Be A Blessing

It's easy for us to give when it is for a good cause or to those we love, but what about giving to the undeserving? To those who least deserve our blessing? Being a blessing can actually be harder than we think. So how can we be a blessing?

Not too long ago I was faced with a difficult situation to either give or not give to someone who was in need. They came to me asking for money, but the first thing that came to my mind was, "Why should I give to you? Maybe you should have been more responsible with your expenses!"

In my mind, they didn't deserve my help. I left the situation with "I don't think I can help", but it was at that moment when God challenged me with two choices: 

Do you want to be a blessing to them or not?

It never occurred to me that I could and should be a blessing to those who don't deserve it. I always opened myself to being a blessing to good causes; missionaries, non-profit organizations, ect. But God opened my heart to what his own heart desires for - To love the undeserving. 

1 John 3:16 says, "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters." Jesus spent most of his days serving those who were disliked and least respected in the community. He laid down his life for the the adulterer, tax collectors, criminals, and even you. 

He sacrificed his life for us while we were sinners and underserving of his grace and mercy. He gave us eternal life when we didn't deserve eternal life. Jesus did all of this out of love, and he expects us to walk in this kind of love for others. 

Be a blessing to others by giving what they don't have and deserve. 

The heart of a true giver is one that gives without any reason but to love. May we all live lives to give than to gain. Where in your daily life is God calling you to show love to the underserving? It's those who least deserve our love that can benefit greatly of God's love and mercy. 

Christ laid his life down for us, unworthy sinners. He calls us to do the same by laying down our lives to those who may not know Christ or even to those who hurt us. Be careful to not limit your ability to be a blessing. It can be easy to target our blessings only to those we want to bless, but we must be a blessing to all. 

The only way to be a blessing is to live as Christ lived; a selfless life full of love, grace, and mercy. 

When you bless others, you yourself will be filled and blessed. Proverbs 11:25 says, "A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed." Live the life that God has called you to live. He wants you to experience life to the fullest, and by being a blessing, you will have that. So remember, be a blessing. 

Why Should I Do The Right Thing?

Many of us would say we value integrity, but do we really? What if no one is looking? The truth is, we all desire integrity, but actually doing it when the stakes are high can be challenging. So why should we do the right thing?

I'll be the first to say that I have not always held up my integrity the way I should, and it usually happens whenever I can justify myself for not doing what I'm supposed to do. I would take off from work by using my sick days to do errands or just to stay home when I didn't feel like going to work.

I would justify my actions by telling myself, "It's fine, everyone does it. You have worked so hard and accomplished a lot this week, you deserve a day off."

How would this hurt me anyways? 

But it wasn't until I heard my friend's story when my eyes really opened to the truth of why we should do the right thing. She was sharing with me her testimony of God's pure goodness in her life. She had received a call from Disney asking for her to do a job interview (which she had never even applied for).

However, she had just came back from a vacation and had no more vacation days to use to be able to do the interview. What would most people do? They would probably lie and use their sick days to do the interview.. I mean it's Disney!

But what did she do? She said no.

She refused to use her sick days to do the interview because she knew it wasn't right to lie to her current company. The amazing story was a year later, Disney contacted her again to come down for an interview. This time she did have enough vacation days so she went off to do the interview and by God's grace, she got the job on the spot.

Her testimony reminded me that God is always in control. God doesn't need our creative and manipulative wrong ways for us to receive what He has planned for us. When we choose to do things without integrity, we are choosing our way instead of God's way, and if we want the best that God has for us, it will only come through following His way.

It can be hard to choose integrity especially when we aren't content with what the results that it will bring, but we must remember that God's way is always better, and His ways is what will lead us to true life. Proverbs 10:16 tell us clearly that "The wages of the righteous is life, but the earnings of the wicked are sin and death."

When we choose to do things our way, it shows that we don't trust in God. Do you trust God? Do you believe that everything he says is 100% true? The best way to answer that is by your actions.

It's only through walking in God's path that we can inherit his blessings and live our lives to the fullest. We think that doing wrong when no one is looking will not hurt us, but if we continue walking on this path, we will slowly drift away from the blissful life that God has set before us. Integrity is the only way to enter onto God's path, and God's path is the only way for you to achieve the great plans he has planned for you.

Integrity is the secret pathway to success that many people miss. 

This world teaches us to take shortcuts and to manipulate things to get what we want, but the truth is, living this way will never lead you to long-term success. To make it until the end, you need integrity, and unfortunately, not many people find it. Matthew 7:13-14 says, "..For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

Will you follow the majority of this world or will you choose God's way, the secret treasure to life? Even if people aren't watching, God is watching. What God sees is far more important than what people might see you do. 

Promotion, success, and life all come from God alone. When you trust in God and choose the path of integrity, you will always find yourself content and blessed. His way will be hard, but it's the only way to have a prosperous life. So remember, do the right thing. 

