Ecclesiastes 12:1 & 6-7
Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, "I find no pleasure in them"...... Remember him before the silver cord is severed, or the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, or the wheel broken at the well, and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it."
Time surely flies. November will arrive in 1 weeks time and soon it will be time for Christmas and before you know it, poof!, 2006 would have come to an end and 2007 would have begun. I recall the watchnight service of 2005 where someone shared that 2006 would be a great year, and my spirit acknowledged - "Yes! 2006 will be a great year". Thus, our Expedition Rangers theme for 2006 became "A Great Year".
At times like these when we look at the remainder of time left and take stock that some will quickly scramble to make the very best of it. Thanks be to God that I don't have to salvage the rest of the year to make 2006 a Great Year. After September, I would have willingly closed the books of my life and rested on the fact that 2006 had been a great year for me. Not that it was a year of tremendous highs, 2006 has also been a year of aweful valley-like lows.
The Mission trip to Mindanao with Del Paso was wonderful, the awesome holiday to see Sakura's and experience snowfall in Japan, the food of Japan.... and the cool weather of Cameron Highlands. Then, there was the unforgettable moment of experiencing extreme work stress and having clumps of hair fall out, having to undergo excruciating injections on the scalp. Going for endless numbers of interviews to experience rejection at every stop.
As one ages, ever year seems to pass by faster and experiences seem to be hightened in greater dramatic fashion. As I look back at the years that have flown by and attempt to relive through my life's encounters, some are slowly becoming faded memories. Rather, the years of adult- hood and life ahead seems to frought with life's grim uncertainties.
That's why Solomon wisely points out in his old age "Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, "I find no pleasure in them". The older we get, the more embroiled we are in life's struggles and our vision of life becomes more jaded.
I'm sure it's not me alone who acknowledges, the age of 15-17 (plus minus a couple of years) was the most carefree, exciting time of life. I may be financially more sound now, with experience behind me, some years of wisdom but somehow...what's missing in my life is the zeal and passion of youth. The reckless attitude to do anything then and the boundless energies to do anything under the sun. The relentless pursuit for God. Now, even before I become a senior citizen, it seems that everything already gone awry.
For any youths reading this, and feeling overwhelmed by exams, parents and the need to excel in life, I reiterate Solomon's wisdom to you. I envy your youthfulness and unlimited vigour for life. Even though I don't envy the limited maturity, horrid exams and stubborn idiocy at times, it's really an astounding phase in time where you get to experience the world as your oyster and God as the Almighty Creator God.
If I could relive my youth days, I would do much more for God - come to services, prayer meetings, interceed in pre-service prayers, serve in any capacity provided, attended all the camps / conferences and compelled myself to go out for as many Missions as possible (worked part-time to finance it all!). Small molehills (large mountains then) such as exams and activities with friends wouldn't keep me away from experiencing all of God because in hindsight they were all but a road bump in life's journey.
For the rest of us 'oldies', we're just not youths, but neither are we incapicated aged folks. It was hilarious when we positioned ourselves in Jeremy's wedding and righteously declared that we were neither youths nor grown adults (which was the category of those married with kids in tow). Regardless of how we categorise ourselves as young adults or un-old adults, the wisdom preached by Solomon applies. "Remember the Creator God before the silver cord is severed, or the golden bowl is broken".
What's all this silver cord, golden bowl, pitcher and water wheel meant to illustrate? I interprete this to be various phases of life that we would have to go through.
i. Silver cord is when we are still tied to our parents (aka they give us allowances)
ii. Golden Bowl is when we become financially stable and affluent (aka with a credit card and money to enjoy frills such as holidays)
iii. Pitcher is when we start becoming responsible for others and working to share blessings into other's lives (aka when we become leaders or parents)
iv. Water wheel is when we work industriously to maintain our life and is an essential part of life's processes (aka when we are middle aged in our 40s-50s or as we become senior citizens with leisure time to help others)
The year is coming to an end. I know that all I experienced has already demonstrated that 2006 is a great year, but in my heart I claim in faith that I've yet to experience the full greatness of the year and that God has more instore to end it off in greater greatness.
What about you? It's never too late to salvage and scramble to end this year on a great note. (It's definately better than not doing anything and leaving life at status quo!). I pray that you'll be provoked into action by the wise sayings of Solomon and live out your lives zealously doing things for God as required in the days of your youth.
Blessings,
M.
