3 April 2011
Human beings are a complex species.
We are capable of noble good and totally competent of great evil. Within us lie a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – an angel and a demon.
The Bible is clear that ‘all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ (Rom 3:23). In Isaiah 64:6 it says that “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.”
Thus, by our own efforts and willpower, we cannot attain to holiness. We are made holy by and through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Though declared holy, we have to learn holiness. It is a discipline.
The great theologian, J. I. Packer says,
“Holiness, like prayer (which is indeed part of it), is something that, though Christians have an instinct for it through their new birth, they have to learn in and through experience. As Jesus “learned obedience from what he suffered” (Heb 5:8) — learned what obedience requires, costs, and involves through the experience of actually doing his Father’s will up to and in his passion — so Christians must, and do, learn prayer from their struggles to pray, and learn holiness from their battles for purity of heart and righteousness of life.”
God wills for us to be holy. Will His body bears the trademark of Christ, our head?
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Friday, April 1, 2011
Our Limitations is God's Opportunity
Read Judges 6, 7
Judges 7:2
The LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’
Numbers are inconsequential to God. God specializes in small numbers and minute human strength. God only needs one thing from those whom he calls – dependence on him.
Trust and faith in God alone, not in human wisdom or power; lest we start rationalising God’s act and miracle and fail to give Him all the credit due His name.
Gideon struggled with his lack of faith as seen in his asking for signs from God again and again. He faced enormous pressure from his community and family. He was timid by nature as seen in his tearing down Baal’s altar in the dark. He wrestled with self-doubts and probably second-guessed himself lots.
But God is not limited by Gideon’s limitations. All the limitations are challenges in Gideon’s eyes but great opportunities from God’s viewpoint.
God wants to do great things through us. He knows all our fears, weaknesses and even handicaps. His focus is not on us – so we must shift our focus from ourselves to the Great God who calls us. We get in God’s way when we concentrate on what we have and we are instead of who He is and who is for us and with us.
God will reduce us to the bare minimum and strip us of all dependence on man and self so that no one can claim credit when He delivers or does a miracle; for the greater the odds, the greater the praise.
I Cor 1:31, Jer 9:24
“Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”
Judges 7:2
The LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’
Numbers are inconsequential to God. God specializes in small numbers and minute human strength. God only needs one thing from those whom he calls – dependence on him.
Trust and faith in God alone, not in human wisdom or power; lest we start rationalising God’s act and miracle and fail to give Him all the credit due His name.
Gideon struggled with his lack of faith as seen in his asking for signs from God again and again. He faced enormous pressure from his community and family. He was timid by nature as seen in his tearing down Baal’s altar in the dark. He wrestled with self-doubts and probably second-guessed himself lots.
But God is not limited by Gideon’s limitations. All the limitations are challenges in Gideon’s eyes but great opportunities from God’s viewpoint.
God wants to do great things through us. He knows all our fears, weaknesses and even handicaps. His focus is not on us – so we must shift our focus from ourselves to the Great God who calls us. We get in God’s way when we concentrate on what we have and we are instead of who He is and who is for us and with us.
God will reduce us to the bare minimum and strip us of all dependence on man and self so that no one can claim credit when He delivers or does a miracle; for the greater the odds, the greater the praise.
I Cor 1:31, Jer 9:24
“Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Is Faith a Trend or ?
March 27, 2011
The Vancouver Sun newspapers ran a report headlined, “Canadians losing faith as religion faces extinction” on March 23, 2011.
Part of its report read, “Researchers said that as the masses who claim religious non-affiliation swell, it becomes more appealing to join the ranks of that group. The model predicts that for societies in which the perceived utility of not adhering is greater than the utility of adhering, religion will be driven toward extinction," the study said.”
Faith has been categorised among trends such as fashion and a matter of vogue. As it becomes less ‘in’ and ‘cool’ to be religious, it becomes less and less attractive to be identified as a person of faith.
There used to be a time when ‘spirituality’ is used exclusively to refer to things or actions that spring from a sacred source. However, ‘spirituality’ has evolved today to also mean a personal state of mind, a totally individual inner path, without engaging with the supernatural.
Meditation used to be on the Word of God while meditation today probably means emptying your mind of any thoughts and achieving a peace within yourself.
Prayer used to be the language between man and a known God, while it is now used loosely to refer to remembering the person in our thoughts and messaging an unidentifiable Being up there, if there is really one. Never mind that the Divine may or may not be there.
We live in a spiritually confusing time and a media-shaped time.
Unless we are committed to invest our time, live and grow into the values of the Holy Book, we will be sucked into the world’s trend and hoodwinked into Satan’s lie.
.
The Vancouver Sun newspapers ran a report headlined, “Canadians losing faith as religion faces extinction” on March 23, 2011.
Part of its report read, “Researchers said that as the masses who claim religious non-affiliation swell, it becomes more appealing to join the ranks of that group. The model predicts that for societies in which the perceived utility of not adhering is greater than the utility of adhering, religion will be driven toward extinction," the study said.”
