Sunday, 6/14/09, Day 214, Luke 2:41-52; Matthew 3:1-12

Has it been hard for you to accept that Jesus is more concerned about your repentant heart than about your knowledge or your good deeds?

Not really because it makes sense. It is easy to for example open the door for the person coming out or volunteering at a charity. However, it is harder to admit that you are sometimes wrong or that you are inferior to another being or even the fact that your action was wrong to do. All I am saying is that some good deeds are not hard to do at all. Some people do it to show off. Others do it half-heartedly. Many do it because they are forced to. For example my middle school requires 8th graders to do at least i think 10hrs of community service before they can graduate on stage. When did helping others become a chore?

With that being said, I would rather have someone admit their wrongs and sins because it is inevitable that we are imperfect and we do have flaws rather than someone doing charity work for whatever reason it is. Living the American lifestyle has indeed turned people into proud people. Well for the majority of Americans, they have a lot of luxuries. It does not even have to be a big luxury, even a simple ipod is considered to be a luxury in for example the poorer areas of Asia. Sometimes people like to think that they earned these luxuries by their own will power and through their own effort, so it makes sense for them to be proud of what they have accomplished.

I don't think God cares whether or not we have a vast amount of knowledge. I also don't think that people should be preoccupied with getting as much knowledge as they possibly can get to solve their problems. We at times believe that as humans we have a unlimited capacity of knowledge.....but we need to keep in mind that we will never reach God's level. He is the ultimate holder of knowledge. Therefore we shouldn't be so assiduous in finding the answer or information when we know in fact that God already has it. He is always with us, so in a way the knowledge is right in front of our faces. It just takes patience for us to acknowledge it. That is another thing....people are too impatient these days; that is why we do too many things by our own effort. My overall point is that God does not care too much about the knowledge we have for it is Him that has all the knowledge we need.

Knowledge and good deeds can be easily gained by human effort. Acknowledging one's wrongs is sometimes harder to do because a lot of people like to have their own beliefs. For me, knowing that there is a God and knowing who God is made me realize how small I am and how imperfect I am ......We should all acknowledge that and realize that it is not something to be proud of. Repenting shows God that we can conceive our own faults and be not okay with that. We become bigger people that aim for improvement because of repentance.