What Must I Do...

...to inherit eternal life?

This was the million dollar question posed by a rich young ruler to Jesus.  There is so much to touch upon in this story (Found in Mark 10), that I don't have time.  I want to focus solely on these four lines of the pericope (Red text and italics mine):

17 And as he was going forth into the way, there ran one to him, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good save one, even God.19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor thy father and mother.20 And he said unto him, Teacher, all these things have I observed from my youth.21 And Jesus looking upon him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.

I've been thinking about this question too.  What Jesus tells that man is not what we would answer to someone asking the question of us.  Most of us would say, pray to ask Jesus into your heart, read the Bible everyday, go to church, fellowship, worship, and so on.

Does that mean we think Jesus was not really serious when he answered "One thing you lack, go and sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me"?  Jesus says absolutely none of those things we would expect.  Jesus absolutely meant every word he said.  This isn't a specific command for one person in particular, and when taken as the answer to the question "What must I do to inherit Eternal life?", this answer seems rather important to salvation.

I remember reading this and thinking, "This is way too much to ask!  There is no way I could do this!  Jesus must have meant something else!" as if Jesus would never say such radical things.  I think we are all like this.  No one I know who is a Christian has sold everything they had and gave to the poor to follow Jesus myself included.

The thing is, even the Disciples were astonished about what Jesus said, and I'm sure had the exact some thoughts I had.  They ask the question "Who then can be saved?"  Jesus then gives the real answer to the question "What must I do to inherit eternal life":  "With man this is impossible, but not with God."  Essentially, there is nothing you WILL do.

Nothing.  Absolutely nothing you can do to inherit eternal life outside of selling everything you have and following Jesus.  I can't stress that enough.  No amount of praying to ask Jesus into your heart, bible reading, church going, worshiping, or fellowshipping could get you into heaven.  It is impossible for us to have eternal life, but the hope is this:  "With God all things are possible".

Jesus is saying there is a way into the Kingdom of God that is otherwise impossible to get into, and that's God.  God has done everything for us, everything has been done for us because nothing could be done by us. That is the miracle of grace and the mystery of Christ on the Cross and the majesty of His resurrection, if you choose to believe it.

John 6:28-29 (ASV) "28 They said therefore unto him, What must we do, that we may work the works of God?29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent."

Another great example of Jesus changing the focus away from "What should we do".  Faith can be the hardest thing you do, but being a disciple requires discipline.

I am not saying things like reading the bible or worshiping are bad.  Not at all!  But these things in and of themselves are not necessary nor sufficient for salvation, but rather are results (not causes) of faith in Christ Jesus.  Believe it or not, I do not need to hold the same theology or believe the same things about the Bible as someone else to live out life as a Christian.  As long as it preaches Christ crucified, it doesn't matter the reason (whether for profit like some well-to-do televangelists or out of love from the poorest of poor walking the streets).

There is questionable theology everywhere, and even at Seminary no two people hold the same theology.  I disagree with a lot of stuff.  What is not necessary for salvation can be done in the name of ministry.  A lot of things don't matter at all: Gay marriage, abortion views, baptism views, sabbath views, etc. Only one thing absolutely cannot change and is what binds all Christians together: Belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of God sent as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  I keep my theology simple in order to remain flexible in a faith that demands it.  I keep as true to the Word of God as I can.

There is nothing one should do to be a Christian because there is nothing one can do except believe the very Words Jesus taught.  There is no right way to express thankfulness for the grace God has given, only usual response that tends to mark a life touched by Christ (i.e. a love for the word of God, a renewed worldview, love for God's people, a desire to seek reconciliation, a hunger to know God (to seek His face) and speak with Him, a voluntary submission to God's will, joyful expressions of thanksgiving (dancing, singing, shouting, clapping, writing, etc.), among many other things!).

Faith without these "works" I listed is only people pretending.  If you don't find yourself genuinely wanting to do these things of your own volition (not because you are expected to do them, but because you WANT to do them), you may need to examine yourself.  This is especially directed to those of us who serve in a church/religious setting.  We do not want to slip into a place where we do things because we are required to do them.  It will only hurt us and the people we serve in the long run and we will burn out.

