I’d like to share with our readers some thoughts from the book “The Gospel According to Job” by Mike Mason. In it the author says and I paraphrase: In most religions, spiritual progress is represented by the arduous path that we have to climb to reach the top of a mountain. The route is difficult, treacherous, almost impassable. This pervasive image projects the impression that spiritual progress is a task that is only achieved by few, and only through this process of individual effort. As a consequence, sometimes we view spiritual progress as a human achievement, much like graduation or promotion or winning the heart of the person you love.
However, the Bible presents the path of righteousness with a totally different metaphor: a level path.
Isaiah 26:7 The path of the righteous is level; O upright One, you make the way of the righteous smooth
Isaiah 40:4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain
I imagine that, most of Israel’s land being rough and uneven, with hills, mountains, and cliffs all over the place, and relatively small or narrow plains and valleys, the image of a level path or level ground represents more accurately God’s work of salvation. Righteousness is not attained by strenuous human effort. It is atained by staying on the path that God has made for us!
The author even points out that Jesus had a solution for mountains, and I quote: “Why go to all the trouble of climbing a mountain if by faith you can have it thrown into the sea (see Mark 11:23)?”
J De Anda
Recently the Turning Point ministry of the Los Angeles Church began a fundraising program called “Mustaches for El Salvador”. Brothers commited themselves to raising money for the San Salvador Church while growing a mustache, and not shaving it until they had met their fundraising goal.
Please go to this link for the humorous response of the disciples in the San Salvador Church :-)
J De Anda
We have been following the developments in Haiti after this week’s devastating earthquake. Several members of the church are currently camping at the site where the church building used to be; it was destroyed by the earthquake. Many disciples are still unaccounted for. HOPE worldwide is leading the relief efforts on behalf of many churches in our fellowship. You can check www.icochotnews.com and www.disciplestoday.com for daily updates. Let’s continue praying for our brothers and sisters in Haiti.
J De Anda
Welcome to 2010! And to start us off, please click here to go to our feature article: What Jesus Offers.
J De Anda
It was sometime in late Fall of 1988. The Mexico City Church was approaching the end of its first full calendar year, having been planted in October of 1987. The original mission team members, plus a few of the new small group leaders who had been converted during that first year, were all gathered at a very special restaurant for a very special celebration. The restaurant was La Hacienda de los Morales. The occasion was the celebration of the young church’s 100th baptism. There was something unusual about the celebration, though: at that point in time we had only seen about 90 people baptized! Nevertheless, the evangelist and leadership group decided that this should be a celebration of faith, not of sight! And so we celebrated that 100th baptism, a few weeks before it actually happened!
Such was the spirit of the Mexico City mission. As we have said in a previous post, the Mexico City Church was planted by a group of missionaries who were deeply convinced about God’s vision for that city. One of our favorite scriptures was Proverbs 29: 18 “Where there is no vision, the people perish”. We didn’t have the Message Bible in those days, but I like the way it renders this passage:
If people can’t see what God is doing,
they stumble all over themselves;
But when they attend to what he reveals,
they are most blessed.
As we approach the beginning of a new year, actually of a new decade, let us try to capture not an abstract vision for our lives, or one that is the product of our own ambitions or imagination. Rather, let us focus on what God is doing and attend to what He is trying to teach us.
May you be richly blessed in 2010!
J De Anda