"My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity." Proverbs 3:1-2
25 October 2006
18 October 2006
Never Hunger, Never Thirst
John 6:35
Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst."
Jesus says this profound words to the Jews after he fed the 5000 and it resulted in the Jews grumbling unhappily as they viewed him as the son of Joseph and the physical impossibilities of "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?".
Taken literally by the people, they struggled to understand why Jesus was talking about something so cannibalistic and extremist - "Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me."
Its not an easy concept to understand - the idea of "eat" the flesh and "drink" the blood of Christ. Especially as we take it at literal means, its such a scandalised doctrine. Just like the disciples, when I first chanced upon this chapter in John, I found it to be hard teaching.
Yet in the midst of this hard to imagine/swallow idea of 'cannibalism', I realised that that's what Christ was trying to state. To follow Him requires us to make a strong conscious effort to partake in something which the world considers controversial.
When Jesus spoke of one needing to "eat" and "drink" of Christ, He was clearly stating that He was not after a shallow, mumbo jumbo disciple by name. Talk is cheap, to walk the talk requires conviction and action of surety.
Eating & drinking food and water are everyday affairs that we partake for sustaining our bodies- leading to good health. Eating and drinking of Christ is also a everyday affair to describe how we are to dwell in Christ and Him in us - leading to eternal life. More than physical sustenence, Christ also promises to fuel our life with LIFE.
The greek word for LIFE here is Zao (Zavw) and as a verb, it is translated as "active, blessed, endless in the kingdom of God". So Christ was promising that we who willingly commit ourselves as His disciples would benefit from an active, blessed life, endless in the kingdom of God.
What Jesus offers is an attractive proposition of never needing to feel the hunger pangs of the soul's need for endless successes in life, and the parched thirst of the spirit when we wane in stress and afflict ourselves for failing to meet up to life's measures. Especially relevant to us who are so low in the world's hierarchy that all we do is look up at the successful rats of the rat race and we become so consumed with getting better grades, being able to go to a more prestigeous school/company , having more money, more physical securities such as good careers, homes, titles, cars, and lifestyles to enjoy. The reality of what Christ promises as you partake of Him and walk according to His expectations is this - Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.
This is why in His encounter with the Samaritan woman, Jesus stuns her with the similiar attractive promise of never thirsting again. "whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life. John 4:14". Having gone from man to man to satisfy her sexual, emotional, physical and social needs, she still found an empty void in her life that could not be satisfied. Thus, immediately she responds in eagerness "give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw".
I know its hard to ignore the compelling reasons to succeed in life and everything we are doing now. I'm not encouraging you to drop everything and become a reclusive monk/nun, but to constantly look to Him like Peter did "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."
Blessings,
M.
"The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life." John 6:63
Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst."
Jesus says this profound words to the Jews after he fed the 5000 and it resulted in the Jews grumbling unhappily as they viewed him as the son of Joseph and the physical impossibilities of "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?".
Taken literally by the people, they struggled to understand why Jesus was talking about something so cannibalistic and extremist - "Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me."
Its not an easy concept to understand - the idea of "eat" the flesh and "drink" the blood of Christ. Especially as we take it at literal means, its such a scandalised doctrine. Just like the disciples, when I first chanced upon this chapter in John, I found it to be hard teaching.
Yet in the midst of this hard to imagine/swallow idea of 'cannibalism', I realised that that's what Christ was trying to state. To follow Him requires us to make a strong conscious effort to partake in something which the world considers controversial.
When Jesus spoke of one needing to "eat" and "drink" of Christ, He was clearly stating that He was not after a shallow, mumbo jumbo disciple by name. Talk is cheap, to walk the talk requires conviction and action of surety.
Eating & drinking food and water are everyday affairs that we partake for sustaining our bodies- leading to good health. Eating and drinking of Christ is also a everyday affair to describe how we are to dwell in Christ and Him in us - leading to eternal life. More than physical sustenence, Christ also promises to fuel our life with LIFE.
The greek word for LIFE here is Zao (Zavw) and as a verb, it is translated as "active, blessed, endless in the kingdom of God". So Christ was promising that we who willingly commit ourselves as His disciples would benefit from an active, blessed life, endless in the kingdom of God.