This is my conclusion:  I believe that the Church today has been too focused on the results of faith and not enough about Jesus.  I want to try and focus more on Jesus, what he taught and said.  I am a "Red Letter Christian" through and through.  It seems a lot of people when they give their testimonies, don't talk about Jesus and what He did for them, but rather it comes off as what they did.  I am a Christian through no fault of my own.  The last thing I wanted for my life was Christ or religion or anything like that.  JESUS found me, not the other way around.  It's not "Have you found the Lord" but rather "Has He found you?"

Alright.  I'm gonna stop.  See this always happens, I only want to write a little bit and I end up preaching.

Awaiting Judgment

There's that feeling again.  It's a feeling I know all to well for how short I've lived.  It's the feeling you get when your completely and absolutely mess up and hurt someone.  It's the position of utter helplessness in face of what you've done because you know in your heart there is nothing that can take back what was done.  It's the feeling when you stand before the judge, guilty as charged.

You want to hide but there is no escape.  You want to run but the feeling stays with you no matter how fast or how far.  Nothing you can do to remove this feeling, nothing at all.  You can put yourself down, beat yourself up over it, if it helps you feel better, but there is only one power in the whole world that can combat it.

Forgiveness.

Do you feel like I do?  My guilt rests heavy upon my head, my punishment too much to bear, but I heard somewhere there was a cure for this.

But as of now, this wretched man, no not even a man, but a boy, must accept the consequences of his actions.  That is the only thing I can do, and indeed it is the right thing to do.  So for now I'm

Awaiting Judgment.

Pray for me brothers, as I need more grace than I thought.

Shadow Am I by mewithoutYou

It's the smell of hot summertime trash.
It's the city noise of a busy street.
It's a train derailed and two car head 
on freeway crash each time we meet.
"and if it comes as some sort of surprise," 
she said "that I seem so composed, I've 
kept this moment closer to my eyes," she 
said,"than the glasses resting on the
edge of my nose."

Shadow am I! Shadow am I!
A question of a person, no said reply
Wolf am I! 
Wolf and shadow cast on the sheep as I pass by.
Shadow am I! Shadow am I!
or like a wearing-black-socks-and-white-woolen-locks
Wolf am I! 
And shadow.

She was graceful and green as a stem,
but I walk heavy on delicate ground.
Oh, there I go showing off again.
Self-impressed by how well I can put myself down...
and there I go again, to the next further removed 
level of that same exact feigned humility,and this 
for me goes on and on to the point of nausea

Shadow am I!
Like a suspicion that's never confirmed but it's never denied
Wolf am I!
No, "shadow" I think is better,
cuz I'm not something more like the absence of something
So Shadow am I!

The whole material world seems to me like a 
newspaper headline.It explicitly demands your
attention and it may even contain some truth...
but what's really going on here?

One day the water's gunna wash it away
One day the water's gunna wash it away
One day the water's gunna wash it away
and on that day...
One day the water's gunna wash it away
One day the water's gunna wash it away
Nothing clever to say. 
One day. 
Nothing else to say.

Home

Have you ever seen something so beautiful that you could cry? I have.  When you open your eyes and really look around you, you'll see it too.  That's what I see when I look at the clouds and how they are brushed with light, swirling in the sky, entranced in some sort of heavenly dance.  That's what I see when I look upon a father walking down the street with his daughter hand in hand, enjoying some banter or perhaps not even talking at all. That's what I see when I look upon my mother's face, covered in tears, (as is often what happens when one stands before the Lord open and exposed), weeping with her son in reconciliation.   For just one moment, the world is as it should be and nothing else matters.  It's a beauty no painter can paint, but to see it means to have seen death.

I've never used to think about love when I thought about home.  When I wasn't home, I never thought about going back, and when I was home I thought about being anywhere else but.  My home was a prison, not just because I wasn't allowed to come and go as I pleased (at least without some clever excuse), but also because it's been the place I kept my emotions locked up.  All the pain and hurt no one ever saw but me and my siblings huddled in a corner, crying not for forgiveness but for each other, was locked up at home. Could you blame me for wanting to get out?  Could you blame me for not wanting to go back?

