In Hebrews 2:10 thereabouts, it suggests that Jesus was made perfect through the suffering he endured here on earth, which seems to me a strange thing. How can God be made more perfect?
Further down in the chapter it explains that this was partly to do with Jesus' role as a mediator on our behalf and high priest, who is now better able to empathise with our sufferings, having gone through many of them.
it reminded me of something i read in a book some time back, which posed the conundrum that when God created the earth and man, He knew that it was going to descend into the sin and anarchy that we have now. But He created it anyway.
The book went on further to propose that suffering is key to greater glory. there is no glory in being a middle-class person from an average family who grew up to do something great. There is great acclamation for the boy who came from a poor and broken home who grew up to do that same great thing. It's like that quadriplegic who completes triathlons, with his dad pulling him all the way. We admire them because they had a much tougher route to get to where they are now.
Why did God allow Satan to wreck all this havoc in what was once a 'good' world? Because what comes out of the chaos has been tested and proven.
Jul 5, 2007
Jul 4, 2007
The Creator
In days long past,
every possession was hand-crafted lovingly by an artisan,
and it was easy to imagine a Creator God who did the same.
In the days of the Industrial Revolution,
possessions are cranked out ceaselessly by impersonal, uncaring machines,
and it is easy to imagine that the Universe works in this way too.
But Who created this machine?
every possession was hand-crafted lovingly by an artisan,
and it was easy to imagine a Creator God who did the same.
In the days of the Industrial Revolution,
possessions are cranked out ceaselessly by impersonal, uncaring machines,
and it is easy to imagine that the Universe works in this way too.
But Who created this machine?
Jul 2, 2007
Wanted: Me
Been doing alot of thinking of late. It started with feelings of guilt, about certain things which I've been putting off. Things which aren't really my responsibility, but which would be good to do anyway. And the train of thought derailed into a far-ranging discourse on serving God, and what exactly it is we are called to do, helped along by various discussions about our life's purpose and how we glorify God.
I reflected back on my journey with God, starting from when I first started to get serious about this whole God business some six or seven years ago, way back in Sec3, where my idea of glorifying God meant putting all of my heart, mind, soul and strength into worship. Shouting out the songs at the expense of my voice, analysing each line and word of every song to see if I could truly mean the words that were being sung, and being quiet if I couldn't. It was all the love that a child knew how to give. The rest of my life wasn't particularly significant - I spent approximately half my waking hours playing computer games - but I worshipped God the only way I knew how.
I remembered how when I went to JC, loving God meant setting aside time for him each morning to seek His presence - the first time I had ever managed a consistent quiet time. I was not satisfied to give Him 15 minutes of my morning on a crowded train - I desperately wanted God's presence each day, giving myself huge amounts of leeway time so that I wouldn't feel any time pressure when I came before Him. Getting to school at insane hours to enjoy the quiet hours with Him. Before I cracked open my Bible, I would sit and pray until I felt God's presence with me, and then I would start reading. Yet I coasted through the other parts of my life, blessed in all abundance with intelligence and good friends.
Over time, I was convicted of the need to use my gifts to serve God. I felt that the next step for me was to move out and begin serving, to stop being a parasite living off the church, but an active, contributing member. I felt that God gave me gifts so I could use them to bless His people, not to hide them under a bushel, a prompting made all the more urgent by the multitude of gifts I knew I had been given. And this new direction has challenged me greatly, forcing me far from my comfort zone in some circumstances, leaving me often weary in mind and body. And in doing so, I have been discovering new strengths, new gifts, and I know that God's been working in me, to repair the broken bits and to strengthen the working bits. And it's been great.
But wondering at these feelings of guilt, which are gradually becoming more familiar, I come to the realisation that I have wandered from my first love. I have subscribed to the belief that doing significant things is the measure of my day, and by extension the measure of my worth. Although I have heard this message many ties before, it has never struck home like this. I remember ending many days with regret at time wasted on worthless things, set upon by thoughts of self-condemnation. And measuring myself by this yardstick, I have come to measure others in the same way, leading to a judgemental attitude.
