Taken from John Piper sermon
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Another thought
Matthew 10:28, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” In other words, Don’t fear man, fear God. Tremble at the prospect of distrusting God, not displeasing man.
one of the many thoughts of the day
Been thinking about this when i was chatting to Pei En on unrelated stuff.... The thought just pop in my head because of readings of articles somewhere I guess.... (oh ya, desiringgod) where we the gospel is to be shared not just to the unbelievers but also to a believer.... yeah, thats right.... believers.... for encouragement etc....
My point today isn't about why should the gospel be preached to a believer.... you can read it from desiringgod where they would likely to be a much better explanation than me. My focus today is more about challenging ourselves (Christians) to see whether we have strayed off course....
Do you feel bored when you listen to the gospel? with reasons like, I listen to it so many times. I had already memorized it to heart. Its for the non-Christian and hence is of little relations to me ( yes, there are such thoughts.... I used to have that thinking.... Lord have mercy on me) etc etc....
So whats my point? My point is.... We can watch and listen to so many reruns of television, songs, movies, books, magazines, games etc etc and not get bored. However, we get switch off easily by the gospel. Well, we don't get bored with the reruns because either it is exciting (action), emotional, and sounds and looks wonderful. THEN, lets ponder a bit...... ISN'T THE GOSPEL MORE EXCITING, EMOTIONAL,ENGAGING AND SOUNDS AND LOOK MORE WONDERFUL? And here we are, switching off to the gospel and get attracted to the reruns....
We tend to say to people " oh come on, get a life." Well, I am going to say to my readers here and now.... Go get a life.... the GOSPEL IS INFINITELY BETTER THAN THE RERUNS OR EVEN THE PREMIERE OF SHOWS BLAH BLAH BLAH..... Savour the gospel over and over again.... Fall in Love with God again and again.... Praise Him every min of the day..... Enjoy the most exciting and wonderful event in human history..... This is LIFE.... nothing else is....
so GO GET A LIFE!!!!
God have mercy in our weaknesses
TO GOD BE THE GLORY, GREAT THINGS HE HAS DONE!
Friday, February 6, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
Genesis 3: The Fall
Before I go into my thinking proper, just want to ask my readers some questions. Its of no consequence to theology i think but i find it rather interesting. How come Eve ate the fruit of good and evil first, and Adam second, and both had their eyes open at the same time? Is it because they are one?
Well, today was reading on Genesis three on the bus. Had been thinking about the whole significance of the whole event. We can suppose that this event take place some time after the day of human creation. Well, why is this important? The time spent with the Lord is an important point for latter. We can see that when the Serpent tempted the woman whether they can eat the fruit of good and evil. The woman said that they cannot eat it or touch it. If we look at Genesis chapter 2:17, we can see that it only mentioned eating it. Therefore, this leave us with two possibility of what happened. When God gave that order, it was only to Adam, because only Adam was in existent. Therefore, one reason is that Adam, as the head of the household, did not teach Eve the proper things that God has commanded him and therefore failed as the head of the household. The second possible reason is that Adam thought her the correct thing, but when she was challenged by Satan, she failed to recall the correct thing.
If the first one is true, then the time spent with the Lord is very important factor. They have a walk with God that we will not understand until we return to heaven. They, at that point was holy because they were sinless. They get to meet God face to face. Talk with Him etc. After the fall, Man couldn't face Him, much less talk to God in a way possible except Adam, Eve and Jesus.
If Adam did indeed told Eve the wrong thing. The conversation with God will probably corrected that. I am not sure. Because I am not there, and the bible didn't state the reason. However, I am quite sure that from the conversation and from the walk with God, Adam and Eve will have known God's character (e.g. whatever He say is right etc). They then shouldn't have toyed with the idea of eating the fruit, which obviously they did.
Well, then this will lead to another question. Did Eve sin when she started having thoughts to eat it or the action of eating it? If we go by the NT definition, then the thoughts of eating it is sin, not the action. The woman was deceived, man wasn't. So man was in direct rebellion to God's sovereignity. The Man's thoughts wasn't shown in the bible, but I think you can kind of guess it. If he didn't have thoughts about eating it, he would have stopped her from thinking must less eating it.
Well, does the thinking that touching the fruit will cause death affect how the things turn out? Yes. When she touch the fruit, she didn't die. Which leads to eating of it. Well, then, there will be argument that she have sinned by thinking of eating it. However, lets not go into that argument first for that is not the main point. The point that i want to bring across is this: If Adam and Eve have been with the Lord for some time and know His character more intimately than us and still can fail to know the right order of things, how much more then must we read, understand, pray for the correct heart, and carry out the Word to avoid and flee from temptation. Psalm 1:2 stated that a righteous man will meditate on His law day and night. It is not a condition that we can either take it or leave it, but rather it is a prerequiste of all Christian. We are considered righteous because of Jesus blood, so we should live a life befitting a righteous man and like a citizen of Heaven.
