Saturday, July 19th, 2008
This post aint gonna be polite, and I wont try to sugar coat the blunt truth I want to get across.
I see too many so-called Christians who claim to follow Jesus. But do they even read their Bibles? Do they even pray? Do they even outreach? Jesus never preached that it was His desire to see a bunch of followers sit and do nothing to further His Kingdom. God desires to be glorified, and when we sit around complaining God hasn’t prospered us, it really makes me wonder if they’ve got the right faith. I’d even go so far to saying that they arn’t real Christians, for the scripture says very clearly that we are to “die to ourselves and take up his cross daily and follow him.” (Luke 9:23) There is no in-betweens, and if they hope to live a mediocre Christian life and enter the Kingdom of heaven, they’re in for a big surprise. Because I’m pretty sure that they’ve got the wrong idea. Nothing is luke-warm with God. (Rev 3:16)
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
- Phil 1:21
I hate when people refuse to spend time with God in prayer, then commence to spew out a bunch of garbage later complaining that God never answers. God is not a vending machine where you insert “prayers” to collect your requests. If so, your idea of prayer needs to be revisted. And reading the Bible is not an obligation, but rather it should be a place where you go to seek the solid truth about who God is. It is not a dry read, and it’s really a shame that people dont even take the time to read whats inside to affirm the things they hear. (It’s even worse when people mix verses together — paraphrase and preach/mutilate the truth)
But I digress, what I’m trying to say is that when we signed those little cards proclaiming that we believed in Jesus, or prayed the acceptance prayer – we didn’t choose to believe in some weaksauce faith where we just sit around and do nothing. We didn’t embark on a gospel of prosperity, where we just expect good things in life, but rather quite the opposite. We are to be God’s servants. We are to be different from this world, we are to run upstream when things are going the other way. We are to shine in a world of darkness. There’s really no easy route to follow Jesus, but just cause it isn’t easy, doesn’t mean it’s not rewarding.
Where do you draw your motivation in following Christ? Is it from God? Do you know the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Is Jesus-Christ the chief cornerstone of your life? And what does Salvation mean to you? Does the Gospel compell you to share with others? Cause if it doesn’t, then you really ask yourself. “Do I have the right Gospel?” Although, I do believe in the perseverance of the Saints, where once saved – always saved. It’s just as easy for me to challenge you to think if you actually have the right beliefs. Because when God denies you at the gates of heaven, you better not cry to anybody else.
One thing my generation fails to do, is ask questions. And eventually when you ask enough questions, you’ll arrive at the right ones, and find the right answers.
So I challenge you, take what I’ve said here and really evaluate who God is to you. Is He just a God of love? Or is he more than that? And what is the Gospel? Cause if you can’t come up with an answer to those questions like it’s your life (which it should be, literally) then you’ve got some soul-searching to do.
Friday, April 18th, 2008
Sacrifices move people. They melt people. They stop people in their tracks and make them ask, “Why? Why would you go out of your way for me? What would motivate you to put my interests before your own?”
What makes our faith so powerful is the sacrifice on the cross. Sacrifice
Can you imagine, a friend sacrificing themselves for you, and how profound that impact would be in your life. Luckily for us, sacrifices don’t always have to come in the form of crucifixion in order to make an impact. Little things go a long way. People talk and share about the things we do for each other, and the things that we take for granted. It’s a common story for me to hear a testimony where it was all triggered by someone’s sacrifice for them.
So know that when we sacrifice things in our lives to genuinely portray what Jesus did for us on the cross. We can move mountains and save lives; small investments with big dividends.
We all live crazy busy lives. We never have enough time to do the things we want to do. No matter what, we’re all busy epicenters; booming with our own activity. And when we live in a world where every moment counts – a small sacrifice of time is never gone wasted. We rub shoulders with seekers everyday, and sometimes all their looking for is someone who is willing to put in a little bit of time to come to a conclusion about spiritual truths. They may not tell you they’re seeking, but if you look for that chance to sacrifice your time – you will find them. But we’re so busy, with our own lives, we forget to give time to them to explain to them what our faith is about. It might only take a lunch for you to give the gift of life, but we’d much rather do our own thing.
We grossly underestimate what we gain by risking and sacrificing our time with others. When was the last time you gave the gift of time to someone else? Are you too busy to look around you and save lives?
Sometimes authenticity fails to grab people’s attention; compassion is occasionally written off as the opiate of do-gooders who may have some ulterior motive. But sacrifice, motivated by genuine love and concern, is extremely difficult to discount.
- Bill Hybels
The other thing that really grabs people by the horns is the sacrifice of material wealth. Sacrifice of our earthly resources. In a world where we define success by the income we make, and see people intoxicated by their desires for material goods – all we have to do is re-invest our resources to meet their needs before our own. Besides, we’re just stewards! And watch as we turns heads with our actions. Like I mentioned earlier, small investment with big dividends. And when you’re drawing your resources from a bank that really belongs to God, watch as you are rewarded with double of what you started. It may not come back as the form of money, but as the form of saved lives.
How much more exciting is it to see one person come to Christ, for the heavens will be rejoicing over every saved soul. How much longer will our rewards last in heaven than the things that will rot and decay in this world. For we know not when the thief in the night will come to steal away our treasures, but we know that the things we store in heaven are eternal.
So sacrifice a bit more in your life if you havn’t already. Whether it be time or personal resources. It might not be worth it in terms of secular views; but it’s definitely worth it from my point of view.
Thursday, April 17th, 2008
Are you living a life that leads your friends to Christ, but forgeting to ask them to commit?
What I’ve realized, is that for most of my life, I’ve been living a life that displays to others that I’m a Christian. And that indeed is what I want, but the goal is to help them come to Christ. Not to just show them what I have.
And in a sense, I’m like a salesman that does an awesome job at giving a sale pitch, but never asks for the order. What I should be doing is going that final step, and challenging/asking people to take the last step.
So from today onwards, let this be my reminder of what I have to do.
Sunday, April 13th, 2008
God or yourself?
Are you afraid that you will fail or become unsuccessful while following God? Afraid that surrendering your life to God will lead you away from your goals? Are you like the man who buries his one coin into the earth without using it for the glory of God.
Well know that we are all given gifts, and we are all made with a purpose. We are a part of God’s plan. And if you follow Him, you will never fail and reign victorious crowned Jesus at the helm. You will be like the man who doubles his talents. (Matt 25:14-30)
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Sunday, March 30th, 2008
Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.
– 1st Timothy 4:12
For me, it is an all too familiar sight, where people my age are constantly dismissed when taking on larger ministry opportunities because we are young. Especially in the more traditional cultures, (aka the asian culture) elders seem to hold all the authority, whereas youth hold little or no say in anything.
When we (ppl my age) want to teach Sunday school, we told that we are not mature enough and should try children’s ministry. When we want to hold workshops, we have to leap over hurdles and steeples in order to show that we do have something to say. And when we want to guest speak or share publicly in-front of our peers, it seems like we have to get a pastoral degree before we’ll get a chance.
But why? Why is it like that?
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