Revealing of the Sons

⁸ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. ¹⁹ For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; ²¹ because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

Romans 8:18-21

Sigurado ako na kung sino man ang nagbabasa sa blog na ito ay nanonood ng mga movies, palabas sa TV, nobela, short stories, etc. Kaya I’m sure, makaka-relate kayo sa topic na’to.

I am particularly excited for this because it was a marvelous revelation to me by my beloved Jesus.

The Lord knows I love watching anime, movies, and TV series. The Lord knows I like to, one day, produce my own story because God has gifted me with the abilities to do so. And the Lord knows I am easily captured by stories with very nice characters to the point of me fantasizing about their existence. Anyone can relate here?

I once drew a manga and published it on the web. Medyo matagal ko naring hindi na-uupdate yun. But one time, I got the time to look at it again. I reviewed the comments and found a comment that I think all of us had said at least once. The comment was

“I wish I have my Rey.”

Rey is the main character of my story. He is good at basketball. Sweet and charming guy. Although he has his own quirks, he is very friendly and caring to others. I wrote him to be cute and adorable.

Reading such comments make me very happy because it just means I did my job well as a writer and as a manga illustrator. This comment “I wish I have my….” is a comment I usually make when seeing a nice character on a movie or an anime. I imagine.

What if so-and-so exist? We are gonna do this and that.

And just thinking of the fictional character or the imaginary world makes me feel good.

God told me that I do this because the character is someone I desire to be with. Unfortunately, the character is inexistent, fictional, and unreal. God was very frank. He does not want me living in fiction. He knows very well that my mind functioned this way for the past years.

That’s why I am good at writing stories with desirable characters. Medyo nagiging stereotype na nga. The point is, because of my desire to be with someone who is adorable, caring, beautiful, strong, graceful, wise, etc., I was able to write stories having this type of character. I bet this is the reason why there are good writers in this world. In their minds, they have their ideal world and ideal characters.

If you are an anime lover, you will know more what I mean. Ang daming anime characters na may nice personalities. I personally like characters who are strong, wise, and caring but is not totally serious at all times. Sa dami-dami ng anime characters na nandyan, or movie/tv characters, merong similar quality na nag-aattract sakin sa kanila. It’s their goodness and unselfishness.

Like now, sino-sino ang mga characters in the movie, cartoons or shows that you like to personally meet? I bet there are many. As embarrassing as it may sound, here are mine: Zorro, Kenshin (Samurai-X), Lupin, Doraemon, Hermione (from HP), Brock (from Pokemon), Mulan, Gene Starwind, Yuki from (Smile, a Japanese series about a half-filipino), Aslan, etc.

The stories that people write nowadays are so good that people wanted to be in those fictional worlds. People want to be with those fictional characters. People even dress up like those characters.

God told me that people don’t realize that the characters we are longing to spend time with is actually Him…Jesus. Just the human quality siempre. The quality of goodness, unselfishness, love, understanding, joy, etc. People do not realize that who we were longing for is God.

I became so quiet because it made sense. All the characters that I fantasized before I fantasized not because of their abilities, but because of their looks and their good character. God claims to have them all. I know it is true since I have been learning more about Jesus every day.

Jesus is kind, gentle, does not condemn, fun to be with, not boring, a teacher, a friend, a consoler, lifter of head, and at the same time a parent, a dad, a big brother and many more. This is why His name is “I Am.” He is our all in all. He is all that we will ever need.

We do not realize that we have been longing for Him all this time through the fictional characters that we have created. His world, His kingdom, is that which we desire to be with. I just don’t understand why people can’t see this. This is probably the meaning of being blinded by the enemy and by the world. Human beings long for their God. We just do not like to admit that it is God whom we need.

We do not realize that who we long for are the sons of God, the bride, the genuine Christians, the real Church. These human characters that we see in movies exist in real life. They are those who love Jesus and who have full commitment in following Him. They are those who love other people more than themselves. They are those who have developed a unique character. Kasi sadly, hindi lahat ng tao may character.

A person who has character is bound by his principles and values in life and at any cost, will never compromise with the world. If the majority is going this way, he will go the other way regardless of what other people say about him because he follows what his heart dictates or what he firmly believes. Sounds like a movie character right? These people who are righteous, gracious, wise, but never lost the common touch are the sons of God, sons of righteousness.

Note that ‘sons’ is not gender-based. Son is used to term a child. Sons of God are the children of God. They are the one who have the very character of God. They are the carbon copies of Jesus when He was on earth.

These people have a molded character. When they were young, they were foolish. But because of their determination to pass through the fire (mistakes, trials and tests) without giving up, they grew up having a character that is similar to a refined gold. They grew up as men and women. Not all men are men. Not all women are women. Many are still just like little children. It makes sense that Paul wrote this before the bolded verse at the start of this article.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

My boss, for example, is a person tested in fire. That’s why she has developed her own unique character. It is probably the reason why the Lord placed me in my current job. He wants me to show a close visual example of a son of God. My boss is not born again. But her character is like that of a real Jesus disciple. I told myself, if only she would be born again, she can be a powerful and influential evangelist.

In relation to this, gusto kong i-share yung sinabi sakin ni Lord after watching X-Men first class. He asked me a surprising question. “Did you see me in the movie?” I was like “You were there? Where?”

“I was Xavier.”

First, I am somewhat surprised that God wants to talk to me about X-men. As if He read my mind, He asked me “Why not? All things are holy unto Me.” Then I started thinking how similar is God to the human character of Xavier and He was right. I don’t want to be a spoiler but Xavier’s mentoring on how to utilize the young mutant’s power is like Jesus mentoring me on how to utilize God’s power in me the way He wants it to. I thought to myself “I wish I had an Xavier. I want to learn more amazing things about myself. “

God told me that no matter how you look at it, if you have watched the whole x-men installment, Xavier was the most powerful mutant that was there. Not through might but by love. (Not to mention telepathy is a supreme mutant power…nerd alert, nerd alert =))

But God told me “You won’t need an Xavier. You already have Me.”

The cool part is, God told me I was like one of the mutants there. When I thought about it, God was right. But whoever that is, it’s for me to know and for you to never find out unless God reveals it to you. =3

I, too, long for the manifestation of the sons of God. The whole world does. They just don’t realize it.

But instead of waiting, God invites us to be one of the sons. God’s will for us is to be one of them, one of the Bride, a genuine follower of Christ. Can you feel the shift in the spirit world? Those who are intimate with Christ are aware of this shift.

God is in a hurry in calling out His bride. God is in a hurry awakening His bride. There is an outpouring of God’s Spirit in all flesh. People are being drawn to God.

The world awaits for the sons of God. Come!

¹⁷ The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.

Revelations 22:17