Showing posts with label 40 days of love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 40 days of love. Show all posts
wow... thats really fast.. we are at the end of this week's relationship principle again!! :) its amazing how fast time flies.. and soon its the dreaded EXAMS!!! haha kk i dunno why i wrote dat. i think cos my brain has been fried by the first aid workshop yesterday..
anyway, even as i was reading today's chapter, i was wondering what i could share.. cos its so straight forward. its so true, its easy to follow.. all it takes is that little bit of time and effor that you place to get all the pondering and seeking done..
anyhow, BEFORE u guys look at the picture below, i want u guys to read this first.. the first person to decipher it and put on d tagboard.. gets... ... ... [ok. who am i kidding? all of you looked at it straight away b4 even reading the rest.] anyhow, i created dis lil picture below..
what is the first thing that stood out to you when you saw the picture? i'm quite sure all ur answers will be "I" the super mega huge "I"... *if it differed for anyone of u pls let me know. may needa book u in for a session wif our psychologist aletheia.* jkinjkin..
ok.. serious stuff.. revealing the answer.. its.. "I have sinned, I am forgiven"
one thing that striked me the most is that while trying to understand "I have sinned, I am forgiven" and trying to show mercy, its most difficult to not judge the "should have known better" person.. i must say i have first hand experience with this.. its often too easy to expect much more from the person. to raise the standard higher for certain people. and when people don't meet the expectation, when people fail you, when people don't do what is required, its so easy to get upset with them. to judge them and say he "should have known better" than to do this or that..
but as i look back on that picture.. and see the big "I" that was right at the top.. and it struck me.. everything is about me. it is MY standard, it is when people fail ME.. when people don't meet MY requirement.. oh my... sound like such a selfish paragragh. urgh.. but as a matter of fact, yes.. it is very selfish..
and then i realise i need to replace all the I, MY and ME with God! we need to see things with God's standard. when we try to reach an expectation, it should be God's expectation for us.. you fail no one else besdies God when you don't accomplish what HE has in plan for u.. and it goes the same for other people..
all these brings me back to the same point.. that We all have sinned, and We all have been forgiven by God's grace, by God's perfect plan for us.. How about adding on to yesterday's chapter about letting God be the final judge, and really start learning how to understand the "I" test at the top and let God's grace and mercy flow out through us to others! My God is the creator. He is the planner. He is the author. He is the teacher. He is the social worker. He is the judge. etc etc..
have a good time reflecting on the last section of today's chapter guys.. i really urge u guys to spend some time over this weekend to reflect on that.. good stuff..
keep repeating the following to yourself today.. "I have sinned, I am forgiven" :) see u guys in serivce!
anyway, even as i was reading today's chapter, i was wondering what i could share.. cos its so straight forward. its so true, its easy to follow.. all it takes is that little bit of time and effor that you place to get all the pondering and seeking done..
anyhow, BEFORE u guys look at the picture below, i want u guys to read this first.. the first person to decipher it and put on d tagboard.. gets... ... ... [ok. who am i kidding? all of you looked at it straight away b4 even reading the rest.] anyhow, i created dis lil picture below..
what is the first thing that stood out to you when you saw the picture? i'm quite sure all ur answers will be "I" the super mega huge "I"... *if it differed for anyone of u pls let me know. may needa book u in for a session wif our psychologist aletheia.* jkinjkin..ok.. serious stuff.. revealing the answer.. its.. "I have sinned, I am forgiven"
one thing that striked me the most is that while trying to understand "I have sinned, I am forgiven" and trying to show mercy, its most difficult to not judge the "should have known better" person.. i must say i have first hand experience with this.. its often too easy to expect much more from the person. to raise the standard higher for certain people. and when people don't meet the expectation, when people fail you, when people don't do what is required, its so easy to get upset with them. to judge them and say he "should have known better" than to do this or that..
but as i look back on that picture.. and see the big "I" that was right at the top.. and it struck me.. everything is about me. it is MY standard, it is when people fail ME.. when people don't meet MY requirement.. oh my... sound like such a selfish paragragh. urgh.. but as a matter of fact, yes.. it is very selfish..
and then i realise i need to replace all the I, MY and ME with God! we need to see things with God's standard. when we try to reach an expectation, it should be God's expectation for us.. you fail no one else besdies God when you don't accomplish what HE has in plan for u.. and it goes the same for other people..
all these brings me back to the same point.. that We all have sinned, and We all have been forgiven by God's grace, by God's perfect plan for us.. How about adding on to yesterday's chapter about letting God be the final judge, and really start learning how to understand the "I" test at the top and let God's grace and mercy flow out through us to others! My God is the creator. He is the planner. He is the author. He is the teacher. He is the social worker. He is the judge. etc etc..
have a good time reflecting on the last section of today's chapter guys.. i really urge u guys to spend some time over this weekend to reflect on that.. good stuff..
keep repeating the following to yourself today.. "I have sinned, I am forgiven" :) see u guys in serivce!
Good morning everyone!!!!!
Here am I to share again…hehe =)
‘Do not judge, or you too will be judge.’ [Matt 7:1]
It sounds uncomfortable and a bit harsh to be heard early in the morning, right?
However, it is really amazing that God revealed to me again this verse in my daily Christ notes last night.
Oh yea, OUR GOD is REAL =)
Most of the time, something in us cringes when we see or hear such words as judges and judgment. Most importantly, words about judgment are just difficult for many of us. Aha…confession time… (Not to me, but to our God=p)
Although it is difficult but if we have a better understanding about God’s judgment, we will be able to find a great deal of power in what our Lord Jesus had taught us about in it Matthew 7:1-5: a teaching that holds the PROMISE of DRAMATIC CHANGE for our RELATIONSHIPS. Definitely it is difficult if we are doing it based on philosophical understanding. However, the answer to figuring out the judgment of God is not found in it. Rather, it is found in PERSONAL TRUST. And this understanding of God’s judgment frees us to not have to be judgmental as we know that God is the ultimate judge and WE CAN TRUST HIM.
I wonder if you still remember the cookies story about a woman in the airport; if you don’t, refer to day 23. Don’t you think it sounds so familiar? I am pretty sure this happened to us before, perhaps different scenario. Today, we are not reading from the perspective of the woman but the man instead. Don’t you think that he really respond what we have learnt in the past few days- action with integrity and mercy but not with hypocrisy?
How many of us can do that, man? There are so many ways I can think of his response- shouting to the woman; not to share the cookies; giving a sarcastic look; get back the cookies and walk away…blah blah blah…
The man truly amazed me after reading the story. This is the kind of attitude we all should learn from the man- act in integrity and mercy without hypocrisy. If you think it is impossible or can merely happens to see you react like that man, perhaps it is the time for you to ponder: “am I trusting God to judge justly?” This is going to be our test about our belief (TRUST) in God’s justice, judgment and forgiveness. We can’t do it by our own strength as with man this impossible, but with God all things are possible [Matt 19:26]
Lets continue seek and get to know better about our God. Seek and you will find!
Be blessed,
suling
Here am I to share again…hehe =)
‘Do not judge, or you too will be judge.’ [Matt 7:1]
It sounds uncomfortable and a bit harsh to be heard early in the morning, right?
However, it is really amazing that God revealed to me again this verse in my daily Christ notes last night.
Oh yea, OUR GOD is REAL =)
Most of the time, something in us cringes when we see or hear such words as judges and judgment. Most importantly, words about judgment are just difficult for many of us. Aha…confession time… (Not to me, but to our God=p)
Although it is difficult but if we have a better understanding about God’s judgment, we will be able to find a great deal of power in what our Lord Jesus had taught us about in it Matthew 7:1-5: a teaching that holds the PROMISE of DRAMATIC CHANGE for our RELATIONSHIPS. Definitely it is difficult if we are doing it based on philosophical understanding. However, the answer to figuring out the judgment of God is not found in it. Rather, it is found in PERSONAL TRUST. And this understanding of God’s judgment frees us to not have to be judgmental as we know that God is the ultimate judge and WE CAN TRUST HIM.
I wonder if you still remember the cookies story about a woman in the airport; if you don’t, refer to day 23. Don’t you think it sounds so familiar? I am pretty sure this happened to us before, perhaps different scenario. Today, we are not reading from the perspective of the woman but the man instead. Don’t you think that he really respond what we have learnt in the past few days- action with integrity and mercy but not with hypocrisy?
How many of us can do that, man? There are so many ways I can think of his response- shouting to the woman; not to share the cookies; giving a sarcastic look; get back the cookies and walk away…blah blah blah…
The man truly amazed me after reading the story. This is the kind of attitude we all should learn from the man- act in integrity and mercy without hypocrisy. If you think it is impossible or can merely happens to see you react like that man, perhaps it is the time for you to ponder: “am I trusting God to judge justly?” This is going to be our test about our belief (TRUST) in God’s justice, judgment and forgiveness. We can’t do it by our own strength as with man this impossible, but with God all things are possible [Matt 19:26]
Lets continue seek and get to know better about our God. Seek and you will find!
Be blessed,
suling
Good morning everyone!!!!!
Here am I to share again…hehe =)
‘Do not judge, or you too will be judge.’ [Matt 7:1]
It sounds uncomfortable and a bit harsh to be heard early in the morning, right?
However, it is really amazing that God revealed to me again this verse in my daily Christ notes last night.
Oh yea, OUR GOD is REAL =)
Most of the time, something in us cringes when we see or hear such words as judges and judgment. Most importantly, words about judgment are just difficult for many of us. Aha…confession time… (Not to me, but to our God=p)
Although it is difficult but if we have a better understanding about God’s judgment, we will be able to find a great deal of power in what our Lord Jesus had taught us about in it Matthew 7:1-5: a teaching that holds the PROMISE of DRAMATIC CHANGE for our RELATIONSHIPS. Definitely it is difficult if we are doing it based on philosophical understanding. However, the answer to figuring out the judgment of God is not found in it. Rather, it is found in PERSONAL TRUST. And this understanding of God’s judgment frees us to not have to be judgmental as we know that God is the ultimate judge and WE CAN TRUST HIM.
I wonder if you still remember the cookies story about a woman in the airport; if you don’t, refer to day 23. Don’t you think it sounds so familiar? I am pretty sure this happened to us before, perhaps different scenario. Today, we are not reading from the perspective of the woman but the man instead. Don’t you think that he really respond what we have learnt in the past few days- action with integrity and mercy but not with hypocrisy?
