Today's Passage - Psalm 24:1-6

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Psalm 24:1-6    The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters. Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god. They will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God their Savior. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, God of Jacob.    Our hearts often thirst for God, but it might not be God Himself that we are seeking for. Sometimes we just want to have our problems solved so that we can resume our normal life. After our needs are met, we just say: "Lord, thanks so much! Now we can go our separate ways." Between one problem to the next one, we don't think about that God's plan in our lives. God doesn't just want to have our problems solved - He also want us to develop the likeliness of Christ in our lives, and let Christ become the glorious hope in our hearts.   When people of the Western world talk about faith, they often stress on whether it's rational or not, as they tend to believe in rationalism. People of the Eastern world often focus on whether a faith serves their purpose, which is utilitarianism.   The Bible, however, describes our faith as relationship with God. Faith in Christ, therefore, is not based on whether it makes sense or works, but more importantly whether we have a direct relationship with God. That's why God often wants us to wait upon Him, because when we are waiting, God can remove the impurities from our self-dependency and increase our faith, thus let Jesus Christ shape our hearts. Moses waited forty days and nights for God to speak to him on Mount Sinai. Disciples waited ten days at the house of Mark for the Holy Spirit to come upon them. Today, people are operating by minutes and seconds, so we don't really have the patience to wait, because we only value the result, but God values the establishment of our relationship with Him!   Everything is actually in God's hands, but God wants us to turn our eyes upon Him first. Do our hearts long for God Himself? Are we seeking for solutions to our problems, or are we seeking for God Himself? We use our hearts to seek solutions to our problems, but we overlook how God is using problems to discipline our hearts! May the Lord help us, let us turn back before Him and become "the generation of those who seek him." Let us seek God's face and thirst for Him in our daily life!     Pastor Tong         Lord, pease give us a spirit that thirsts for you; not just thirst for solutions to our problems, but to thirst for you alone. Let us be close to you every day, and when we are close to you our lives will be filled with strength and satisfaction. I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!