Da nobis hodie (Mt. 6:11)

 

Life is usually understood as kinds of various conditions experienced by human beings on earth: happiness, peace, wealth, health, wisdom, certainty, uncertainty, fairness, unfairness, suffering, and many other conditions. In seeking happiness,  pleasure, or satisfaction, many times one hurts others, using others, and many other things that can not be tolerated, and even crime. 

God teaches us to work hard in order to live a happy life. God doesn't forbid us to be happy, to be joyful, to experience pleasure, and satisfaction. For God promised human beings a comfortable and happy life in the Garden of Eden. Our Lord, Jesus Christ leads us towards eternal life with perfect and holy happiness. We also can experience happiness during our journey to the real home in heavens. Jesus shows us the way... He teaches us to have food enough for today... He doesn't teach us to have many excessive things... 

Accordingly, we should be grateful for every blessing. We should not hurt or cheat others... God wants us to be grateful... God doesn't force us to cross an ocean or climb a high mountain every day.

If only we can have enough food, that's enough... The Lord teaches us about sufficiency and simplicity. In any circumstances, we still can enjoy the perfect and holy happiness and joyfulness in our life. It happens if we live side by side with our God according to Jesus Christ's teaching.

By Ceisu Nita Wuntu.

Time Dominum (Prov. 3:7)

 

The fall of man into sin in the garden of Eden led to the difficulties of life that humans must face. A life that is comfortable and happy, a life that does not have difficulties, fights, and misery provided by God is not successfully maintained by Adam and Eve, so that humans and his descendants have to work very hard, compete with others in their lives, and sometimes have to do efforts in their life that can lead them to complicated, complex, and contentious problems. Even so, God still promises and provides a way of salvation for humans. God has given Jesus Christ as a path of truth and perfect life not limited to earthly life. Thus we can achieve the eternal and heavenly life, the kind of life which God had offered to Adam and Eve before the serpent came to tempt Eve in the garden. 

God comes again through Christ with His laws and statutes as the center of Christian teaching which is based on love. The opportunity to follow the laws and statutes is still open for those who want to accept Christ and fulfill His laws and statutes which means loving God and fellow humans like yourself.

Typically humans born from the sin are attracted by earthly wealth but at the same time they look for the eternal salvation. The traits are alive in every human being and often competes. When they are competing, a choice should be made. It is easy to choose from the two things: peacefulness on the earth or rather peacefulness in the eternal Kingdom which was promised by God through His Son Jesus Christ. The definite and ideal answer is the second one, which is the eternal salvation. 

God's decision is to offer the gift of salvation. He does not want to destroy humans even though they have fallen into sin. God still gives humans the freedom to enjoy life in the world. However, this life must be led in accordance with the wisdom from the Scriptures. It definitely leads people to salvation.

By Ceisy Nita Wuntu.

Operibus infructuosis (Eph. 5:11)

When we are asked about the direction of our life motivation, there will be the same nuance of the answer that tells about satisfaction gained from our life. Then, we will bring it in our prayer. When we are awake in the morning, we will get ready to pray and to prepare things for our activities for the same direction that is to fulfill our satisfaction.

Since the falling of Adam and Eve in sin in the Garden of Eden, God keeps guarding and loving us as His 'holy creation'. God was keeping away men from the life tree by placing a flaming sword (Genesis 3 : 24). God keeps protecting Cain after punishing him. In the end, we have Christ, our savior. From here, we can recognize the human nature that we can do right and wrong, and there is always a punishment to teach us and to bring us in the right salvation path. Our God is great, we are guaranteed by His grace for our eternal salvation. From the first in the garden of Eden, God has shown his holy warn to prevent men to experience suffering, to let men experience 'holy satisfaction', the most perfect one.

God's work of salvation and our perfect satisfaction still exist. He even lets us sense and experience His Kingdom on earth. When we keep doing His commands and His teaching, we are gonna experience perfect satisfaction. Having the material or worldliness satisfaction will not guarantee us to have the perfect one. Having a big house even the most comfortable one, it doesn't guarantee us to have a happy, peaceful, and joyful life.

Holy satisfaction can be only attained by having meaningful works. No one can claim us wrong if we do His command and teaching; walking in the light in His path. That's the blessing, that's the amazing grace that we can sense on the earth. God will surely bless and protect us while doing these fruitful works. Amen. God bless us all!

By Ceisy Nita Wuntu.

Refugium et virtus (Ps. 46:2)

We should be very grateful to have a guarantee for safety, peacefulness, happiness  and joyfulness by surrendering our life in God's promise. We have no need to worry about things. This is a perfect thing needed by all people in the world. It is really comforting.