How many of us can do that, man? There are so many ways I can think of his response- shouting to the woman; not to share the cookies; giving a sarcastic look; get back the cookies and walk away…blah blah blah…
The man truly amazed me after reading the story. This is the kind of attitude we all should learn from the man- act in integrity and mercy without hypocrisy. If you think it is impossible or can merely happens to see you react like that man, perhaps it is the time for you to ponder: “am I trusting God to judge justly?” This is going to be our test about our belief (TRUST) in God’s justice, judgment and forgiveness. We can’t do it by our own strength as with man this impossible, but with God all things are possible [Matt 19:26]
Lets continue seek and get to know better about our God. Seek and you will find!
Be blessed,
suling
Here am I to share again…hehe =)
‘Do not judge, or you too will be judge.’ [Matt 7:1]
It sounds uncomfortable and a bit harsh to be heard early in the morning, right?
However, it is really amazing that God revealed to me again this verse in my daily Christ notes last night.
Oh yea, OUR GOD is REAL =)
Most of the time, something in us cringes when we see or hear such words as judges and judgment. Most importantly, words about judgment are just difficult for many of us. Aha…confession time… (Not to me, but to our God=p)
Although it is difficult but if we have a better understanding about God’s judgment, we will be able to find a great deal of power in what our Lord Jesus had taught us about in it Matthew 7:1-5: a teaching that holds the PROMISE of DRAMATIC CHANGE for our RELATIONSHIPS. Definitely it is difficult if we are doing it based on philosophical understanding. However, the answer to figuring out the judgment of God is not found in it. Rather, it is found in PERSONAL TRUST. And this understanding of God’s judgment frees us to not have to be judgmental as we know that God is the ultimate judge and WE CAN TRUST HIM.
I wonder if you still remember the cookies story about a woman in the airport; if you don’t, refer to day 23. Don’t you think it sounds so familiar? I am pretty sure this happened to us before, perhaps different scenario. Today, we are not reading from the perspective of the woman but the man instead. Don’t you think that he really respond what we have learnt in the past few days- action with integrity and mercy but not with hypocrisy?
How many of us can do that, man? There are so many ways I can think of his response- shouting to the woman; not to share the cookies; giving a sarcastic look; get back the cookies and walk away…blah blah blah…
The man truly amazed me after reading the story. This is the kind of attitude we all should learn from the man- act in integrity and mercy without hypocrisy. If you think it is impossible or can merely happens to see you react like that man, perhaps it is the time for you to ponder: “am I trusting God to judge justly?” This is going to be our test about our belief (TRUST) in God’s justice, judgment and forgiveness. We can’t do it by our own strength as with man this impossible, but with God all things are possible [Matt 19:26]
Lets continue seek and get to know better about our God. Seek and you will find!
Be blessed,
suling
"...He who is forgiven much, loves much..."
Let's shake things up a little. In the chapter, Pastor Holladay (P.Holla) didn't quite differentiate mercy from grace, but I will.
At the risk of sounding like a broken recorder, or worse, an old lady, I'll iterate the time-honored and commonly borrowed phrase that:
At the risk of sounding like a broken recorder, or worse, an old lady, I'll iterate the time-honored and commonly borrowed phrase that:
"Mercy is God's favour that holds back from us what we deserve. Grace is God's favour that gives us what we do not deserve." - Rolfe Barnard
Sounds a tad iffy doesn't it? Ok, let's elaborate with a ridiculous example.
Grace is akin to you, randomly turning up at my doorsteps bearing a cup of yummy bubble tea, even though I did nothing to earn this blessing. Mercy is when, say, I stupidly spill the entire cup of deliciousness on your brand new Paul Smith loafers, and instead of giving me a couple of well-deserved smacks across the head with your newly-soiled shoes, you forgive me, and then go on to offer me your own original milk tea with fig jelly. All these, with a warm, unwavering smile on your face, and a golden halo above your head.
I hope that made it clearer for you. Mercy is really quite closely related to forgiveness. Moving on now... and because I like to unnecessarily involve others in my own reflection/ thinking process... I'd like to throw out a rhetorical statement to you.
Hands up, those who are perfect! (Josh Lim, put that hand down now. Sheesh...)
Right. Like I said, this is purely rhetorical because we already know that "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God". Sure, some of us are pretty darn close to perfection (Yea...I'm guilty as charged here) but well, there is only one perfect man and His name is J... Jesus.
Now, hold that thought in your heads for a bit while we go back to the book. P. Holla said that at the crux of it, we've "got one of two choices... grateful you've lived a more moral life than most other people... or... grateful for how much you have been forgiven"
I don't know about you, but I choose the latter.
Above all, God's mercy has always been a topic that's particularly dear to my heart, simply because I've experienced so much of it through the dumb choices that I've made in this imperfect journey that I call my Life. I mean, take exams for example. While others are mostly praying for God's grace to help them do the rest when they've already studied their very best, I'm often left in a crumpled heap, desperately begging for God to show mercy and help me to at least pass the paper, even though I did not study for it.
And I could go on and on.
Is it obvious that I'm smoking my way through this post? To be honest, I find it really hard to talk about something such as mercy. How do I articulate something which I am convinced, has to come as a personal revelation? How do I express, in limited words, the depth of what mercy means to me? How do I help others understand what mercy is when I am still learning and discovering more of it in my life everyday?
Like what Pastor Holladay said, "the secret to a heart of mercy is in seeing - really seeing - God's mercy toward you". We see this in King David. I love King David. When I think of him, I imagine a man, so immensely flawed (well hello? he committed adultery, killed a man, etc.), and yet, so tenderhearted and loving. I imagine a merciful king who was quick to forgive a man called Shimei despite the rebellion and dangers posed by this renegade. I imagine a merciful father who lovingly forgave his son Absalom despite him waging a civil war against his own father! (Go read 2 Samuel. There's some seriously moving stuff in there.)
I am convinced that King David's merciful nature flowed freely from his own experiences with God's forgiveness towards him.
It is hard for me (and probably not my place) to point out the extent of anyone's sins, nor can I quantitatively express the intensity of God's grace. This is something you have to realize for yourselves. For me, the more I saw how good God is, the more I saw how sinful I really am. And each time, without fail, I fall on my knees, floored in amazement and thankfulness at how someone like Him, can love (and forgive) someone like me. After all, "What is man that You are mindful of him, the son of man that You care for him?" (Psa 8:4).
And all of a sudden, nothing else seem to matter anymore. The unkind words someone hurled at me. The group member that ran away leaving me to do all the work. And heaps more small grievances that now seem so trivial.
I can forgive and love them, because I too, am forgiven and loved.
Before I finally stop yapping on and on, I'd like to quote Gandhi (there's nothing like borrowing someone else's wisdom to appear profound).
“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is an attribute of the strong.”The truth is, we are all weak-willed creatures. Thankfully, God isn't quite like us. So when you feel hard-pressed to forgive and show mercy to anyone at all, remember that His strength, as with His grace and mercy, is there for the claiming!
Let's love, because He first loved us.
Be blessed!
(His mercies are new every morning!)
"...He who is forgiven much, loves much..."
Let's shake things up a little. In the chapter, Pastor Holladay (P.Holla) didn't quite differentiate mercy from grace, but I will.
At the risk of sounding like a broken recorder, or worse, an old lady, I'll iterate the time-honored and commonly borrowed phrase that:
At the risk of sounding like a broken recorder, or worse, an old lady, I'll iterate the time-honored and commonly borrowed phrase that:
"Mercy is God's favour that holds back from us what we deserve. Grace is God's favour that gives us what we do not deserve." - Rolfe Barnard
Sounds a tad iffy doesn't it? Ok, let's elaborate with a ridiculous example.
Grace is akin to you, randomly turning up at my doorsteps bearing a cup of yummy bubble tea, even though I did nothing to earn this blessing. Mercy is when, say, I stupidly spill the entire cup of deliciousness on your brand new Paul Smith loafers, and instead of giving me a couple of well-deserved smacks across the head with your newly-soiled shoes, you forgive me, and then go on to offer me your own original milk tea with fig jelly. All these, with a warm, unwavering smile on your face, and a golden halo above your head.
I hope that made it clearer for you. Mercy is really quite closely related to forgiveness. Moving on now... and because I like to unnecessarily involve others in my own reflection/ thinking process... I'd like to throw out a rhetorical statement to you.
Hands up, those who are perfect! (Josh Lim, put that hand down now. Sheesh...)
Right. Like I said, this is purely rhetorical because we already know that "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God". Sure, some of us are pretty darn close to perfection (Yea...I'm guilty as charged here) but well, there is only one perfect man and His name is J... Jesus.
Now, hold that thought in your heads for a bit while we go back to the book. P. Holla said that at the crux of it, we've "got one of two choices... grateful you've lived a more moral life than most other people... or... grateful for how much you have been forgiven"
I don't know about you, but I choose the latter.
Above all, God's mercy has always been a topic that's particularly dear to my heart, simply because I've experienced so much of it through the dumb choices that I've made in this imperfect journey that I call my Life. I mean, take exams for example. While others are mostly praying for God's grace to help them do the rest when they've already studied their very best, I'm often left in a crumpled heap, desperately begging for God to show mercy and help me to at least pass the paper, even though I did not study for it.
And I could go on and on.
Is it obvious that I'm smoking my way through this post? To be honest, I find it really hard to talk about something such as mercy. How do I articulate something which I am convinced, has to come as a personal revelation? How do I express, in limited words, the depth of what mercy means to me? How do I help others understand what mercy is when I am still learning and discovering more of it in my life everyday?
Like what Pastor Holladay said, "the secret to a heart of mercy is in seeing - really seeing - God's mercy toward you". We see this in King David. I love King David. When I think of him, I imagine a man, so immensely flawed (well hello? he committed adultery, killed a man, etc.), and yet, so tenderhearted and loving. I imagine a merciful king who was quick to forgive a man called Shimei despite the rebellion and dangers posed by this renegade. I imagine a merciful father who lovingly forgave his son Absalom despite him waging a civil war against his own father! (Go read 2 Samuel. There's some seriously moving stuff in there.)
I am convinced that King David's merciful nature flowed freely from his own experiences with God's forgiveness towards him.
It is hard for me (and probably not my place) to point out the extent of anyone's sins, nor can I quantitatively express the intensity of God's grace. This is something you have to realize for yourselves. For me, the more I saw how good God is, the more I saw how sinful I really am. And each time, without fail, I fall on my knees, floored in amazement and thankfulness at how someone like Him, can love (and forgive) someone like me. After all, "What is man that You are mindful of him, the son of man that You care for him?" (Psa 8:4).
And all of a sudden, nothing else seem to matter anymore. The unkind words someone hurled at me. The group member that ran away leaving me to do all the work. And heaps more small grievances that now seem so trivial.
I can forgive and love them, because I too, am forgiven and loved.
Before I finally stop yapping on and on, I'd like to quote Gandhi (there's nothing like borrowing someone else's wisdom to appear profound).
