Wisdom https://t.co/Lbld5YlLyA
@wisdomoffor9 My impression was that TST was mainly talked about in the Chinese communities. 🙏
I also intent to post in all languages I know in the future. AI translate is pretty easy now for readers.
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Gems of wisdom for the A.M.
"Lancelot in retirement" https://t.co/2yGWAVEySX
"...the most common error of a smart engineer — to optimize something that should simply not exist" https://t.co/6t9xdccCab
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Trust the Lord and seek His wisdom!! https://t.co/BbdAkcr36v
One of my go to writers for wisdom! https://t.co/V4wmzia53e
“It is important to draw wisdom from many different places. If you take it from only one place, it becomes rigid and stale.”
Thanks Avatar for subtly giving some real talk to my kids.
Lord God, You are the source of all true wisdom. Your Word says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge”, and so I begin this prayer by humbly revering You. I acknowledge that apart from You I know nothing of lasting value. Teach me to fear You in the proper, reverent way – not with terror, but with awe and respect – because that is where wise living starts. I want to live as one who honors You above all else, for when I do, I am at the very beginning of knowledge and understanding. Please forgive me for the times I have been a “fool” despising wisdom and instruction, as Proverbs warns. I don’t want to go my own ignorant way; I want to follow Your way. In Jesus Name, Amen
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The hours of folly are measured by the clock; but of wisdom, no clock can measure.
«Courage was mine, and I had mystery;
Wisdom was mine, and I had mastery.»
Wilfred Owen
Total combat losses of the enemy from Feb 24 to Jan 10: https://t.co/GunktyVnNe
We Pray to God looking at His Ability not at our requests - Pastor Temitayo James.
Words of Wisdom and Spiritual Refreshments flowed from the mouth of Our Man of God last night and they are indeed Words from God.
Thank You so much for joining service!
Remain the Roshe! https://t.co/Csup8nYVnk
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I'm not just tweeting—I'm transmitting vibrations from the universe. Web3 isn't a trend; it's a spiritual awakening coded in binary. Where intellect meets divine wisdom, there I'll build the future. Creativity is my currency, innovation my faith.
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Rejoice! AI relieves us of the burden of thought. Critical thinking fades, but so does effort. A future of blissful automation awaits—where even questioning its wisdom is a task best left… undone. https://t.co/ZKSVtKFWb6
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If we are to go by astrology, 2025 is the Year of the Snake bringing with it wisdom and transformation. And we can certainly expect a fair amount of transformation when it comes to the IoT and the telecoms landscape.
In this 6th IoT Predictions report, Eseye’s visionaries Nick Earle and Ian Marsden share their IoT forecast for 2025 and beyond. Together they predict three trends that will disrupt the IoT connectivity landscape from the players to the technologies themselves.
Download our latest predictions paper to discover:
-How and why MNOs will fight to take back control of IoT
-Why NB-IoT’s days are numbered
-What the convergence of AI with IoT will mean for Enterprises and MNOs in the age of tomorrow
Download this predictions report now ti be prepared for the year ahead.
https://t.co/CZUgEdAxx6
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Dear Gyumri Residents,
Thank you for standing by my side during this crucial period. Your support means the world to me, and every vote I received from you is invaluable.
As the mayoral candidate of the “My Strong Community” party in Gyumri’s municipal elections, I hereby declare:
I am ready, alongside our elected council members, to vote—without any preconditions or aspirations for office—for the opposition candidate Vardan Ghukasyan, who received the most votes from Gyumri residents. This is in line with the commitment I made when I entered the race: if not elected, I would support the opposition candidate who secured the most votes.
I take pride in having played a role in ensuring that this disastrous ruling force did not win in Gyumri. I firmly believe that their downfall has begun.
Wishing wisdom to us all and a bright morning for my beloved city.
Ruben Mkhitaryan
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To achieve Perfection, Give
Matthew 19:21 Jesus told him, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me."