Facing of this Covid 19 pandemic era, all people are challenged and tested to keep holding the promise. We are seeing many people's fear, anxiety, sadness, and tears. But, we have to be grateful for the promise by understanding the story of a grain mustard seed and Heavenly Kingdom. I believe all of us still have a faith that expresses our love and belief to our  Lord, our Father in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit even it is only as big as the seed’s size, a tiny one. But we still can get the salvation and we can still  experience God's strength, almightiness, and even miracles in our life.

Having a tiny faith is a treasure. It has the power to pump itself to become huge. To keep persistently living in God and to keep doing things in His way  are defined as a faith, a treasure that we can get for free. Only one word that can tie this intimate and great relationship; the word of 'believe' and it is the fundamental requirement mentioned in John 3 :16. Praise God, He is really great..

One of the expressions believing our Lord is about our responsibility as ordered Matthew 22: 39, the great commandment of law. It is seemingly easy to be understood.  Loving God  is loving ourselves and other people as well. Keep alert by preventing ourselves from Corona virus desease 19 is part of our commitment to believe and love our Lord. Keep staying healthy and happy, keep washing our hands, and keep making a distance with others are part of our responsibities and part of our wisdom and faith as ordered in our source of life in the Holy Gospel. Doing these things persistently grow our resignation and hope in Him and there are  blessings and  salvation awaiting. Experiencing God's almightiness, God's miracle and God's love is by doing persistently His commandments  and teachings.  Amen.

Ceisy N. Wuntu.

Triginta et octo annos (Jn. 5:5)

We are asked now to reflect the condition of a man living in infirmity in such a very long time... hundreds of efforts and contemplations as well or even thousands... could ever be possibly done by him to live comfortably...to live happily and joyfully... experience by experience have surely taught him a lot stimulating his hope, his eagerness, and his decision.... it is not an easy spiritual journey for him facing day by day his the difficult opportunity he will have to be the first to get him to be in the pool of Bethesda to have the miracle.... but finally, he finds it at the end !! easily, respectfully and gracefully when he is asked by A stranger and then he tells to Him, the great Healer of him frankly and sincerely about his hope...

A quiet contemplation to trace his feeling and experience journey appears to be an answer to understand the strength of the man who deserves to receive the miracle and of course the eternal salvation....one thing to be understood here is the strength of him from the endurance in surrender... 38 years is a big deal to wait for the angel to come....and the difficulty to have the help to bring him in the pool and hope of help, of worthiness result in endurance in surrender....our Christ who is Love, not only bring him in the pool but instantly heals him... God who knows this endurance in surrender comes and speaks gently "will thou be made whole ?"God who loves all people also gives him the love, need of him and surely need of us.... even when the man doesn't ask Him to heal him because the man doesn't know... God knows that he needs love and help ... so never hesitate of asking everything you need... just ask Him and you will have a heavenly hope as the man's and feel the hope that can emerge and there is a strength to stand strong together with our God in every challenge of our life waiting for love and help from Him... Halleluja!

By Ceisy Nita Wuntu, Paniki Atas.

Persecutionem patientur (2 Tim. 3:12)

The very big question is who  persecutes and who is being persecuted.

There are so many life expressions come into being from  man's everyday experiences, and time has tested them all. The popular one is that " you don't need to throw away the bitter one and to swallow immediately the sweet one". One should think twice to understand this expression for usually people will choose the sweet one rather than the bitter one.... this is children's fave. When a choice is given to them about two houses ; one is luxurious and the other is a simple and big enough for each of their family.... they will spontaniously choose the luxurious one.... this of children choice is possibly very much affected by visual attraction and or the physical attraction .... this also could be possibly elderly demeanour. The choice is not wrong but the effect can possibly make them unhappy, discomfort and suffering. A luxurious one must be expensive.... how can one afford that.... one should work very hard and when he is insisting on he will be possibly sacrificing many things; time, family, friends and many more, until he commits sins... God's words teach us to follow Him, doing everything He expects from us to do.... following Him, can make us joyful and peaceful under pressure ... that's a miracle when our bad mood facing the persecusion can suddenly turn to joyfulness and peacefulness of the children of our Lord Jesus Christ.....

To be children of the Lord Jesus Christ is not an easy task because we have to avoid all the earthly temptation. We are asked to gracefully understand that the persecution which we experience from others is something normal... The Scripture teaches us to persistently maintain and to follow the teaching of our God... Although in persecutions, we need to face them with dignity. Earthly enjoyment is not our destination.... God wants to save us for eternal life. Following Him is our blessing and peace, and satisfaction. The Heavenly Kingdom that we can experience or sense even in the world. God can make us experience the Heavenly Kingdom now and give us eternal life.

By Ceisy Wuntu.