What Jesus offers is an attractive proposition of never needing to feel the hunger pangs of the soul's need for endless successes in life, and the parched thirst of the spirit when we wane in stress and afflict ourselves for failing to meet up to life's measures. Especially relevant to us who are so low in the world's hierarchy that all we do is look up at the successful rats of the rat race and we become so consumed with getting better grades, being able to go to a more prestigeous school/company , having more money, more physical securities such as good careers, homes, titles, cars, and lifestyles to enjoy. The reality of what Christ promises as you partake of Him and walk according to His expectations is this - Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.
This is why in His encounter with the Samaritan woman, Jesus stuns her with the similiar attractive promise of never thirsting again. "whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life. John 4:14". Having gone from man to man to satisfy her sexual, emotional, physical and social needs, she still found an empty void in her life that could not be satisfied. Thus, immediately she responds in eagerness "give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw".
I know its hard to ignore the compelling reasons to succeed in life and everything we are doing now. I'm not encouraging you to drop everything and become a reclusive monk/nun, but to constantly look to Him like Peter did "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."
Blessings,
M.
"The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life." John 6:63
12 October 2006
I am Creation
Psalm 139:14 (NASB)
I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.
In the last four weeks, I've been faithfully dragging myself to retake my St John's first aid course. Tedious 6 nights of lessons which I had undergone through some 4 years ago, but I was simply too lazy to renew it when it was about to expire. Thus, I paid the price of forking out an additional $30 more, and had to suffer through the entire course again, as opposed to just a shorter refresher course.
Every lesson was a skin crawling experience as the lecturer teaches on the common injuries and how people often die. It doesn't help when he retells passionate true life stories and incidents of deaths, fatal injuries and really nasty situations. What was absolutely horrific was when we had a 45 mins graphic lesson on the various injuries that were captured in photography. Slides after slides of amputated limbs held together by a small thread of muscle, contorted broken bodies, eye pieced with foreign objects.....it was a totally gruesome 45 minutes of my life which I hope to never encounter again, nor hope to treat using my first aid skills.
At every graphic lesson of potential injuries and how to treat them, and me sitting curled in meekness, it dawned upon me that absolutely anything can pierce this tender skin protecting me and wound me in pain. I crossed the road every night of my lesson, walking carefully and overly cautiously, looking out for anything that could fall, trip or afflict my fragile body.
However, amidst all the gory lessons and stories, I learnt many interesting facts like this: Did you know that all the combined blood vessels in our human body when combined together would be able to circle the earth's equator twice? It was a truely astounding trivial that I tried to imagine how many million blood capillaries, veins and arteries we had in our human bodies and how by joining them all together, it would form a length twice the distance of the equator!
With various mind boggling pieces of trivial and the gruesome stories of human fatalities, it struck me how fragile and yet intricately we are made. Without the air that we breathe, the brain slowly dies and suffers from brain damage with every passing minute, eventually dying in 4 minutes. When a friend of mine was pregnant, her husband marvelled and expressed to me the awesomeness of how the entire intricate process of his son's life over the 40 weeks of conceptualisation to birth.
The Psalmist David expresses clearly a praise in due of our creation. As we stop our busy, competitive days and constant complains of why the world is not revolving around us, and choose instead to slowly take in every aspect of our being, we'll see that we are truely wonderfully and fearfully made. Even with our pimples, scars, scabs and whatever physical deformaties which we are never pleased with. The very fact that we breathe, think and move speaks of a complexity mankind's smartest has not been able to imitate through artificial intelligence.
We are truely more than we imagine. How often is it that we choose to live selfish lives and have moments of doom and gloom. On a day like this as I inspect the dexterity of my typing fingers and seemless thinking-typing capabilities, my soul knows it well that I am truely made by a creator God and I give thanks to him for I am wonderfully made.
May this verse reverberate in your spirit and remind you that God made you the way you are, and you are complete in Him. Today may you choose to bless Him out-loud "wonderful are Your works and my soul knows it well."
Blessings,
M.
I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.
In the last four weeks, I've been faithfully dragging myself to retake my St John's first aid course. Tedious 6 nights of lessons which I had undergone through some 4 years ago, but I was simply too lazy to renew it when it was about to expire. Thus, I paid the price of forking out an additional $30 more, and had to suffer through the entire course again, as opposed to just a shorter refresher course.
Every lesson was a skin crawling experience as the lecturer teaches on the common injuries and how people often die. It doesn't help when he retells passionate true life stories and incidents of deaths, fatal injuries and really nasty situations. What was absolutely horrific was when we had a 45 mins graphic lesson on the various injuries that were captured in photography. Slides after slides of amputated limbs held together by a small thread of muscle, contorted broken bodies, eye pieced with foreign objects.....it was a totally gruesome 45 minutes of my life which I hope to never encounter again, nor hope to treat using my first aid skills.