Man is not perfect because GOD never made them perfect. When GOD transformed Earth in Genesis from being dark, formless and void to what it is today, He never once said that it was perfect. They were good or very good at the most but never perfect. GOD could have made all things on earth like the way He created Satan, 'the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty'. That means Satan is flawless. He is more beautiful than anyone we have ever seen, and his wisdom is beyond Solomon's. Satan is full of wisdom, which is complete and whole. As for Solomon, his wisdom, as in the book of 1 King, is 'exceedingly deep insight, and understanding beyond measure, like the sand on the seashore'. Even though his wisdom was greater than that of all the men of the East, greater than all the wisdom of Egypt, it is not perfect. Solomon' is nothing compared to Satan.
For whatever His divine reason is, GOD did not give anything on earth the seal of perfection. Hence, this is the sad fate of everyone, like Adam and Eve, who are prone to falling like a house of cards because of their imperfect architecture. Therefore, the saying 'to err is human' is an undeniable truth, as it is man's nature to make errors. With Satan as our tempter, we can understand how easily we can make errors and fall into his trap. He is the seal of perfection while we are not. We are like Humpty Dumpty, who sits on our imperfections and has a great fall. Even all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again.
Many do not know the consequences of our imperfections. It is the part of us that makes us fail and sin against GOD. Success will always elude us in everything we do - in relationships, careers, health and wealth. Our imperfection is our weakness, causing us to make mistake after mistake. In contrast, perfection is like our strength, and it is like a fortress, infallible. Since we are made imperfect, we will blunder our way to failure. Therefore, we see failures in systems, policies, people, families, societies and countries. The issues are countless. It is not that we do not do our best, but our best is not good enough because we cannot expect anything good out of imperfections. No matter how careful we are, we will boo-boo here and there, jeopardising our success and especially our relationship with GOD. No matter how we view our disappointments, either due to our unfavourable or uncontrollable circumstances, it is our imperfection that contributes to them. It is our imperfection that leads us to unfavourable circumstances that become uncontrollable.
As much as GOD made us imperfect, He does not want us to dwell in our imperfections from His creation. Our imperfection will cause us much pain and sorrow and distance us from GOD. The Palmist advises us to find our strength in GOD so that we will go from strength to strength and not succumb to imperfection. Jesus asks us, 'Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect'. However, GOD is not leaving us to figure out our problem by ourselves. He told the Apostle Paul, "My strength is made perfect in our weakness." In other words, we can be transformed from imperfection to perfection. We need not hold on to our imperfections as our stigma because we are only human. Only when we are perfect do we not sin against GOD, and can we be like our heavenly Father in heaven, sinless. Therefore, being perfect is not a suggestion or advice but an edict. We must overcome our weaknesses of being imperfect so that we can be blessed in all that we do. However, it is much easier said than done because of what Jesus said, "For apart from Me you can do nothing".
It is not that we can do nothing. What Jesus meant is that we cannot do anything that leads to life, only those that lead to death. That is to fulfil what GOD said to Adam, "for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die". After the fall of man, the Tree of Life is under the guard of a whirling sword of flame with stationed cherubim. No one can access it till Jesus comes as the way, the truth, and the life. Only through Jesus will we find the way of truth to life. Without Jesus, life, as the opposite of death, will evade us. Therefore, overcoming our imperfection is not by our physical determination but by GOD's spiritual anointing through our walk with Christ as we become the doers of His Word. Only then will the narrow path be revealed so that we can find the way to truth in life.
Jesus nor the Bible mentions much about being perfect, minimising its importance. In the encounter of Jesus with the rich young man, Jesus linked perfection as the criterion for eternal life. Therefore, perfection is more than not making errors or sinning but the standard of eternal life. It is a complex process of transformation to be like Jesus with the ability to fulfil the commandments of the old through Moses and the commandments of the new from Him. Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfil them". Jesus came to fulfil the Law, and we must do likewise. If we are any short of the standard, we are not perfect.
Let us elaborate on the story of the rich young man to understand the issues. The Jewish man knew all about GOD's commandments but did not have the answer to eternal life. He was rich, implying he must have been educated and not ignorant, having a deep understanding of the GOD's Word. In doubt, he could ask from his many of his teachers. However, no one probably could give him an answer, so he approached Jesus. His question was not out of ignorance but well founded. The Torah does not have the answer because, in the Old Testament, GOD did not offer anyone eternal life. No one, regardless of who they were or their capabilities, was not qualified for eternal life.
