Menjaga mutiara yang berharga

⁶ “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.

The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.) (Mt 7:6). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Mengapa? karena mereka kotor, rakus dan tak kenal malu, mengancam.

I will praise the Lord!

Di dalam keluarga Allah (Bagian 1)

Suatu ketika Ambrose Bierce dengan sinis mengatakan bahwa kelahiran seorang anak adalah “the first and direct of all disasters.” Karena dia dan istrinya tidak punya anak, bisa jadi Ambrose mengambil kesimpulan itu dari melihat anak-anak tetangganya.

Ucapan itu ada benarnya mengingat setiap orang dilahirkan dengan dosa bawaan. Raja Daud pun mengakuinya “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me (Ps. 51:5).” Great disaster yang diungkapkan Ambrose itu sudah terjadi ketika manusia pertama tidak mematuhi Allah (Baca Kejadian 3, Roma 5:12-21). Allah memang menciptakan kita dalam gambarnya (Kej. 1:27), tetapi kita ini dilahirkan juga dalam gambar Adam (Kej. 5:3), dan itu memasukkan kita ke dalam golongan orang berdosa, dari dosa bawaan itu (Baca Efesus 2:1-3).

Beruntunglah mereka yang saat ini dalam geneologinya Yesus Kristus – termasuk saya (Matius 1:1). Oleh anugerah-Nya, Allah telah membentuk keluarga baru. Memang Adam yang datang pertama membawa dosa dan penghukuman bagi seluruh umat manusia, tetapi Adam yang datang kemudian (yi. Yesus Kristus) telah membawa kebenaran dan keselamatan (1 Kor.15:45).

Melalui kabar sukacita Injil, maka orang berdosa (termasuk saya) mendapatkan pengampunan dan mengalami mujizat dilahirkan kembali ke dalam keluarga Allah melalui iman di dalam Yesus Kristus. Betapa bahagianya!

 

Kebaikan Allah Selalu Menyertai

Komitmen

Ruth dan Esther memberi teladan komitmen. Dua-duanya membuka jalan bagi lahirnya Sang Mesias! Kalau Kitab Ruth diawali dengan kelaparan dan diakhiri dengan lahirnya seorang anak ke dunia, maka Kitab Esther diawali dengan pesta dan diakhiri dengan kematian 75 ribu orang. Yang jelas, kedua kitab tersebut menuliskan bagaimana tangan Allah bekerja di tengah-tengah umat-Nya.

Komitmen Ruth dan Esther patut kita teladani, dan di bawah ini bisa kita baca tekad mereka:

6 And Ruth said, Urge me not to leave you or to turn back from following you; for where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. ^bYour people shall be my people and your God my God.

17 Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts me from you.

^b “Ruth is a prophecy, than which none could be more beautiful and engaging, of the entrance of the heathen world into the kingdom of God. She comes forth out of Moab, an idolatrous people full of wantonness and sin, and is herself so tender and pure. In a land where dissolute sensuality formed one of the elements of idol worship, a woman appears, as wife and daughter, chaste as the rose of spring and unsurpassed in these relations by any other [human] character in Holy Writ. . . . Ruth’s confession of God and His people originated in the home of her married life. It sprang from the love with which she was permitted to embrace Israelites . . . . The conduct of one Israelitish woman [Naomi] in a foreign land was able to call forth a love and a confession of God like that of Ruth . . . . Ruth loves a woman, and is thereby led to the God Whom that woman confesses” (J.P. Lange, A Commentary).

The amplified Bible, containing the amplified Old Testament and the amplified New Testament. 1987 (Ru 1:16-17). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

16 Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast for me; and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I also and my maids will fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.

The amplified Bible, containing the amplified Old Testament and the amplified New Testament. 1987 (Es 4:16). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

Ciptaan Baru

4 Apabila bejana, yang sedang dibuatnya dari tanah liat di tangannya itu, rusak, maka tukang periuk itu mengerjakannya kembali menjadi bejana lain menurut apa yang baik pada pemandangannya.
5 Kemudian datanglah firman TUHAN kepadaku, bunyinya:
6 "Masakan Aku tidak dapat bertindak kepada kamu seperti tukang periuk ini, hai kaum Israel!, demikianlah firman TUHAN. Sungguh, seperti tanah liat di tangan tukang periuk, demikianlah kamu di tangan-Ku, hai kaum Israel! (Yer 18:4-6)

Jadi siapa yang ada di dalam Kristus, ia adalah ciptaan baru: yang lama sudah berlalu, sesungguhnya yang baru sudah datang. (2 Kor 5:17)

Kesadaran bahwa kita adalah ciptaan baru di dalam Kristus akan membawa hidup kita, hari demi hari, pada kesempurnaan di dalam Dia.

