grace amplifies the truth.
Many who know me would also know my mantra for life – read above. I would be yellow Chinese trash if not for the grace of God. My life is one that is redeemed by the grace of God and it seemed a natural progression for me to be doing what I am doing right now.
A lot of Christians, myself included of course, have abused the grace of God in our lives. We revisit a sin because we know we’ll be forgiven. We entertain evil because we know God will still love us regardless. And we try to live a life by our standards thinking that it’ll get by God’s. Did we realise that by doing that we have unknowingly flouted one of the Ten Commandments is?
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”
We somehow have a tendency to imagine God as a loving and doting father only. While that is true, it is inadequate. It would be dangerous to forget that God the Father is also God the Judge and the Righteous One who has no dealings with sin and evil. We often exploit the His loving kindness with our unrepentance. Be wary of this – do not fall into the trap of violating that commandment.
The last thing we want to do is to make for ourselves an image of God that is not truly Him. We take what we want from the Bible – usually people only want to hear the good stuff – and we snuff out the rest which doesn’t appeal to us. Are you sure that the God you are worshipping is the God that is written about in the bible? Or is it a figment of your imagination (or more like your fantasyutopialand)? Let’s spend a little time to, by the grace of God, make sure that the God that we are worshipping is really THE God!
RY preached a great sermon today on how much God loves us. He loves us even when we fail to love Him and delights some more in loving us in spite of that! That’s just mind-blowing. It brings agape to another level. For that, I cannot comprehend and I am guilty of how we have hurt God time and again by our actions and inactions. God’s love demonstrated through His grace alone should move us into desiring to hurt Him lesser with our sinful thoughts and deeds.
The grace of God empowers us to do what is righteous; it should not cause us to sin some more, but to sin no more.
the jigsaw must fit.
I’m delighted to have BB over the weekend. He’s a fantastic kid with a huge heart for young people and a teachability that easily endears himself to people. BB is someone whom I’ve had the privilege of mentoring in Shanghai. And while our tenure together is short, it was intensified and affirmed through Korea. Let’s just put it this way, if I was Jesus then BB is John, if you know what I mean.
I look forward to the next few days with BB as it would give us time to bond and reconnect. Like a good number of my mentees, he’s a listener, so by just being who he is, he has blessed me.
I believe that opposites attract – that’s the reason why I’m attracted to HY and why she’s attracted to me. And this tension of opposites have allowed us to grow as individuals and also to grow closer as a couple. I believe that there’s a special bond between Sanguines and Phlegmatics and/or Melancholics.
The dynamics of a personality-complementing relationship are mutually-beneficial. A good number of my mentees are introverts and I honestly think they are attracted to an extrovert like me because of my animated (and often dramatic) nature. To an extent, I have a tendency to verbalise what’s in their minds and my outspokenness validates what’s in their hearts – this often creates a healthy tension, I think.
I’ve always believed that you must be true to who you are and not try to be someone else. If you try to be someone else, who’s going to be you? That’s the beauty of the jigsaw of life. Like our fingerprints, we fit into God’s millimetre-perfect masterpiece. Let’s play our part in retaining the integrity of the fit by being who God has designed us to be.
I really look forward to a day of discovering God and BB through exploration of nature and mutual ministry. It’s gonna be a lovely weekend. Also can’t wait to hear BB share his testimony at R-AGE service.
the nothingness of prayer.
I believe with all my heart that should revival come to R-AGE, it would arrive by the prayer of its people, not by the pursuit of its programmes. We’ll pray and seek the face of God and (it is a relief that) that’s all we need to do. I aspire to depend on prayer alone to bring revival to this generation that I serve. Only then will God get all the glory because no one will be able to claim the credit for the work done in the hearts of the young people that He will redeem.
When we are truly engaged with God, we will naturally do the things of God – which includes preaching the Gospel, bringing friends to church, discipling younger believers, praising and worshipping with abandon, helping those in need, encouraging our friends, giving generously to the poor, getting involved with missions and praying some more.
There is nothing more powerful and satisfying than being in the presence of God. While I can only vaguely comprehend why the Psalmist proclaimed, “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere”, I do opine that it’s only when we pray without agenda and come to God without a prayer list, that we truly can liberate ourselves to discover what and how He wants us to pray. Perhaps that’s what it means to pray in His will.
Prayer lists and set agendas in prayer meetings have its purposes of course, but there’s something very anointed and supernatural when we are truly in tune with the Spirit of God. I know I am repeating myself but I cannot help but stress this in reiteration. Again and again.
WY blessed me with a George Mueller book, my first classic, that really addresses and reverberates the journey of prayer that I am taking and will continue to take in greater intensity. In the opening line of Answers to Prayer, Mueller writes,
“I seek at the beginning to get my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own in regard to a given matter.”
What a gripping statement of truth! May I eventually learn to pray like that. Hence, I am inclined to think that this is the dichotomy of the situation – we either trust God completely or we don’t; any in-betweens compromise the spiritual reality of praying in the will of God.
Can’t wait to get through the gems contained in the book. Can’t wait to engage God with fresh perspectives.
retaining relevance.