We may not have know God in a level that Adam and Eve have, but then through Jesus Christ and His blood, we have known God in another level. We cannot prevent Satan from attacking us, therefore we can only sharpen the sword (His Word), prayer, more prayer and follow His commandments. Remember, we are as prone to pride as Adam and Eve (actually Adam). Therefore we have to be humble, and the only way to that is believe in Jesus Christ that they have saved you. Ask for forgiveness, read, understand and live out His commandments and PRAY PRAY PRAY.
Will be talking about sin avoidance vs cardinal desires and more abt Genesis 3 next time.
To God Be The Glory, Our Cornerstone and Our Saviour
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Thoughts for the day
Well, actually i intended to go on a hiatus because school started and there is like a lot of work piling up. However, really thank God that I get to do most of my work. Currently really feeling quite tired and find it hard to study and I have a lot of thoughts in my head so I might as well post something and take it as a rest... A rest for my brain.
Really thank God that I managed to cope with the readings etc. It wasn't easy and the teachers have high expectations, but I think I managed to cope with it somewhat. QT was also quite fruitful. God challenged me in a lot of areas and I hope to live it out. Well, wasn't regular in terms of prayer for the CYYAM. Pray that I can be more regular with it because I feel that it is really one of the best way to show concern for our brothers and sisters.
Ahhhh..... need to wake up so early on Sunday for the fund raising thing.... haha.... feeling super tired.... oh wells, pray that I will have the strength and stamina to help out.
Oh wells, the toughest day of the week is over..... Today has been rather crazy but thank God for friends, haha, make life easier for me:D
Grin, seem like i am writing in rather incoherent sentences....
Today saw a sms on the talk for girls for the bgr... This actually triggered my memory about a recent chat with a brother-in-Christ about BGR. Well, we were talking about random things before we somehow started chatting about BGR... I still have a pretty good idea of the conversation. One thing that particularly struck me was the part when I said I was still 21..... kkk.... going 22. I said that being 21-22 is still young... He immediately pointed out that actually it's not young anymore... He got a point there. 21-22 isn't exactly young buuuuuuutttt, neither is it exactly old. Lets not talk about the olden times where people get married at 14-18...may be 23 at most. 21-22 is about the time where we should start taking BGR stuff more seriously... Not that it isn't good to think earlier than that, just that it is about time that we should think much much deeper about such stuff.... Shouldn't wait till >27 to start thinking about it. Well, it isn't late, but then you don't have a good idea of what you are looking for when you are from our age onwards.
So what is my thoughts about all this?
The bible actually encourage marriage in many parts of it. Genesis 2 stated the first marriage and why it is good. (Uncle James will have a wonderful bible talk about it... bet everyone is looking forward to it). Paul in his many letters also said that it is good for marriage, esp those who are constantly tempted by (greek:porniea) fornication. Unless one has a gift from God to stay single, then it is good to marry. Well, either ways it is a gift from God. Those who are single shouldn't envy those who are married. If you are not meant to be single, God will provide. If you are meant to be, thank God for you will be able to serve God without certain distractions that couples and family will face. If you are meant to be married or already married, thank God that you have a helper or a leader to help the family grow physically and more importantly (and hopefully) spiritually.
Well, been evaluating myself... I don't think I am meant to be single. Can't be certain for sure, but very likely. Therefore, this means that i have to put more thought into BGR. (man, have to keep reminding myself that it is BGR and not BGS {a uni mod})1. I have to think what are the things that I am looking for in my future partner. 2. What are the stuff that I have to improve upon so that I can lead my future family into a Godly life. 3. What is my goal in my serving ( some will wonder, huh? what has it got to do with finding a partner? will explain in greater detail). 4. Is the Family of God going to support the family and whether the marriage will allow us to work even better with the Family of God. 5.Is the marriage going to allow us to have an even better fellowship with God or not. The list is not exhaustive, but I feel that these are the bigger points that everyone who are meant for marriage to think about. There are probably more reason that I currently in the state of brain deadness cannot think of or due to my limited brain capacity that can only generate minute calculations and reasons that is well, minute. Well, actually these points can be interlink... It is really hard to break them apart.