“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is an attribute of the strong.”The truth is, we are all weak-willed creatures. Thankfully, God isn't quite like us. So when you feel hard-pressed to forgive and show mercy to anyone at all, remember that His strength, as with His grace and mercy, is there for the claiming!
Let's love, because He first loved us.
Be blessed!
(His mercies are new every morning!)
Boo! Here comes the "CAPS LOCK entry" again.. lol !
Hmm.. I would say today's reading is the most challenging one, in comparison to the other 2.
Saying no to hypocrisy is doable - you stand back and think twice before pinpointing at others and looking first at yourself. (no risk there)
Saying yes to integrity is also doable - you choosing in advance to do the right thing - to ACT with integrity - dealing with your own fault first. (again, not much of a risk there)
BUT! Saying NOW to MERCY - HERE comes the challenge. This involves a lot of risks! Because now, we have to go BEYOND ourselves to speak into other people's lives! With the right heart and right attitude of course.
"Genuine mercy takes the most courage."
That is so true. Because as much as we desire to help our brother/sister in love by speaking the truth, very often, we fear what their response might be. Will they hold a grudge against us after that or will they accept what we have to say? Will they simply nod and give us a smile to brush off the awkwardness, but knowing very well that he/she is boiling to the maximum point inside? Or will they snort at you, sending the message to "mind your own business"..or.."what a proud-ass you are".. or.."who do you think you are to come and tell me what to do or how to live my life" ?
All these thoughts have shied us away from HELPING our friend get the speck out of his or her eye. HELPING - thats the key word. I believe it is impossible to show genuine mercy or concern if we have any other motives other than to HELP our friend IN LOVE. We cannot speak to our friend in the hope to change him/her, we cannot just aim to get our message across and let them see our point, or simply to act with mercy just to feel-good and because thats what we are taught to do. These are very self-centred/selfish intentions. But to truly show mercy is to first inject this notion in you: "ok, im here for no other reason than to HELP my brother/sister to rise up to a whole new level, to genuinely help bring out the BEST in him/her, all because......I LOVE him/her." Not to get that person to be who we see him/her to be, but to be a child of God who walks in the right path. Jesus mentioned in Jn 7:24 "stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly". Let's get our judgments right. Is it a constructive one or a destructive one? Is it a constructive one or a selfish one? Hmm..
I guess I am speaking more of the ACT of helping our brother/sister to remove the speck from his/her eye. It means actually DOING something about the speck that we see. Not brushing it off or just forcing yourself to tolerate with it. Let's not ignore each others' faults/areas that need or can be changed. Because that's really not acting in love. True love will move you to bring the best out of that person. We do everything that we can to lift them up higher.
So why fear? Why fear when we know at the very core of our heart, we have the right attitude, right intention and right heart for our fellow brother/sister? why hold back? Approaching the person or getting along with the person may be a scary thing to do, but let your love for him/her motivate you. because we know that " there is no fear in love. PERFECT LOVE drives out fear" (1 Jn 4:18). Let's not fear what comes after as well (i.e their reaction or response to us). Leave that to God. Thats beyond our control. But let Him amaze you with the response. :)
So, let's MOVE! let's be a church that aims to build each other up and not bring each other down with judgments after judgments. There's already enough destructive judgments we have to face in the world, as if there's already not enough condemnation/judgment outside.. let's not do the same in this House of God. Let's offer love and acceptance to EVERYONE who comes in the door.
GUYS and girls... "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful" (Lk 6:36) =P
love,
Let
Random addition: (I saw it at work..lol) Enjoy! =)
Hmm.. I would say today's reading is the most challenging one, in comparison to the other 2.
Saying no to hypocrisy is doable - you stand back and think twice before pinpointing at others and looking first at yourself. (no risk there)
Saying yes to integrity is also doable - you choosing in advance to do the right thing - to ACT with integrity - dealing with your own fault first. (again, not much of a risk there)
BUT! Saying NOW to MERCY - HERE comes the challenge. This involves a lot of risks! Because now, we have to go BEYOND ourselves to speak into other people's lives! With the right heart and right attitude of course.
"Genuine mercy takes the most courage."
That is so true. Because as much as we desire to help our brother/sister in love by speaking the truth, very often, we fear what their response might be. Will they hold a grudge against us after that or will they accept what we have to say? Will they simply nod and give us a smile to brush off the awkwardness, but knowing very well that he/she is boiling to the maximum point inside? Or will they snort at you, sending the message to "mind your own business"..or.."what a proud-ass you are".. or.."who do you think you are to come and tell me what to do or how to live my life" ?
All these thoughts have shied us away from HELPING our friend get the speck out of his or her eye. HELPING - thats the key word. I believe it is impossible to show genuine mercy or concern if we have any other motives other than to HELP our friend IN LOVE. We cannot speak to our friend in the hope to change him/her, we cannot just aim to get our message across and let them see our point, or simply to act with mercy just to feel-good and because thats what we are taught to do. These are very self-centred/selfish intentions. But to truly show mercy is to first inject this notion in you: "ok, im here for no other reason than to HELP my brother/sister to rise up to a whole new level, to genuinely help bring out the BEST in him/her, all because......I LOVE him/her." Not to get that person to be who we see him/her to be, but to be a child of God who walks in the right path. Jesus mentioned in Jn 7:24 "stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly". Let's get our judgments right. Is it a constructive one or a destructive one? Is it a constructive one or a selfish one? Hmm..
I guess I am speaking more of the ACT of helping our brother/sister to remove the speck from his/her eye. It means actually DOING something about the speck that we see. Not brushing it off or just forcing yourself to tolerate with it. Let's not ignore each others' faults/areas that need or can be changed. Because that's really not acting in love. True love will move you to bring the best out of that person. We do everything that we can to lift them up higher.
So why fear? Why fear when we know at the very core of our heart, we have the right attitude, right intention and right heart for our fellow brother/sister? why hold back? Approaching the person or getting along with the person may be a scary thing to do, but let your love for him/her motivate you. because we know that " there is no fear in love. PERFECT LOVE drives out fear" (1 Jn 4:18). Let's not fear what comes after as well (i.e their reaction or response to us). Leave that to God. Thats beyond our control. But let Him amaze you with the response. :)
So, let's MOVE! let's be a church that aims to build each other up and not bring each other down with judgments after judgments. There's already enough destructive judgments we have to face in the world, as if there's already not enough condemnation/judgment outside.. let's not do the same in this House of God. Let's offer love and acceptance to EVERYONE who comes in the door.
GUYS and girls... "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful" (Lk 6:36) =P
love,
Let
Random addition: (I saw it at work..lol) Enjoy! =)
RECIPE FOR LOVE
Preheat the oven of love
with plenty of secrets and hugs.
Mix in giggles and laughs,
that make your sides split in half.
Bake with lots of love and care,
and all the things you both should share.
Decorate it with the icing of trust,
this really is a must!
Enjoy the cake and do not eat it fast,
just like your friendship, make it last!
Boo! Here comes the "CAPS LOCK entry" again.. lol !
Hmm.. I would say today's reading is the most challenging one, in comparison to the other 2.
Saying no to hypocrisy is doable - you stand back and think twice before pinpointing at others and looking first at yourself. (no risk there)
Saying yes to integrity is also doable - you choosing in advance to do the right thing - to ACT with integrity - dealing with your own fault first. (again, not much of a risk there)
BUT! Saying NOW to MERCY - HERE comes the challenge. This involves a lot of risks! Because now, we have to go BEYOND ourselves to speak into other people's lives! With the right heart and right attitude of course.
"Genuine mercy takes the most courage."
That is so true. Because as much as we desire to help our brother/sister in love by speaking the truth, very often, we fear what their response might be. Will they hold a grudge against us after that or will they accept what we have to say? Will they simply nod and give us a smile to brush off the awkwardness, but knowing very well that he/she is boiling to the maximum point inside? Or will they snort at you, sending the message to "mind your own business"..or.."what a proud-ass you are".. or.."who do you think you are to come and tell me what to do or how to live my life" ?
All these thoughts have shied us away from HELPING our friend get the speck out of his or her eye. HELPING - thats the key word. I believe it is impossible to show genuine mercy or concern if we have any other motives other than to HELP our friend IN LOVE. We cannot speak to our friend in the hope to change him/her, we cannot just aim to get our message across and let them see our point, or simply to act with mercy just to feel-good and because thats what we are taught to do. These are very self-centred/selfish intentions. But to truly show mercy is to first inject this notion in you: "ok, im here for no other reason than to HELP my brother/sister to rise up to a whole new level, to genuinely help bring out the BEST in him/her, all because......I LOVE him/her." Not to get that person to be who we see him/her to be, but to be a child of God who walks in the right path. Jesus mentioned in Jn 7:24 "stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly". Let's get our judgments right. Is it a constructive one or a destructive one? Is it a constructive one or a selfish one? Hmm..
I guess I am speaking more of the ACT of helping our brother/sister to remove the speck from his/her eye. It means actually DOING something about the speck that we see. Not brushing it off or just forcing yourself to tolerate with it. Let's not ignore each others' faults/areas that need or can be changed. Because that's really not acting in love. True love will move you to bring the best out of that person. We do everything that we can to lift them up higher.
So why fear? Why fear when we know at the very core of our heart, we have the right attitude, right intention and right heart for our fellow brother/sister? why hold back? Approaching the person or getting along with the person may be a scary thing to do, but let your love for him/her motivate you. because we know that " there is no fear in love. PERFECT LOVE drives out fear" (1 Jn 4:18). Let's not fear what comes after as well (i.e their reaction or response to us). Leave that to God. Thats beyond our control. But let Him amaze you with the response. :)
So, let's MOVE! let's be a church that aims to build each other up and not bring each other down with judgments after judgments. There's already enough destructive judgments we have to face in the world, as if there's already not enough condemnation/judgment outside.. let's not do the same in this House of God. Let's offer love and acceptance to EVERYONE who comes in the door.
GUYS and girls... "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful" (Lk 6:36) =P
love,
Let
Random addition: (I saw it at work..lol) Enjoy! =)
Hmm.. I would say today's reading is the most challenging one, in comparison to the other 2.
Saying no to hypocrisy is doable - you stand back and think twice before pinpointing at others and looking first at yourself. (no risk there)
Saying yes to integrity is also doable - you choosing in advance to do the right thing - to ACT with integrity - dealing with your own fault first. (again, not much of a risk there)
BUT! Saying NOW to MERCY - HERE comes the challenge. This involves a lot of risks! Because now, we have to go BEYOND ourselves to speak into other people's lives! With the right heart and right attitude of course.
"Genuine mercy takes the most courage."
