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Category: The Quiet Room

  • Embracing True Transformation Through God’s Grace

    Embracing True Transformation Through God’s Grace

    In a world where “fine” has become the default answer to “How are you?”, it’s easy to settle for a life that’s merely functional but not truly flourishing. Many of us live in routines that are familiar, even if they’re not healthy, because change feels risky and uncomfortable. Yet, beneath the surface, there’s a longing for real transformation—a hope that life can be more than just surviving or maintaining appearances. The good news is that God’s invitation isn’t to a slightly improved version of our old selves, but to a completely new life, rooted in His love and power.

    Looking at Matthew 13:44-58, Jesus uses parables to reveal the nature of true change and the heart of God’s kingdom. Contrary to the common interpretation that we must give up everything to gain the treasure of salvation, the deeper context shows that God is the main actor—He is the one who seeks, finds, and pays the ultimate price for us. We are the treasure and the pearl of great value, and God’s initiative, not our striving, is what secures our place in His kingdom. This is a profound reversal: instead of us working to earn God’s favor, it is God who joyfully gives everything to redeem us.

    This truth exposes the futility of trying to staple ourselves to spiritual life through good behavior or religious activity. Real transformation isn’t about acting right, but about being made new from the inside out. Only the gospel—the good news of what Christ has done—can produce genuine love for God and others. Proximity to spiritual things or Christian culture isn’t enough; what matters is whether our hearts have been changed by God’s grace.

    Jesus’ own hometown missed this because they couldn’t see beyond the familiar. Their expectations and assumptions blinded them to the work of God happening right in front of them. The same danger exists for us: we can become so accustomed to our routines, or so convinced that God’s love is tied to our performance, that we miss the invitation to be truly found and transformed.

    The invitation remains: will you allow yourself to be found by God, to let go of striving and receive the new life He offers? The price has already been paid. The only thing left is to say yes—to surrender, to trust, and to let God do what only He can do: make you new.

     

    Recent Videos

    Here are the most recent message videos from Clarity Church where Phillip Santillan is the Lead Pastor.

    Proximity to spiritual things—church attendance, Christian language, or good deeds—does not guarantee transformation. What matters is whether our hearts have been changed, whether we have truly been made new by God’s grace

    – Phillip Santillan –

     

  • Everything? Really?

    I want to be known as a man after God’s own heart. It’s the highest goal of my life. I also want to be known as the man who “will do everything [God wants] him to do” or as another translation puts it, a man “who will do all my will.”

    While that is understandably noble of me, my interpretation of how that looks in reality and how it is actualized in scripture oftentimes gets off track. Let me explain.

    Whenever I read the scriptures I am inspired to move from where I am to where I know God wants me to be. The problem is that, like a little kid eager to put together his new model kit, I too often assume the process (the instructions) of how I am to reach my goal (making the model car) and passionately try to work towards the finished product of my desire.

    My problem is that I too often assume the HOW before completely understanding the WHY.

    I don’t know about you, but oftentimes I confuse the phrase “who did everything God wanted him to do” with “EVERYTHING he did was what God wanted him to do.” And what happens when I find that my life choices are inconsistent with what God’s Word defines as Godly behaviors? I start to find myself discouraged and begin to feel there is no hope for me being a man after God’s own heart.

    But fortunately, God’s Word is there to put me in my place.

    When I read Acts 13:22 – understanding the context of David’s life – I realize that even despite David’s sins and imperfections, God had a way of accomplishing all his will through David. Not only that, David was still considered a man after God’s own heart.

    But why?

    Because “everything” doesn’t mean “EVERYTHING” when our perspectives are not right.

    Today I am encouraged that the HOW (works) is not as important as the WHY (love for God).

    (Don’t misunderstand me…I fully believe and affirm the theological implications of James 2)

    When you find a continuous, committed, and passionate love for God – even when you’re caught with your hand in the cookie jar – you can be remembered as a person after God’s own heart and you will be positioned so all of God’s will is accomplished through you.

    Psalm 103:8-18
    8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
    slow to anger, abounding in love.

    9 He will not always accuse,
    nor will he harbor his anger forever;

    10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
    or repay us according to our iniquities.

    11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his love for those who fear him;

    12 as far as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

    13 As a father has compassion on his children,
    so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;

    14 for he knows how we are formed,
    he remembers that we are dust.

    15 As for man, his days are like grass,
    he flourishes like a flower of the field;

    16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,
    and its place remembers it no more.

    17 But from everlasting to everlasting
    the LORD’s love is with those who fear him,
    and his righteousness with their children’s children-

    18 with those who keep his covenant
    and remember to obey his precepts.

  • Hugging your neighbor’s wife


    Yesterday i found myself both uncomfortable and embarrassed.  Have you ever felt that way?

    Yesterday I found myself hugging my neighbor’s wife.