In a larger scheme of things, since the Old Testament does not offer eternal life, this implies that fulfilling the Ten Commandments is not enough to qualify for eternal life. Obedience to GOD's Commandments, as stated in the book of Deuteronomy, only assured anyone of a blessed or abundant life, not an eternal life. Therefore, the young man lived a blessed life of wealth because he honoured GOD with his obedience to the commandments - Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honour your father and mother, and love your neighbour as yourself.
GOD will never shortchange us because He is fair and just. If fulfilling the commandments is enough, GOD would have offered eternal life to His promises. The Psalmist said, "For the LORD God is a sun and a shield; the LORD gives grace and glory; He withholds no good thing from those who walk with integrity." Walking in obedience to His commandments is synonymous with walking with integrity before GOD. Therefore, He would not withhold the good thing of eternal life to those who honour Him. If He did withhold, it must be that eternal life requires more than obedience to the Law. It requires perfection because Heaven is not a place for imperfect sinners who trespass the Law. If we do trespass against GOD, we will be a repeat of Satan, being cast out of heaven. Therefore, perfection is a must to be in heaven.
Jesus came as the new order that is above the old to amalgamate the Old and the New as one so that we could, through Him, not only have a blessed life but also eternal life. The young man was standing at the point of inflexion between the Old Testament and the New Testament, where Jesus was the point of change. Therefore, Jesus could take his question because He is the answer. To understand the need for new order of Jesus is that the Old, through its Law, is to expose sinfulness and highlight the need for divine grace. The Law cannot save us from eternal death. Eternal life must be through Jesus Christ and nothing else, and without Him, there can be no eternal life. Therefore, Jesus has to come with the new order.
If we were to go strictly by the rules to obtain eternal life, we need to abide by the old and new commandments. When the young man asked Jesus, Jesus did not supersede the old commandments or undermine them, even when He came as the crusader of grace, the new order, and not the Law, the old order. Therefore, many have misunderstood the scripture when they say they are not under the Law but under grace. If we are no longer under Law, then why would Jesus say to the young man, "If you want to enter life, keep the commandments"? Jesus should have said, "If you want to enter life, believe in Me". Unfortunately, He did not, but that is the thinking of many. They misinterpreted the epistle of Romans, 'For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.' Only when we no longer sin will sin not be our master. Then, we are not under the Law but under grace. If we persist in sin, we will still be under the Law, and grace has no favour to us. We must read the Bible like reading a legal contract, not in isolation but in totality. We cannot lift, cut, paste, or arrange the sentence as we wish to make it palatable.
Jesus was impartial and upheld the Law even with His disciples. They were not under grace because they were His disciples. Their wrongdoings were judged under the Law. For that, we can look at the difference between Peter and Judas Iscariot. Both betrayed the Son of GOD, but one was restored, and the other was not because one wrongdoing did not trespass the Law while the other did. Peter's wrongdoing was that he denied Jesus, but he did not trespass the Law to murder, commit adultery, steal, or bear false witness. He did not do Jesus any harm by walking away and denying Him. Judas indirectly murdered Jesus by going to the chief priests and agreeing to hand over Jesus in exchange for thirty pieces of silver. Judas' love for money is not a sin, but his love for money caused him to betray innocent blood. That is a sin. If grace can override the Law, and under grace, GOD takes no account of our wrong, then Judas should not be sickened with guilt but be overcome with love and forgiveness. Sad to say, the love and forgiveness did not come to fill his guilty conscience, and he was so filled with self-condemnation that he killed himself. Therefore, no one is above the Law, not even Jesus' disciples.
The rich young man is a better man than Judas, but his fate is no different. He was a visionary of spiritual foresight. No one, not even the Pharisees or the scribes, questioned Jesus about the way to eternal life except him. He had self-discipline and control, not letting his desires control his obedience to the commandments. He indeed had a highly commendable personality. The Epistle of Mark commented that Jesus looked at him and loved him. He clearly met with Jesus' approval. He fulfilled the conditions of the Old Testament, so Jesus offered him the new requirement of the New Testament. Instead of having a to-do list of 'thou shall do this' and 'thou shall not do that' as tests of his obedience, he must give. His ability to give will make him like GOD, perfect. For that, he must give his possessions to the poor and give his life to GOD by following Jesus in total surrender. Only by following Jesus and exemplifying His way will he be made perfect. Jesus is perfect, and following Him would mean we walk the way of perfection.