Suffice it to say that home was the last place I wanted to be and I know I am not alone in this.

I remember sitting in class, watching videos on child abuse.  I remember the shock as the little boy on the screen turned into the little boy inside of me.  I remember the pain of every "How could they do that?" and "That's how not to raise a child."  I wanted to disappear.  I wanted to cry.  I wanted to scream out "Stop!  They love me! You don't understand!" until I slowly came to realize the truth:  I was abused.

Despair. Anger. Blame. the fallout of revelation.  My past would not let me forget it and my lies wouldn't cover my wounds anymore.  I wanted to run away and ditch my life.  I had just become a Christian too, the church was all the family I would need (and in fact for some of us the Church is all the family we have).  It would've been easy to run away and start a new life with Christ and mother and brothers and sisters.  Jesus would have none of it.  "Try reconciliation first," He chided me, "then we can talk."

It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do.  Willingly go home and face my demons? Knowing full well what awaited me, what I had locked up there, I was afraid. A dear friend of mine comforted me with a story he seemed to tell so well:

There was a man who guarded a closet.  Inside the closet was a horrible demonic monster so insidious that it struck fear into the hearts of any man who dare approach it, and it was breaking out.  The man stood alone, fighting to keep the door closed as the demon fought to get out.  The man’s arms, clawed and scratched by the demon's claws and fangs, dripped with blood. He was terrified, but even more afraid what would happen to him if the demon got out.  And there they stood, neither side backing down.  As soon as he was at the Brink of exhaustion, Jesus appears in the room and calls out to him, "Let go of the door and take my hand."  The guard replied, "You are too far away!  The demon will kill me before I even reach you!"  "Let go of the door and take my hand" was all Jesus said, to which the man replied "I can't! I just can't!"  Finally, beaten and completely fatigued, the man collapsed from the door and reached out for Jesus with the last of his strength.  His arm was caught by Jesus who had been standing right behind him the entire time. Looking around, now securely in the arms of Christ, he saw that the demon was not a demon, but just a pile of dirty clothes.  He had no wounds on him and was dressed instead in dazzling white.  "Why were you afraid?" replied Jesus, "I have been with you always."

And indeed that is what happened to me.  The problems which seem so big to me are dirty socks to Jesus.  Jesus saw what I could not because he was not the one holding the door.  Jesus saw the beauty in my family through the brokenness, the kind of beauty no painter could paint.  I understand now just where I have been and where I am going despite my sufferings.  What was once weakness I can call strength.  What was once suffering is now my character.  I would not trade my childhood for anything because the Lord Jesus Christ has revealed his glory in my life through them.  They are me and I am His.  By his blood I have been set free (for after all, what is freedom other than the ability to be what God has made you to be?) and by his blood I can return home.  Indeed, I am home at last.

Respectfully submitted,

John Dao

The Love reaction

Jesus taught, healed, forgave sins, walked, washed, died, and was risen. Not once have I read Jesus demanded (except when casting out demons). Not once has Jesus used his divine authority as human authority. That abuse of power never happened. He left our free will in tact. He taught us to do what is right, but never enforced, but instead let our love for him guide us to do his commandments. What was so shocking was he was not like the Pharisees who did these things. Jesus did expect the best and want the best for us, but he never forced, but loved us while we were still sinners. Jesus was patient and kind. He did not envy or boast... For indeed we live under grace and not the Law.

If I had people come out to me telling me how I should live my life and I did not have a relationship with Jesus, I would dismiss them as intrusive. Love must come first, as love lays the groundwork for all morality. Love of Jesus transforms a person because for the first time the do what is moral because they want to love Christ. So in that sense, morality can only proceed from love.

You simply don't listen to people you don't care for, but those you admire you hang on every word.

This is the love reaction.  Love is the fuel that keeps us going and functioning properly.  If you run a car without fuel or oil, are you surprised that it breaks down?  Then why be surprised that humans can be so broken?  Sometimes people need to be fixed up first before love can flow correctly through them.  God is the mechanic for our bodies, and it may be time for a tuneup.