Religion & Theology // Background with the Bible
[Name of Student]
[University]
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Background with the Bible
I was born and baptized as a Christian in Methodist Church. My parents are living testimony of God’s love and perfection. They raised me well. I even attended bible school every Sundays and I was very fond of bible stories. The words of God dwell in me for ever.
As I grow older, I have lesser time for Church service. School paper works and other activities with my colleagues accommodated much of my time. It was a routine. Until one time I was discouraged to come to school again. A group of senior students bullied me. I never went home without having black-eyed or without things taken away from me. “What is wrong with you?” I asked myself.
I was relatively quitting school when a friend visited me at home leaving me his books and notes on our subjects. He said, “Look at Matthew 5:44.” The other day, I approached them with a smile and offered a hand to teach them with projects.
They spat out their three bean wrap in surprise and three years later all of them become my friend and they are all employed as civil engineers in different real estate firms.
That experience taught me that there was really nothing impossible to God. Matthew 5:44 says that “But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do goo to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” We can move mountains if we have faith and we will never go astray if we continue doing good to others even if they are our enemies who curse, despise and persecute us.
Every people have different difficulties which they have undergone each day. I was given a chance to meet people who challenged me to become a better person. At first, I felt troubled and anxious. I even asked why God let these things happened to me? Why did he let this people hurt me badly? He said that He loves all righteous man and faithful to him. Why me? Am I not righteous? Am not faithful?
There was sudden shift of thought and light struck upon my heart. I recalled the situation of Job when everything was taken away from him and the story of the Good Samaritan who helped a wounded person he saw in the street. I thought God had left me. I thought I was alone in carrying my cross, in solving my problems. I was wrong. I was busy minding of the difficulties that squeezed my heart and my mind. I was busy thinking of ways on how to escape them and the situation that I have been through. I never thought then that God was carrying me, that He can carry me.
If we have problems, sometimes we become self-centered. We only see our self’s situation. We only see our pain and sufferings and we tend to be blind by our own emotions. That experience leads me to have stronger faith and trust in God. I remembered a poem of Donne’s “Batter My Heart Three-Person’d God; For, You”. Its last two lines says that (Kellman, 2014, p.56):
“Except you’ enthrall mee, never shall be free,
Nor ever chast, except you ravish mee.”
This poem is a confession to God, which is like a prayer. In it, the poet is asking help to make good, the way God wants him to be. But, he admitted that he cannot be good the way God wants him to be one. For he is persuaded by Satan to do evil; but, the poet is consistent in telling that he wants God to force him to be good, to be in the reflection of God, who is perfect and of no sin. So, he asked God to batter his heart or it means break down his heart in order for him to follow God’s will in forceful manner. Like in Donne’s poem, as a Christian, I pray that what is the will of God in my life shall happen so that I always be at peace and under His grace.
References
Kellman, S.T. (2014). “Summary” Magill’s Survey of World Literature, Revised Edition Ed. Salem Press, Inc. 2009. Retrieved 26 January 2017 from eNotes.com <http://www.enotes.com/topics/batter-my-heart-three-personed-god#summary-the-work>
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