John 4: Samaritan and Muslim today

"23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”"

Like the Samaritans, the Muslims today worshiped the God of Abraham; like the Samaritans, the Muslims "worship what they do not know." And many Muslims often turn down salvation in Jesus because they could not imagine joining the Christian religion. But the question is that does salvation really come from joining a religion identity namely Christianity or instead salvation come from having faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of the World?

When all the Jewish put judgment on Samaritans, Jesus came into their community and proclaim the good news. Further more, He removed that barrier of worshiping in the "mountain", but instead He introduce the seed of the Kingdom of God and saying that "true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth".

The question here is that can Muslim remain to their socio-religious identity as a Muslim but still receive salvation by accepting Jesus (lsa) as Lord and worship God in spirit and in truth? I believe so!

Further more, claiming yourselves a christian without accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of the World, and if your action does not reflect what you claim, you may not necessarily have truly received salvation yet. (Matthew 7:21)

Joshua 1

"6 Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.7 “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go....9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”"

God has a special calling for each of us to be part of His kingdom of God. These calling are always tasks that beyond human wisdom. But when we know that we are being called to do something, let's be strong and courageous because for God is with us, what shall we fear!? Though the moment we enroll ourselves into the kingdom of God, it is the moment we will encounter temptation from the evil one. Be mindful that Jesus has already won. Keep following the righteous path and stop doing wrong! Make ourselves clean. "If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land, but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.”For the mouth of the LORD has spoken" (Isaiah 1:19-20)

Let's receive the power when the Holy Spirit come to us and we will be witnesses of Jesus' victory to the end of the earth! (Acts 1:8)

1 Thessalonians 1

"We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. 3 We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ....our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction."

Pray so that our work maybe produced by faith; our labor maybe prompted by love; and we may endure and be inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. We have to humble down and let Jesus be Lord and King of my life, and may we empty ourselves and be filled with the Holy Spirit. May we acknowledge that He will bears powerful fruit and deep conviction to the world through our hand. May we indeed fear God and shun evil! (Job 1)

Matthew 1

"This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly."

There is time in life that we might want to make a judgment on someone and we might even want to expose someone's wrongdoing to public disgrace. Although it maybe lawful to do such thing, here Joseph did not do it and instead he wanted to settle it quietly (Joseph didn't know that Mary was pregnant through the Holy Spirit), and the key reason here was that Joseph "did not want to do it", and I think because Joseph loved Mary and want to save her some trouble (stone to death), and Joseph thought the best bet for him to keep faithful to the law is to divorce her quietly.

Joseph has made a decision based on the love of God first (keep faithful to the law by divorcing Mary), and the love of Mary (divorcing her quietly instead of exposing her).

We have to ask ourselves what is the motive behind our action. Is it based on love (to God and others) or for our self righteousness? If it is for our self righteousness, then remember that there is no one righteous, and the righteous will only live by faith in Christ Jesus.