If you can only pen one summary statement of your life – what would it be?
It is not how you start that matters. It is how you finish that counts.
Many start swell but few finish well. In the Christian marathon, many start in a dash but few really make it to the end.
Life is full of attractions which is really a distraction.
There are people to know and places to go. There are bills to pay and career paths to be laid. There are spouses to keep and mouths to feed.
So we miss a service and we skip a prayer. Like—is that is a big deal?
But our once becomes twice, and habits become life. Before we know it, we have been seduced, fooled and stuck into living the big lie; the lie of gathering things and prizes that are mere illusory toys.
What do I want to say of my life, of me, when I see Him face-to-face?
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (II Timothy 4:7)
If I can only pen one summary statement for my life, “Lord, I pray, please let Paul’s words be mine.”
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Love Makes Fools of Us All
11 March 2011
Love is a matter of the heart, and the heart takes its own course when it comes to love.
Love, by nature, is of free will – it forces not for it cannot be forced.
Thus, love must always be understood as a gift. It is an exchange of gifts when it is reciprocated. It is a willing offering when rejected.
To love is to be vulnerable. It is to risk. Take a shot at love and you are opening yourself to possible pains as well as possible joys.
Fool – our Heavenly Father is, for subjecting Himself to rejections and sorrows for mortals like us.
“Love makes fools of us all,” so Shakespeare sums it up well.
Love sure makes a fool of God. God’s ‘foolish love’ cost Christ’s life.
“Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned.” (Song of Solomon 8:7)
God’s love cannot be quenched. God’s love propels him to give His Son. God’s gift of love was, and is still scorned by many.
Love hurts. It hurts God - BIG TIME.
Yet, the love of God also heals. It heals us.
It hurts God but ultimately heals us.
Those who love much will be hurt much.
Fools we are if we were to choose to love. But by loving many, many will be healed, - by God, through us.
Love is a matter of the heart, and the heart takes its own course when it comes to love.
Love, by nature, is of free will – it forces not for it cannot be forced.
Thus, love must always be understood as a gift. It is an exchange of gifts when it is reciprocated. It is a willing offering when rejected.
To love is to be vulnerable. It is to risk. Take a shot at love and you are opening yourself to possible pains as well as possible joys.
Fool – our Heavenly Father is, for subjecting Himself to rejections and sorrows for mortals like us.
“Love makes fools of us all,” so Shakespeare sums it up well.
Love sure makes a fool of God. God’s ‘foolish love’ cost Christ’s life.
“Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned.” (Song of Solomon 8:7)
God’s love cannot be quenched. God’s love propels him to give His Son. God’s gift of love was, and is still scorned by many.
Love hurts. It hurts God - BIG TIME.
Yet, the love of God also heals. It heals us.
It hurts God but ultimately heals us.
Those who love much will be hurt much.
Fools we are if we were to choose to love. But by loving many, many will be healed, - by God, through us.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Of Assumptions, Prejudices and Dialogues
All of us are not without prejudices.
Total objectivity is impossible unless we live in a vacuum. Who we are is shaped by our beliefs and values. What we believe and value is in turn influenced by our assumptions.
There is no such thing as independent thoughts because thinking in itself always has to start with a few assumptions.
And where do we get our assumptions? We get that from what we are told by family, society, culture and experiences. The assumptions we have form the premise of our evaluation of people, events and things.
Therefore, none of us are neutral and without prejudices.
So let us face it – Christians are biased. We are skewed toward a certain thought because we hold on to a valued assumption that the Bible is the Word of God.
Isn’t that subjective? Absolutely. It is as subjective as the atheist who believes in evolution and holds Darwinism as the platform in discussing all things.
Are we not prejudiced then? Absolutely. It is as prejudiced as the open-minded who believes that he is only one without prejudice.
There is no real dialogue unless two individuals communicate on a set of similar assumptions.
God claims that He is the Author of the Book of Life. Am I on the same page, believing that I “do not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God”? (Matt 4:4)
Could it be that I do not hear God because we are not talking on the same footings?
Total objectivity is impossible unless we live in a vacuum. Who we are is shaped by our beliefs and values. What we believe and value is in turn influenced by our assumptions.
There is no such thing as independent thoughts because thinking in itself always has to start with a few assumptions.
And where do we get our assumptions? We get that from what we are told by family, society, culture and experiences. The assumptions we have form the premise of our evaluation of people, events and things.