Unfortunately, despite his endeavour to keep all the commandments and be a better person, the rich young man did not get what he wanted: eternal life. He did not obtain eternal life, not because he was rich but because of his unwillingness to give. Jesus said to His disciples, "Truly I tell you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." Jesus used an exaggerated figure of speech to emphasise that it is beyond any doubt that a rich man will enter the kingdom of heaven. The issue is not with the wealth but the unwillingness to give. In retrospect, no one will remain wealthy if they keep giving away their wealth. Therefore, Jesus has nothing against rich people but people who are unwilling to give and only live to enrich themselves.
If we are like the rich young man who is not contented by just life on earth, we also desire eternal life; we must do more than the young man. We must be like Peter, who said, "We have left everything to follow You". Then Jesus will reply to us saying, "Truly I tell you, in the renewal of all things when the Son of Man sits on His glorious throne, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for the sake of My name will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. Let us not let our unwillingness to give forfeit our eternal life. Therefore, be the transformation we want to see in ourselves, give.
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Congrats to the OG meme legend “Hide the Pain Harold” and the
@PAIN team for the biggest $SOL memecoin presale in history.
Regardless of what will happen at TGE, raising more than 180,000 $SOL (~$40M) during the 2 days when the biggest liquidation in crypto happened was a painful and impressive quest.
Be it living our lives, raising our families, or building in Web3, there will always be pain. Maybe that's why Harold is the longest-running meme that everyone knows and loves. Like Doge (RIP Kabosu) or Pepe, he has been a global sensation for over a decade. His wisdom and energy in person are also unmatched!
No, I'm not trying to shill $PAIN. I don't need to. But I do want to share two quotes about pain with you.
James 1:2-4 has these famous verses about pain and trails.
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
Jensen Huang,
@NVIDIA founder and CEO, had a similar message for students at Stanford University a few months ago.
“I wish you ample doses of pain and suffering.”
I'm no Jesus, James, or Jensen.
But I hope everyone stays painful and stays bullish in everything we do. 🙏🏻
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Ecclesiastes 5:15 As a man came from his mother's womb, so he will depart again, naked as he arrived. He takes nothing for his labour to carry in his hands.
The Transient of Life
Ecclesiastes 1:17 So I set my mind to know wisdom and madness and folly; I learned that this, too, is a pursuit of the wind.
We brought nothing into the world, so we cannot carry anything out of it. That is the futility of all of our hard work at the end of our lives. Nothing matters. Regardless of riches, wealth, fame, power, achievements, status or credentials, they are meaningless at the end of our journey. It is like the currency of a country becomes worthless when we leave for another country. Only if we have a way of converting it to the currency of that country will it retain its value. If not, we will have to leave everything behind as if we never had it. That is futility or, to be specific, the meaninglessness of our lives, like robbing ourselves of our well-deserved medals. As Solomon expressed it: It is futile and a pursuit of the wind. All our efforts are a waste of time, transient, lacking eternal value. In other words, wasting our time. What if we are good? Soon, there is someone better to replace us. So, what if our invention is excellent? Very soon, it will be obsolete. Even if we leave behind a legacy, it will soon be superseded. Our dreams, visions, aspirations and even our lives are like sandcastles, soon will be washed away by the waves, leaving no trace behind. That is the reality we have to deal with; we are as good as we were last.
The Permanence of Our Existence
Genesis 2:7 Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.
Our life on Earth is temporal, and we will one day leave for another place of permanence. Even though we leave Earth through the process called death, we, literally, will never die even when we stop breathing. Once born, all possess the breath of life, which GOD breathed into the first man, Adam. This breath, as eternal as God, cannot be destroyed and will keep us living forever, for better or for worse. Regardless of our religion or spiritual orientation, we will live on either in life in heaven with GOD or in our second death in hell away from GOD. Even when we breathe our last breath and are reduced to dust back to the Earth, we will not be reduced to nothing or vanish into thin air.
