Bind Your Donkey to the Vine

It's that time of the year again... finals week! Though I would have to admit that I'm naturally a very anxious person, especially when it comes to classes and school work, I've been seeing more and more that there is no possible circumstance or situation where we are not able to enjoy and rest in the Lord.

too bad learning through osmosis isn't effective

Yesterday, the ones that help with the Bible study I attended this semester with Christians on Campus had a supply station for the students. Not only did they supply us with study snacks and treats, but they also supplied us with much more than physical nourishment. There was a short reading on "Ceasing from Labor and Resting in the Enjoyment of Christ's Life." How timely was that for me!

Binding his foal to the vine, and his donkey's colt to the choice vine, he washes his garment in wine, and his robe in the blood of grapes."

Genesis 49:11 

a donkey bound implies the reaching of its destination

In the Bible, a donkey signifies taking a journey towards a certain goal or destination. So the binding of the foal, or tying of the donkey, indicates that the journey is over and that you have reached your goal. Does is seem like most people in the world today have reached their destination or goal? Not from what I can tell. Most people in the world are traveling donkeys, still laboring and striving for a goal or destination.

As Christians, what is our goal? What is our destination? 

Our goal is the vine, and the vine is Christ! (John 15:1, 5)

Christ as our vine is our goal!

To bind our donkey to the vine means to cease our labor or doing, and rest in Christ! Christ has already accomplished everything and won the victory! There is no need for us to strive or labor! All such endeavoring is in vain. We are already in Christ!

So what does this mean for me? I'm still a student who has to take finals and make good grades in my classes. Well, what has been encouraging me is enjoying Christ in any situation. Whether it means asking the Lord to be my study buddy, or taking quick study breaks to read the Bible or other encouraging blog posts or even getting together with other believers to study, it's making all of the difference. 

"Come to Me all who toil and are burdened, and I will give you rest."

Matthew 11:28

When we come to the Lord in prayer, in His word, or with the other members of His Body, He is faithful to give us rest. 

resting in Christ is our true rest :)

Running the race by faith

Something I love about having fellowship with other believers is that no matter how many times you think you've heard something or think you know what something means, you always learn and enjoy something new. Tonight, as a conclusion to a Bible study I've been attending this semester, we got together in a home to have dinner. Afterward we read Hebrews 11 and had some really awesome fellowship concerning the matter of faith.

This chapter firstly defines faith,

     "Now faith is the substantiation of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." (v. 1)

In other words, to have faith is to act according to something you can't see and to hope for something in the future. Then the chapter goes through a brief history of some of the first people to follow God by faith including Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and so on. All of these ones in the Old Testament followed God by faith and were looking to the future or forward to the goal, Christ. The New Testament believers, including us, are now looking backward, towards Christ, while at the same time looking forward to the goal, which is also Christ!

Some things that were brought up tonight that really impressed me included verse 3 which says, "By faith we understand that the universe has been framed by the word of God..." This verse is so awesome because it shows that the frame of our beliefs and faith is the word of God.

How amazing is it that the universe is framed by the word of God?

Another point mentioned was in relation to verse 39 which says,

    "And these all, having obtained a good testimony through their faith, did not obtain the promise..."

This verse addresses the fact that the ones in the Old Testament who were following God by faith did not see the final goal, Christ. However, they played a part in bringing forth Christ which furthered the progress towards the goal. This was illustrated with the example of a relay race in which the baton is faith. Faith is the way we run the race. It has been passed down through the generations by the "hearing or faith" (Rom. 10:17) through the word of Christ and through the ones who came before us. This was such an encouraging picture because it showed that firstly, we aren't running this race alone and secondly, the way to run this race isn't from our own effort but through faith from God Himself.

Running the race by faith :)

Tonight was so enjoyable! I am always amazed by the freshness of the Word and of the Lord. I have previously blogged about the definition of faith, (previous blog post), and I feel like tonight's fellowship has really enriched and strengthened my understanding and experience of what it means to have and live by faith.

As a parting note and prayer, I also really enjoyed this verse from Hebrews 11,

     "But without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to Him, for he who comes forward to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." (v. 6)

Lord, may we be those walking by faith as the unique pathway of our Christian lives! Lord, we come forward to You and declare that we believe that You are! May we continue to be those diligently seeking You that we may be well pleasing to You!

Enchanted Rock

I can't believe its already Thanksgiving break! This semester has flown by! With the conclusion of the semester drawing near, Christians on campus group had an outing at Enchanted Rock last weekend. I really enjoyed attending it and have continued to enjoy the topics we covered throughout this week. 

The day's topic was Noah's Family as age-turners and we heard some speaking concerning God's purpose, man's fall, and the way of salvation in the morning. Then we got into the life and work that changed the age in the afternoon in small groups kind of like we do in our semester Bible studies. And lastly, we heard some speaking on practical aspects of what it means to be an age-turner.

 All of the sharing and readings were so enjoyable. But something that I've been especially enjoying is one of the Godly ways of the Fathers that we have inherited. This was what we learned from Adam, which was Adam's way of salvation.

Because Adam fell, God covered him with the sheepskin and gave him a way of salvation.  This really touched me because even though man's fall is generally seen as a negative event, it also allows us to taste the sweetness of God's salvation. For the first time I understood the verse, "Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the well's of salvation" (Isaiah 12:3).

