdom in learning how to conquer sin heightened and I took to reading some articles on the matter. It is nothing new that sin is largely - if not entirely - a heart issue, but what occurred to me is how applicable this simple truth is. In reading, there was a verse reference to 2 Corinthians 1:12, which says:
“For our proud confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you.”
In the midst of defending his integrity as an apostle, Paul chooses to appeal to “the testimony of [his] conscience.” Perhaps as a consequence of my fallen mindset, I have trained myself to become very much unlike Paul. Instead of inquiring my conscience, I conveniently consider the visible manifestations of my sins. This, of course, is a wonderful way of recognizing struggles – something that even others can see and keep me accountable to God for. But, it is simply the telling smell of stinky tofu pointing to the condition of the actual substance. It is the heart that should be the center of introspection and where self-control, I think, should be applied first. It makes sense that this is where the battle has to be fought and won. No incentive to seek man's praise here - only pure accountability to God. Honestly, this is probably where restraint is most easily forsaken when unbelief and faithlessness sets in. Yet, amazingly, it is what Paul appeals to.
I wanted to share this with you because in my last update I said that I am often disheartened to do anything at all from the thought of all the sins in my life. But, I am thoroughly encouraged now that I have been re-directed to the source of sin. I mentioned Matt’s sermon in the beginning because it came to my mind as a practical place to start. Are the things contained in my mind reflective of a heart fully committed to truthfulness? Am I seeking righteousness? Am I prepared with a solid, steady footing in the gospel? Do pray that the Lord would continue this humanly impossible task of creating in me a clean heart - that I would be able to appeal to the testimony of my conscience that in holiness and godly sincerity I have conducted myself.
Happy Birthdays Matthew Lui.
Matthew Lui’s three day birthday bonanza lasted a mind boggling (you've guessed it) three days: from Sunday to Tuesday night. Tuesday night would be the most memorable. Let me share with you the story of a Clara and an Yi-San and how they decided to take Matt and us out to dinner without telling us where we were going afterwards. Actually, they didn’t even tell us we were going anywhere afterwards at all. Before we knew it, we were taking the “Maokong Gondola.” It’s a new gondola system that brings people in Taipei up to Maokong – which used to take much longer to get to. The view was not too fantastic or visible inside the gondola cabin, but we had Matt to entertain us with rap and highly expressive mandarin. So, in Maokong, you can drink tea. But it’s not just any tea. You pay more for it. And you make it yourself. Talk about a good business plan.
I guess you pay for a nice view too.
Now here is the interesting part: instead of taking the gondola back, we decided to search for a bus stop to take us down the mountain. Like any good horror movie would develop, the characters decide that instead of taking obvious transportation, they should wander into the dark mountain woods looking for a bus stop that they, frankly, have never been to or seen. Well, we must have walked through a mile of temples and stairs and twists and turns before finally finding a bus, but thankfully the trip was quite a fun adventure. We saw frogs, fireflies, yellow spiky caterpillars, big beetles, a beautiful landscape from the mountainside, and had a great time just talking.
Wednesday began with a brunch with the rest of the tentmakers and the Haucks. They brought us to a place serving American breakfasts! How… nostalgic, haha. Really, though, it was a great time of fellowship that reminded me of how utterly good and gracious our God is to us. I had an interview with a private elementary school later that day. The people were worried about my inexperience and ended up declaring that they could not guarantee an alien resident card (ARC) – something I really need to stay in Taiwan. The job description was interesting - instead of 10 to 15 kids at your typical cram school, this was 40-50 kids (the same kind, mind you) in a classroom. Mathematically, that’s nearly 5 times the fun! More interesting experiences this week include being told that “your asian face is not qualified” over the phone and watching Matthew Lui practicing being an animated individual. Please continue to pray for us to search for jobs in faith and with all our might!
YOU
Hey. Update me! I am just as eager to learn what you've been up to and what the Lord has been teaching you. So come on. Send over those funny stories, everyday happenings, prayer requests, pictures, etc. Be a friend. Do the right thing.
“Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;”
Having gone over half the components of the divinely originated “armor of God” that call us to obedience, Matt explained that we must commit to truthfulness, seek righteousness, and be prepared with a solid, steady footing in the gospel.
Sometime in the middle of the week, my realization of needing wisdom in learning how to conquer sin heightened and I took to reading some articles on the matter. It is nothing new that sin is largely - if not entirely - a heart issue, but what occurred to me is how applicable this simple truth is. In reading, there was a verse reference to 2 Corinthians 1:12, which says:
“For our proud confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you.”
