Jesus Christ is Lord!
We live in a society that glorifies individuality. We demand our rights ahead of our responsibilities; service instead of serving; gratification above sacrifice. Society glorifies the unholy trinity : Me, myself and I. Christmas is a call for us to stop being immature and start gaining perspective by diverting the focus from ourselves to God and His perfect love for us.
Christmas is the epitome of love so perfect - so humble that He arrive at a manger; so demonstrative that He chose to walk amongst us sinners; so graceful that He is able to touch our hearts; so sacrificial that He died a criminal's death to redeem you and I into the Kingdom of God; so merciful that He will write-off our sins if we choose to believe. Christmas is God's best gift to mankind. We are saved for good works, not by good works. There is nothing more than we could do to make God love us more. There is nothing so lacking in us that out of God's gracious reach. That is why it is called a gift...we have just have to receive it with childlike faith.
Cheers to you Lord Jesus. We glorify you, and may our worship be a sweet scent that pleases you. We thank you for your grace in this lifetime, and we look forward to the day that we shall meet face-to-face.
Conquering 2006 for Christ : Look back
I've wrote "Conquering 2006 for Christ" in Week 1 of January 2006. I must admit I don't really refer back to my archives as much. Given that 2006 is coming to a close very soon, it's probably worthwhile looking back at this piece of article, asking ourselves :
How have I grown in the Lord?
Did I grow into a deeper relationship with Christ?
Could I look back at 2006 and praise God, IN SPITE OF some difficulties that I may have encountered?
Have I been conscientiously committing my thoughts and actions to the Lord?
How have I edify the lives of the people around me?
Was I being obedient to God?
Some of us has definitely made wonderful strides as far as you and God are concerned. It makes a remarkable testimony to demonstrate to people about God's grace and power in our lives.
Maybe for some of us, our walk with God isn't all too peachy, so much so that we dread answering those questions. Let me say that the above is not a report-card like assessment where God stands at a distant with a whip waiting to judge us. He is more faithful than us...there is nothing more or nothing less that we could do to make Him love us. He loves us anyway.
Regardless whether 2006 was good or not-so-good, we all have a race that is yet to be finished. It is a race that we need to press on and ensure that we finish it. 2007 will just be again another strip of the our earthly time fabric. We press on and on...and one day we exchange our cross for a crown.
Mid-Week Musings : Unanswered prayers - Living with a mystery
I've come across what John Baillie wrote :
Let me use disappointment as a material for patience.Let me use success as a material for thankfulness.Let me use trouble as a material for perseverance.Let me use danger as a material for courage.Let me use reproach as a material for long suffering.Let me use praise as a material for humility.Let me use pleasure as a material for temperance.Let me use pain as a material for endurance. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord.~Isaiah 55:8~
"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."
~Isaiah 55:9~
"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weaknesses."
~2Cor 12:9~
"You do not have because you do not ask"
~James 4:2~
"Ask and it shall be given to you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and the door shall be opened."
~Matthew 7:7~
"...Christ in you, the hope of glory."
~Colossians 1:27~
At times I am dumb-founded and simply find it very hard within my spirit to reconcile all these...Ignorance is truly bliss. Ironically, knowledge is power. Probably it is the wisdom that I'm lacking...
The Type of Person God Uses
There are 3 attributes of a person whom God uses for the glory of the Kingdom :
1) Desire to do His will. We live in a flesh-driven world where we are limited by our culture pressures, our own self-gratifying nature and our inability to perceive the beginning from the end. Peter felt worthless and ask the Lord to leave him. Mary feared when the angle appeared and more so fearing about what people would perceive of her if she was found to be pregnant. Jesus asked for the "cup" to be take away from him. We all have fears have Ps Tan would put it : fear of criticism, fear of the supernatural, fear of inadequecy and fear of change. I would add one more : fear of rejection. It is tough to do God's will, I can ascertain to that. The last time I cried "Thy will be done" was in an emotionally wretching circumstance.
We are familiar to with Peter's response to Jesus when he was asked to leave his vocation and become fishers of man. Mary's response was "Let be it done unto me according to your Word" (Luke 1:38). And we are very familiar with Jesus response at Gethsamane : Not mine but Thy will be done. They have gone to be people used mightily by God to accomplish His purposes.
2) Willing to pay to price. To be used mightily by God, we must be willing to pay the price. Expounding on Mary's case, she risked her reputation, risked losing her fiance and had to be uncomfortable during her pregnancy by travelling to Bethlehem and giving birth to Jesus in a manger so that the prophecy would be fulfilled. There was a certain guy who wanted to get something for his wife to celebrate their anniversary, but didn't want to fork out too much dollars for it. He decided to buy her a bottle of perfume. The salesperson brought out a bottle of perfume from the glass showcase and quoted 50 dollars. "It's too expensive," he said. The salesperson brought out a smaller bottle each time he was not satisfied with the price until the salesperson had to bring out a really small sample bottle which cost 10 dollars. "You don't get it, I want something really really cheap. Show it to me the cheapest you've got!" he boomed. Finally the salesperson brought out a mirror. Moral of the story : don't be a cheap-skate.