That is so true. Because as much as we desire to help our brother/sister in love by speaking the truth, very often, we fear what their response might be. Will they hold a grudge against us after that or will they accept what we have to say? Will they simply nod and give us a smile to brush off the awkwardness, but knowing very well that he/she is boiling to the maximum point inside? Or will they snort at you, sending the message to "mind your own business"..or.."what a proud-ass you are".. or.."who do you think you are to come and tell me what to do or how to live my life" ?
All these thoughts have shied us away from HELPING our friend get the speck out of his or her eye. HELPING - thats the key word. I believe it is impossible to show genuine mercy or concern if we have any other motives other than to HELP our friend IN LOVE. We cannot speak to our friend in the hope to change him/her, we cannot just aim to get our message across and let them see our point, or simply to act with mercy just to feel-good and because thats what we are taught to do. These are very self-centred/selfish intentions. But to truly show mercy is to first inject this notion in you: "ok, im here for no other reason than to HELP my brother/sister to rise up to a whole new level, to genuinely help bring out the BEST in him/her, all because......I LOVE him/her." Not to get that person to be who we see him/her to be, but to be a child of God who walks in the right path. Jesus mentioned in Jn 7:24 "stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly". Let's get our judgments right. Is it a constructive one or a destructive one? Is it a constructive one or a selfish one? Hmm..
I guess I am speaking more of the ACT of helping our brother/sister to remove the speck from his/her eye. It means actually DOING something about the speck that we see. Not brushing it off or just forcing yourself to tolerate with it. Let's not ignore each others' faults/areas that need or can be changed. Because that's really not acting in love. True love will move you to bring the best out of that person. We do everything that we can to lift them up higher.
So why fear? Why fear when we know at the very core of our heart, we have the right attitude, right intention and right heart for our fellow brother/sister? why hold back? Approaching the person or getting along with the person may be a scary thing to do, but let your love for him/her motivate you. because we know that " there is no fear in love. PERFECT LOVE drives out fear" (1 Jn 4:18). Let's not fear what comes after as well (i.e their reaction or response to us). Leave that to God. Thats beyond our control. But let Him amaze you with the response. :)
So, let's MOVE! let's be a church that aims to build each other up and not bring each other down with judgments after judgments. There's already enough destructive judgments we have to face in the world, as if there's already not enough condemnation/judgment outside.. let's not do the same in this House of God. Let's offer love and acceptance to EVERYONE who comes in the door.
GUYS and girls... "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful" (Lk 6:36) =P
love,
Let
Random addition: (I saw it at work..lol) Enjoy! =)
RECIPE FOR LOVE
Preheat the oven of love
with plenty of secrets and hugs.
Mix in giggles and laughs,
that make your sides split in half.
Bake with lots of love and care,
and all the things you both should share.
Decorate it with the icing of trust,
this really is a must!
Enjoy the cake and do not eat it fast,
just like your friendship, make it last!
Some of you know that I often go to ReverendFun.com for inspiration (as well as a few laughs) when I do word at cell. So it was quite amazing that today's cartoon was directly related to the reading i'm due to share! Coincidence? I think not. Unlike the cartoon however, I believe that even with the plank removed from our eye or even the eye itself being removed, we should not confront a friend in such a manner. Like we learnt on last Friday, Pastor Rick talked about confronting others with love.
With regards to today's reading, Holladay shares 3 choices to help us get started on choosing integrity. Choose to 1) Speak the truth, 2) be honest about your faults 3) Ask for God's help.
Reflecting on these 3 choices, I realized that while it may be easy to say : "Yes I will be truthful, be honest about my faults and ask God for help!" but in reality even one of these 3 choices are really difficult to do, it's like trying to get into a car with a plank tied around your head! Very few of us have the courage and the willingness to be vulnerable and held accountable for our thoughts and actions.
Like Stan, when I first heard about Michael Guglielmucci admitting his 2 year "con" I remember that I had these thoughts "oh great! what would non christian think of us now? This just confirms their suspicions that all Christians are hypocrites! Why did he do it?! He should have known better!"
It was not till a good friend pointed me back to King David. King David, who wrote the Psalms, comprising of many songs, all in the Bible itself, a man that God called "a man after my own heart" [Acts 13:22] This is the same king who after sleeping with a loyal soldier's wife and made her pregnant, tries in vain to cover it up, before finally deliberately sending the soldier to his death in the front lines and then claiming his wife as his own?! [2 Samuel 11:1-26]
So what separates Guglielmucci and King David apart? Nothing! Just as no one sin is greater than another sin in God's eyes, all men and women are equally sinful. No evangelist, no Pastor, no church worker, no zone supervisor, no cell leader, no cell intern, no cell helper nor core member is above "holier than thou" than any non Christian. It is only because of and with Christ that we are redeemed for our sins. We are called Christians because we bear Christ redemption on our lives. It is only through Him and with Him can we approach our Holy Father. Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. [John 14:6]
Looking back, I believe God had a part to play in Guglielmucci coming forward and admitting what he had done. It must have taken him take a great great deal of courage to confess that he had overly "exaggerated" his "illness" i.e his battle against cancer to his addiction to pornography. Confession would have meant taking the chance that all creditability of the church would be lost, the Christian community, the millions touched by the song "Healer" might be stumbled and lose their faith. I maybe exaggerating a bit but my point being that it would have taken a great deal of faith and prayer to step up and confess. I am reminded to keep him in prayer even as he seeks treatment, that his wife and family as well as the church continue to love him and support him during this difficult time.
Again, this incident serves to highlight that we all have fallen short of the glory of God, that all the more we need His healing and His spirit in our lives. Even now when we sing "Healer" at service, or when I listen to it on iTunes, the song still speaks volumes to me, even more than when I first heard it! I continue to hope and pray that it still does to the global Christian community.
In closing, as Holladay shared that "Integrity is recognizing that without God's help we don't have the power to say no, but that with His help we have a new power to say yes to high and mighty things." I want to encourage everyone that although integrity maybe a gritty step for us to take daily, but with Christ and a loving church, we can create an culture that encourages us to speak the truth in love, to be open about our faults and a prayerful environment to seek God for acceptance, guidance, strength, and most of all, love.
In His love and mine,
Isaiah.
Some of you know that I often go to ReverendFun.com for inspiration (as well as a few laughs) when I do word at cell. So it was quite amazing that today's cartoon was directly related to the reading i'm due to share! Coincidence? I think not. Unlike the cartoon however, I believe that even with the plank removed from our eye or even the eye itself being removed, we should not confront a friend in such a manner. Like we learnt on last Friday, Pastor Rick talked about confronting others with love.
With regards to today's reading, Holladay shares 3 choices to help us get started on choosing integrity. Choose to 1) Speak the truth, 2) be honest about your faults 3) Ask for God's help.
Reflecting on these 3 choices, I realized that while it may be easy to say : "Yes I will be truthful, be honest about my faults and ask God for help!" but in reality even one of these 3 choices are really difficult to do, it's like trying to get into a car with a plank tied around your head! Very few of us have the courage and the willingness to be vulnerable and held accountable for our thoughts and actions.
Like Stan, when I first heard about Michael Guglielmucci admitting his 2 year "con" I remember that I had these thoughts "oh great! what would non christian think of us now? This just confirms their suspicions that all Christians are hypocrites! Why did he do it?! He should have known better!"
It was not till a good friend pointed me back to King David. King David, who wrote the Psalms, comprising of many songs, all in the Bible itself, a man that God called "a man after my own heart" [Acts 13:22] This is the same king who after sleeping with a loyal soldier's wife and made her pregnant, tries in vain to cover it up, before finally deliberately sending the soldier to his death in the front lines and then claiming his wife as his own?! [2 Samuel 11:1-26]
So what separates Guglielmucci and King David apart? Nothing! Just as no one sin is greater than another sin in God's eyes, all men and women are equally sinful. No evangelist, no Pastor, no church worker, no zone supervisor, no cell leader, no cell intern, no cell helper nor core member is above "holier than thou" than any non Christian. It is only because of and with Christ that we are redeemed for our sins. We are called Christians because we bear Christ redemption on our lives. It is only through Him and with Him can we approach our Holy Father. Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. [John 14:6]
Looking back, I believe God had a part to play in Guglielmucci coming forward and admitting what he had done. It must have taken him take a great great deal of courage to confess that he had overly "exaggerated" his "illness" i.e his battle against cancer to his addiction to pornography. Confession would have meant taking the chance that all creditability of the church would be lost, the Christian community, the millions touched by the song "Healer" might be stumbled and lose their faith. I maybe exaggerating a bit but my point being that it would have taken a great deal of faith and prayer to step up and confess. I am reminded to keep him in prayer even as he seeks treatment, that his wife and family as well as the church continue to love him and support him during this difficult time.
Again, this incident serves to highlight that we all have fallen short of the glory of God, that all the more we need His healing and His spirit in our lives. Even now when we sing "Healer" at service, or when I listen to it on iTunes, the song still speaks volumes to me, even more than when I first heard it! I continue to hope and pray that it still does to the global Christian community.
In closing, as Holladay shared that "Integrity is recognizing that without God's help we don't have the power to say no, but that with His help we have a new power to say yes to high and mighty things." I want to encourage everyone that although integrity maybe a gritty step for us to take daily, but with Christ and a loving church, we can create an culture that encourages us to speak the truth in love, to be open about our faults and a prayerful environment to seek God for acceptance, guidance, strength, and most of all, love.
In His love and mine,
Isaiah.
You hold my every moment
You calm my raging seas
You walk with me through fire
And heal all my disease
I trust in You
I trust in You
I believe You're my Healer
I believe You are all I need
I believe You're my Portion
I believe You're more than enough for me
Jesus You're all I need
My Healer, You're my Healer
Nothing is impossible for You
Nothing is impossible for You
Nothing is impossible for You
You hold my world in Your hands
Many of us know this song very well and it has probably been the song to carry us through the hard and difficult times of hurt and suffering just as it has impacted thousands of other Christian believers. Personally, it is one of my all time favorite worship songs because it talks about raw worship, that is total surrender to God, believing and trusting in Him for the impossible. However, not many of us know the story behind the song, the story about the writer and composer of this very power song, Mike Guglielmucci.
In short, Mike was a pastor, worship leader, musician and song writer who impacted the youth of Australia with his dynamic sharing and convicting messages. He even wrote many of the other songs we sing in church today. However, in 2008, Mike admitted to the world that he had been faking an incurable illness for over 2 years, fooling everybody including his own wife, parents and church congregation. Over the 2 years, he had receive donations and a lot of support from other believers from around the world. Nobody knew he was faking it all the time and when he finally came clean, it rocked the Christian world. More info at http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24232365-5006787,00.html
So why am I sharing this? The very first thing that i said about this guy when i heard about the news is "this guy is a hypocrite!". At first, I was very sad and shocked to hear about it but then the anger and frustration set in. I remember talking to one of my friends about it and really just venting my feelings about this guy, what he did and just talking really bad about him. When I finally did cool down and start to think about it, I believe God spoke to me.