I pondered upon the analogy of a parent-child relationship, and reflected on how that relationship was independent of any outside success or failure on either person's part, dependent only on mutual love. I thought about the stories I've heard about children who felt overburdened, and ultimately unloved, because of the weight of parental expectation, and I remembered that my God is not like that. My God is the perfect Father, and He loves me with a perfect love that is unchanging and unshakeable.
We were looking at a discussion question which asked us what our primary purpose in life was, and I answered that it was to glorify God. My answer has changed. Our primary purpose in life is to love God. A lesson I was taught a long time ago and had forgotten till recently was that if you had done nothing else of worth in a day except worship God, then that day had been well spent for that reason alone. I remembered Micah 6:8, which had been my favourite verse once, a long time ago, which tells me that the Lord requires nothing of me but to love mercy, do justly, and walk humbly before my God. I imagine the joy which a parent would feel, when a child comes back beaming from a day of fun and relaxation, and I imagine that God would be the same way. After all, God is happy when we are happy.
The caution then, is not to take this lesson overboard. As in bringing up any child, there are times to love them and times to discipline them; times to comfort them, and times to challenge them. As I have been challenged, I hear this call to remember my first love, and to shift my focus to where it should never have left. But even as I feel more justified now to do things which are relaxing and recreational, I must not make them the focus of my life, and I have no idea how the lines are drawn. But one thing I know - that as long as I make room for God in my life, I am moving in the right direction.
I reflected back on my journey with God, starting from when I first started to get serious about this whole God business some six or seven years ago, way back in Sec3, where my idea of glorifying God meant putting all of my heart, mind, soul and strength into worship. Shouting out the songs at the expense of my voice, analysing each line and word of every song to see if I could truly mean the words that were being sung, and being quiet if I couldn't. It was all the love that a child knew how to give. The rest of my life wasn't particularly significant - I spent approximately half my waking hours playing computer games - but I worshipped God the only way I knew how.
I remembered how when I went to JC, loving God meant setting aside time for him each morning to seek His presence - the first time I had ever managed a consistent quiet time. I was not satisfied to give Him 15 minutes of my morning on a crowded train - I desperately wanted God's presence each day, giving myself huge amounts of leeway time so that I wouldn't feel any time pressure when I came before Him. Getting to school at insane hours to enjoy the quiet hours with Him. Before I cracked open my Bible, I would sit and pray until I felt God's presence with me, and then I would start reading. Yet I coasted through the other parts of my life, blessed in all abundance with intelligence and good friends.
Over time, I was convicted of the need to use my gifts to serve God. I felt that the next step for me was to move out and begin serving, to stop being a parasite living off the church, but an active, contributing member. I felt that God gave me gifts so I could use them to bless His people, not to hide them under a bushel, a prompting made all the more urgent by the multitude of gifts I knew I had been given. And this new direction has challenged me greatly, forcing me far from my comfort zone in some circumstances, leaving me often weary in mind and body. And in doing so, I have been discovering new strengths, new gifts, and I know that God's been working in me, to repair the broken bits and to strengthen the working bits. And it's been great.
But wondering at these feelings of guilt, which are gradually becoming more familiar, I come to the realisation that I have wandered from my first love. I have subscribed to the belief that doing significant things is the measure of my day, and by extension the measure of my worth. Although I have heard this message many ties before, it has never struck home like this. I remember ending many days with regret at time wasted on worthless things, set upon by thoughts of self-condemnation. And measuring myself by this yardstick, I have come to measure others in the same way, leading to a judgemental attitude.
I pondered upon the analogy of a parent-child relationship, and reflected on how that relationship was independent of any outside success or failure on either person's part, dependent only on mutual love. I thought about the stories I've heard about children who felt overburdened, and ultimately unloved, because of the weight of parental expectation, and I remembered that my God is not like that. My God is the perfect Father, and He loves me with a perfect love that is unchanging and unshakeable.
We were looking at a discussion question which asked us what our primary purpose in life was, and I answered that it was to glorify God. My answer has changed. Our primary purpose in life is to love God. A lesson I was taught a long time ago and had forgotten till recently was that if you had done nothing else of worth in a day except worship God, then that day had been well spent for that reason alone. I remembered Micah 6:8, which had been my favourite verse once, a long time ago, which tells me that the Lord requires nothing of me but to love mercy, do justly, and walk humbly before my God. I imagine the joy which a parent would feel, when a child comes back beaming from a day of fun and relaxation, and I imagine that God would be the same way. After all, God is happy when we are happy.
