Author: jameskim

Just a guy doing his best to love God, love others, and serve the world.

Tourist or On a Journey

 

Screenshot 2019-12-13 at 8.36.02 PMEveryone is going from point A to point B.

Everyone is living their days with the same 24 hours every day. No one gets a single second more than the other.

What is interesting is some people are able to get so much more enjoyment and life out of life than others. What is the difference? How can some get the more joy out of life than others when we are all living the same 24 hour days? Why are some never satisfied?

One is busy going from one place to another. Their goal is the destination and everything and everyone in between is an obstruction and a nuisance to be avoided. Think about that last sentence. The people in that sentence include your family, spouse, friends, and strangers. Because we have made the goal and objective of life the destination we see everyone and everything as an obstruction and nuisance.

Wow. What a sad way to live.

Such is the life of a traveler.

One who is journeying through life also gets to the destination. But the destination is only a part of the journey. All of the journey – the traffic congestion, the conversations along the way, the fellow journeyers, the smells, the sounds, the sights, and fellow journeyers – all of that is the journey.

There are no obstructions. There are no nuisances. It’s all part of the journey.

We will all arrive at the destination one way or the other. The question is how do you want to get there.

We are on a journey.

Journeyers take the time to notice the life that is happening all around them. Most importantly, they make the time to notice the people on their journey. Unless you take the time and intentionally make the time to notice, you will miss it all. And most importantly, you will miss the people. And what a shame that is for you and everyone in your life.

Life is a journey. Live it well.

Free to Sing

Screenshot 2019-11-23 at 12.51.00 PM

“I have on my table a violin string,” wrote Ranidranath Tagore.

“It is free to move in any direction I like. If I twist one end it responds; it is free. But it is not free to sing. So I take it and fix it into my violin. I bind it and when it is bound, it is free for the first time to sing.”

Our society believes freedom is to be free from all restrictions and boundaries.

But what if we were created and made to be bound? Bound to God, bound to righteousness, bound to holiness, bound to make a difference in the lives of others, etc.

Freedom from all restrictions and boundaries is chaos. Worse yet, such freedom prevents us from becoming what we were created to be.

Freedom – the freedom to be what we were created to be – is found in being closely bound to our Creator.

His name is Jesus.

Do you know him? Receive Jesus as LORD and Savior.

Taking Captive Every Thought to Make it Obedient to Christ

Screenshot 2019-09-26 at 3.31.26 PM

“…and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5b).

Long before a sin is committed, that sin has been entertained, dreamed about, fantasized, planned, imagined in our thoughts.

When you see a beautiful woman, a handsome man, a beautiful car or motorcycle you can’t help but notice the beauty. Thoughts happen. There’s nothing wrong with that.

It’s what we do after the original thought that is the problem. When we allow inappropriate thoughts to dwell, that’s on us.

Thankfully, most of us don’t go around committing the sins we think about. What we struggle with is our thoughts.

I find Paul’s admonition and challenge encouraging and helpful. Paul tells the Corinthian church, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

  • Demolish
    • The Greek word for “demolish” means to “take down,” “pull down,” “overthrow”
    • Demolish what? Demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God
    • Something other than the truth of God has set itself up as the authority and the standard of truth in our lives. We are called to demolish, take down, pull down, and overthrow anything that goes against the knowledge of God
  • Take captive
    • The Greek word for “take captive” means to subdue, subject
    • What are we to take captive?
  • Every thought
    • We are to take captive every thought. The good, the bad, the ugly. All…all..every thought
  • For what reason?
    • To make it obedient to Christ!

 

I love this!

  • We have the word of God to tell us what God’s will is
  • We have been given the authority, the responsibility to take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ

Imagine taking every thought captive in order to make it obedient to Christ! Wow!