In the midst of defending his integrity as an apostle, Paul chooses to appeal to “the testimony of [his] conscience.” Perhaps as a consequence of my fallen mindset, I have trained myself to become very much unlike Paul. Instead of inquiring my conscience, I conveniently consider the visible manifestations of my sins. This, of course, is a wonderful way of recognizing struggles – something that even others can see and keep me accountable to God for. But, it is simply the telling smell of stinky tofu pointing to the condition of the actual substance. It is the heart that should be the center of introspection and where self-control, I think, should be applied first. It makes sense that this is where the battle has to be fought and won. No incentive to seek man's praise here - only pure accountability to God. Honestly, this is probably where restraint is most easily forsaken when unbelief and faithlessness sets in. Yet, amazingly, it is what Paul appeals to.
I wanted to share this with you because in my last update I said that I am often disheartened to do anything at all from the thought of all the sins in my life. But, I am thoroughly encouraged now that I have been re-directed to the source of sin. I mentioned Matt’s sermon in the beginning because it came to my mind as a practical place to start. Are the things contained in my mind reflective of a heart fully committed to truthfulness? Am I seeking righteousness? Am I prepared with a solid, steady footing in the gospel? Do pray that the Lord would continue this humanly impossible task of creating in me a clean heart - that I would be able to appeal to the testimony of my conscience that in holiness and godly sincerity I have conducted myself.
Happy Birthdays Matthew Lui.
Matthew Lui’s three day birthday bonanza lasted a mind boggling (you've guessed it) three days: from Sunday to Tuesday night. Tuesday night would be the most memorable. Let me share with you the story of a Clara and an Yi-San and how they decided to take Matt and us out to dinner without telling us where we were going afterwards. Actually, they didn’t even tell us we were going anywhere afterwards at all. Before we knew it, we were taking the “Maokong Gondola.” It’s a new gondola system that brings people in Taipei up to Maokong – which used to take much longer to get to. The view was not too fantastic or visible inside the gondola cabin, but we had Matt to entertain us with rap and highly expressive mandarin. So, in Maokong, you can drink tea. But it’s not just any tea. You pay more for it. And you make it yourself. Talk about a good business plan.
I guess you pay for a nice view too.
Now here is the interesting part: instead of taking the gondola back, we decided to search for a bus stop to take us down the mountain. Like any good horror movie would develop, the characters decide that instead of taking obvious transportation, they should wander into the dark mountain woods looking for a bus stop that they, frankly, have never been to or seen. Well, we must have walked through a mile of temples and stairs and twists and turns before finally finding a bus, but thankfully the trip was quite a fun adventure. We saw frogs, fireflies, yellow spiky caterpillars, big beetles, a beautiful landscape from the mountainside, and had a great time just talking.
Wednesday began with a brunch with the rest of the tentmakers and the Haucks. They brought us to a place serving American breakfasts! How… nostalgic, haha. Really, though, it was a great time of fellowship that reminded me of how utterly good and gracious our God is to us. I had an interview with a private elementary school later that day. The people were worried about my inexperience and ended up declaring that they could not guarantee an alien resident card (ARC) – something I really need to stay in Taiwan. The job description was interesting - instead of 10 to 15 kids at your typical cram school, this was 40-50 kids (the same kind, mind you) in a classroom. Mathematically, that’s nearly 5 times the fun! More interesting experiences this week include being told that “your asian face is not qualified” over the phone and watching Matthew Lui practicing being an animated individual. Please continue to pray for us to search for jobs in faith and with all our might!
YOU
Hey. Update me! I am just as eager to learn what you've been up to and what the Lord has been teaching you. So come on. Send over those funny stories, everyday happenings, prayer requests, pictures, etc. Be a friend. Do the right thing.
There has been a request for an email subscription of the blog updates to be made available, so after some figuring out, I present to you feedburner. If you prefer email updates, you may now sign up on blawg by putting your email address of choice in the email subscription module on the right side of the page. Follow the simple instructions from there and you should be good to go! If there are any other ways I can be of service to you, do tell! Goodnight!
Grace and peace!
3 comments:
We will keep praying for you!
I just did email subscription.
YES!!!!!!!!!!!
hawt.
- an ting
super duper double de luper! remember! that was from wayyyyyy back.
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