3) Dare to trust His promises. In September 1859 was a historic moment at Niagara falls. Blondin was the first man to walk across the tight-rope from one bank to another, to and fro. Not only that, he did many other stunts like walking across blind-folded, cycled on a bicyle, fried an omelette in the middle etc. With each of these illustrous version of stunts the crowd was estatic and cheered on and believed that he could accomplish each and everyone of them. Finally he asked who would volunteer to be carried by him to walk on tight-rope across the Niagara. The crowd fell silent. After a while, a young man came stepped forward. A lot of us are like the crowd. We believed in Jesus, we cheer upon him and we praise him. But how many of us are willing to step out in faith to claim the promises of God?
Jesus, though Son of God, has became man and he understands all our struggles and infirmities, yet without sin. That is why, until Kingdom comes, Jesus promises us the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14).
*Adaptation from Ps. Tan Ye Peng of City Harvest Church, Singapore on 10-Dec 2006*
Mid-Week Musings : A Habit of Attention
'Be still and know that I am God'. I read in this familiar verse from Psalms two commands of equal importance. First, I must be still, something that modern life conspires against. Ten years ago I responded to letters within a couple of weeks and kept my correspondents happy. Five years ago I faxed a response in a couple of days and they seemed content. Now they want email responses the same day and berate me for not using Instant Messaging or a mobile phone.
Mystery, awareness of another world, an emphasis on being rather than doing, even a few moments of quiet do not come naturally to me in this hectic, buzzing world. I must carve out time and allow God to nourish my inner life.
On a walking pilgrimage to Assisi in Italy the writer Patricia Hampl began to make a list in answer to the question, what is prayer? She wrote down a few words. Praise. Gratitude. Begging/pleading/cutting deals. Fruitless whining and puling. Focus. And then the list broke off, for she discovered that prayer only seems like an act of language : 'fundamentally it is a position, a placement of oneself.' She went on to discover that, 'Prayer as focus is not a way of limiting what can be seen; it is a habit of attention brought to bear on all that is.'
Ah, a habit of attention. Be still. In that focus, all else comes into focus. In that rift in my routine, the universe falls into alignment.
Stillness prepares me for the second command : 'know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.' Only through prayer can I believe that truth in the midst of a world that colludes to suppress, not exalt, God.
Philip Yancey
Peace
Since the earliest recorded human history, less than 8% of the time the world, as a whole, experience peace. More than 8000 peace treaties were signed during that period and most of them were broken. It is an interesting piece of statistics. Today, with the going-ons of war on terrorism and the tension in the Middle East, the outlook does not seem to get any better. That is at the macro level.
At the micro level, in our individual lives, how many times did we catch ourselves thinking "If only I had more money, I will happy...", or "If I had a BMW, I will look more successful...", or "If only I was more good-looking and more money, girls will be attracted to me..." or "If only my in-laws are not living under the same roof, I will have more peace...". All too often we had that kind of thoughts. You see, we often base our expectations of peace as a intended resultant of circumstances around us. As long as we place our peace-worth in the worldly realm, we are bound to be disappointed.
True peace comes from a personal relationship with God. Jesus is aware of our nature, and He gave us a gentle reminder in John 14:26-27 : But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. Reiterating "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives" from the lips of our Saviour, He grants us peace that passeth all understanding, peace that sustains us in the face of the snares of this world.
Rick Warren decides that life is unlike the usual metaphor of hills and valleys. That suggest that ups and downs happens one after another in series. His analogy of life is a like a railroad track. At any one time in our lives, there is always the good and the bad that co-exist together. So for those of you who thinks that all is lousy and gloomy, think again and reflect God's blessing in your life today. I'm very sure there is good to it. We have an eternal significance in His Kingdom, if we know where to place our hearts. God promises are written in Isaiah 9:6-7, 43:1-7 and John 14:1-3.
Personally (this is myself, not Pastor Ken), I have decided "rejoicing" is an attitude to be habitualized with. Rejoicing is a decision to be made, not to be an outcome of the favourable circumstances around me. Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again : Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. God is more interested in our character than our comfort, in our holiness rather than our happiness. Our job is to obey, with the goal of being Christlike, rejoicing along the way.
*Adaptation from Ps. Ken Benintendi's sermon on Peace at International Church Assembly, Hong Kong on 3-Dec 2006*