    Maybe I should give you some background.  As I was working on my yard, my next door neighbor’s wife came out to work on hers.  She’s a really nice lady- a little very shy – but friendly none the less.

    On a side note, my wife and I had noticed that we haven’t seen her husband around in a while.  Don’t get us wrong, we are good neighbors, but we’re definitely not “nosey nieghbors.”  We assumed a couple of different scenarios, but never really asked.  We figured we would find that answer out someday, so no need to create a potentially awkward situation.

    Well…the awkward situation found me.

    The gap in between kindly saying hi to my neighbor’s wife and me getting back to heading towards trimming my yard is filled with boring descriptions of me describing in detail the proper use of weed and feed and all that jazz short.  What happened next totally caught me off guard.

    As I walked away to go back to trimming my yard, in a timid, yet slightly raised voice she said,

    “Thanks…you know it’s been tough since my husband died”

    DIED?  Her husband died?  I turned around and all I could say was I am sorry.  I asked when it happened and she told me how he passed last summer.  He had gone in for shoulder pain and the doctor originally thought it was some type of arthritis.  But when the treatment he prescribed wasn’t working, they went back.  This time they took some x-rays, and things didn’t look right.  When they took a CT scan they found out why.

    Cancer had overtaken the bone marrow in his arm – and was actually spreading all throughout his body.  From the day they heard that news, until his death was only 4 months.

    I was embarrassed because I didn’t ask what happened to him when we noticed he was gone.  Being that they were about the same age as our parents (and also have a son old enough to be my brother), I kind of naturally assumed a number of different situations: they were separated or he had moved back to California for work.

    Then I became uncomfortable.  I didn’t know what to say, so I simply asked if I could pray with her.  She said yes.  And as I extended my hand to pray, this short little Chinese lady reached up, hugged my neck, and began to cry on my shoulder.  As I prayed with her the embarrassment and uncomfortablity that once clouded my emotions was overcome by compassion and love.

    My family and I have been feeling the Lord challenging us towards living our lives with a more missional mindset/paradigm, I am beginning to see how God begins to ordain open doors towards living a “great commission” life and I believe he is opening these doors because we are asking for it.

    And that was my day.

    How was yours?

  • What to do when “Who You Are” is not “Who You Were”

    I knew a guy who had a problem.  He had really turned his life around – really.  The problem was, no one believed that who he now was could be possible because he had built such a long history of himself based on who he was.

    Check his story out here.

    Can you relate?

    If you are a follower of Christ, you have the awesome opportunity to be a person who the Lord is continually “transforming” (Romans 12). The problem is – that even those close to you – will sometimes see you in the light of who you were instead of who you now are.

    My Advice?

    Be patient with those who may not see the changes for good that God has done in your life. Yes, you may be different and God sees you for who you are, but people are people. They do not have the benefit of seeing as the Lord sees. And for some, they will never have the capacity of forgiveness that the Lord has and will always see you for who you were.

    1 Thessalonians 2:4
    On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts.

  • I like to appear…

    I like to look in shape. So I wear the clothes that are tight in just the right spots and aren’t tight in the spots that…well…would not be right. I talk about how much I can bench press and how many push-ups on an incline I can do. I like to show off how quick I am by demonstrating my agility in short little pickup games of basketball or football. I even eat a healthy meal in front of others and drink only diet soda.

    But the problem is not that I WANT to look in shape. The problem is that I want to be in shape by constantly trying to LOOK in shape. My focus is on how I look and not what I’m dedicated to. To be in shape means that you’ll see the habits of your life in a fundamentally different way.

    You won’t change the way you dress.

    You’ll change the way you live.

    And if you are someone like me, that means you have to change from the inside out.

    It doesn’t help that I sometimes succeed in tricking people into thinking I’ve lost HUGE amounts of weight or have been working out a lot because it just makes me think that I’m reaching my goal of being in shape. The problem is that I just APPEAR to be GETTING in shape – but in reality not actually!

    I know of a guy who had a similar problem.

    He loved being Christian. Funny thing is that he always wasn’t like that. In fact, he was probably the most “Un-Christian” person you would know.

    The truth is that everyone in his hometown knew about him. And it wasn’t that he was a criminal. It was because he was popular! It didn’t matter how rich, or how poor you were, if you were from this guy’s hometown, you knew about him and you wanted to hang with this guy! He was the coolest…but he was not a Christian.

    Then something amazing happened in the guy’s life. All of a sudden there came a moment in time where he realized that life wasn’t all about him and eventually found out about the truth of Christ. And when he believed in Christ and became baptized, he was constantly amazed by all the wonderful things he began to experience and the miracles he witnessed. The thing that captured him the most was seeing these guys, who were totally sold out for God, ministering to people and seeing God’s Holy Spirit enter their lives. He decided right then and there that’s what he wanted to do. He wanted to be a minister just like them.