Try God

We are all human beings who have the same basic needs and desires; the desire for joy, love, peace, and happiness. We're all fighting through this life to have these things, but have you found them yet? I found that there is only one way to get that, and it is through God. Have you tried God?

I've lived almost my whole life knowing God, and when I say knowing God I mean hearing about him from sermons that my Pastor would preach, my Sunday school teacher, and even from friends and family.

To sum it up, I basically knew about God from other people, but I never truly found him myself.

And that made all the difference. 

Because I never truly had a personal relationship with God, he wasn't anything more than just a God who created me, and if I believed that he existed I would go to heaven. But this knowledge of God did nothing to help me.

I never made God Lord over my life - I was Lord over my own life and made decisions in life based on what I felt was right or wrong. Just like you, I too was searching for love, joy, and a worry-free life. But soon enough, I found that without God, I could never have these things.

The more I did life my way, the farther I was from having joy and peace. Finally, I was at the bottom pit of my life. So what did I do that changed my life till this day?

I gave God a try. 

I decided to seek him personally, to study his word, and to follow his truth by living it out. This meant letting go of my life and letting God have it. I realized that it was when I laid my life down that I personally met Jesus, and that's when I found what we're all looking for; joy, peace, love, and happiness.

If you are seeking serenity and joy in your life, I encourage you to find Jesus first, because then you will have it all. Galatians 5:22 promises us that when we have Jesus in us, we will obtain love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Who wouldn't want all these things? God was not only created for "certain" people, he was made for everyone, and that includes you.

Love, joy, peace, goodness, gentleness, and self-control..God has it ALL for you. 

We are all hungry, and the only thing that will satisfy our hunger is God. Try God yourself, and you will then be able to taste and see his goodness. Imagine someone telling you about a good restaurant, in fact, you even read amazing reviews about the restaurant. These things might persuade you that the restaurant food is good, but it's only when you go to the restaurant and taste the food yourself that you will then be 100% sure that the food is good.

This goes the same with God, listening about him from other people might sound good, but you will not be able to taste his goodness in your life unless you give him a try yourself. Get to know God, and you will find that he is all you ever need in life.

I'm not here to persuade you that God is good, but I'm here to tell you to try God yourself. I did, and I found that my life has been filled up by him alone. Psalms 34:8 says, "Taste and see that the Lord is good.." So remember, try God.

Are You Ready For Heaven?

Many of us day dream about heaven. Heaven is known as a place of paradise, filled with happiness and joy for eternity. Who wouldn't be excited for heaven? But heaven is more than just a place where we will be happy and have eternal life. In fact, the best part of heaven isn't even that! So, are you ready for heaven?

My bible teacher asked us in class, "Why do you think people do good things on Earth? Why do you they try so hard to please God?" She told us that the majority of peoples' responses were "to go to heaven."

Inside my head I was thinking, wow, a lot of people must be excited to go to heaven. But the question we must ask ourselves is do we know what heaven is all about? Do we know what's the main purpose of heaven? Yes heaven will be beautiful, and yes it will be like paradise, but the main purpose of heaven is to be united with God. 

It's a place where we will finally get to meet our Lord face to face and to sing praises of his glory all day long - that's the beauty of heaven. 

The beauty of heaven is to be in the presence of our Lord. 

The most exciting part of heaven isn't having eternal life, but having eternal life with our Lord. We should be using the life we have now to prepare ourselves for heaven. If you're not excited about getting in the presence of God now, what makes you think you will enjoy heaven? 

Revelation 7:9-10 paints a picture for us of what heaven will be like. It says, "..there before me was a great multitude that no one could count.. standing before the throne and before the lamb..And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the lamb."

Heaven will be filled with our praises to God. We will spend all our days in his glory, worshipping him all day long. Are you ready for that? Have you taken the time on this earth to know your God? Are you ready to meet him face to face? If going to church is already a dread for you, then that means you have not truly seen the beauty of Jesus in your life.

God doesn't want us to seek only eternal life, but to desire to be one with him on earth and in heaven. Jesus himself prayed to God asking that we may be one in him. John 17:20-21 says, "..I pray also for those who will believe in me..that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us.."

I encourage you to surrender your life to him and to take the time to dig in the Bible to know him more. Knowing God will be the best investment you can ever make. I guarantee you that once Jesus has been made real to your life, you will taste and see his goodness. Psalm 24:8 says, "Taste and see that the Lord is good.."

If there's anything good about heaven, it's getting the chance to be with the Lord in eternity. Don't wait for heaven to see his beauty, seek for his beauty in your life now. His presence is with us now, but in heaven it will be our spirits that will dwell with him. Satan will no longer exist, and our God will reign forever. So remember, get ready for heaven.