Therefore, none of us are neutral and without prejudices.
So let us face it – Christians are biased. We are skewed toward a certain thought because we hold on to a valued assumption that the Bible is the Word of God.
Isn’t that subjective? Absolutely. It is as subjective as the atheist who believes in evolution and holds Darwinism as the platform in discussing all things.
Are we not prejudiced then? Absolutely. It is as prejudiced as the open-minded who believes that he is only one without prejudice.
There is no real dialogue unless two individuals communicate on a set of similar assumptions.
God claims that He is the Author of the Book of Life. Am I on the same page, believing that I “do not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God”? (Matt 4:4)
Could it be that I do not hear God because we are not talking on the same footings?
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Private and Public lives
Whitney Houston’s sudden death had the tabloids going wild.
Details of first-hand account, breaking-news new revelation and untold secrets dominate the headlines – if only you could buy it.
The media was relentless in exposing all private details of the star. The personal life of the star did not match the glamorous, successful life she portrayed on screen.
But the world is not surprised.
The world loves Hollywood but the world also knows Hollywood.
The world understands that the Hollywood stars’ public images are quite different from their lives off-stage.
The world is not naïve. We love the glamor, success, beauty and near-perfection depicted by our actors and actresses but we also know they are too good to be true.
Transfer that low expectation to our church, to ourselves and we are in for a disaster.
The Christian life is not about portraying or keeping up an image. It is about life. It is about integrity. It is about authenticity.
The apostles, the Christians before us will flip in their graves if we adopt that kind of an attitude in our own lives.
There is no room for playacting in our Christian walk. Our private lives must be as authentic and real as our public lives. That does not mean perfection but it does mean striving to be perfect. It means a struggling to live up to what God wants us to be.
It means a lifelong pursuit to be the same person whether people are watching or not, and by God’s grace, so to be.
Details of first-hand account, breaking-news new revelation and untold secrets dominate the headlines – if only you could buy it.
The media was relentless in exposing all private details of the star. The personal life of the star did not match the glamorous, successful life she portrayed on screen.
But the world is not surprised.
The world loves Hollywood but the world also knows Hollywood.
The world understands that the Hollywood stars’ public images are quite different from their lives off-stage.
The world is not naïve. We love the glamor, success, beauty and near-perfection depicted by our actors and actresses but we also know they are too good to be true.
Transfer that low expectation to our church, to ourselves and we are in for a disaster.
The Christian life is not about portraying or keeping up an image. It is about life. It is about integrity. It is about authenticity.
The apostles, the Christians before us will flip in their graves if we adopt that kind of an attitude in our own lives.
There is no room for playacting in our Christian walk. Our private lives must be as authentic and real as our public lives. That does not mean perfection but it does mean striving to be perfect. It means a struggling to live up to what God wants us to be.
It means a lifelong pursuit to be the same person whether people are watching or not, and by God’s grace, so to be.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
A Christian mind
Christian conversion means a total renewal. Complete salvation means the renewal of heart, soul, strength and it definitely includes our mind.
In 1963, Anglican theologian Harry Blamires laments,
“There is no longer a Christian mind. There is still, of course, a Christian ethic, a Christian practice, and a Christian spirituality. As a moral being, the modern Christian subscribes to a code other than that of the non-Christian. As a member of the church, he understands obligations and observations ignored by the non-Christian. As a spiritual being, in prayer and meditation, he strives to cultivate a dimension of life unexplored by the non-Christian. But as a thinking being, the modern Christian has succumbed to secularization. He accepts religion - its morality, its worship, its spiritual culture; but he rejects the religious view of life, the view which sets all earthly issues within the context of the eternal view which relates all human problems - social, political, cultural - the doctrinal foundations of the Christian Faith, the view which sees all things here below in terms of God's supremacy and earth's transitoriness, in terms of Heaven and Hell." (The Christian Mind, pp 3-4)
50 years later, thinking Christians are still few and far between. Why?
Because developing a Christian mind takes time and effort. It requires reading, knowing and submitting to the authority of the Bible. It requires a wrestling with the secular thoughts and culture.
Our fallen humanity is used to mixing lies and packaging man’s wisdom as gospel truth. Its premise is this-worldly and its arguments persuasive. But with prayer and obedience to God’s Word, we “have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Cor 10:4-5)
May Harry Blamires not be able to indict us with the same words 50 years from now.