    Doesn’t sound like he’s got a problem, right? Well, there is! Don’t believe me? Check out what Luke the apostle has to say about this guy

    * (Acts 8:9-24)

    Simon’s problem was that he enjoyed being Christian without actually embracing the change that defines what a Christian is. While his behaviors and beliefs were different, he wasn’t a new creation.

    Being different does not mean you’re a new creation, but being a new creation will mean that things will be different.

    Are you a new creation?

  • How NOT to read the bible

    When you don’t read the bible correctly, sometimes your interpretation of it can kind of look like this…

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T5_0AGdFic]

    I ran across this article the other day and I wanted to share it with you.  More importantly – for those who take being a follower of Christ seriously – this is a reminder to always make sure that our biblical perspectives are not only formed through information fed to us by others, but that we are each doing our best to really understand what God’s Word communicates to us about living the Christian Faith.

    HT:Dan Kimball

  • Gratitude in the wrong direction

    Am I lying to myself?

    Am I taking feelings of thankfulness for God’s blessings in my life as feelings of thankfulness towards God?

    During my devotions today, I found myself pausing over Luke 17:11-19.  It’s a story I’m familiar with. I’ve read it plenty of times, and have even taught through the passage.  But today I was gripped to answer a question:

    Where have I mistakenly attributed thankfulness towards the good in my life instead of towards the Lord?

  • Hope in a brown paper bag

    Today my senior pastor taught a message entitled “Hope in a Brown Paper Bag.”  This post isn’t about his message

    It’s about how I experienced it this morning.

    I’ll be honest…I never expected that today would be the day God would teach me that hope comes in packages that you don’t expect.  What happened? In short, it was one of those morning where it didn’t feel like all the my plans were coming together.

    But then it happened…

    God moved.

    I know that hope deserves a nice package, but it doesn’t require it.

    I’m thankful God reminded me that he is still in control.

  • Conversations//Have you considered who you follow…

    because it says a lot about who you’ll become.

    This thought keeps me on my toes.  It haunts me because I know that who you decide to influence your life eventually leads to a life reflecting that person.

    Before I go any further…I know that some will say, “I don’t follow any man, I follow Jesus.”

    ok…I get it.  But that’s not how things really work.

    There are reasons why Paul said:

    Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. – 1 Cor 11:1

    Or other scriptures say things like:

    Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”-1 Cor 15:33

    Not to start up a theological debate on the subject since the debate has been settled in the the first chapter of 1 Corinthians, but I do believe that who you follow will influence who you become, whether you like it or not.

    Why is this important to me?  Because I know that there are people who call me pastor…a title that I am honored by, but still amazed that God would allow me to be.  I am amazed because I know that I am still a sinner saved by grace.  And when I think about that, I pray that God would spare the people who choose to follow me/be mentored/coached/etc from the qualities of my life that continually needs God’s Spirit to refine.  I pray they only see Him, and none of me.

    Dear Lord,
    Take my life, and let it be
    consecrated, Lord, to thee;
    take my moments and my days,
    let them flow in ceaseless praise.

    Take my hands, and let them move
    at the impulse of thy love;
    take my feet, and let them be
    swift and beautiful for thee.

    Take my voice, and let me sing
    always, only, for my King;
    take my lips, and let them be
    filled with messages from thee.

    Take my silver and my gold,
    not a mite would I withhold;
    take my intellect, and use
    every power as thou shalt choose.

    Take my will and make it thine;
    it shall be no longer mine.
    take my heart, it is thine own;
    it shall be thy royal throne.

    Take my love; my Lord, I pour
    at thy feet its treasure store;
    take my self, and I will be
    ever, only, all for thee.

    Amen

  • When looking back hurts

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    Every had one of those moments where you are reminded of the choices in your past that you wish you could “do over?” I do.  I sometimes look back at my life and wish I had another chance to do things the “right way” (whatever that means!)  Things like,

    My SAT’s

    My relationships with my parents, my sister, friends, ex-friends…

    My freshman year of college

    My first 5 years of ministry

    The day I thought I needed a free t-shirt for a signing up for my first credit card

    The day I decided to use that credit card

    There are always times in my life that I wished I had done things differently.  Maybe it’s because in this race called life (or marathon or whatever…) it feels like I’ve often  been late on the start or I’m getting penalized for jumping the gun.  Maybe it’s because when I look back, I feel that I was always too immature for the responsibilities handed to me.

    Then today I realized something.  I realized that a lot of those times when I look back on the decisions in my life and just wince, it is because I am focused too much on comparing myself to others.  I was comparing myself to others who were smarter than me, more mature than me, better looking than me, stronger than me, or more talented than me.  And in the stage of life I am in, it is hard not to look around at my peers and their successes and not feel like I have fallen short.

    And so what happened when I realized this?  I believe God told me two things:

    1 Timothy 6:6
    But godliness with contentment is great gain.

    Philippians 1:6
    And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

    I think I’m feeling better.

    How about you?