Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Love Your Neighbor as Yourself

The greatest commandment the Lord gave to us to love Him "with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind" is challenging in itself, but if I were to think about what He has been trying to teach me in this season, it is the second greatest commandment - to love my neighbor as myself.

I would like to believe that I am a fairly amicable person who is nice and polite to everyone. However, there have been some people in my life these past few months that really challenged this opinion I esteemed of myself. Sharing with others about how God taught me to love the unlovely through the kids I work with, I did not forsee that that was just but a small test, because I was later confronted with the much more challenging situation of having to love my peers, colleagues, family and friends.

Little things they do irritate me to the core. It can come in the form of that pair of shorts they're wearing that leaves little to the imagination, the way they swagger when they walk, smoking, swearing, drinking, clubbing too much for their own good, talking too much abt their bf/gf on their blogs, repeatedly calling themselves fat when they're not, the sudden adoption of an accent, being 'tiao gang', pushing responsibilities away........

the keen ones might have realized that these examples are too specific to have been made up. yes, they indeed are real-life examples i struggle with. in fact, the list can go on, but it would make no difference because all these things have one and only one effect on me: they cause me to judge the person in a way that is very very unbefitting of a child of God.

in my school environment this happens all too easily. you hear it in the toilets, in class, in Kopitiam, when walking along the concourse.... "yeah man, so bimbotic", "oh man i really hate her.. you know she..... blah blah blah....", "i tell you ah, this guy...... blah blah....".

I've had enough of it. most of all i've had enough with myself falling into the same trap over and over again, planting malice in my heart against another person who is probably oblivious to the arrows shooting into his or her back for something he or she was never made aware of. too many things swept under the carpet. too many things not directed to the person who needs to hear it most, and instead directed to people who would only turn it into redundant gossip.

I am learning each day. learning to accept people for who they are. learning to understand why they do the things they do. learning that it is not my job at all to judge others, but that it is my job to love unconditionally. i cannot imagine if we were to be entrusted with the job of judging others, because from the looks of it, our attempt at doing so has been atrocious, miserable, completely uncalled for, and just plain wrong; just to put things mildly.

but will I choose to love my neighbor even if everything he does annoys me to no end?

will I choose to love my neighbor when others tell me bad things about him?

will I choose to love my neighbor even if I disapprove of many things he does?

will I choose to love my neighbor without question or reason?

will I choose to love my neighbor when my negative perceptions of him come under God's righteous challenge that I will have to admit I was wrong?

God, it is so difficult. so difficult that it will take me a lifetime to learn how to love and look at others the way You see them. so difficult to put into practise the principles I mindlessly blurt out during bible studies. so difficult to keep my promise to You that I will not do more damage in the hearts of people than I already am doing now, both knowingly and unknowingly.

yet I will continue to learn, to humble myself when I have to, to love You and love others even when the going gets tough. it will be worth it. I know it will, and I know You will help me through this.

I will love because You first loved me.

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10:00 PM

Sunday, August 12, 2007

How deep the Father's love for us
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure
How great the pain of searing loss
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One
Bring many sons to glory

Behold the Man upon the cross
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers
It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, nor power, nor wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection
Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom

3:31 PM

Friday, August 03, 2007

Faithfulness

I believe that at some point of our Christian lives, we will ask ourselves "How different would life have been if I had not believed in Jesus?"

In fact, i think it is a cause of worry if you who profess to be a believer has never asked that question, because then it may mean that you do not feel your life has been changed by Jesus. truth is, no one who ever truly knows Him will ever remain the same.

this is such a shameful thing to admit in light of the unspeakable sufferings persecuted christians all over the world are experiencing now, but being a christian has inconvenienced me in more ways than i would have liked. being human, i don't always attend to my responsibilities, albeit "christian" ones, enjoyably. the kids at YG sometimes frustrate me, and demand more time and attention than i would like to give. i sometimes cause conversations to become tense and uncomfortable when i bring up the topic of faith and religion over a meal. friends are earning much more doing "prospective" jobs in the marketplace while i am seemingly a mere burden to the economy when raising for allowances everytime i serve in ministry. if i am ever called to God's work full-time in future, will friends pay lip service by saying that i do a noble job, and throw my namecard away afterwards?

still i wonder: what keeps me doing the things i do? it is all too easy to just say that i want to stop, and be able to come up with very credible reasons about why i would want to give up. but what makes a person faithful?

being a Christian is hard. but sometimes i even welcome this constant feeling of uneasiness about life. after all, we are supposed to view this world as temporal. from the looks of it, it is also about to undergo major renovations. only when the world becomes new and permanent will i choose to make myself at home. Jesus paid too high a price for His children to ever relax or remain apathetic about pressing issues the world is facing today. i, for one, am honoured beyond honoured that God would choose me to do His work here on earth. when i see my own condition and lack, i cannot even begin to comprehend why He should decide to entrust His work - work of eternal consequences - with a whiney, lazy, inconsistent, rebellious, short-tempered, selfish and judgemental person like me. for all its worth, He could have even achieved it far better and much quicker without anybody's help at all.

but He has chosen me because He wants me to be a part of what He is doing in the world! oh my gosh i cannot believe it. i really cannot. there's always the "are You sure, God?" but His answer is always "Yes". in light of this fact, i must therefore never claim any credit for myself in what i do - it is all for His glory and His glory alone. i must therefore not attempt to achieve His ends with my own finite means, but to depend on His resources and empowerment in my life. i must therefore persevere even if it may be difficult, because He will be walking through it all with me...... together.

Father, thank You for employing me into the work of Your Kingdom. the renumeration package promises to be literally out of this world.

Treasures in Jars of Clay

1 Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.
2 Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.
6 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;
9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.

(2 Corinthians 4:1-11)

11:09 PM

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Friday, August 03, 2007

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