Human, Humility, and Humiliation

Christian maturity is much measured by one's humility. At the end of Christ's mission on earth, He went to the lowest of low... death on a cross. Wikipedia describes crucifixion:

The goal of Roman crucifixion was not just to kill the criminal, but also to mutilate and dishonour the body of the condemned. In ancient tradition, an honourable death required burial; leaving a body on the cross, so as to mutilate it and prevent its burial, was a grave dishonour.

Under ancient Roman penal practice, crucifixion was also a means of exhibiting the criminal’s low social status. It was the most dishonourable death imaginable.

Christ sacrificed the powers of His divinity and experienced the most humiliating human experience. Come to think of it, the words; human, humiliation and humility are very closely related. Man cannot be humble without experiencing a degree of humiliation.
Well the more we love, the bigger the sacrifice. Thank you Lord, for saving us by your sacrifice and humiliation.

What humiliating experience humbled you?

A "Bald" Move

Friday last week, my 3 year old son, Sev, finally had his hair cut. He was having an irritation behind his ear due to his long hair. Now, he's bald or in the local dialect, "semi-kalbo." We were worried that Sev would cry after the haircut and feel bad that he's already bald. So I decided to also get a semi-kalbo haircut. You can say that I made a "bald move." After many bouts between Sev and the barber, the job was finally done. My son was surprised to also see me bald. He was laughing out loud upon knowing that both of us are already kalbo. He liked the new light feeling and I felt that me and my son achieved a new milestone in our bonding.

I am reminded of an old Christian song, "God With Us Emmanuel." It was one of the early Charismatic songs back in the 90's when i was still in Youth for Christ. The song goes, "He walked where I walked. He stood where I stand. He felt what I feel. He understands." I wanted my son to know that I understand the feeling of being bald, and we're going to be bald together. Whenever we feel pain, hurt, shame, suffering, and betrayal, we have a God who went through them all and more. Jesus shares with us our joys and most especially our sacrifices. He is not someone who just observes us from a distance. He is Emmanuel. He is God With Us.

If right now you feel hurt, alone, betrayed, or abandoned, just remember that all you have to do is to close your eyes and feel Christ inside you. He's there knocking upon your heart, waiting for you to invite Him in. He came down from heaven to earth to let us know that He understands and He will save us if we let Him. He made a bold move to show His love for us, now it's our turn to love Him back...boldly.

A Challenge To Be Initiators

Last Sunday we were very excited to hold the very 1st Holy Mass in our residence community. We didn't know how many would attend since the Mass' schedule was given in short notice. But to our surprise there were about 120 people who came. The hall was packed. My wife, Michelle, was one of the main organizers and I was part of the choir. I remember my wife talking to our priest months ago of the possibilities of having a mass in our area. She initiated it and soon things snowballed and resulted to the 1st Mass in our place. Every Sunday hereon, there will be mass for all our neighbors to attend and recieve God's graces.

Our challenge as Christians is to be initiators. During the time of Paul and Barnabas, the Good News was only spread to the Jews. But a group of believers initiated evangelization to the Gentiles. But other believers, who were from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and proclaimed the message to Gentiles also, telling them the Good News about the Lord Jesus (Acts 11:20). This eventually led Barnabas to go to Antioch, then later Barnabas sought Paul and brought him there too. This led to the first official Christian community. It was at Antioch that the believers were first called Christians (Acts 11:26) .

How are we to respond to Christ's call to initiate in spreading the Good News? Therefore go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19).

First, we are prompted by the Holy Spirit. There will be a strong sense inside us that urges us for the task. There is an internal pressure in our hearts that tells us to do what God prompts us. We pray about this and be led by His Spirit. My wife had a strong sense from the Spirit that gave her boldness and confidence to talk to the priest.

Second, we are not to stifle the Spirit by minding our lack of ability. Instead we are to submit to God inspite of our inadequacy. It is the Spirit that will move. We have to be vessels of His words. For the words you will speak willnot be yours; they come from the Spirit of your Father speaking through you (Matthew 10:20). I felt that I lacked the ability to start a choir, since I could only play the guitar and didn't have the experience of organizing singers. But a day before, the neighboring residence community's guitarists and singers agreed to my wife's invitation of singing and playing for us. Praise God. Now I'm trying to learn from them. We didn't say that we'd cancel Mass because we lacked the skills and talents. Indeed, if it is God's will, and we are available vessels, He will use us.

