HUMANS - BEAUTIFUL CREATURES BUT SELFISH

People are very selfish creatures. We are given the freedom to choose, free will so to speak, and we undoubtedly choose to be selfish – care for ourselves and live for ourselves. We don’t live by instinct like animals do. We live by such incredible ability to think, to process, and to decide that is totally free from any manipulation. God gave us that free will. We are free moral agent. But I have a sense that we have the propensity towards selfishness.

Sometimes we get the same selfish treatment from our supposedly BFF (Best Friend Forever). Where is loyalty? Where is the spirit of camaraderie, solidarity or comradeship? Even in our vocation there is no longer loyalty – no longer longevity of service. There is always a need to move up the ladder. There is always this need to get ahead, to win, and to achieve. It’s not about the passion to work where we have a cause. The cause is no longer the company, the church or a particular ministry or activity. The cause has turned inward – what is in it for us! The cause is about our success. We are selfish and arrogant!

Even in the church today – ministry involvement is not based on genuinely wanting to help the church succeed in advancing the Kingdom but how much I am worth. If I am not being valued, appreciated and recognized or if I am being slighted I walk. Whatever happened to the call of God? Whatever happened to submission? Whatever happened to Paul’s admonition: “in all things preferring others better than ourselves.”

Whenever I see such things being played out in the church I developed jadedness in my spirit. It begins to sap away every ounce of spiritual energy still left in me. After 28 years of serving God, I have seen so many people come and go – especially those who have been in ministry and in Christian leadership. I remember when God called me long ago it is not a matter of what I can get out of it but rather how much I am willing to surrender, to sacrifice, and to allow God to do whatever He wants to do in me! This is not happening today!

Perhaps, the worse is also not about ministry involvement but about the sheer fact of coming to church on Sundays. I noticed that there are people who no longer come to church regularly. There are many reasons to it: apathy and indifferent, operating under wrong priorities, church is boring and attending church becomes not as important as a good sleep-in, running marathon, bicycling, movies vacation or even work in the office.

My conclusion: urban Christians have slipped into the mold of secularism, drowned in the cesspool of consumerism and spiraled down the tunnel of affluence. We work for play. We accumulate to dispense lavishly. We educate for status and stature. We get in the game for ourselves, our cause and our momentary happiness – oh, so that’s what we think!

Isaiah 60:1-2 - Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the LORD will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you.   

Revive us once again! Reveal your glory once again! Establish your reign within our hearts once again!

LIFE IS AWESOME, LIFE IS BURDENSOME

I think life is a paradox – full of absurdity, irony and contradictions within contradictions!

Life can be awesome – when things are fine and dandy, when friends are nice and lovely, when comfort in life is lighting up all around. There is no care in the world. We sing with gusto: “God is good all the time.” The blessings of the Lord seem to be chasing us and we are on spiritual cloud nine!

We live in the Father’s unconditional love – His goodness and mercy follows us all the days of our lives – and we are elated, ecstatic, jubilant, euphoric, overjoyed and in seventh heaven! Oh what a thought: God’s goodness is for us and with us and in us! There is no severity of God because we are living in the grace dispensation – only good. Pain is a curse. Pain is not in God’s vocabulary.

I wish that’s the kind of wonderful picture of a Christian life at all times. I wish we can live in this sugar-coated, rainbow-painted, and chocolate-filled dream world. Life is awesome, indeed!

Life is burdensome too. Sometimes, our fantasy world comes crushing down.  It’s twelve midnight for Cinderella. Someone asked a question: If the shoe exactly fits Cinderella’s feet why did it come off? It’s a mystery just like life itself. Princess Fiona (in the movie Shrek) was different by day and by night! I think life is full of absurdity and irony. It is contradictions within contradictions! Many times when it rain, it pours! Life can be full of unusual events – painful ones, depressive ones, and mysterious ones too! I know what it means to have my world come crushing down. I know what it means to be overwhelmed with anxiety, worries and fear. When my heart is overwhelmed lead me to the Rock that is higher than I

Whoever tells us that there is no pain in this world is insane. Whoever blames the government, the people around us, the system, and family upbringing are really out of touch with reality. I will blame it on Sigmund Freud though! We are then no better that Adam and Eve!