Pembaharuan akal budi

2 Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].

The amplified Bible, containing the amplified Old Testament and the amplified New Testament. 1987 (Ro 12:2). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

Akal budi kita perlu diperbaharui terus menerus di dalam Kristus untuk bisa membedakan apa yang baik, yang berkenan, dan yang sempurna menurut pandangan Allah.

Hati-hati membangun di atas dasar

Sebagai pengikut Kristus, kita perlu berhati-hati dalam membangun di atas dasar yang telah diletakkan. Terutama dalam memilih material rumah rohani kita, seperti dinasehatkan di bawah ini:

11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is [already] laid, which is Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

12 But if anyone builds upon the Foundation, whether it be with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,

13 The work of each [one] will become [plainly, openly] known (shown for what it is); for the day [of Christ] will disclose and declare it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test and critically appraise the character and worth of the work each person has done.

14 If the work which any person has built on this Foundation [any product of his efforts whatever] survives [this test], he will get his reward.

15 But if any person’s work is burned up [under the test], he will suffer the loss [of it all, losing his reward], though he himself will be saved, but only as [one who has passed] through fire. [Job 23:10.]

The amplified Bible, containing the amplified Old Testament and the amplified New Testament. 1987 (1 Co 3:11-15). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

Transformasi

Paulus sebelum mengenal Kristus:

4 Though for myself I have [at least grounds] to rely on the flesh. If any other man considers that he has or seems to have reason to rely on the flesh and his physical and outward advantages, I have still more!

5 Circumcised when I was eight days old, of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew [and the son] of Hebrews; as to the observance of the Law I was of [the party of] the Pharisees,

6 As to my zeal, I was a persecutor of the church, and by the Law’s standard of righteousness (supposed justice, uprightness, and right standing with God) I was proven to be blameless and no fault was found with me.

The amplified Bible, containing the amplified Old Testament and the amplified New Testament. 1987 (Php 3:4-6). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

Oleh pengenalan akan Dia, Paulus menulis:

7 But whatever former things I had that might have been gains to me, I have come to consider as [^zone combined] loss for Christ’s sake.

8 Yes, furthermore, I count everything as loss compared to the possession of the priceless privilege (the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth, and supreme advantage) of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him [of perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and clearly]. For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all to be mere rubbish (refuse, dregs), in order that I may win (gain) Christ (the Anointed One),

9 And that I may [actually] be found and known as in Him, not having any [self-achieved] righteousness that can be called my own, based on my obedience to the Law’s demands (ritualistic uprightness and supposed right standing with God thus acquired), but possessing that [genuine righteousness] which comes through faith in Christ (the Anointed One), the [truly] right standing with God, which comes from God by [saving] faith.

^z Marvin Vincent, Word Studies: His “gains” are plural, but they are all counted as one combined “loss” (singular).

The amplified Bible, containing the amplified Old Testament and the amplified New Testament. 1987 (Php 3:7-9). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

Selamat Hari Natal!

For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father [of Eternity], Prince of Peace. [Isa. 25:1; 40:9-11; Matt. 28:18; Luke 2:11.]

The amplified Bible, containing the amplified Old Testament and the amplified New Testament. 1987 (Is 9:6). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

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Sebab seorang anak telah lahir untuk kita, seorang putera telah diberikan untuk kita; lambang pemerintahan ada di atas bahunya, dan namanya disebutkan orang: Penasihat Ajaib, Allah yang Perkasa, Bapa yang Kekal, Raja Damai. (Yes 9:6)

SELAMAT HARI NATAL DAN TAHUN BARU 2009!
KASIH KARUNIA DAN BERKAT DARI TUHAN KITA YESUS KRISTUS SELALU MENYERTAI KITA SEKALIAN.