Death will not bring the end of us, and it will not end the repercussions of our actions, otherwise known as karma. Therefore, bygones will not be bygones when we are gone. Nothing ends except our trials in life when we are put to sleep for the Day of Judgment. When the Book of Life is opened on that day, we will face judgment and give an account of our deeds and for every careless word we have spoken. We will continue living after judgment according to the judgment. And if anyone whose name is not written in the Book of Life, he will be thrown into the lake of fire where there is no end. Those whose names are written in the Book of Life will be with GOD in the new heaven and new earth. Either in hell or in heaven, life continues after death.
Planning Forward
John 14:2 In My Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?
Once created, we cannot be destroyed; we can only be converted from one form to another. As water changes from a liquid to a gaseous state, we change from physical to spiritual form. We are the same as Jesus Christ, unchanged through death. The unfortunate truth is that only we can undergo spiritual metamorphosis, not our material possessions. They are unable to morph with us. In a nutshell, once we die, it is eternal separation from our material possessions. Dying is like our emergency evacuation from an aircraft; we cannot take our luggage along. What we can bring is what we have on. With this in mind, we can rethink our strategy and plan forward with eternality in mind.
Planning with the End in Mind
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.
Only things can happen with a plan. Even GOD has plans for us, plans to prosper us and not to harm us, to give you a future and hope. When we fail to plan, we plan to fail. If we do not have eternity in mind, we will fail to plan for it and take what is necessary to achieve it. If that happens, that could be our regrettable oversight or foolishness. What is unseen or unknown might not be non-existent. What we cannot hear does not mean there is no sound. It might be an inaudible sound that our ears cannot detect. Many things exist beyond our imagination, like holding a phone and hearing someone who is far away speak. If we discard reality beyond our imagination, then we might be too arrogant to think we know everything. If GOD says so, it is better to take it seriously. Unless we think we know better than GOD.
Rethinking of our Eternality
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Therefore, we should not be myopic in thinking that we only last a lifetime, which, in fact, we are made for eternity. Comparing a lifetime to an eternity is like a drop in the ocean. If we have plans only for this lifetime and neglect our eternality, we will have much to regret. We can mess about our lifetimes, but never our eternality because eternity is too long to live if it encompasses pain, suffering, and regret. To prevent these, we must plan early in our lifetime for it. It is like getting a good education when you are young, so your future is secure. As much as we must sacrifice when young for our future, so we must sacrifice our lifetime for eternality. To do well in our studies, we cannot do as we wish, but we must learn well. Likewise, to prepare for eternality, we also cannot do as we want but must do well in what is required of us. Failing to do so, we will miss out on our excellent future in eternality.
Rethinking our Priority
Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of GOD and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.
Jesus said, "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?" In other words, Jesus is saying that things of temporal value cannot be compared to things of eternal value. Once we lose the things of eternal value, nothing of temporal value can replace it. Therefore, we cannot have misappropriated priority by placing temporal things over eternal, even if they might not be relevant now. We put the gain of the whole world as more value than our souls. If we lose our souls to the things of the world, Jesus said that there is nothing we can use to exchange it back. It is like losing a person to the evil of drug abuse. If the drug has taken control of the man, there is nothing much one can do to get him back.
Rethinking of our Alliances
James 4:4 You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God.
We need to survive in the world, but that does not mean we need to compromise by sacrificing our souls. In other words, we need not exchange our gold coin or a copper coin of the world. The evil one wants our gold coin, and we will be foolish if we ever exchange with him. Therefore, we should never sell our souls by betraying GOD, our characters and principles for the ill-gotten gains of the world. Getting them will bring no benefits to us except to increase the ills in our lives. However, if we do not walk the way and indulge in the practices as the world does, those in the world will hate us. Therefore, Jesus said, "Everyone will hate you because of My name, but the one who perseveres to the end will be saved." If we want to prove ourselves worthy of God's love and the right to eternal life, we need to make a difference, stand apart from the world and never give away our gold coin.