"What makes you so different from this guy? Is his sin greater and bigger than yours? No. It's just that whatever he has done has been found out but nobody knows about the sinful things you have done." Wow. A painful reminder.
I believe that God used Mike as a reminder for all of us that we are no different form him, it's just nobody knows what is really going on in our hearts and lives except God himself. I think it's important to check the contents of our hearts and lives with God first. Hypocrisy is about hiding. Hiding from others, who you really are. The easiest way to do this is by wearing a mask. It could be a mask of ministry, a mask of sweet words or a mask of deception, just like Mike. The truth is, we probably have all used masks before, some of us might still be using them, in fear that people will know the 'real' us.
We're more concerned about the way we look to other people that we forget that it's about the condition of our hearts. We are afraid of what people will think of us and in the end, we forget that it is what God thinks of us that really matters. "Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart" 1 Samuel 16:7 and it is very true, we judge people by the way they look and their appearances, their outward masks. When we want to impress people, we focus on the outward appearance and paint a better, more beautiful mask and we don't deal with the matters of the heart.
Soooo...... how do we go about dealing with this problem of hypocrisy? 1 John 1:7 "But if we walk in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His son cleanses us from sin." Simply put it, walk in the light, be truthful, in the open, not hiding, no mask, just you in the beautiful light. I think that is what Mike did, he came clean and open, into the light and exposed what he had been hiding in darkness for years. I believe that he is doing much better now and God is healing him. Now i think it's just a testimony about the reality and the need for truth in the Christian walk and our realtionships. 1 John 1:6 "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth."
It's about coming clean into the light even though it might compromise what other people think of you but hey, it's really about what God thinks about us that matters! Without these masks, we won't judge people the same way as well. We'll see them through God's eyes and understand that we're all saved by His grace, no one better than the other and therefore, we have no reason to judge.
At the end of the day, we're meant to live in the freedom not hiding behind our masks, so let's take off our crowns of pride, remove our masks and walk in the light!
lotsa luuurrrveee,
~stano
You calm my raging seas
You walk with me through fire
And heal all my disease
I trust in You
I trust in You
I believe You're my Healer
I believe You are all I need
I believe You're my Portion
I believe You're more than enough for me
Jesus You're all I need
My Healer, You're my Healer
Nothing is impossible for You
Nothing is impossible for You
Nothing is impossible for You
You hold my world in Your hands
Many of us know this song very well and it has probably been the song to carry us through the hard and difficult times of hurt and suffering just as it has impacted thousands of other Christian believers. Personally, it is one of my all time favorite worship songs because it talks about raw worship, that is total surrender to God, believing and trusting in Him for the impossible. However, not many of us know the story behind the song, the story about the writer and composer of this very power song, Mike Guglielmucci.
In short, Mike was a pastor, worship leader, musician and song writer who impacted the youth of Australia with his dynamic sharing and convicting messages. He even wrote many of the other songs we sing in church today. However, in 2008, Mike admitted to the world that he had been faking an incurable illness for over 2 years, fooling everybody including his own wife, parents and church congregation. Over the 2 years, he had receive donations and a lot of support from other believers from around the world. Nobody knew he was faking it all the time and when he finally came clean, it rocked the Christian world. More info at http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24232365-5006787,00.html
So why am I sharing this? The very first thing that i said about this guy when i heard about the news is "this guy is a hypocrite!". At first, I was very sad and shocked to hear about it but then the anger and frustration set in. I remember talking to one of my friends about it and really just venting my feelings about this guy, what he did and just talking really bad about him. When I finally did cool down and start to think about it, I believe God spoke to me.
"What makes you so different from this guy? Is his sin greater and bigger than yours? No. It's just that whatever he has done has been found out but nobody knows about the sinful things you have done." Wow. A painful reminder.
I believe that God used Mike as a reminder for all of us that we are no different form him, it's just nobody knows what is really going on in our hearts and lives except God himself. I think it's important to check the contents of our hearts and lives with God first. Hypocrisy is about hiding. Hiding from others, who you really are. The easiest way to do this is by wearing a mask. It could be a mask of ministry, a mask of sweet words or a mask of deception, just like Mike. The truth is, we probably have all used masks before, some of us might still be using them, in fear that people will know the 'real' us.
We're more concerned about the way we look to other people that we forget that it's about the condition of our hearts. We are afraid of what people will think of us and in the end, we forget that it is what God thinks of us that really matters. "Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart" 1 Samuel 16:7 and it is very true, we judge people by the way they look and their appearances, their outward masks. When we want to impress people, we focus on the outward appearance and paint a better, more beautiful mask and we don't deal with the matters of the heart.
Soooo...... how do we go about dealing with this problem of hypocrisy? 1 John 1:7 "But if we walk in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His son cleanses us from sin." Simply put it, walk in the light, be truthful, in the open, not hiding, no mask, just you in the beautiful light. I think that is what Mike did, he came clean and open, into the light and exposed what he had been hiding in darkness for years. I believe that he is doing much better now and God is healing him. Now i think it's just a testimony about the reality and the need for truth in the Christian walk and our realtionships. 1 John 1:6 "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth."
It's about coming clean into the light even though it might compromise what other people think of you but hey, it's really about what God thinks about us that matters! Without these masks, we won't judge people the same way as well. We'll see them through God's eyes and understand that we're all saved by His grace, no one better than the other and therefore, we have no reason to judge.
At the end of the day, we're meant to live in the freedom not hiding behind our masks, so let's take off our crowns of pride, remove our masks and walk in the light!
lotsa luuurrrveee,
~stano
You hold my every moment
You calm my raging seas
You walk with me through fire
And heal all my disease
I trust in You
I trust in You
I believe You're my Healer
I believe You are all I need
I believe You're my Portion
I believe You're more than enough for me
Jesus You're all I need
My Healer, You're my Healer
Nothing is impossible for You
Nothing is impossible for You
Nothing is impossible for You
You hold my world in Your hands
Many of us know this song very well and it has probably been the song to carry us through the hard and difficult times of hurt and suffering just as it has impacted thousands of other Christian believers. Personally, it is one of my all time favorite worship songs because it talks about raw worship, that is total surrender to God, believing and trusting in Him for the impossible. However, not many of us know the story behind the song, the story about the writer and composer of this very power song, Mike Guglielmucci.
In short, Mike was a pastor, worship leader, musician and song writer who impacted the youth of Australia with his dynamic sharing and convicting messages. He even wrote many of the other songs we sing in church today. However, in 2008, Mike admitted to the world that he had been faking an incurable illness for over 2 years, fooling everybody including his own wife, parents and church congregation. Over the 2 years, he had receive donations and a lot of support from other believers from around the world. Nobody knew he was faking it all the time and when he finally came clean, it rocked the Christian world. More info at http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24232365-5006787,00.html
So why am I sharing this? The very first thing that i said about this guy when i heard about the news is "this guy is a hypocrite!". At first, I was very sad and shocked to hear about it but then the anger and frustration set in. I remember talking to one of my friends about it and really just venting my feelings about this guy, what he did and just talking really bad about him. When I finally did cool down and start to think about it, I believe God spoke to me.
"What makes you so different from this guy? Is his sin greater and bigger than yours? No. It's just that whatever he has done has been found out but nobody knows about the sinful things you have done." Wow. A painful reminder.
I believe that God used Mike as a reminder for all of us that we are no different form him, it's just nobody knows what is really going on in our hearts and lives except God himself. I think it's important to check the contents of our hearts and lives with God first. Hypocrisy is about hiding. Hiding from others, who you really are. The easiest way to do this is by wearing a mask. It could be a mask of ministry, a mask of sweet words or a mask of deception, just like Mike. The truth is, we probably have all used masks before, some of us might still be using them, in fear that people will know the 'real' us.
We're more concerned about the way we look to other people that we forget that it's about the condition of our hearts. We are afraid of what people will think of us and in the end, we forget that it is what God thinks of us that really matters. "Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart" 1 Samuel 16:7 and it is very true, we judge people by the way they look and their appearances, their outward masks. When we want to impress people, we focus on the outward appearance and paint a better, more beautiful mask and we don't deal with the matters of the heart.
Soooo...... how do we go about dealing with this problem of hypocrisy? 1 John 1:7 "But if we walk in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His son cleanses us from sin." Simply put it, walk in the light, be truthful, in the open, not hiding, no mask, just you in the beautiful light. I think that is what Mike did, he came clean and open, into the light and exposed what he had been hiding in darkness for years. I believe that he is doing much better now and God is healing him. Now i think it's just a testimony about the reality and the need for truth in the Christian walk and our realtionships. 1 John 1:6 "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth."
It's about coming clean into the light even though it might compromise what other people think of you but hey, it's really about what God thinks about us that matters! Without these masks, we won't judge people the same way as well. We'll see them through God's eyes and understand that we're all saved by His grace, no one better than the other and therefore, we have no reason to judge.
At the end of the day, we're meant to live in the freedom not hiding behind our masks, so let's take off our crowns of pride, remove our masks and walk in the light!
lotsa luuurrrveee,
~stano
You calm my raging seas
You walk with me through fire
And heal all my disease
I trust in You
I trust in You
I believe You're my Healer
I believe You are all I need
I believe You're my Portion
I believe You're more than enough for me
Jesus You're all I need
My Healer, You're my Healer
Nothing is impossible for You
Nothing is impossible for You
Nothing is impossible for You
You hold my world in Your hands
Many of us know this song very well and it has probably been the song to carry us through the hard and difficult times of hurt and suffering just as it has impacted thousands of other Christian believers. Personally, it is one of my all time favorite worship songs because it talks about raw worship, that is total surrender to God, believing and trusting in Him for the impossible. However, not many of us know the story behind the song, the story about the writer and composer of this very power song, Mike Guglielmucci.
In short, Mike was a pastor, worship leader, musician and song writer who impacted the youth of Australia with his dynamic sharing and convicting messages. He even wrote many of the other songs we sing in church today. However, in 2008, Mike admitted to the world that he had been faking an incurable illness for over 2 years, fooling everybody including his own wife, parents and church congregation. Over the 2 years, he had receive donations and a lot of support from other believers from around the world. Nobody knew he was faking it all the time and when he finally came clean, it rocked the Christian world. More info at http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24232365-5006787,00.html
So why am I sharing this? The very first thing that i said about this guy when i heard about the news is "this guy is a hypocrite!". At first, I was very sad and shocked to hear about it but then the anger and frustration set in. I remember talking to one of my friends about it and really just venting my feelings about this guy, what he did and just talking really bad about him. When I finally did cool down and start to think about it, I believe God spoke to me.