Third, we will do our best but it will be God who will make the work grow. The one who plants and the one who waters really do not matter. It is God who matters, because he makes the plant grow (1 Corinthians 3:7). What we can only do is to initiate and try our best to sustain it, but it is God who will stir the hearts of people. It is Him who will heal them. It is Christ who will be their salvation.

Is there something you ought to do for the Lord? What is hindering you to make the initiative to do His prompting? What steps will you make to make "Him" happen?

Keep Your Roots Deep In Him

Colossians 2:7 "Keep your roots deep in him..."

During storms and floods, I often see trees getting uprooted. Some trees can't handle the strong winds and the current of the floods. The roots of these trees don't have much to hold on to. The roots are not deep and strong enough, so the trees are uprooted.

How deeply rooted are we in Christ? Just like in our Christian life, there are strong winds and floods that can "uproot" us if we are not deeply rooted in Him. There are four T's that can uproot us from our faith. These are:

-Temptations
-Trials
-Tragedies
-Trouble

Our "favorite" sins always call upon us specially when we are idle. Many succumb to the sins of the flesh, others to alcohol or drugs. These temptations want to uproot us out of our commitment to Christ. Other temptations may also be bad habits or a bad attitude that we are trying to change and some people around us cause us to be swayed back to them. By God's grace, let us resist these temptations. They are like the forbidden fruit in Genesis. Just there hanging, waiting to be picked.
Trials are a part of growing as a Christian. They are meant to strengthen us in our faith and dependence on God. When things don't go our way and we seem to be oppressed, we ask God to give us the strength to overcome these. God does not give us what we can't bear. During trials, we are humbled. Let not our pride get the best of us, or we will get uprooted in our faith.

There are tragedies in life that come. Mostly unexpected. A death of a loved one, accidents, and calamities are examples of tragic events that may come to one's life. If we are not deeply rooted, we will start to blame God and question His plan.

Sin can lead us to trouble. While the other T's may be caused by external factors, our sinfulness and it's consequences will bring us a troubled life. While we are all sinners, we must be reminded to repent and seek for reformation. Sin's troubles will uproot us from God's presence.

We have to be firm in our faith and seek to grow our roots deep in Him. What can help us to be deeply rooted in Christ?

D - discern through scripture
E - embrace sacraments
E - exercise humility
P - pray regularly

Everyday we make decisions, we discern. If our discerment is not based on the guidance of God's word through scripture, we easily weaken and lose hope. When we discern through scripture, our faith roots are deepened and our convictions are strengthened.

Embracing the sacraments allows us to experience God's graces. Specially during the Holy Eucharist, when we receive the Body of Christ, our souls are renewed by the presence of Christ in us. When we worship Him during Holy Mass, we are brought back to the truth that He is God and we are not. He is in control of our lives as long as we surrender ourselves to Him. Sacraments deepens our understanding of our faith.

Excercising humility makes us grow each day to be like Jesus. Who could be more humble than Christ? There can none other be more humbe than God's Son coming down to earth to suffer and die on the cross in the hands of the ones he loved. When we are not humble, we are easily uprooted by pride. The problem with proud people is that they don't even acknowledge that they have sinned. Humble people are deeply rooted in Christ because they are quick to know they are at fault and that it is better to do the loving thing.

Praying regularly allows us to be more familiar with God's voice, specially when life's situations get more confusing. Our constancy in prayer will give us the sensitivity to his prompting. When we pray, we become more dependent in Him and less on ourselves. Prayer deepens our roots in Christ, specially when we meditate and contemplate on His message for us in our life's situation.

Let not temptations, trials, tragedies, and troubles uproot us of our faith. Instead, let us grow deeply rooted in Christ, standing firm amidst the storms that life may bring.

Be a Champion for Chino!

Chino Nebrao, 10-month old son of our friends and household mates, Clark and Cynch, has severe mitral regurgitation with mild stenosis. In simple terms, he has a defective heart valve. The condition affects only 2% of the world’s population and survival rate is only 5%. To treat baby Chino's condition, a sum of Php 2 million or USD 45,000 is needed for the open heart surgery, medications, and other hospitalization expenses. We need 2,000 generous souls to give, at least, Php 1,000 (USD 20) each.

I don't know how many people in cyberspace this blog can reach, but I do pray for the Lord to touch the hearts of the readers to help baby Chino. Chino's parents, Clark and Cynch, are faithful servants of God. They have been going on many missions around the world and have made a great impact in bringing Christ to others specially to the people in Africa. I am moved by their great faith in God and posture of total surrender in the light of Chino's condition.

Let us pray for baby Chino's healing. Let us allow the Lord to use us by being Champions for Chino.

Please visit www.championsforchino.com for more details.