At every graphic lesson of potential injuries and how to treat them, and me sitting curled in meekness, it dawned upon me that absolutely anything can pierce this tender skin protecting me and wound me in pain. I crossed the road every night of my lesson, walking carefully and overly cautiously, looking out for anything that could fall, trip or afflict my fragile body.
However, amidst all the gory lessons and stories, I learnt many interesting facts like this: Did you know that all the combined blood vessels in our human body when combined together would be able to circle the earth's equator twice? It was a truely astounding trivial that I tried to imagine how many million blood capillaries, veins and arteries we had in our human bodies and how by joining them all together, it would form a length twice the distance of the equator!
With various mind boggling pieces of trivial and the gruesome stories of human fatalities, it struck me how fragile and yet intricately we are made. Without the air that we breathe, the brain slowly dies and suffers from brain damage with every passing minute, eventually dying in 4 minutes. When a friend of mine was pregnant, her husband marvelled and expressed to me the awesomeness of how the entire intricate process of his son's life over the 40 weeks of conceptualisation to birth.
The Psalmist David expresses clearly a praise in due of our creation. As we stop our busy, competitive days and constant complains of why the world is not revolving around us, and choose instead to slowly take in every aspect of our being, we'll see that we are truely wonderfully and fearfully made. Even with our pimples, scars, scabs and whatever physical deformaties which we are never pleased with. The very fact that we breathe, think and move speaks of a complexity mankind's smartest has not been able to imitate through artificial intelligence.
We are truely more than we imagine. How often is it that we choose to live selfish lives and have moments of doom and gloom. On a day like this as I inspect the dexterity of my typing fingers and seemless thinking-typing capabilities, my soul knows it well that I am truely made by a creator God and I give thanks to him for I am wonderfully made.
May this verse reverberate in your spirit and remind you that God made you the way you are, and you are complete in Him. Today may you choose to bless Him out-loud "wonderful are Your works and my soul knows it well."
Blessings,
M.
06 October 2006
Leaving it all behind ...in Faith
Genesis 12:1-5
The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you........So Abram left, as the LORD had told him.......He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.
In an earlier chapter of Genesis 11:31, we understand that Abram's father Terah was originally meant to bring his entire family to Canaan from Ur. However, when they came to Haran, they settled there and Abram never made it to Canaan until God spoke to Abram to leave.
After 75 years of settling comfortably in Haran, it was time for Abram to pack up all his possessions and move on. I can imagine how much logistics and discomfort it is to pack up ones belongings and life. Already as I attempt to clean up my room to make it a comfortable place to accomodate my future massage chair, I baulk at the potential uncertainties of where I'll be doing with my accumulated stuff. What more in Abram's case where he is to not only pack up but relocate somewhere in faith.
In Hebrews 11:8-10, the amplified bibles provides us with a clearer picture of Abram's emotions and what he was going through
[Urged on] by faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and went forth to a place which he was destined to receive as an inheritance; and he went, although he did not know or trouble his mind about where he was to go.
[Prompted] by faith he dwelt as a temporary resident in the land which was designated in the promise [of God, though he was like a stranger] in a strange country, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs with him of the same promise.
For he was [waiting expectantly and confidently] looking forward to the city which has fixed and firm foundations, whose Architect and Builder is God.
As I compare and try to comprehend the Faith which moved Abram to leave his entire life behind, I realise its all about his focused vision on the Creator God and how he expectantly and confidently saw the kingdom that God would build. Somehow he understood the simplicity of all that he was to do was to obey and move on as he was told. It really wasn't about seeing how through his move, the promises of God would be fulfilled. Neither was he acting because the Creator God had promised to make his name great and bless him (see Genesis 12:2-3).
Faith is explained as Abram's action: he went out, not knowing where he was going. It's a really scary and somewhat illogical concept especially when we attempt to live out our life's future plans in faith. But living out in faith would result in us going where we don't know but only God does, experiencing something which God wants even though we can't imagine now, and encountering something we don't know if we are ready, but trusting God knows we are.