"What makes you so different from this guy? Is his sin greater and bigger than yours? No. It's just that whatever he has done has been found out but nobody knows about the sinful things you have done." Wow. A painful reminder.
I believe that God used Mike as a reminder for all of us that we are no different form him, it's just nobody knows what is really going on in our hearts and lives except God himself. I think it's important to check the contents of our hearts and lives with God first. Hypocrisy is about hiding. Hiding from others, who you really are. The easiest way to do this is by wearing a mask. It could be a mask of ministry, a mask of sweet words or a mask of deception, just like Mike. The truth is, we probably have all used masks before, some of us might still be using them, in fear that people will know the 'real' us.
We're more concerned about the way we look to other people that we forget that it's about the condition of our hearts. We are afraid of what people will think of us and in the end, we forget that it is what God thinks of us that really matters. "Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart" 1 Samuel 16:7 and it is very true, we judge people by the way they look and their appearances, their outward masks. When we want to impress people, we focus on the outward appearance and paint a better, more beautiful mask and we don't deal with the matters of the heart.
Soooo...... how do we go about dealing with this problem of hypocrisy? 1 John 1:7 "But if we walk in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His son cleanses us from sin." Simply put it, walk in the light, be truthful, in the open, not hiding, no mask, just you in the beautiful light. I think that is what Mike did, he came clean and open, into the light and exposed what he had been hiding in darkness for years. I believe that he is doing much better now and God is healing him. Now i think it's just a testimony about the reality and the need for truth in the Christian walk and our realtionships. 1 John 1:6 "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth."
It's about coming clean into the light even though it might compromise what other people think of you but hey, it's really about what God thinks about us that matters! Without these masks, we won't judge people the same way as well. We'll see them through God's eyes and understand that we're all saved by His grace, no one better than the other and therefore, we have no reason to judge.
At the end of the day, we're meant to live in the freedom not hiding behind our masks, so let's take off our crowns of pride, remove our masks and walk in the light!
lotsa luuurrrveee,
~stano
Let's put colours into our post!heheee =D ok here's my sharing for today's topic!=P
I judge. You judge. We ALL judge!
As I’m typing this out, I felt God telling me that we are all actually judging one another in some ways practically in almost all our conversation, if we were to think carefully. We can never run away from it! Because if we’re not saying it out loud, we are either judging in our mind or through our actions. Maybe even subconsciously we judge others. Maybe even during our slacking time, where we just stone away until we have nothing else better to do than to start judging others. We may be talking to someone while calculating a formula in our mind about how is that person like.
Basically, we just judge a lot. Honestly, i know that i do sometimes judge without thinking through. And there are times like what Ps Tom said when I dislike someone, whatever they do, good or bad will not be pleasing to me, but when I like someone whatever they do even bad, I will excuse their wrong.
“Never judge a book by its cover.“
I always heard of the phrase and I know what it means. But many times, although I knew all about it, I’m always struggling with this one thing.........to put this phrase into practice. To never judge a person by their looks, by their abilities, by what they’ve done wrong in the past, etc...
You know how sometimes people told you what they think about someone’s behaviour and all? You tend to think of that person the same way as what they’ve told you wouldn’t you? But when it’s not actually true, but yet you had heard the false bad point from others, you will sort of draw away a little bit from the person won’t you?
What I wanted to say is that by judging others, we are only creating relationship barriers between each other. We judged each other [Matt 7:1 – “Do not judge or you too will be judged”] and slowly, as we continue to do so, we find that we are distant from each other and we also find that we cannot really trust each other anymore.
It is really difficult to live a life that is full of judgment isn’t it? =)
But what if we think about it this way?
God did not judge us at all but He instead died for us to show us His perfect love that can overwrites His judgment for us. So what makes us think that we could judge others? If our God, who is ever so mighty, powerful, all-knowing and big do not judge us, what more say us in judging others?
Maybe we should go back to GOD and ask Him for His discernment [Psalm 119:125 – “I am your servant; give me discernment that I may understand your statutes”] to be able to be aware that we are judging someone. And when we are conscious that we are judging someone maybe we should try saying silently to ourselves to REMIND us --> “God does NOT judge me!” =)
Happy reading!=)
LOVE!,
Steph =P
I judge. You judge. We ALL judge!
As I’m typing this out, I felt God telling me that we are all actually judging one another in some ways practically in almost all our conversation, if we were to think carefully. We can never run away from it! Because if we’re not saying it out loud, we are either judging in our mind or through our actions. Maybe even subconsciously we judge others. Maybe even during our slacking time, where we just stone away until we have nothing else better to do than to start judging others. We may be talking to someone while calculating a formula in our mind about how is that person like.
Basically, we just judge a lot. Honestly, i know that i do sometimes judge without thinking through. And there are times like what Ps Tom said when I dislike someone, whatever they do, good or bad will not be pleasing to me, but when I like someone whatever they do even bad, I will excuse their wrong.
“Never judge a book by its cover.“
I always heard of the phrase and I know what it means. But many times, although I knew all about it, I’m always struggling with this one thing.........to put this phrase into practice. To never judge a person by their looks, by their abilities, by what they’ve done wrong in the past, etc...
You know how sometimes people told you what they think about someone’s behaviour and all? You tend to think of that person the same way as what they’ve told you wouldn’t you? But when it’s not actually true, but yet you had heard the false bad point from others, you will sort of draw away a little bit from the person won’t you?
What I wanted to say is that by judging others, we are only creating relationship barriers between each other. We judged each other [Matt 7:1 – “Do not judge or you too will be judged”] and slowly, as we continue to do so, we find that we are distant from each other and we also find that we cannot really trust each other anymore.
It is really difficult to live a life that is full of judgment isn’t it? =)
But what if we think about it this way?
God did not judge us at all but He instead died for us to show us His perfect love that can overwrites His judgment for us. So what makes us think that we could judge others? If our God, who is ever so mighty, powerful, all-knowing and big do not judge us, what more say us in judging others?
Maybe we should go back to GOD and ask Him for His discernment [Psalm 119:125 – “I am your servant; give me discernment that I may understand your statutes”] to be able to be aware that we are judging someone. And when we are conscious that we are judging someone maybe we should try saying silently to ourselves to REMIND us --> “God does NOT judge me!” =)
Happy reading!=)
LOVE!,
Steph =P
Let's put colours into our post!heheee =D ok here's my sharing for today's topic!=P
I judge. You judge. We ALL judge!
As I’m typing this out, I felt God telling me that we are all actually judging one another in some ways practically in almost all our conversation, if we were to think carefully. We can never run away from it! Because if we’re not saying it out loud, we are either judging in our mind or through our actions. Maybe even subconsciously we judge others. Maybe even during our slacking time, where we just stone away until we have nothing else better to do than to start judging others. We may be talking to someone while calculating a formula in our mind about how is that person like.
Basically, we just judge a lot. Honestly, i know that i do sometimes judge without thinking through. And there are times like what Ps Tom said when I dislike someone, whatever they do, good or bad will not be pleasing to me, but when I like someone whatever they do even bad, I will excuse their wrong.
“Never judge a book by its cover.“
I always heard of the phrase and I know what it means. But many times, although I knew all about it, I’m always struggling with this one thing.........to put this phrase into practice. To never judge a person by their looks, by their abilities, by what they’ve done wrong in the past, etc...
You know how sometimes people told you what they think about someone’s behaviour and all? You tend to think of that person the same way as what they’ve told you wouldn’t you? But when it’s not actually true, but yet you had heard the false bad point from others, you will sort of draw away a little bit from the person won’t you?
What I wanted to say is that by judging others, we are only creating relationship barriers between each other. We judged each other [Matt 7:1 – “Do not judge or you too will be judged”] and slowly, as we continue to do so, we find that we are distant from each other and we also find that we cannot really trust each other anymore.
It is really difficult to live a life that is full of judgment isn’t it? =)
But what if we think about it this way?
God did not judge us at all but He instead died for us to show us His perfect love that can overwrites His judgment for us. So what makes us think that we could judge others? If our God, who is ever so mighty, powerful, all-knowing and big do not judge us, what more say us in judging others?
Maybe we should go back to GOD and ask Him for His discernment [Psalm 119:125 – “I am your servant; give me discernment that I may understand your statutes”] to be able to be aware that we are judging someone. And when we are conscious that we are judging someone maybe we should try saying silently to ourselves to REMIND us --> “God does NOT judge me!” =)
Happy reading!=)
LOVE!,
Steph =P
I judge. You judge. We ALL judge!
As I’m typing this out, I felt God telling me that we are all actually judging one another in some ways practically in almost all our conversation, if we were to think carefully. We can never run away from it! Because if we’re not saying it out loud, we are either judging in our mind or through our actions. Maybe even subconsciously we judge others. Maybe even during our slacking time, where we just stone away until we have nothing else better to do than to start judging others. We may be talking to someone while calculating a formula in our mind about how is that person like.
Basically, we just judge a lot. Honestly, i know that i do sometimes judge without thinking through. And there are times like what Ps Tom said when I dislike someone, whatever they do, good or bad will not be pleasing to me, but when I like someone whatever they do even bad, I will excuse their wrong.
“Never judge a book by its cover.“
I always heard of the phrase and I know what it means. But many times, although I knew all about it, I’m always struggling with this one thing.........to put this phrase into practice. To never judge a person by their looks, by their abilities, by what they’ve done wrong in the past, etc...
You know how sometimes people told you what they think about someone’s behaviour and all? You tend to think of that person the same way as what they’ve told you wouldn’t you? But when it’s not actually true, but yet you had heard the false bad point from others, you will sort of draw away a little bit from the person won’t you?
What I wanted to say is that by judging others, we are only creating relationship barriers between each other. We judged each other [Matt 7:1 – “Do not judge or you too will be judged”] and slowly, as we continue to do so, we find that we are distant from each other and we also find that we cannot really trust each other anymore.
It is really difficult to live a life that is full of judgment isn’t it? =)
But what if we think about it this way?
God did not judge us at all but He instead died for us to show us His perfect love that can overwrites His judgment for us. So what makes us think that we could judge others? If our God, who is ever so mighty, powerful, all-knowing and big do not judge us, what more say us in judging others?
Maybe we should go back to GOD and ask Him for His discernment [Psalm 119:125 – “I am your servant; give me discernment that I may understand your statutes”] to be able to be aware that we are judging someone. And when we are conscious that we are judging someone maybe we should try saying silently to ourselves to REMIND us --> “God does NOT judge me!” =)
Happy reading!=)
LOVE!,
Steph =P
Hey everyone!! As I type this, it is the morning of a very special day for 8 of our lovely members!! And as I start to share on today's chapter, I can't help but be excited about the sharings I'm going to hear from those 8 later. Baptism is going to rock!