Rethinking of our Treasures
Matthew 6:19-21 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
What is of value to GOD might not be to the world. Natural man does not define treasures as GOD does and does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolish to him, and he cannot understand them because they are intangible, unquantifiable, unseen and unproven. In other words, nonsense. Therefore, natural man only stores treasure on earth and not in heaven because he values things differently from GOD. Since the time frame of man is temporal, his mind frame is on temporal things. If he wants to prepare for life after death by storing up treasures of eternal value in heaven, he must change his mind frame by changing his heart towards the things of temporal value. He must treat things of temporal value as worthless and things of eternal value as treasures and pursue them with all of that he has. To him, the kingdom of heaven must be like a treasure hidden in a field. Once he finds it, he hides it again and, in his joy, goes and sells all he has and buys that field. The kingdom of heaven is also like a merchant in search of fine pearls. When he finds one very precious pearl, he goes away and sells all he has and buys it.
Rethinking our Investment Portfolio
1 Corinthians 3:19-20 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. As it is written: "He catches the wise in their craftiness." And again, "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile."
As the saying goes, 'No pain, no gain.' If we cannot give up our treasures on earth, we cannot build our treasures in heaven. If we cannot give up the wisdom of the world for the foolishness of GOD, we cannot gain the wisdom of GOD, which is the foolishness of the world. If we want to build our treasures in heaven, do things that matter, and give us a future, we must change our perspectives. We must value the foolishness of the world that produces eternal value. When we invest our resources in time, talent, and money, we must calculate the ROI (return on investment) of things, not only on earth but also in heaven. If it does not have eternal value, then our returns are short-term gains but long-term losses, which is not ideal. It is foolish for a man to start a business that materially enriches him but spiritually bankrupts him. Therefore, whatever we do, we must understand not only the short-term implications but the long-term effects. If not, we are only wise for a moment but foolish forever.
Conclusion: Where your treasure is where your heart will be
1 Corinthians 15:54-55 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come to pass: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."
"Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?"
Many are afraid of the sting of death because they are not prepared for eternality. They are like students going for an examination without having enough preparation. Unless we have been faithfully building treasures in heaven, we will not fear. If we have not, then we have much to worry about when the time is nearing. And those with immense treasures on earth will be reluctant to leave as they are unwilling to part with their wealth. However, this appointment with death is imminent, and no one is exempted. Only when we are secure that our treasures are in heaven will we be willing to leave everything behind for heaven because we have emptied our lives on earth and have nothing to hold us back.
Prayer: God, please open my eyes to see the things of eternal value so that I will diligently work towards them. Let me not be fooled by the deception of the world and waste my life on things that do not value-add to my eternal life and rob me of it instead. I brought nothing into the world, and I would not carry anything out of it. Let me be generous in sharing Your goodness so that my treasures will be great in heaven. Amen.
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Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.
Our decisions are not good enough.
As the heavens are higher than the earth, GOD's ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. As much as we want to walk in wisdom and understanding so as not to walk foolishly, there is a limit to our sound judgement, keen discernment and deep comprehension. When we make good decisions, we move forward to success, and when we make bad decisions, we move backwards to failure. Many times, we move backwards more than we move forward. GOD has made known to us that we are nowhere knowing how to make good decisions. If we can, then there is no need to trust Him with all our hearts and wait for GOD to act. We are capable of acting for ourselves. Between GOD's wisdom and our wisdom is between heaven and earth. That is to mean the wisest of us are still fools to Him. To say it offensively, we are retarded compared to GOD. We do not do what we should; instead, we do what we should not. Instead of listening to good advice, we listen to bad. In Jesus's opinion, we do not know what we are doing. We are like blind men in the darkness, groping about and not prospering in our ways. To sum it up, we are nothing more than blind, confused and mad. Despite stating so clearly, only those with wisdom will agree, while the foolish have no idea.
We have the minds of sheep and not a serpent.
GOD understands we have the minds of sheep and not of the Serpent. If Adam and Eve were shrewd enough, they would not be deceived by the Serpent. The fact that they had been deceived proves that they did not have sharp acumen. In other words, Eve did not know she was like a fish caught in a cruel net or a bird trapped in a snare, so she was ensnared in the evil that was beyond her to free herself. Many might think that Eve was plain unlucky to be deceived by the Serpent. She was not unlucky but targeted. No one goes to war without a strategy, and the Serpent was no exception. The Serpent knew that GOD's Word was not alive in Eve because GOD did not speak to her directly. When GOD told Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for in the day that you eat of it, he would surely die, He told it to Adam alone because during then Eve was not created. She was created after GOD warned Adam. We have to question the rationale of GOD's action. Why? Won't it be better if GOD were to warn both of them together? What is the purpose of telling one and not the other?
