Kyrie Eleison

"Kyrie Elesion" is Greek for "Lord, have mercy". 

Its fourteen days into the new year and it's been absolutely amazing to see how God has been working in my life, answering prayers and helping me in my new years resolutions. If you haven't read about my resolutions, click HERE.

Fearing God was the one of the three in 2014, and I personally had no idea how to work on this, especially from a practical perspective. Fearing the Lord means to (ask Jerry Bridges puts it) "be in awe of god and who is he; justice, holy, merciful and forgiving, while comprehending his love, mercy and forgiveness". I have been praying for a heart and mind that fears the Lord and I think today in class I caught a glimpse of it. To understand and fully see the Lord's goodness and righteousness, one must recognize their wretchedness and sinfulness. For some reason in my biostatistics class today, I starting thinking of how unworthy and underserving I am as a sinner. I am one who is broken, who has a heart stained with sin, and is just filthy. I asked myself, where is my pure heart when I speak to the Lord? Why are you so unfaithful? How could someone so wicked like me be able to speak to the Lord or even just to stand before such a perfect and good God? All I could think was "Lord, have mercy on me". Have mercy on me who is so disgusting, so corrupt, and tainted.

But the Lord loves. The Lord is merciful. The Lord is compassionate. The Lord is gracious. Reading through John 3 this morning for devotions, I spent some time thoroughly thinking about the most famous gospel verse, John 3:16. How it was only because of God's love and his act out of love, that he sent his Son, the Son of Man to this corrupt, broken and perverse world to walk among sinners. Christ came not to condemn the world, but the save the world through Him (v.17). For those who believe in Him, they shall not perish but have eternal life. It is only through the love of God that we may have fellowship with Him, that we may have a relationship with Him and how wonderful is this truth!

This is what it means to fear the Lord. I still struggle with putting the two extremes together; first recognizing my wretchedness and God's holiness, and then being able to fully and completely grasp and accept the fact that Christ has died for me and you, that the gracious Lord loves you unconditionally, that all your sin is forgiven through the blood shed by the Lamb of God, that we are adopted and deemed blameless. It is when I can fully understand and take in the two that I will be able to fear the Lord, be in awe of his love and glory, and to tremble at his righteousness, not daring to run away from Him but only towards Him. How Great is our God.

verse of the day: 1 Peter 1:3-9

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.