And now ... onward to my sharing ...
After reading all of the excellent and high quality posts, I realized I made one fatal flaw from my own sharing (Day 2), I did a summary of the chapter instead of typing out my thoughts FROM that chapter. And that is going to change today :)
Troubleshooting ... I have a really funny personal story about this!
When I was back in Singapore studying Computer Science in Polytechnic, I had this really crazy, OP-ed (over-powered), and just pure genius of a friend in my class. It's like ... he didn't need the lectures and the tutorials la, he already knew how to program (JAVA = argh!) and always had the best projects, the best results. Good thing we both became VERY good friends *grin* and hey ... I will have you know I became good friends with him BEFORE I knew he was that pro ok!
Anyways, one fine day ... place = lab and purpose = trying to get my written program to work. It didn't. Looked through over and over again and just couldn't find any mistake! So frustrated and hitting the dead end, I (naturally) turned to my buddy. He came around (cue Chariots of fire music), sat at my station (cue slow mo) and just scrolled through my program. I have to emphasize that he DIDN'T do anything cause I was watching!! After reaching the bottom of the page, he turned (cue light from above + dove flying by) and said, "Looks good mah" and then he hit the "run" (which is the execute program button) and .... (you should have guessed this by now) IT WORK!!!!
You can imagine my reaction, half happy that my program now works and that my code was good and the other half? Left wondering why it didn't work for me and how in the world did my buddy troubleshoot the problem for me?! I came to the conclusion that it was the aura of a genus that made my program work, so I henceforth made it a ritual to make my buddy sit in front of my code before I handed it up! (Which is also the reason why I stopped Computer Science in Uni ... no more buddy, no more working code!!!)
I kinda like to think this incident with my buddy is how Jesus handled criticism ... whenever evil men felt like they had trapped Jesus, our Lord always proved He had all the aces. It's really like playing poker (the non-gambling kind), you have a king full house and you feel confident that you're going to win, you brag, you taunt, you raise the stakes ONLY to realize later that your friend has a ace full house and you got owned.
What has happened? You feel embarrassed from your premature, over-show of confidence, and you realized you thought you had control but your friend was always in control and was all along just sucking you in for the bigger fall (yes Josh Lim ... I hate playing poker with you, as you can see .. the wound is still very fresh)
But Jesus did the same to these people, He knew He had the best cards, and He always found the best way and time to review them for maximum gain, maximum shame and humility to the offender and maximum wow factor for those who were genuinely there to listen to His teachings.
I end by saying this friends. Jesus has all the best cards, and you HAVE Jesus in you so therefore ... YOU have all the best cards. It's just how you play your cards now. And how do we do that? When faced with criticism, always pray and remember these wise words ...
"Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer; for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist" Luke 21:14-15
"So the LORD said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing , or the blind? Have not I, the LORD? Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say." Exodus 4:11-12
You have all the best cards = you have the aura of a troubleshooter = go OP criticism or anything that comes in your way!!!
***
Other than being a great buddy and computer genius, this guy was an awesome believer and follower of Christ as well (which would explain His aura .. hmm). But his name was Joke, pronounced Jo-ke ... which really sounds like "Joker" ... and the best part? He WAS a joker ... and most of the time, really a joke to all of us! So my friends ... God is indeed fair :p
Peace out!
Max
(Poker anyone? heh)
And now ... onward to my sharing ...
After reading all of the excellent and high quality posts, I realized I made one fatal flaw from my own sharing (Day 2), I did a summary of the chapter instead of typing out my thoughts FROM that chapter. And that is going to change today :)
Troubleshooting ... I have a really funny personal story about this!
When I was back in Singapore studying Computer Science in Polytechnic, I had this really crazy, OP-ed (over-powered), and just pure genius of a friend in my class. It's like ... he didn't need the lectures and the tutorials la, he already knew how to program (JAVA = argh!) and always had the best projects, the best results. Good thing we both became VERY good friends *grin* and hey ... I will have you know I became good friends with him BEFORE I knew he was that pro ok!
Anyways, one fine day ... place = lab and purpose = trying to get my written program to work. It didn't. Looked through over and over again and just couldn't find any mistake! So frustrated and hitting the dead end, I (naturally) turned to my buddy. He came around (cue Chariots of fire music), sat at my station (cue slow mo) and just scrolled through my program. I have to emphasize that he DIDN'T do anything cause I was watching!! After reaching the bottom of the page, he turned (cue light from above + dove flying by) and said, "Looks good mah" and then he hit the "run" (which is the execute program button) and .... (you should have guessed this by now) IT WORK!!!!
You can imagine my reaction, half happy that my program now works and that my code was good and the other half? Left wondering why it didn't work for me and how in the world did my buddy troubleshoot the problem for me?! I came to the conclusion that it was the aura of a genus that made my program work, so I henceforth made it a ritual to make my buddy sit in front of my code before I handed it up! (Which is also the reason why I stopped Computer Science in Uni ... no more buddy, no more working code!!!)
I kinda like to think this incident with my buddy is how Jesus handled criticism ... whenever evil men felt like they had trapped Jesus, our Lord always proved He had all the aces. It's really like playing poker (the non-gambling kind), you have a king full house and you feel confident that you're going to win, you brag, you taunt, you raise the stakes ONLY to realize later that your friend has a ace full house and you got owned.
What has happened? You feel embarrassed from your premature, over-show of confidence, and you realized you thought you had control but your friend was always in control and was all along just sucking you in for the bigger fall (yes Josh Lim ... I hate playing poker with you, as you can see .. the wound is still very fresh)
But Jesus did the same to these people, He knew He had the best cards, and He always found the best way and time to review them for maximum gain, maximum shame and humility to the offender and maximum wow factor for those who were genuinely there to listen to His teachings.
I end by saying this friends. Jesus has all the best cards, and you HAVE Jesus in you so therefore ... YOU have all the best cards. It's just how you play your cards now. And how do we do that? When faced with criticism, always pray and remember these wise words ...
"Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer; for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist" Luke 21:14-15
"So the LORD said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing , or the blind? Have not I, the LORD? Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say." Exodus 4:11-12
You have all the best cards = you have the aura of a troubleshooter = go OP criticism or anything that comes in your way!!!
***
Other than being a great buddy and computer genius, this guy was an awesome believer and follower of Christ as well (which would explain His aura .. hmm). But his name was Joke, pronounced Jo-ke ... which really sounds like "Joker" ... and the best part? He WAS a joker ... and most of the time, really a joke to all of us! So my friends ... God is indeed fair :p
Peace out!
Max
(Poker anyone? heh)
Hey everyone!! As I type this, it is the morning of a very special day for 8 of our lovely members!! And as I start to share on today's chapter, I can't help but be excited about the sharings I'm going to hear from those 8 later. Baptism is going to rock!
And now ... onward to my sharing ...
After reading all of the excellent and high quality posts, I realized I made one fatal flaw from my own sharing (Day 2), I did a summary of the chapter instead of typing out my thoughts FROM that chapter. And that is going to change today :)
Troubleshooting ... I have a really funny personal story about this!
When I was back in Singapore studying Computer Science in Polytechnic, I had this really crazy, OP-ed (over-powered), and just pure genius of a friend in my class. It's like ... he didn't need the lectures and the tutorials la, he already knew how to program (JAVA = argh!) and always had the best projects, the best results. Good thing we both became VERY good friends *grin* and hey ... I will have you know I became good friends with him BEFORE I knew he was that pro ok!
Anyways, one fine day ... place = lab and purpose = trying to get my written program to work. It didn't. Looked through over and over again and just couldn't find any mistake! So frustrated and hitting the dead end, I (naturally) turned to my buddy. He came around (cue Chariots of fire music), sat at my station (cue slow mo) and just scrolled through my program. I have to emphasize that he DIDN'T do anything cause I was watching!! After reaching the bottom of the page, he turned (cue light from above + dove flying by) and said, "Looks good mah" and then he hit the "run" (which is the execute program button) and .... (you should have guessed this by now) IT WORK!!!!
You can imagine my reaction, half happy that my program now works and that my code was good and the other half? Left wondering why it didn't work for me and how in the world did my buddy troubleshoot the problem for me?! I came to the conclusion that it was the aura of a genus that made my program work, so I henceforth made it a ritual to make my buddy sit in front of my code before I handed it up! (Which is also the reason why I stopped Computer Science in Uni ... no more buddy, no more working code!!!)
I kinda like to think this incident with my buddy is how Jesus handled criticism ... whenever evil men felt like they had trapped Jesus, our Lord always proved He had all the aces. It's really like playing poker (the non-gambling kind), you have a king full house and you feel confident that you're going to win, you brag, you taunt, you raise the stakes ONLY to realize later that your friend has a ace full house and you got owned.
What has happened? You feel embarrassed from your premature, over-show of confidence, and you realized you thought you had control but your friend was always in control and was all along just sucking you in for the bigger fall (yes Josh Lim ... I hate playing poker with you, as you can see .. the wound is still very fresh)
But Jesus did the same to these people, He knew He had the best cards, and He always found the best way and time to review them for maximum gain, maximum shame and humility to the offender and maximum wow factor for those who were genuinely there to listen to His teachings.
I end by saying this friends. Jesus has all the best cards, and you HAVE Jesus in you so therefore ... YOU have all the best cards. It's just how you play your cards now. And how do we do that? When faced with criticism, always pray and remember these wise words ...
"Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer; for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist" Luke 21:14-15
"So the LORD said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing , or the blind? Have not I, the LORD? Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say." Exodus 4:11-12
You have all the best cards = you have the aura of a troubleshooter = go OP criticism or anything that comes in your way!!!
***
Other than being a great buddy and computer genius, this guy was an awesome believer and follower of Christ as well (which would explain His aura .. hmm). But his name was Joke, pronounced Jo-ke ... which really sounds like "Joker" ... and the best part? He WAS a joker ... and most of the time, really a joke to all of us! So my friends ... God is indeed fair :p
Peace out!
Max
(Poker anyone? heh)
And now ... onward to my sharing ...
After reading all of the excellent and high quality posts, I realized I made one fatal flaw from my own sharing (Day 2), I did a summary of the chapter instead of typing out my thoughts FROM that chapter. And that is going to change today :)
Troubleshooting ... I have a really funny personal story about this!
When I was back in Singapore studying Computer Science in Polytechnic, I had this really crazy, OP-ed (over-powered), and just pure genius of a friend in my class. It's like ... he didn't need the lectures and the tutorials la, he already knew how to program (JAVA = argh!) and always had the best projects, the best results. Good thing we both became VERY good friends *grin* and hey ... I will have you know I became good friends with him BEFORE I knew he was that pro ok!