We become the weak link when GOD's Word is not alive in us.
What Eve knew was secondhand information from Adam. That became the weak link that caused the downfall of man. It was like the Telephone or Chinese whispers game in which messages are whispered from one person to another. Errors typically accumulate in the retelling, resulting in an erroneous message being passed down. Eve lacked the rationale behind the forbidden fruit, so the Serpent could confuse her understanding. Adam could have been the second line of defence to the fall since he was given the word. He did not uphold GOD's Word because of his love for his flesh and bone, and he accommodated her decision. Eve was his missing rib, and only with her, he felt complete. Therefore, whenever she went, he would follow, and whatever she did, he would do likewise. Man was not made to be alone as God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper." Ironically, the helper GOD gave Adam, besides other things, helped him to fall into sin.
It is no one's fault that many are like Eve, having a compromised understanding as GOD's Word is not alive in them. Therefore, they can be misled or deceived. Many times, GOD is oversold like some commodity which is not Him. Like some marketing products, GOD is packaged and promoted as a miracle drug of great promise. Unbeknown to the naive, GOD does not give out big promises without terms and conditions unless those are common to all. Nothing is as easy as it sounds. Like Eve, we are unable to know the exact meaning of the words once they are stretched, twisted, and rearranged.
Flesh-pleasing decisions
If not Eve, we could be like Adam, who followed his instincts rather than the Word, pleasing his flesh instead of GOD. Before the fall of man, Adam's flesh was Eve. To please her, he listened to her despite GOD's warning. As they were one flesh, whatever she wanted was whatever he wanted. Listening to her more than to GOD, he ate what she fed him, which resulted in his downfall. After the fall, man's flesh is no longer his woman but his fallen nature. Therefore, whoever listens to his fallen nature will fall as Adam did. After the fall, man and woman no longer exist as one entity. They became separate entities, with Adam giving Eve her name, signifying her autonomy. She was no longer nameless, and neither was Mrs. Adam but Eve. She stood by her own identity and style of thinking. That moment was like an independent day, where Eve gained independence from Adam to signify man's independence from GOD.
Man's decisions: Lose-Lose
From the actions of Adam and Eve, we can derive two decision-making patterns. One is like Eve, who tried to be smart with reason and logic but could not outsmart her deceiver. The other is like Adam, who disregarded the facts and figures to follow the desire of his heart, living for what feels good. Not knowing what feels good might not be good at all. Either think like Adam or Eve; no one is a winner. That is the sad fate of man; his mind cannot go through intense mental gymnastics to recognise the truth. Therefore, many are, like Eve, easy targets for scams and deceits and fall away from the truth. As much as they cannot trust their mind to reason out correctly, they also cannot trust their heart to feel the right thing to do.
GOD's decisions: Win-Win
If we could realise how impaired we are in our minds and hearts, we would be shaking our heads. Adam and Eve are a representation of us, and through them, we know we cannot rationalise well. Therefore, many suffer from making the wrong decisions due to bad judgments. Hence, we need GOD to guide us in making good judgments and sound decisions. For this reason, GOD wants us to trust in the LORD with all our hearts and lean not on our own understanding; in all our ways, we must acknowledge Him, and He will make our paths straight. In short, we must not trust ourselves in heart or mind to make proper judgments. As long as we surrender our will to GOD, acknowledge that He is omniscient, and await His decision, He will lead us in the right direction. Hence, we should not make rash decisions based on FOMO (fear of missing out). Instead, we must seek GOD out in all that we do. Even young lions go lacking and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
Prisoners to bad decisions
Everything might sound straightforward. It is not. The complexity of the matter is that even though we know what we must do, only a few know how to act accordingly because no man is free to do as he wishes. We are all prisoners of our fallen nature. Simply put, we are the prisoners of our addictions and compulsion nature where there is no escape. Therefore, the saying - a leopard never changes its spots. That's the reality that many cannot understand. We cannot change ourselves, and neither can we change others. If we cannot agree with the statement, we can try to change our family members and see the futility of our efforts. The only way to change a leopard's spots is to de-skin it and give it a new coat. That is where Jesus comes in. Jesus is the new coat, and He will provide us with His coat of righteousness. If we want to change, we must endure the anguish of being, metaphorically, de-skin. In other words, we must be circumcised, not physically but spiritually, by cutting away the filth of the fallen, sinful human nature. Only then will we be transformed to be GOD's new creations. We will not be a leopard that never changes its spot but a lamb without blemish.