Faith has been categorised among trends such as fashion and a matter of vogue. As it becomes less ‘in’ and ‘cool’ to be religious, it becomes less and less attractive to be identified as a person of faith.
There used to be a time when ‘spirituality’ is used exclusively to refer to things or actions that spring from a sacred source. However, ‘spirituality’ has evolved today to also mean a personal state of mind, a totally individual inner path, without engaging with the supernatural.
Meditation used to be on the Word of God while meditation today probably means emptying your mind of any thoughts and achieving a peace within yourself.
Prayer used to be the language between man and a known God, while it is now used loosely to refer to remembering the person in our thoughts and messaging an unidentifiable Being up there, if there is really one. Never mind that the Divine may or may not be there.
We live in a spiritually confusing time and a media-shaped time.
Unless we are committed to invest our time, live and grow into the values of the Holy Book, we will be sucked into the world’s trend and hoodwinked into Satan’s lie.
.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
A church Worthy of God
March 20, 2011
The Church is Christ’s glory and pride.
God is extremely proud of His church not because she is perfect. He is pleased with the church because Christ founded the community of faith with His precious blood. The church is dear to God because we are now covered with the precious blood of our beloved Saviour.
As the Head of the church, Christ is the Director and the President. The church has been given a message to speak. The message is Christ. In lifting up Jesus, we fulfil God’s plan for His church. Christ is our hope for salvation, our antidote to sin, our example in living and our aim in character transformation.
Thus in Colossians 1:28,
“He (Christ) is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.”
The Church makes good Christ’s sacrifice for us when we aim to grow in spiritual maturity. When each member takes responsibility for our own growth and cares for the development of each other, the church will realize God’s plan for us.
Christ loved the church and gave himself up for us (Eph 5:25). What extravagant love! May we not forget this vital truth and may Galatians 2:20 now be our life motto as individuals and as a corporate body.
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Only then can we confidently say we have done our best, with His help, to make Him proud.
The Church is Christ’s glory and pride.
God is extremely proud of His church not because she is perfect. He is pleased with the church because Christ founded the community of faith with His precious blood. The church is dear to God because we are now covered with the precious blood of our beloved Saviour.
As the Head of the church, Christ is the Director and the President. The church has been given a message to speak. The message is Christ. In lifting up Jesus, we fulfil God’s plan for His church. Christ is our hope for salvation, our antidote to sin, our example in living and our aim in character transformation.
Thus in Colossians 1:28,
“He (Christ) is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.”
The Church makes good Christ’s sacrifice for us when we aim to grow in spiritual maturity. When each member takes responsibility for our own growth and cares for the development of each other, the church will realize God’s plan for us.
Christ loved the church and gave himself up for us (Eph 5:25). What extravagant love! May we not forget this vital truth and may Galatians 2:20 now be our life motto as individuals and as a corporate body.
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Only then can we confidently say we have done our best, with His help, to make Him proud.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
Visitation of the Holy Spirit
14 February, 2011
Read Acts 2:1-4
The visitation of the Holy Spirit upon a band of frightened, puzzled and fearful disciples totally transformed them. They would go on to become stirrers and shapers of history.
The Holy Spirit was described as a “sound like the blowing of a violent wind” from heaven and “what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated”. It was a phenomenon not of this world and difficult to describe. The manifestation of the Spirit’s enabling was that the disciples broke out in tongues or different languages in verse 4.
Christians have all longed for the Holy Spirit’s filling and many have been confused by it. Some believe that the Spirit comes in a quiet peaceful way and are sceptical about the display of emotions such as crying and tongues. Yes, the Spirit comes in that way too. Bezalel of the tribe of Judah was filled with the Spirit of God and worked quietly with his hands (Exodus 31:2-4). Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit when he preached with logic and clarity (Acts 4:8). The filling of the Holy Spirit need not be loud and spectacular.
There are also records of others being filled with the Spirit and something visible and almost outrageous happened; such as in Acts 2 here. There are Christians who claim that the filling of the Holy Spirit must be evidenced in the speaking of tongues and outward signs. There is even a denomination called “Pentecostalism”.
All Christians must know that the Holy Spirit has His own way and how He comes and manifests the filling is of His prerogative. The Holy Spirit decides. He could do it in outward signs and wonders or in quiet boldness and confidence. Either way He is not containable, beyond our comprehension and cannot be manipulated or locked in.
There are two things that are clear though. First, God wants to give us His Holy Spirit and we can ask for His filling. We must and should ask because God never goes back on His promise.
Luke 11:13
If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Secondly, the sure sign of the Spirit’s filling is that of a transformed, courageous bold life lived out in obedience to God. It will be a fruitful life that bears the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22.23) and effective witness to the gospel’s truth (Acts 1:8).
Read Acts 2:1-4
The visitation of the Holy Spirit upon a band of frightened, puzzled and fearful disciples totally transformed them. They would go on to become stirrers and shapers of history.