Ink's Lake Outing

This semester I've been attending a Bible Study with the Christians on campus group and this past Saturday we had an outing at Ink's Lake! It was so nice to get away from campus for a day just to relax, take in the beautiful scenery and enjoy the refreshing day with those I've been enjoying Colossians with all semester! :)

Some things we did included eating a delicious lunch after arriving, canoeing or kayaking on the river, a hike on the park trails and a yummy cook out to replenish us from our active day. We ended the evening with some singing and watched the sun set over the water. It was such an enjoyable time and a great way to get refreshed for the last stretch of the semester.

Need a metabolism boost?

Continuing from last post... how can we let the word dwell in us richly?

In the supplemental reading it mentions that we need to have a proper metabolism in order to digest the word and have the word become rich to us. This prompted me to look up ways to boost one's physical metabolism in order to get ideas of how one could boost their spiritual metabolism. Here's what I found...

How to boost your metabolism:

1) Exercise

Exercising builds muscle which is more metabolically active than other cells. With more exercise, you increase your resting metabolic rate so that you burn more calories even while you aren't exercising. While physical exercise puts our physical bodies in a better condition to being metabolically active, spiritual exercise can as well. In Acts 24:16, Luke says "I also exercise... to always have a conscience without offense toward God and men." So in order to remove any barrier there may be between us and the Lord and to be in a state of having a proper metabolism to digest and assimilate His word, we need to exercise!

2) Stay Hydrated

All of the chemical reactions that occur in our body and burn calories happen in water. So even if you are the least bit dehydrated, your metabolism slows down. We can also be spiritually dehydrated. John 7:37 says "...If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink." Christ is our real drink and the only drink that satisfies man. (John 4:13) We need to continually drink Christ by calling on His name, praying to Him simple conversational prayers throughout our day and overflowing to other believers as well as enjoying others' overflow to us in order to stay hydrated!

3) Eat all day 

Though contrary to what most people interested in losing weight by boosting their metabolism would think, it is recommended to eat small frequent meals all throughout the day. This keeps your metabolism running non-stop and prevents you from overeating after starving yourself for too long. Similarly we can eat Christ all day long! To eat Christ is just to enjoy Him! In John 6:51, the Lord says, "I am the living bread..." We can eat Him anytime and anywhere! We shouldn't limit our eating to once of day and definitely not to just once a week. If we were to physically eat a meal just once a week, how miserable we would be! So frequent, continual eating of Christ all day long by enjoying Him in the word, through prayer or even through praying or singing the word will boost your metabolism.

4) Eat Breakfast

Breakfast is said to be the most important meal of the day. This is because it jump starts your metabolism. Likewise, having a morning time with the Lord is crucial for maintaining a proper spiritual metabolism. As the Lord practices in Mark 1:35, "rising very early in the morning... He prayed," we can jump start our metabolism of enjoying the Lord by coming to Him in the morning to enjoy His name, His word and our spirit!

Deficiency prevention

     This week in our Colossians Bible study, we enjoyed the phrase in Col. 3:16, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly...

His word is rich!

     Since I am studying Nutrition, I greatly appreciated the analogy of letting the word dwell in us richly to eating a meal in which the food is assimilated by our bodies and nourishes us. Like the word of Christ, food is rich in nutrients, but even so, if we are not able to absorb the riches, the food will not adequately nourish us. This reminded me of a difference in nutrient deficiencies one may have...

Primary deficiency vs. Secondary deficiency

     primary deficiency is a deficiency that occurs when not enough of a nutrient is consumed in the diet (which could be likened to reading the word every now and then and not taking in the word in a consistent or adequate manner)

     secondary deficiency occurs when a person cannot absorb enough of a nutrient, excretes too much of a nutrient from the body, or cannot utilize a nutrient efficiently (which can be likened to reading the word perhaps very often and even memorizing it extensively, but not digesting, assimilating, or enjoying the word so that it nourishes and enriches us) 

     

So how can we let the word of Christ dwell in us richly? ... to be continued :)

We have the right

     As I mentioned last time, this semester I'm attending a Bible study on the book of Colossians. And this week there was a verse that really stood out to me. It was Colossians 1:12, "Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light;" The implications of the words, qualified and share of the allotted portion really impressed me.

     Firstly, God the Father has qualified us! Nothing we did or could do ourselves would ever qualify us for what God has purposed for us. And what has the Father qualified us for? A share of the allotted portion, which is the all-inclusive Christ! We have been qualified to enjoy Christ as our portion!

the land is so good :)

    This reminded me of another verse I heard recently, "Blessed are those who wash their robes that they may have the right to the tree of life..." (Rev. 22:14). This reminded me of this matter of being qualified for the portion of enjoying Christ because the way the Father qualified us was by redeeming us with His blood on the cross. And because of this accomplishment, we are able to apply His blood today for the forgiveness of our sins. And when we come to Him to "wash our robes," we have the right to the tree of life. And the tree of life, like the allotted portion, signifies enjoying Christ! So here again we see that we have the right to enjoy Christ!

If we love one another...

Wow! I didn't know that the next time I would post would be so far away from the last time! So a lot has happened since then, such as coming back to Austin and the semester starting! But what I wanted to share is a new appreciation I have found for loving others.

While going over the material for the Bible Study I'm attending this semester over Colossians, we came across the topic of loving one another. It mentioned that from the time we first believe and receive the Lord, we spontaneously have love for one another and that this love is not our natural love, but the love coming out of our faith in the Lord.

So when we are living Christ today by faith, we are able to love others whom we may have never had the natural ability to love. This really impressed me because I've had my fair share of experiences of not being able to love others out of my natural ability. But, when I've turned to the Lord, and asked Him to be my source of love, somehow He was able to work in me.

A verse that I really like related to this is 1 John 4:12 "... if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us."