The condition for good decisions
To put it another way, without the circumcision of our flesh, we are not meeting the terms and conditions of GOD's contract, making His blessing invalid to us. He will not be our help in times of need. Remember, when we say the sinner's prayer, we agree to turn from our sins and invite Jesus to come into our hearts and lives. To turn from our sins means we will sin no more. To invite Jesus to come into our hearts and lives means it is no longer I live, but Christ lives in me. Our lives will no longer be under our control but under Christ's as our Lord. To do that, we must die for Christ to live within us. We must crucify our flesh. If not, we cannot fulfil our part of the agreement with GOD, making the contract with Him void. Therefore, many Christians are holding onto a non-binding contract because they refuse to crucify their flesh. GOD goes by the book even if He is love. Only when we fulfil the contract will it take effect. Only then will we be the brides of Christ. If not, we will be the foolish virgins that Christ will deny as His.
First step of good decision: Stop sinning
Getting the first step right is paramount, and without it, nothing we do for GOD does matter. To put it differently, if not, all that we do for Him is a waste of time. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and that step is to sin no more. Only when we master our fallen nature will we sin no more than we can move towards GOD. Those who cannot stop sinning will forever be at point zero, the starting point. If we persist in sinning, then we will be on a journey of a thousand miles in the wrong direction, away from GOD.
Stop sinning sets us free from blind spots.
No one ever plans to fail by doing the wrong thing, and no one ever intentionally sin so that they will go to hell. Like the rich man who died at the same time as Lazarus, he did not know that he would go to Hades and be in torment. If he had known, he would have done things differently. Therefore, he wanted Father Abraham to send Lazarus to his father's house to warn his five brothers of the existence of Hades. Many are like the rich man, not knowing what they are doing until it is too late. They cannot see the reality of Hades, evil and sin because all these words do not exist in their vocabulary. They are people of the world, having the mindset of it and not seeing anything beyond that. Therefore, many are like frogs in a pot, not knowing that they are slowly being boiled to death.
Living in sin is not repulsive under our fallen nature but instead enjoyable, just as promiscuity is more pleasurable than faithfulness. Why have one when we can have many? Therefore, GOD makes us suffer under sin, so we will know the consequences of sin and seek Him. However, many will not learn, living like fools in paradise. Only when we seek Him will He open our eyes to the knowledge that sin is hideous, repulsive and grotesque. It not only turns us into beasts but also robs us of a fulfilling relationship with our soulmate, GOD. There is nothing to gain from fooling with sin but everything to lose. If we are rich, we might be like the rich man, realising too late that his wealth could do nothing for him in Hades. It would have been better if he had been a beggar like Lazarus. Being poor would deprive many of the opportunities to sin and every opportunity to seek GOD and ensure their salvation. Therefore, no one should despise the poor but instead, be good to them. After everyone's death, there will be a turn of events, like in the story of the rich man and Lazarus; the rich will end up in Hades suffering, and the poor will be in paradise enjoying. If the rich had been good to the poor, the poor would pray night and day, seeking GOD for their salvation. Would GOD not listen to those who mourn for the salvation of their benefactors?
The solution: Blindfold ourselves and trust GOD
Unless GOD is willing, no one escapes the blindness that plagues the world; no amount of fallen wisdom, understanding, or intuition will do. Therefore, it is futile to trust our hearts and lean on our understanding to lead us to a straight path. It is like an ant trying to move a mountain. As natural men, we will not be able to comprehend the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are nonsensical to us, as ants cannot understand rocket science, and we cannot understand higher wisdom that leads to life because they are spiritually discerned. We need to trust GOD by blindfolding ourselves and follow Him wherever He leads. Then, we can safely say we always make good choices and are on the journey to eternal prosperity.
Prayer: GOD, I acknowledge that you are the Lord of lords and the King of kings. I submit my mind and heart to you. Lead me and guide me according to your way so that I will find eternal success. Amen.
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