The caution then, is not to take this lesson overboard. As in bringing up any child, there are times to love them and times to discipline them; times to comfort them, and times to challenge them. As I have been challenged, I hear this call to remember my first love, and to shift my focus to where it should never have left. But even as I feel more justified now to do things which are relaxing and recreational, I must not make them the focus of my life, and I have no idea how the lines are drawn. But one thing I know - that as long as I make room for God in my life, I am moving in the right direction.
Jun 12, 2007
knowing
The Christian has a great advantage over other men not by being less fallen than they, nor less doomed to live in fallen world, but by knowing that he is a fallen man in a fallen world - Clives Staples Lewis
Both these things lead us to the feet of God. Who else can we turn to? Either there is a God, and we have a faint and flickering hope, which can sometimes be seen, and sometimes not. Or else there is no God, and all we do here on this earth is meaningless, and without a final purpose.
One issue which I have with Christianity nowadays, a trait which seems to me to be thankfully in remission, is the reliance upon cliched answers to vexing questions. I am surely guilty of it often enough, which is why i try as far as possible to relate my own personal experiences rather than just biblical teachings.
The Bible does show a number of persons who persist in offering cliched, Scripturally accurate answers across 37 chapters, and they are roundly rebuked as having "not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has." Job is said here to have spoken rightly of God, but what did Job say?
Reading: Reaching for the Invisible God, by Philip Yancey.
Someone likened God and his creation to be like an author with his novel - ever-present and invisible, working all the threads together towards its intended end. Never appearing in person, but manifesting his will through circumstances and the decisions of the characters.
Both these things lead us to the feet of God. Who else can we turn to? Either there is a God, and we have a faint and flickering hope, which can sometimes be seen, and sometimes not. Or else there is no God, and all we do here on this earth is meaningless, and without a final purpose.
One issue which I have with Christianity nowadays, a trait which seems to me to be thankfully in remission, is the reliance upon cliched answers to vexing questions. I am surely guilty of it often enough, which is why i try as far as possible to relate my own personal experiences rather than just biblical teachings.
The Bible does show a number of persons who persist in offering cliched, Scripturally accurate answers across 37 chapters, and they are roundly rebuked as having "not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has." Job is said here to have spoken rightly of God, but what did Job say?
Reading: Reaching for the Invisible God, by Philip Yancey.
Someone likened God and his creation to be like an author with his novel - ever-present and invisible, working all the threads together towards its intended end. Never appearing in person, but manifesting his will through circumstances and the decisions of the characters.
May 2, 2007
ministry
someone approached me recently to talk to me about full-time ministry... said that the door would always be open if ever i wanted to consider it... talked about how he and others had always been favourably impressed by me...
somehow i always seem to leave a favourable impression on adults i work with... i have no idea why, because i know plenty of people who are more capable than i am... and i guess that i'm quite familiar with all my faults, so it always surprises me a little...
yet our faults are always the part of us hidden most deeply... is it any wonder that no one ever sees them? you can do all the right things in public, but no one ever really knows how faithful you are in the secret place...
the exams are over, and it seems that my life and ministry has been suspended for about... two months or so. which is sad, really...
somehow i always seem to leave a favourable impression on adults i work with... i have no idea why, because i know plenty of people who are more capable than i am... and i guess that i'm quite familiar with all my faults, so it always surprises me a little...
yet our faults are always the part of us hidden most deeply... is it any wonder that no one ever sees them? you can do all the right things in public, but no one ever really knows how faithful you are in the secret place...
the exams are over, and it seems that my life and ministry has been suspended for about... two months or so. which is sad, really...
Apr 29, 2007
"Resist the devil....
From the book i'm reading...
