kasih Kristus

Sebab kasih Kristus yang menguasai kami. [2 Korintus 5:14]

Seberapa berhutangkah engkau kepada Tuhanku? Sudah pernahkah Dia melakukan sesuatu untukmu? Sudahkah Dia mengampuni dosa-dosamu? Sudahkah Dia menyelubungimu dengan jubah kebenaran [Yesaya 61:10]? Sudahkah Dia menempatkan kakimu di atas bukit batu [Mazmur 40:2]? Sudahkah Dia menetapkan langkahmu [Mazmur 40:2]? Sudahkah Dia menyiapkan surga untukmu? Sudahkah Dia mempersiapkan engkau untuk surga? Sudahkah Dia menuliskan namamu dalam kitab kehidupan [Wahyu 21:27]? Sudahkah Dia memberimu berkat yang tak terhitung? Sudahkah Dia mengumpulkan untukmu suatu gudang belas kasihan, yaitu apa yang tidak pernah dilihat oleh mata, dan tidak pernah didengar oleh telinga [1 Korintus 2:9]? Maka lakukan sesuatu bagi Yesus yang pantas dengan kasih-Nya. Jangan persembahkan sekedar limpahnya kata-kata kepada Juruselamat yang rela mati. Bagaimana perasaanmu ketika Tuanmu datang, jika engkau harus mengaku bahwa engkau tidak melakukan apapun untuk Dia, melainkan membiarkan kasihmu diam, bagaikan air kolam yang mandek, tidak mengalir baik ke umat miskin kepunyaan-Nya maupun ke pekerjaan-Nya. Mana ada kasih yang seperti itu! Apa yang di benak orang-orang mengenai kasih yang tidak pernah ditunjukkan dalam perbuatan? Mengapa, mereka berkata, “Lebih baik teguran yang nyata-nyata dari pada kasih yang tersembunyi.” [Amsal 27:5] Siapa mau menerima kasih yang begitu lemah yang tidak menggerakkan engkau untuk menyangkal diri, bermurah hati, bersikap pahlawan, atau bertindak dengan giat! Pikir bagaimana Dia telah mengasihimu, dan memberi diri-Nya kepadamu! Tahukah engkau kekuatan kasih itu? Maka biarlah itu seperti angin ribut yang deras kepada jiwamu untuk menyapu awan keduniawianmu, dan membersihkan kabut dosa. “Oleh karena Kristus,” [2 Korintus 12:10] jadilah ini lidah api yang hinggap di atasmu: “oleh karena Kristus” jadilah ini kegirangan ilahi, inspirasi surga untuk mengangkatmu tinggi-tinggi ke atas bumi, semangat ilahi yang akan membuatmu berani seperti singa [Amsal 28:1, KJV] dan tangkas seperti rajawali [Ulangan 28:49, KJV] dalam pelayanan kepada Tuhanmu. Kasih akan memberi sayap kepada kaki pelayan, dan kekuatan kepada tangan yang bekerja keras. Dengan bersandar kepada Tuhan dengan keteguhan yang tak tergoyahkan, tetapkan hati untuk memuliakan Dia dengan kebulatan tekad yang tak terbelokkan, dan seraya maju dengan semangat yang besar tanpa lelah, mari kita wujudkan kuasa kasih kepada Yesus [1]. Kiranya batu magnet ilahi menarik kita ke arahnya menuju surga.

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[1] secara literal: mari kita wujudkan desakan kasih (atau, kendali kasih) kepada Yesus.
Renungan Pagi (diterjemahkan dari Morning and Evening: Daily Readings, Charles H. Spurgeon).
Isi renungan ini bebas untuk disalin dan disebarluaskan.

unity

Don't Let Division Stunt Your Growth

And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions.... 1 Corinthians 3:1-3

Envying, strife and divisions had reduced the early Corinthian Christians back to the natural, or carnal, state that they were in before they were born again. It had so stunted their spiritual growth that they couldn't understand the things the Apostle Paul wanted to teach them. Satan has sent the same spirit of division among us today. He knows that a house divided against itself will fall. He also knows if we all come together in the unity of our faith, we'll arrive at the full stature of Christ Jesus (Eph. 4:13). So he has assigned a spirit of division to operate in our personal lives, our church lives, our social lives and our family lives. His goal is the same as it was in Corinth: To bring envying, strife, division and to stunt our spiritual growth. But we don't have to yield to that spirit. Instead Paul says, "[by] speaking the truth in love, [we] may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ." Compare "speaking the truth in love" to "envyings, strife, and divisions." Diametrical opposites, aren't they? You can't do both of them at the same time. As you speak the truth in love, you grow up. As you envy, fuss and separate from one another, you go back to babyhood. Don't let Satan stop your spiritual growth by giving in to the spirit of division but speak the truth in love and "grow up into Him in all things!"

prescription for life

Prescription for Life

If any one intends to come after Me, let him deny himself--forget, ignore, disown, lose sight of himself and his own interests--and take up his cross, and...follow with Me. For whoever wants to save his [higher...] life, will lose [it]...and whoever gives up his life for My sake and the Gospel's, will save [it]. Mark 8:34-35, The Amplified Bible

When Jesus said those words, He wasn't just giving us a prescription for getting to heaven. He was telling us how to live a superior life right here on earth. You see, there's a high life that we can live right here, right now. But to get in on it, we have to lay down the way of life that most of us are accustomed to. We may have to let go of the very things we've been trying so hard to latch onto. We have to set our hearts instead on doing what God wants us to do. That's what Jesus did. He didn't live His life for Himself. He lived it completely for God. He did only what the Father told Him to do--and He lived in total victory. It's time to realize that getting born again is not something we do just to miss hell. Our purpose is to please God. To lay down our lives in order to fulfill His desires. To be His special possessions in the earth and to do whatever He tells us to do. Our top priority is to give ourselves to Him and to live in communion with Him. To spend enough time with Him that we can hear His voice and respond in obedience. Only when we do that will we be genuinely fulfilled. Only when we do that will we be able to live the high life we've been longing for