In 1963, Anglican theologian Harry Blamires laments,
“There is no longer a Christian mind. There is still, of course, a Christian ethic, a Christian practice, and a Christian spirituality. As a moral being, the modern Christian subscribes to a code other than that of the non-Christian. As a member of the church, he understands obligations and observations ignored by the non-Christian. As a spiritual being, in prayer and meditation, he strives to cultivate a dimension of life unexplored by the non-Christian. But as a thinking being, the modern Christian has succumbed to secularization. He accepts religion - its morality, its worship, its spiritual culture; but he rejects the religious view of life, the view which sets all earthly issues within the context of the eternal view which relates all human problems - social, political, cultural - the doctrinal foundations of the Christian Faith, the view which sees all things here below in terms of God's supremacy and earth's transitoriness, in terms of Heaven and Hell." (The Christian Mind, pp 3-4)
50 years later, thinking Christians are still few and far between. Why?
Because developing a Christian mind takes time and effort. It requires reading, knowing and submitting to the authority of the Bible. It requires a wrestling with the secular thoughts and culture.
Our fallen humanity is used to mixing lies and packaging man’s wisdom as gospel truth. Its premise is this-worldly and its arguments persuasive. But with prayer and obedience to God’s Word, we “have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Cor 10:4-5)
May Harry Blamires not be able to indict us with the same words 50 years from now.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Be still and know God
“Being still and doing nothing are two very different things.” ( Jackie Chan in The Karate Kid.)
Stillness is a foreign concept to city-dwellers like us. Rare is the person who truly comprehends the value of tranquility. In doing nothing, the typical modern man is not necessarily free from noise and restlessness.
Stillness, motionlessness, silence, quietness, tranquility and calmness are not the same as doing nothing.
As disciples of Christ, we are to treasure and become acquaint with silence and contemplation.
“Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)
Being still requires focus. It requires letting go of our entire being to become so intensely focused and immersed in the Presence of God that everything else tunes out. It is that consciousness of our will becoming aligned with God and our spirit with God’s Spirit.
“Isn’t our faith based on objective truth?” you may ask.
True. Our faith is built on the historical Jesus and the gospel is not an irrational faith. Yet more than rational, the Christian faith is suprarational; meaning it transcends the rational.
Quietness and contemplation is not just a part of our pursuit of God. In fact, it is the bedrock on which we build our relationship with God.
After all, a person who knows God and a person who has knowledge about God are two very different things.
Stillness is a foreign concept to city-dwellers like us. Rare is the person who truly comprehends the value of tranquility. In doing nothing, the typical modern man is not necessarily free from noise and restlessness.
Stillness, motionlessness, silence, quietness, tranquility and calmness are not the same as doing nothing.
As disciples of Christ, we are to treasure and become acquaint with silence and contemplation.
“Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)
Being still requires focus. It requires letting go of our entire being to become so intensely focused and immersed in the Presence of God that everything else tunes out. It is that consciousness of our will becoming aligned with God and our spirit with God’s Spirit.
“Isn’t our faith based on objective truth?” you may ask.
True. Our faith is built on the historical Jesus and the gospel is not an irrational faith. Yet more than rational, the Christian faith is suprarational; meaning it transcends the rational.
Quietness and contemplation is not just a part of our pursuit of God. In fact, it is the bedrock on which we build our relationship with God.
After all, a person who knows God and a person who has knowledge about God are two very different things.
Real changes require spiritual disciplines
Knowledge and action are two different things.
Knowing what is good for you doesn’t mean that you are going to do it. Conversely, knowing something is bad does not necessarily mean that you are not going to do it.
Contrary to popular belief, knowledge does not equate changes. An informed mind does not necessarily translate into a transformed life.
Disciples are called to live the Jesus’ Way and that requires life transformation. It requires action.
Real life-change requires supernatural power. It needs the Holy Spirit’s empowerment. A renewed mind with a Spirit-quickened will can mean a giant leap toward a positive shift for godliness.
Information can be transmitted through the church via sermons, Bible reading and testimonies but it will have little impact unless disciples actively ingest, internalize put and God’s word into actions.
These life-changing actions are called spiritual disciplines. They are disciplines because they are habits. They are disciplines because they require efforts and training. For them to become part of us, they must be intentionally cultivated and consistently practiced.