"He doesn't treat the temptations and accusations as if they are weaknesses within himself;"
how hard is it to believe this? we are so willing to believe the worst about ourselves... we are sceptical or disbelieving of things in the spiritual realm... it seems easier to think that we are innately pre-disposed towards sin, and that we are 'dragged off by our own sinful desires' (biblical, can't remember where). But the truth which i have trouble believing is that my heart is now good, that my heart of stone has been replaced by a heart of flesh, and that God's Spirit lives in me, such that these sinful desires are no longer part of me. They were banished when I became a Christian, but the devil continues to try and input them into me daily, taking advantage of my belief in the lie that I am sinful by nature.
"nor does he act as though they will go away if he tries to ignore him."
the secret to resisting the devil is not in self-discipline and determination, but in active resistance. demolish the lie, speak the truth, claim the blood of Jesus Christ and command the tempting spirit to leave in the name of Jesus... again, I have forgotten these things for so long... i have failed to see my struggles as spiritual in nature, and i have been joyless these two months.
i was asking God earlier... "How can I know You more?" asking whether i might have someone to come into my life to train me up in these things - but i remembered that God can do that just fine, even without human help. and i was wondering what i could do now, to learn more about God, and i remembered my book! and a pretty good book it is too! first book in ages - really need to develop a habit of reading edifying stuff.
"He doesn't treat the temptations and accusations as if they are weaknesses within himself;"
how hard is it to believe this? we are so willing to believe the worst about ourselves... we are sceptical or disbelieving of things in the spiritual realm... it seems easier to think that we are innately pre-disposed towards sin, and that we are 'dragged off by our own sinful desires' (biblical, can't remember where). But the truth which i have trouble believing is that my heart is now good, that my heart of stone has been replaced by a heart of flesh, and that God's Spirit lives in me, such that these sinful desires are no longer part of me. They were banished when I became a Christian, but the devil continues to try and input them into me daily, taking advantage of my belief in the lie that I am sinful by nature.
"nor does he act as though they will go away if he tries to ignore him."
the secret to resisting the devil is not in self-discipline and determination, but in active resistance. demolish the lie, speak the truth, claim the blood of Jesus Christ and command the tempting spirit to leave in the name of Jesus... again, I have forgotten these things for so long... i have failed to see my struggles as spiritual in nature, and i have been joyless these two months.
i was asking God earlier... "How can I know You more?" asking whether i might have someone to come into my life to train me up in these things - but i remembered that God can do that just fine, even without human help. and i was wondering what i could do now, to learn more about God, and i remembered my book! and a pretty good book it is too! first book in ages - really need to develop a habit of reading edifying stuff.
Apr 25, 2007
book
been reading "The Way of the Wild Heart", by John Eldredge. it's a sequel of sorts to "Wild at Heart", which is a book written by the same guy some years ago.
It's a book for men, and I think that alot of what he writes is spot on. About men running from challenges that seem too big for them, about men and their refusal to approach people for help (the lost-and-refuse-to-ask-for-directions cliche), about their non-relationships with their own fathers and how this transmits down the generations.
He talks how each man needs a mentor, a 'sifu', a father figure to guide him. not just to teach him how, but to stand alongside him, watch him as he tries something new, to give approval, encouragement, feedback. something which i am particularly sensitive to, and which i try consciously to do, because i thought it lacking in my own life.
he talks about the different stages in a man's life, and how many of the crisis' that face men as they get older is a throwback in some sense to stages of their life that had been abruptly cut short. it spoke to me so strongly that i can even remember the stages without needing to think too hard about it - it seems almost intuitive. beloved son, cowboy, warrior, lover, king, sage. it helps that he draws examples from classic literature (LotR again!!) as well as more contemporary offerings (The Lion King and many other movies I've never watched).
There's a ladies version too, apparently. Co-authored by Stasi Eldredge (his wife). Should be an interesting read... won't mind finding out how women work. :)
It's a book for men, and I think that alot of what he writes is spot on. About men running from challenges that seem too big for them, about men and their refusal to approach people for help (the lost-and-refuse-to-ask-for-directions cliche), about their non-relationships with their own fathers and how this transmits down the generations.