The Holy Spirit was described as a “sound like the blowing of a violent wind” from heaven and “what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated”. It was a phenomenon not of this world and difficult to describe. The manifestation of the Spirit’s enabling was that the disciples broke out in tongues or different languages in verse 4.
Christians have all longed for the Holy Spirit’s filling and many have been confused by it. Some believe that the Spirit comes in a quiet peaceful way and are sceptical about the display of emotions such as crying and tongues. Yes, the Spirit comes in that way too. Bezalel of the tribe of Judah was filled with the Spirit of God and worked quietly with his hands (Exodus 31:2-4). Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit when he preached with logic and clarity (Acts 4:8). The filling of the Holy Spirit need not be loud and spectacular.
There are also records of others being filled with the Spirit and something visible and almost outrageous happened; such as in Acts 2 here. There are Christians who claim that the filling of the Holy Spirit must be evidenced in the speaking of tongues and outward signs. There is even a denomination called “Pentecostalism”.
All Christians must know that the Holy Spirit has His own way and how He comes and manifests the filling is of His prerogative. The Holy Spirit decides. He could do it in outward signs and wonders or in quiet boldness and confidence. Either way He is not containable, beyond our comprehension and cannot be manipulated or locked in.
There are two things that are clear though. First, God wants to give us His Holy Spirit and we can ask for His filling. We must and should ask because God never goes back on His promise.
Luke 11:13
If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Secondly, the sure sign of the Spirit’s filling is that of a transformed, courageous bold life lived out in obedience to God. It will be a fruitful life that bears the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22.23) and effective witness to the gospel’s truth (Acts 1:8).
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Big or Small Role
Read Acts 1:15-26
Acts 1:26
Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.
Jesus was gone from among them. The 11 disciples were waiting for the filling of the Holy Spirit. However, they also had to make sense of the situation before them.
Judas Iscariot was one of them. He had relationships with them. They ate with him, walked with him for more than three years. They were buddies. They were intimate for they were “The Twelve”. And now they were the eleven.
How does one make sense of a senseless situation? How does one wrap his/her mind around things that had happened but shouldn’t have and doesn’t make any sense?
The disciples did 2 things: they went to the Word of God and they prayed. Through these two means, they found a sense of peace and saw what they must do to move forward. Judas’ betrayal and death was not out of God’s control even though it was tragic. God showed them the next step: another person was needed to take the place of Judas.
The disciples knew what to do next to pick up the broken pieces. The qualification criteria for an apostle were drafted. Two men were nominated: one Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. Both were equally qualified for the selection. They drew lots and Matthias was chosen. Justus was no less qualified but Matthias was chosen.
Yet how many of us read about Matthias in the Bible after this? Not much; nothing in fact. In fact, James, the brother of Jesus surpassed many of the apostles in terms of mentioning in the Bible. But James (the author of James in the Bible) did not even fit the criteria for an apostle because he only believed after the resurrected Jesus appeared to him (I Cor 15:7 and John 7:5).
Justus, Matthias, James and the apostles – all these lives teach us one great important truth: that each of us has a role to play in God’s kingdom. It is not how big or small a role one plays, it is that humble obedience to play the role well that counts in God’s eyes. Be it a visual and big role or quiet and small role, what God demands is that of complete obedience and submission.
Ultimately, God decides our role. Our call is to be faithful to the roles that He has called us.
Acts 1:26
Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.
Jesus was gone from among them. The 11 disciples were waiting for the filling of the Holy Spirit. However, they also had to make sense of the situation before them.
Judas Iscariot was one of them. He had relationships with them. They ate with him, walked with him for more than three years. They were buddies. They were intimate for they were “The Twelve”. And now they were the eleven.
How does one make sense of a senseless situation? How does one wrap his/her mind around things that had happened but shouldn’t have and doesn’t make any sense?
The disciples did 2 things: they went to the Word of God and they prayed. Through these two means, they found a sense of peace and saw what they must do to move forward. Judas’ betrayal and death was not out of God’s control even though it was tragic. God showed them the next step: another person was needed to take the place of Judas.
The disciples knew what to do next to pick up the broken pieces. The qualification criteria for an apostle were drafted. Two men were nominated: one Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. Both were equally qualified for the selection. They drew lots and Matthias was chosen. Justus was no less qualified but Matthias was chosen.
Yet how many of us read about Matthias in the Bible after this? Not much; nothing in fact. In fact, James, the brother of Jesus surpassed many of the apostles in terms of mentioning in the Bible. But James (the author of James in the Bible) did not even fit the criteria for an apostle because he only believed after the resurrected Jesus appeared to him (I Cor 15:7 and John 7:5).
Justus, Matthias, James and the apostles – all these lives teach us one great important truth: that each of us has a role to play in God’s kingdom. It is not how big or small a role one plays, it is that humble obedience to play the role well that counts in God’s eyes. Be it a visual and big role or quiet and small role, what God demands is that of complete obedience and submission.
Ultimately, God decides our role. Our call is to be faithful to the roles that He has called us.
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