I Tim 4:7,8
“…train yourself to be godly. 8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”
Spiritual disciplines count. It counts toward developing godliness. It will determine how our lives turn out for this life and the next. And how we live our life does count for eternity.
Knowing what is good for you doesn’t mean that you are going to do it. Conversely, knowing something is bad does not necessarily mean that you are not going to do it.
Contrary to popular belief, knowledge does not equate changes. An informed mind does not necessarily translate into a transformed life.
Disciples are called to live the Jesus’ Way and that requires life transformation. It requires action.
Real life-change requires supernatural power. It needs the Holy Spirit’s empowerment. A renewed mind with a Spirit-quickened will can mean a giant leap toward a positive shift for godliness.
Information can be transmitted through the church via sermons, Bible reading and testimonies but it will have little impact unless disciples actively ingest, internalize put and God’s word into actions.
These life-changing actions are called spiritual disciplines. They are disciplines because they are habits. They are disciplines because they require efforts and training. For them to become part of us, they must be intentionally cultivated and consistently practiced.
I Tim 4:7,8
“…train yourself to be godly. 8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”
Spiritual disciplines count. It counts toward developing godliness. It will determine how our lives turn out for this life and the next. And how we live our life does count for eternity.
Freedom from Fear
We all have fears, Christians included.
Our fears do not dissipate instantly just because we believe the gospel.
How do we become free from fear?
First, we must be able to name our fears. Giving those intimidating thoughts and feelings names is enough to break their stronghold on us. This is what Jesus means when He says that “the truth will set you free” (John 8:32)
However, articulation of our fears alone is insufficient to help us overcome our fears.
I John 4:18
“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”
Thus, the second key to overcoming fear is to allow love to rush in. But for that love to be effective, it must be of the unconditional kind; the kind that communicates acceptance and gives one security.
For all of us who seek to follow Jesus, we need to realize that the ultimate Person who holds the key to our being liberated from fear is our Lord Jesus Christ. Where He is present, fear is absent and vice versa.
Practice therefore, the presence of Christ in our lives and live courageously.
Our fears do not dissipate instantly just because we believe the gospel.
How do we become free from fear?
First, we must be able to name our fears. Giving those intimidating thoughts and feelings names is enough to break their stronghold on us. This is what Jesus means when He says that “the truth will set you free” (John 8:32)
However, articulation of our fears alone is insufficient to help us overcome our fears.
I John 4:18
“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”
Thus, the second key to overcoming fear is to allow love to rush in. But for that love to be effective, it must be of the unconditional kind; the kind that communicates acceptance and gives one security.
For all of us who seek to follow Jesus, we need to realize that the ultimate Person who holds the key to our being liberated from fear is our Lord Jesus Christ. Where He is present, fear is absent and vice versa.
Practice therefore, the presence of Christ in our lives and live courageously.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Disciples Are Trained
Real Christians don’t try to be godly and Christ-like. They train to be so.
The Bible is clear that godliness is a result of training.
“…train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” (I Tim 4:7,8)
Training is hard work. It requires intentionality, focus and hard work.
A person preparing for training does not enter the training field hoping to achieve his aim. He enters it knowing that his aim is attainable, within reach and he throws himself into the entire routine. He does not look back, contemplates surrender nor entertain thoughts of retreat. He goes all the way.
So it is with our training to be godly.
We go in for the drill, we stick around through the sweat and we believe without a doubt that the end more than make up for the grueling journey.
We expect hardships. We anticipate difficulties. We foresee discouragements. We do not assume quick results.
So godly training starts with a hard– core conviction that echoes Paul’s passionate proclamation, “I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ” (Phil 3:8)
The Bible is clear that godliness is a result of training.
“…train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” (I Tim 4:7,8)
Training is hard work. It requires intentionality, focus and hard work.
A person preparing for training does not enter the training field hoping to achieve his aim. He enters it knowing that his aim is attainable, within reach and he throws himself into the entire routine. He does not look back, contemplates surrender nor entertain thoughts of retreat. He goes all the way.
So it is with our training to be godly.
We go in for the drill, we stick around through the sweat and we believe without a doubt that the end more than make up for the grueling journey.
We expect hardships. We anticipate difficulties. We foresee discouragements. We do not assume quick results.
So godly training starts with a hard– core conviction that echoes Paul’s passionate proclamation, “I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ” (Phil 3:8)
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