I believe Abram recognised that the blessing and protection which was promised are always given when anyone obeys and follows God. But humanly, we all know that it would not suffice nor overcome the uncertainty and fear that grips our heart as we fanthom about the unknown. That's where Faith plays its role and goes beyond a feeling and logical rationalisation. Despite all the uncertainties and worries that we have, the bible assures us that true, but simple, Faith will assure us with a heartfelt conviction.
I grew up with an annointed bunch of peers, whom I tried to play catch-up to them as I often marvelled their awesome talents and Godly given giftings at work. Throughout my teenage years and the "oh-so" passionate encounters with God, I often witnessed many of them responding to God's calling on their lives. As the years went by, and we reached adulthood and served life's responsibilities, I see few of them electing to pursue the vision that they once were given.
As explained in the parable of the sower, as we grow up, the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth / money / practical supplication choke us like the weeds of the parable and make us unfruitful.
I cannot confess that I can leave my comfort zone and all behind like Abram and move on to the unknown in bold faith because I expectantly and confidently can see the kingdom that God would build someday. What I do know is that, if that is expected of me in my life someday, a God given faith will be planted in my heart and my decision will be made with an arising of Godly conviction of things -inspite of the fact that I may not being able to see it with my logical perspective.
Blessings,
M.
"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field." (Matthew 13:44)
The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you........So Abram left, as the LORD had told him.......He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.
In an earlier chapter of Genesis 11:31, we understand that Abram's father Terah was originally meant to bring his entire family to Canaan from Ur. However, when they came to Haran, they settled there and Abram never made it to Canaan until God spoke to Abram to leave.
After 75 years of settling comfortably in Haran, it was time for Abram to pack up all his possessions and move on. I can imagine how much logistics and discomfort it is to pack up ones belongings and life. Already as I attempt to clean up my room to make it a comfortable place to accomodate my future massage chair, I baulk at the potential uncertainties of where I'll be doing with my accumulated stuff. What more in Abram's case where he is to not only pack up but relocate somewhere in faith.
In Hebrews 11:8-10, the amplified bibles provides us with a clearer picture of Abram's emotions and what he was going through
[Urged on] by faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and went forth to a place which he was destined to receive as an inheritance; and he went, although he did not know or trouble his mind about where he was to go.
[Prompted] by faith he dwelt as a temporary resident in the land which was designated in the promise [of God, though he was like a stranger] in a strange country, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs with him of the same promise.
For he was [waiting expectantly and confidently] looking forward to the city which has fixed and firm foundations, whose Architect and Builder is God.
As I compare and try to comprehend the Faith which moved Abram to leave his entire life behind, I realise its all about his focused vision on the Creator God and how he expectantly and confidently saw the kingdom that God would build. Somehow he understood the simplicity of all that he was to do was to obey and move on as he was told. It really wasn't about seeing how through his move, the promises of God would be fulfilled. Neither was he acting because the Creator God had promised to make his name great and bless him (see Genesis 12:2-3).
Faith is explained as Abram's action: he went out, not knowing where he was going. It's a really scary and somewhat illogical concept especially when we attempt to live out our life's future plans in faith. But living out in faith would result in us going where we don't know but only God does, experiencing something which God wants even though we can't imagine now, and encountering something we don't know if we are ready, but trusting God knows we are.
I believe Abram recognised that the blessing and protection which was promised are always given when anyone obeys and follows God. But humanly, we all know that it would not suffice nor overcome the uncertainty and fear that grips our heart as we fanthom about the unknown. That's where Faith plays its role and goes beyond a feeling and logical rationalisation. Despite all the uncertainties and worries that we have, the bible assures us that true, but simple, Faith will assure us with a heartfelt conviction.
I grew up with an annointed bunch of peers, whom I tried to play catch-up to them as I often marvelled their awesome talents and Godly given giftings at work. Throughout my teenage years and the "oh-so" passionate encounters with God, I often witnessed many of them responding to God's calling on their lives. As the years went by, and we reached adulthood and served life's responsibilities, I see few of them electing to pursue the vision that they once were given.
As explained in the parable of the sower, as we grow up, the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth / money / practical supplication choke us like the weeds of the parable and make us unfruitful.
I cannot confess that I can leave my comfort zone and all behind like Abram and move on to the unknown in bold faith because I expectantly and confidently can see the kingdom that God would build someday. What I do know is that, if that is expected of me in my life someday, a God given faith will be planted in my heart and my decision will be made with an arising of Godly conviction of things -inspite of the fact that I may not being able to see it with my logical perspective.
Blessings,
M.
"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field." (Matthew 13:44)