Incomplete poem; Constants

ABOUT THE GOD I KNOW

He is One, He is Three,
Invincible for eternity,
Holy, holy, holy is He, with unescaped sovereignty.
Before tale and time was He,
A kaleidoscope of glory,
Having passion that is fury that is love that is He.
Pleased beyond infinity
With the richness in the Three,
He existed perfectly, perfectly joyfully, in perfect harmony.

In light of all, I wonder why He gave Himself to me.
Oh, who am I that my Christ Jesus gave Himself for me?


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FIVE CONSTANTS OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

I'm sure there a person can come up with so much more than just five, but these five are what I've found incredibly empowering and peace instilling.

You still have sin, and are accepted in Christ
At no point should I have the idea that I by myself am clean before God. As long as I'm alive in this world, before I die my bodily death, sin lurks in me. This would drive me to hopelessness unless I go back to the beginning, where sin was put to death and I was justified, at the cross of Christ. I could say with a heavenly confidence that by no merit of mine, I'm saved, I'm saved. I am kept humble and grateful by this, and am continually rescued from hesitation to lay my vile and many sins at His feet. Bring your nothing, I tell myself, bring your nothing.

God means to save you from sin in all that occur
God, in His marvelous wisdom, ensures that every torment and every revealed sin prods me toward Him. I'm sure that I will grow if I'm sure that I'm in Christ, because again, it's not my work, but the work of the Most Faithful. Also, this mindset prepares me for future sufferings, because I shouldn't expect to come to a point where I'm somewhat "perfect" and have no need for struggle anymore. It just wouldn't happen, because God loves me too much to neglect disciplining me. Every day on this earth, I prepare for battle, and prepare to be shown that I've done wrong.

There is still much to learn
Life becomes extremely confusing when you assume that you've known enough, and try to interpret everything with the limited knowledge you have, instead of just admitting that perhaps there is something you don't understand yet, and simply trusting God for His goodness and sovereignty. This is the ultimate remedy to worry; this is the way of humility and trust, to say that I may not have all the answers yet, but bless His name, if He is willing, it will make sense one day.

You are only required to think for God's kingdom
This is a useful criteria for self-examination. Strictly speaking, one is only required to think about God, but to prevent the danger of cutting off His person from His work, His kingdom is brought into view. Certainly, considering the nature of God and His Church also means viewing the fallen world and its community from the true perspective; thus this principle does not narrow down the scope of one's thinking, but rather enlarges it and frees a person from self-deceived and Satan-deceived thinking. Am I thinking for God's kingdom right now? Sure, it's a disgustingly high standard to achieve, but then our Lord is perfect, and He is pleased to make us more and more like Him.

Rewards await those who strive, including the reward of striving
Why do we strive and work hard and suffer? Firstly, to even have the ability to strive is a gift too excellent for words. What else can I say? It's what we're made for! We are in the likeness of the God who is furiously passionate for His glory. How do we express this passion if we can't strive? How terrible it would be to be immovable, containing it forever! Secondly, how great it is to have something to strive for! With a corrupted, idolatrous mind, one would think of rewards as things apart from God, but the reward referred to here is actually God Himself, whose glory is infinite. Eternity for the elect will be an endless chasing down of the glories of God, each reward not inferior than the last. For the one born again, this eternity has begun! Suffering will not be in vain, nor hope put to shame; rewards await.