Only God knows how long I’ll serve Him in a full-time capacity, so I shall not put a time-frame to it, except to say that I’m taking it a year at a time; that might just be the wisest approach.
One of the scenarios which I am fiercely guarding myself against is expressed most succinctly in the adage, “Don’t be so heavenly that you have no earthly use.” I have to constantly remind myself that I need to remain relevant to this world that I live in. It would be regretful if one day I no longer can relate to people who are worldly.
I am about as worldly as any of you. I have desires and aspirations just like any of you. I try to die to these things so that I am able to subject myself to the ways of Christ. It’s not easy, but neither is it noble; it’s merely just a choice that I have consciously made and a journey which I have deliberately decided upon.
I secretly wonder how many of my colleagues today can assimilate themselves back into the marketplace. It’s the same question I’d ask those in civil service, especially those who are in the defence force. Can you cut it when you leave, when titles and ranks and statuses are stripped from you? It would be dangerous for us to get so comfortable in ministry that we completely forget how to relate to people who do not share the same ideals as us. May I never slip into that hazardous territory.
never forget that it’s ministry.
Last week, as I routinely called the 80-over potential REAL candidates, I found myself repeating the same lines and asking everyone the same question, just phrased differently. My purpose in calling them was to put a voice to a name and to put a name to a programme. At the same time I also wanted to acquaint myself with more young people.
Most of them responded in the same manner; they confirmed their contact information and acknowledged that they would be awaiting my email before they respond from there. On a side note, I was reminded of the massive responsibility that a preacher has and how crucial it is to exercise his influence well. People KNOW and REMEMBER who you are once you go on stage and your public profile increases significantly whether you realise it or not.
When I met with my first and only “I am not interested” response, it caught me offguard. I simply, like a professional telemarketer, responded with a polite “thank you” and “maybe another time then”. When I put down the phone, I still hadn’t realise that with every new phone call made, I am starting to miss the whole point of calling in the first place.
CX snapped me into place. She had overheard my conversation and asked me why I didn’t ask the person why he wasn’t keen on REAL. “Maybe he backslided? Maybe something happened? Maybe he needs someone to talk to him?” I sobered immediately and realised that I should have been more pastoral in my approach instead of being just professional and polite.
It was a good nudge on the purpose of ministry. It’s been a week since and this anecdote still lingers in my head. May we never forget that it’s always about ministering to people and not about the task to be completed.
P/S – Yes, I am attempting to revive this blog by writing more regularly.
investments.
In an attempt to expand my perspectives on “investment”, I’m inclined to think that it should not and cannot be tied to just monetary terms. There’s also the investment of time, energy and resources, which money cannot and will not be able to purchase.
Many men and women have invested into my life ever since I became a Christian and a lot of them will not be able to directly gain the returns of their investments made at various key intervals of my life.
Likewise, a lot of what I am about to do with young people and with the youth ministry, I may not be able to see or touch the returns. Youth ministry is a transient place to say the least and while major decisions are made during this time, most of its consequences and effects would not surface until years later, when these youths have exited the ministry.
I believe that if we wait long enough, people usually would surprise us with their good side – something I learnt from Randy Pausch’s “The Last Lecture”. And in youth ministry, most times, it’s always about being patient and looking beyond the immediacy of the circumstance and to help the young person see what you see too. I think that everyone at any point in time is relatively myopic. This is mildly non-sequitur but there is nothing more satisfying than to play a part in bringing out God’s best in a young person.
The invaluable investments that people like RY, PL and JH have made in my life – maybe their kids will be recipients of their investments. In fact, it is very probable that all of their children will be under my care within the next 10 years, providing I’m still at it. And maybe, if I’m allowed to think a little more selfishly, these investments that I’m making and about to make in young people – my kids will be indirect recipients of my time, energy and resources. And maybe that makes it all a little more worthwhile.
Now, that’s what I call a risk-free investment.
obedience vs sacrifice.
If you had overheard the candid conversation I had with God prior to me coming into Full Time ministry…
Me: So, I really want to obey You and go full time, instead of sacrificing, because I know you desire obedience over sacrifice.
God: What are you sacrificing?
M: I don’t know… I guess you know, like the great amounts of money that I’ll be earning, the wonderful high positions that I’ll be holding, that beautiful house that I’ll be residing in, those fantastic annual holidays that I’ll be bringing my family on… You know… All these things… Well, but I love You and I just want to obey You instead of thinking about these things that I’m going to sacrifice.
G: Have all these things happened yet?
M: [stunned] Oh, erm, well, no… But it probably will, right?
G: But it hasn’t, right?
M: [resigned] Yeah…
G: Then they are not sacrifices. : )
M: [speechless] … -_-
All right, some bits were dramatised but essentially that really happened. I guess I’ll never know how life would be like in the ministry or in the marketplace so instead of speculating all the what-ifs, I should just focus on today and perhaps ask God for a preview of tomorrow.
I truly believe that I do not have to take the paths that others have walked on. My journey of faith is mine alone and may it be an adventure for me as well as for directly affected by my decisions.
joey asher | misunderstoodsunshinekid 