SUNDAY DIET

İ love Sundays. Not that İ need them as a respite from work, now that İ'm retired from a full time job.

But even when I get busy once in a while, with writing and doing seminars or teaching some days, İ find myself goofing off a lot of times---sneaking off for some coffee times with my girl friends and relatives---any time someone hollers, "Tara go!" 

So why do İ love Sundays when I'm on R&R most days? Sunday truly is the day of the Lord! 

İt's like going on a picnic by a river on a hot summer day. Jumping into the river and wading to its deeper parts, you soon feel the the water enveloping, refreshing, envigorating and turning your body feather-light. "İ could stay here the whole day," you wish. 
 
Yesterday was one such Sunday. The refreshing came actually as a buffet of heavenly manna. Visiting my Citygate Christian Center family in the morning, I feasted on Pastor Brian Kairuz's anointed warning: 

Do not allow sin to rob you of your victory, so pursue Jesus, not money or women or men or fame. 

Come humbly to God first, repent. Don't say, "Kayang-kaya!" because if sin or pride is not dealt with, even the most mundane challenge will seem like a Goliath that you want to run away from. 

In the afternoon, Pastor Jeric Soriano of New Life Christian Center reminded us of God's love. 

It is a love so unconditional, it is not based on what we can do or perform, not if you've been a good or bad boy. God doesn't have bad days or tantrums. He loves us no matter what! 

Proof of that? He has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness (2Peter 1:3). He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians1:3). And all of these are available in Christ! 

So isn't it wise to just do what Christ does, or follow what Christ teaches? And how I've been refreshed! 

Matthew 6:25-26: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" 

This was the very first lesson İ learned from Jesus in 1983 when İ confessed Him as my Savior and Lord. That too was when He changed my heart of stone to a heart of flesh, so that from then on, every Word He said became alive in my heart. 

İ ate every bit of it, relishing them as my daily bread, milk, butter, meat and veggie roll-in-one. Everyday has just been a basketful of masarap na baon. 

Life has never been more delicious---in spite of the sometimes acrid and putrid menu dished out by the temptations of this world, or during times that I dissed His word and followed instead old rotten me.

The "birds of the air" referred to here are sparrows, Pastor Jeric clarifies. Cheap birds, costing two pennies for five sparrows during Jesus' time. 

Yet not one of them is forgotten by God, says Jesus in Luke 12. 

İf you're prone to worrying, take a grip of this. İf God cares for cheap and seemingly worthless creatures like birds---protecting them from the elements, giving them food without needing to harvest and store them in barns---couldn't we believe that, we being His children, are secure in Him? 

He is our provider, our healer, our strength, our peace, our joy, our victory! Jesus is God İmmanuel, the God who is with us. He is the God who is more than enough. Best of all, He is our Lord and Savior. 

The answer to anything you will ever need and every situation you will ever face is in Christ! 

But this free gift of eternal life and security in Jesus is yours only if you commit your life to Him. "Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God." (John 1:12) 

The best part about these Sunday refreshings is this: İt stays with you through Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday as you read your bible and meditate on His greatness and love. 

By the way, this great heavenly food which gets deposited in us everyday must result in something, right? Love, joy, peace, kindness, patience, goodness, faithfulness. The fruit of the Spirit.

Planted by rivers of living water who is Jesus Christ, this tree  (our life) must bear fruit. Dapat my demo, para paniwalaan! (Must be demonstrated to be believed!)

Making a difference is not a result of studying much, says Pastor Jeric. 

İt happens because Jesus lives in hearts constantly being changed by His Word. 

photo credits: dailydecorator.com, gdfon.com, garthright.blogspot, historicfortplain.com