He talks how each man needs a mentor, a 'sifu', a father figure to guide him. not just to teach him how, but to stand alongside him, watch him as he tries something new, to give approval, encouragement, feedback. something which i am particularly sensitive to, and which i try consciously to do, because i thought it lacking in my own life.
he talks about the different stages in a man's life, and how many of the crisis' that face men as they get older is a throwback in some sense to stages of their life that had been abruptly cut short. it spoke to me so strongly that i can even remember the stages without needing to think too hard about it - it seems almost intuitive. beloved son, cowboy, warrior, lover, king, sage. it helps that he draws examples from classic literature (LotR again!!) as well as more contemporary offerings (The Lion King and many other movies I've never watched).
There's a ladies version too, apparently. Co-authored by Stasi Eldredge (his wife). Should be an interesting read... won't mind finding out how women work. :)
Apr 22, 2007
A winning mentality, or...
one thing which scares me alot about my personality is that i cannot play any game without trying my best to win.
even if i decide mentally that, ok, i should play less competitively because i'm spoiling the game for everyone else, i still find it impossible to resist winning when i see the opportunity.
a little of it depends on my focus going into the game - if i am deliberately trying to build relationships with the people i'm playing with, then my focus will be shifted away from the game. but if i have no ulterior motive in mind, then i will focus to the best of my abilities on the game at hand, plotting and scheming my way to victory. this might also have something to do with me being a sore loser sometimes.
it just scares me, because i wonder what it is in me that desires to win so much. and i see a strong need to show that i am better than others, which strikes me as plain arrogance, because even if i am 'better' at one particular thing than someone else, it is by God's grace, and the other person probably stomps me flat at other things.
it also speaks to me of a deep-seated insecurity, that i don't believe that i am a capable person, which drives me to prove myself in any arena placed before me. this also explains some of the times that i am afraid to try new things, because i hesitate to show my incompetence in things i have never tried. and why often i don't ask questions even when i don't understand things, because i am afraid of appearing stupid.
and it's just sad, because this pride has really hindered me in many ways. i know that i could have done so much more with my life had i been less prideful. and that's sad.
anyway, what brought this discussion about was a game of Absolute Balderdash, which i won without talking too much to anyone in particular. sigh... but i enjoyed myself!
even if i decide mentally that, ok, i should play less competitively because i'm spoiling the game for everyone else, i still find it impossible to resist winning when i see the opportunity.
a little of it depends on my focus going into the game - if i am deliberately trying to build relationships with the people i'm playing with, then my focus will be shifted away from the game. but if i have no ulterior motive in mind, then i will focus to the best of my abilities on the game at hand, plotting and scheming my way to victory. this might also have something to do with me being a sore loser sometimes.
it just scares me, because i wonder what it is in me that desires to win so much. and i see a strong need to show that i am better than others, which strikes me as plain arrogance, because even if i am 'better' at one particular thing than someone else, it is by God's grace, and the other person probably stomps me flat at other things.
it also speaks to me of a deep-seated insecurity, that i don't believe that i am a capable person, which drives me to prove myself in any arena placed before me. this also explains some of the times that i am afraid to try new things, because i hesitate to show my incompetence in things i have never tried. and why often i don't ask questions even when i don't understand things, because i am afraid of appearing stupid.
and it's just sad, because this pride has really hindered me in many ways. i know that i could have done so much more with my life had i been less prideful. and that's sad.
anyway, what brought this discussion about was a game of Absolute Balderdash, which i won without talking too much to anyone in particular. sigh... but i enjoyed myself!
Apr 21, 2007
Christianity of Harry Potter
pretty good, well-balanced article on a Christian perspective on Harry Potter. extremely well-reseached and documented, and especially meaningful to me because i know his reference material very well (Narnia,LotR, and to a limited extent, CS Lewis' space trilogy).
http://decentfilms.com/sections/articles/magic.html
however, the article only compares the works based on their respective treatments of the concept of magic, and does not address the over-arching themes of the stories, which is one reason why i like Harry Potter so much. so it's not a complete view. further comments here.
http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=4470031
http://decentfilms.com/sections/articles/magic.html
however, the article only compares the works based on their respective treatments of the concept of magic, and does not address the over-arching themes of the stories, which is one reason why i like Harry Potter so much. so it's not a complete view. further comments here.
http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=4470031
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