Who can blame us mere mortal when we desire heaven, when we desire the quick return of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. How can we not understand why the black slaves of yesteryears sang songs about Beulah Land, about a land that is fairer than day? How can we not pine for our Bridegroom-King? Our longing for the return of our Lord is real, is emotional, and is pivotal to our faith journey!

Think with me – we cannot bear to be alone without people around to love and be loved. We called that loneliness and depression. We long for relationships. We long for friendships. Yet we cannot stand people and wish we are alone and relationship becomes burdensome. We wish we could disappear somewhere and be alone. We called that relationship overload and depression!  Take marriage: there are those who are INSIDE who wish to get OUT and there are others who are OUTSIDE dying to get IN! Hello – there’s such a thing as a gift of celibacy.

There are more paradoxes in the teachings of Jesus than we care to ponder upon. Jesus teaches us that in order to live we need to die. That doesn’t make sense! He said that in order to receive we need to give. There, it’s illogical. Another one: in order to go up we need to go down. That’s why my conclusion is these: life is awesome, life is burdensome. My attitude in life is to praise God in whatever situation that I may be in – in good times and in bad times – but in all times be contented.

My simple life philosophy: in whatsoever state that I am in I choose to be contented! I will see life as awesome – walking in relationship with my Father in heaven. I will see life as burdensome – only for the brief span on this earth because this world is not my home. I will plough through life. I will bear with the pain, the discomfort, the betrayal, the anxiety and stress, and the evilness of a broken world. I will learn to enjoy the beauty of God’s creation in the midst of darkness. I will not let the evil, the violence and the injustices in this world keep me from appreciating the beauty of humanity and the beauty of relationships. The goodness and greatness of God will be my daily praise and meditation. I will praise the Lord at all times. I will worship and adore Him for He is good!

How about you? 

MEDITATION OF HIS WONDROUS WORKS

Psalm 119:28b – “.....I will meditate on your wondrous works.”

One of the Sunday school songs that I remembered is this: “Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God has done.” If I were to start counting the blessings of the Lord for the past 55 years of my life I would still not do justice to what He has done for me. The Psalmist knows that, the prophet of old knows that, the disciples know than, and Apostle Paul knows that too!

The work of God is a wondrous work – His work of creation, His work of redemption through His Son Jesus Christ, the provision of the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us every moment of the day, and His soon return to establish His everlasting Kingdom on earth. He sent His angels charge over us. If that is not wondrous, awesome and incredible what is?

In Isaiah 61:3 we read of the comfort of God on His people: “To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.” This is one of the most comforting words of the Lord for His people. He gave us beauty for ashes. God acknowledges that there are times of difficulties – the ash heap of life – that we all face due to the fallen-ness of man and the consequences of sins. He did not gloss over the reality that we all face the “ash heap” of failures, betrayal, and disappointment in life. He did not promise us a bed of roses. He did not say all our problems will be gone. He promises us beauty out of the ash heap of life. He promises us that He can restore, revive, and transform all ugliness, brokenness, and cracks in our lives and make it beautiful in His time.

He gave us the oil for mourning. Oil almost always speaks of joy of the Holy Spirit. He acknowledges that there will be times in this broken world that we experiences sadness, separation, and unanswerable questions of difficult life circumstances and occurrences. He knows that there will be mourning – the flow of unmitigated tears, the pain of sudden separations, and the uncertainty that accompanied a lost. Therefore, He promises us the oil of joy for mourning. The Psalmist said that sorrows may endure for the night but joy shall come in the morning. He promises us that joy will finally win – cross over the finishing line!

He gave us the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. We will be clothed with praise in replacement of the heart of heaviness. Though our heart may be heavy burdened because of the many sorrows, anxiety, and worries yet He will replace it with a garment of praise – a garment that is light and does not wear us down. Praising God is good for the soul and refreshing for the spirit. He has given us that. We are to adorn our lives with praise. Our lives must exude and emanate the praise of God. Praise gives us the liberty to overcome heavy burden of fear, insecurity, and uncertainty.

We are to be tress of righteousness, the planting of the Lord. As trees of righteousness we are not just to live uprightly, carefully and with all honesty. We are to exhibit the beauty of the Lord, the oil of gladness, and the praise for our Redeemer at all times. Our goal is to glorify God (Gloria Dei)!