Anyways, one fine day ... place = lab and purpose = trying to get my written program to work. It didn't. Looked through over and over again and just couldn't find any mistake! So frustrated and hitting the dead end, I (naturally) turned to my buddy. He came around (cue Chariots of fire music), sat at my station (cue slow mo) and just scrolled through my program. I have to emphasize that he DIDN'T do anything cause I was watching!! After reaching the bottom of the page, he turned (cue light from above + dove flying by) and said, "Looks good mah" and then he hit the "run" (which is the execute program button) and .... (you should have guessed this by now) IT WORK!!!!
You can imagine my reaction, half happy that my program now works and that my code was good and the other half? Left wondering why it didn't work for me and how in the world did my buddy troubleshoot the problem for me?! I came to the conclusion that it was the aura of a genus that made my program work, so I henceforth made it a ritual to make my buddy sit in front of my code before I handed it up! (Which is also the reason why I stopped Computer Science in Uni ... no more buddy, no more working code!!!)
I kinda like to think this incident with my buddy is how Jesus handled criticism ... whenever evil men felt like they had trapped Jesus, our Lord always proved He had all the aces. It's really like playing poker (the non-gambling kind), you have a king full house and you feel confident that you're going to win, you brag, you taunt, you raise the stakes ONLY to realize later that your friend has a ace full house and you got owned.
What has happened? You feel embarrassed from your premature, over-show of confidence, and you realized you thought you had control but your friend was always in control and was all along just sucking you in for the bigger fall (yes Josh Lim ... I hate playing poker with you, as you can see .. the wound is still very fresh)
But Jesus did the same to these people, He knew He had the best cards, and He always found the best way and time to review them for maximum gain, maximum shame and humility to the offender and maximum wow factor for those who were genuinely there to listen to His teachings.
I end by saying this friends. Jesus has all the best cards, and you HAVE Jesus in you so therefore ... YOU have all the best cards. It's just how you play your cards now. And how do we do that? When faced with criticism, always pray and remember these wise words ...
"Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer; for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist" Luke 21:14-15
"So the LORD said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing , or the blind? Have not I, the LORD? Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say." Exodus 4:11-12
You have all the best cards = you have the aura of a troubleshooter = go OP criticism or anything that comes in your way!!!
***
Other than being a great buddy and computer genius, this guy was an awesome believer and follower of Christ as well (which would explain His aura .. hmm). But his name was Joke, pronounced Jo-ke ... which really sounds like "Joker" ... and the best part? He WAS a joker ... and most of the time, really a joke to all of us! So my friends ... God is indeed fair :p
Peace out!
Max
(Poker anyone? heh)
Ok, good, now that I have your attention, let us begin. I will explain about the picture at the end of this post. So, my dear beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, what can you get from today's devotion topic about "How to Be Truly Heard"?When I first had a brief glance at the topic, I personally thought it was about standing out, as in, to be truly heard if you are in a big crowd but guess I wasn't that correct after all.
So, lately, we had been learning from the examples of Jesus on communication. Why? Because communication is important in relationships. "Trust, watch your heart, and be honest are all good prescription for great communication" says from the book , page 175. Today, we are going to look at how to make an impact on people's lives by strengthening our communication. We will look at how Jesus did it.
3 ways people:
1.giving a touch of compassion
2.asking the right question
3.painting pictures with words
Before I proceed any further, take a moment to think of this. It's kinda like to recap what we are all actually doing in this 40 days of love.
LOVE RELATIONSHIPS COMMUNICATION
Good!!. Now, let us look at the first way,
Giving a touch of compassion
40When the sun was setting, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. NIV
Jesus touched, and healed everyone. Never ever ever ever underestimate the power of a human touch. Now, when I say touch, I don't mean those phony touch. The touch here refers to the touch of genuine kindness as said by Tom Holladay in the book. There are a lot of hurting people in this world that needs love and acceptance and compassion. Nowonder you have all shorts of rubbish going on in this world because people need love, and I mean genuine love. Love is patient, love is kind. Never underestimate the power of a human touch. Someone might be hurting real real bad deep deep down inside in them but they look fine on the outside. They need to be comforted, they need consolation and a simple hug or a rub on the shoulders will help . You never know. You don't even need to say anything. Action speaks louder than words!! Someone failed in their exans. They might say it's alright but giving them a pad on the back might give them encouragement to persevere on.
I can give you a list of examples but I think you get what I mean. I believe all of us had experienced it before, and if you say you haven, it means that you are lying!! Think about your parents. I'm sure they had hugged you a million times when you were younger and don't you feel loved? They are making an impact in your life, they are telling you that they love you. Action speaks louder than words because if you were a baby, being told that I love you won't work much.
Who do you need to give a pad on the back or a hug today to make an impact in their lives? Who?
Second is,
Questions that challenges
These are questions that will stick in our heads long enough to cause us to change and make a 180 degrees turn in our life. The book(The Relationship Principals of Jesus) gave many good examples about Jesus throwing questions to people that caused them to make a change in their lives. A simple example(Mark 10:51) will be when Jesus asked a blind man "What do you want me to do for you?" " I want to see," the blind man, Bartimaeus replied. And guess what, he was healed. That really changed his life. For me, I asked myself this question "when I serve, am I serving God or just trying to impress someone in service?". It keeps my motives right for serving. It keeps myself aligned.
Of course, when you ask a question, always ensure it's a good one, and not some lame question that will just make people feel like wanting to bash you up. I'm talking about questions that will make people think for a while and thus causing them to change for the better. As mentioned in the book, questions are always a better choice to get our point across than raising our voices or giving a statement.
Raising volume = push people away
Statement = tend to confront and put up barriers
Questions = challenge and break down barriers
Now, which one will you choose? hmm....
Third and final one,
Picture to communicate
A picture paints a thousand words!! Agree? Yes, it certainly does. Give you a picture, and you can tell a whole story out of it. Example, show you a picture of me and my girlfriend with a background of Cottesloe beach and I can tell you what we did, this and that for 30 minutes or more....as I said, guys, this is just an example okay? Now, coming back to the third point, Jesus also used pictures to communicate. Not pictures as in paintins, graphs or pie charts. No! but , Jesus used stories, analogies, parables. Each of them containing a lot of lessons. Why? Most of the people back in the days of Jesus are not educated. I'm not saying that they are dumb, but I'm saying that most of them just simple people with simple jobs. The ones with the brains always belong to the teachers of the law, the Pharisees, Rabbi, etc. So, telling them(the simple people) about God's Kingdom, the Trinity, and all the theological and doctrinal stuff straight to their faces will not work. Thus, Jesus put all these messages into parables, short stories so that people will understand better. Simple, easy to remember, and understandable. Perfect!! Message sent, lives impacted!!
Parable of the lost sheep, talks about God's love for us. Story of the good Samaritan, talks about loving your neighbour, and , the list goes on.
So.................
What did we learn from the devotion today?
How to be truly heard?
How to let people hear you ?
How to get yout point across?
How to enhance communication?
How to make an impact on people's lives?
3 ways people:
1.giving a compassionate touch
2.asking the right question
3.painting pictures with words
Like what is said in the book, it may take a little extra effort to do all these, it might be hardwork too, but hey, it's worth it and it can point a life or a relationship in a completely different direction for the better and for God's glory. Amen! Just like the picture of the hamster and the dog, their relationship points in a completely different direction.
So, who do you need to giving a healing touch, phrase the right question and paint a picture with your words today?
I can give you a list of examples but I think you get what I mean. I believe all of us had experienced it before, and if you say you haven, it means that you are lying!! Think about your parents. I'm sure they had hugged you a million times when you were younger and don't you feel loved? They are making an impact in your life, they are telling you that they love you. Action speaks louder than words because if you were a baby, being told that I love you won't work much.
Who do you need to give a pad on the back or a hug today to make an impact in their lives? Who?
Second is,
Questions that challenges
These are questions that will stick in our heads long enough to cause us to change and make a 180 degrees turn in our life. The book(The Relationship Principals of Jesus) gave many good examples about Jesus throwing questions to people that caused them to make a change in their lives. A simple example(Mark 10:51) will be when Jesus asked a blind man "What do you want me to do for you?" " I want to see," the blind man, Bartimaeus replied. And guess what, he was healed. That really changed his life. For me, I asked myself this question "when I serve, am I serving God or just trying to impress someone in service?". It keeps my motives right for serving. It keeps myself aligned.
Of course, when you ask a question, always ensure it's a good one, and not some lame question that will just make people feel like wanting to bash you up. I'm talking about questions that will make people think for a while and thus causing them to change for the better. As mentioned in the book, questions are always a better choice to get our point across than raising our voices or giving a statement.
Raising volume = push people away
Statement = tend to confront and put up barriers
Questions = challenge and break down barriers
Now, which one will you choose? hmm....
Third and final one,
Picture to communicate
A picture paints a thousand words!! Agree? Yes, it certainly does. Give you a picture, and you can tell a whole story out of it. Example, show you a picture of me and my girlfriend with a background of Cottesloe beach and I can tell you what we did, this and that for 30 minutes or more....as I said, guys, this is just an example okay? Now, coming back to the third point, Jesus also used pictures to communicate. Not pictures as in paintins, graphs or pie charts. No! but , Jesus used stories, analogies, parables. Each of them containing a lot of lessons. Why? Most of the people back in the days of Jesus are not educated. I'm not saying that they are dumb, but I'm saying that most of them just simple people with simple jobs. The ones with the brains always belong to the teachers of the law, the Pharisees, Rabbi, etc. So, telling them(the simple people) about God's Kingdom, the Trinity, and all the theological and doctrinal stuff straight to their faces will not work. Thus, Jesus put all these messages into parables, short stories so that people will understand better. Simple, easy to remember, and understandable. Perfect!! Message sent, lives impacted!!
Parable of the lost sheep, talks about God's love for us. Story of the good Samaritan, talks about loving your neighbour, and , the list goes on.
So.................
What did we learn from the devotion today?
How to be truly heard?
How to let people hear you ?
How to get yout point across?
How to enhance communication?
How to make an impact on people's lives?
3 ways people:
1.giving a compassionate touch
2.asking the right question
3.painting pictures with words
Like what is said in the book, it may take a little extra effort to do all these, it might be hardwork too, but hey, it's worth it and it can point a life or a relationship in a completely different direction for the better and for God's glory. Amen! Just like the picture of the hamster and the dog, their relationship points in a completely different direction.
So, who do you need to giving a healing touch, phrase the right question and paint a picture with your words today?
God bless!!
With love,
Jim