Why should I (and also those readers who are thinking about it) think about things (e.g. factors, or characteristics) of what you want in your future partner? Well, if I/we do not have an idea of what we are looking for in a partner, we will either 1. fall in love with every single lady/gentleman that walk past us (because you have no factors to consider-meaning that everyone fits) 2. fall in love with no one but yourself (because you have so many factors in your head that only a perfect person can fit in... which is no one but youself.... technically you yourself are not perfect. However, these type of people are usually narcissist) 3. Most of us will probably fall into this category of being in between 1 and 2 where we have some floating idea of who we want but aren't really sure about it. Therefore we keep on scratching our heads and wondering whether he/she is the one. Well, I guess you readers get the drift of why we should be clear of what we should look for in our future partner. (Remember to take into account that your partner can and should be growing spiritually, therefore give them some slack..... don't be a narcissist)
Lets go on to the next point. What are the stuff that I/ we should improve upon. Well, as Christian, our life should be improving and getting closer to Christ's character as the fruit of the Spirit starts to grow. So why should we still think about these. By the way, I think this point is very very important especially to male readers (boy, men, gentlemen, whatever)( I am not saying that this is not important for female readers, but then you see, I am a guy so I am clearer about why guys to take note. Not trying to be sexist). It is very important for us guys because we are suppose to lead a family when we get married. If we have some atrocious habits or some habits that is ungodly in us and the poor girls who get married to such guys because of whatever love reasons(love is not blind, but then it can colour your eyes... lets hope it doesn't colour it that you cannot see beyond the surface because your eyes are coloured opaque black) (therefore, girls, choose wisely. Get your spiritual girl leader to help you see past your coloured vision. By the way, guys too. Get someone to help you see beyond her looks. Sometimes i think we have such wonderful coloured eyes that we just see only the surface e.g. looks and certain characters. Well, don't laugh, we may sometimes have eyes that are coloured worse than opaque black). Well, it is obvious that we will never be perfect during this lifetime, it is not a reason not to change our atrocious characteristics. If we are not improving on those characteristics, it is very likely that you will find it hard to steer your family in a Godly way. Your kids will pick up your wonderfully atrocious habits and you will start wondering who in the world did they learn those habits. Your dear wife will also be lead astray. If she didn't and she kick you such that you wake up your idea, then praise God and be utterly utterly ashamed of yourself. Well, all these can also be found in the bible... don't have the verse with me... Go and enjoy reading the bible and finding the verses that support it :D
OK, NEXXXXXT.... What is my/ our goal in serving. HUH? WHAT? That is my own business right? NOTTTTTTT. Lets take for example. Guy A wants to be a missionary. Guy A likes Girl B. Girl B has other ideas about serving. She wants to serving in the church and hates getting unhygienic, working with people in the missionary field, leaving the comforts of home and family and friends etc. Well, of course there are exceptions where the wife is willing to submit and follow , learning what God wants her to learn even though it is hard for her. However, in many cases she may not be willing to submit or learn in those areas. If you are going to marry her knowing full well that her serving direction is utterly different from yours and is not willing to submit, then you are in for a very jolly good time. Let me just congratulate you because you will be learning many many painful things that you will probably not have learned if you marry someone who has similar goals. Of course such things happen, and it is part of God's plan that you learn from it ( though it is not for the faint-hearted. Guys, don't try to be a hero and think that well, its cool to have such a challenge. I think you will be heading for a good time with Mr Migraine). Instead of complementing each other, you will probably spending much time quarrelling and bickering instead of serving with all your heart and with all your soul. You will probably try to get your voices heard and God will then not be central to your lives. Then again there are exceptions, buttttt, why try to find someone who have a drastically different serving direction from you and not willing to submit and accomodate when there are others who probably can compliment you? (actually this point is open for debate... some will disagree... Well, this point is not a rule, but rather a point of consideration. If you found a partner with a drastic viewpoint of serving that differ from yours and yet you can still serve God with all your heart and soul and mind and glorify Him, by all means, get married)
Point 4 is important. VERY VERY IMPORTANT. If the Family of God don't support your marriage due to various reasons and you are unable to serve the Family of God better as a couple, then I/ us/we/ whatever has to rethink SERIOUSLY whether this marriage is feasible and whether God intends you to be married to the partner. Something is obviously wrong if the Family of God don't support your marriage and you are unable to serve the Family of God better. When I say Family of God it means the church as a whole, not individuals who may also have interest in your partner and express his utter disgust that you are getting married (that guy ought to rethink his attitude because if you two are meant to be, then he should be happy... k that is hard but then if he express utter disgust then obviously he has some attitude problem). The marriage is for the partners to complement each other in serving and I believe that if you complement each other in serving and serve even better than if you two are single then it is remotely unlikely that the Church will not support your marriage unless the pastor is the guy who is utterly disgusted because you took away his ideal partner and lead others astray (the pastor ought to rethink is position and the members of the church should question the ability of the pastor to sheperd the flock)...
Point 5 is very similar to point 4. If you are unable to have better fellowship with God when you are together, then you have to question whether that person is really God intended person. Lets take an analogy. You have 2 batteries. Each battery have the same power. Any person with some IQ who wants greater power will join two batteries together to get more power. However, if he/she gets lower power than what he/she gets with each battery then something must be wrong right? Any sane person will break apart those batteries because it will yield greater power than two together. Any insane person will probably just smash those two batteries up and just laugh at the mess that they made. (if i sound incoherent, pardon me). Well, God is infinitely more sane and more wonderful than any of us. Will he prefer that you have some "lower-powered" fellowship or the "higher-powered" ? Well, it might seem lower power at first but if the net effect in the end is higher powered then it is not within this scope of argument. We as Christians will also don't want our fellowship with God to be lousier than if we are single. (unless you are insane, by which i think you won't get married anyway. If you are sane and yet have contrary thinking, think again).
This conclude today's thought.... k may be not.... considering I have other modules besides this. (hmmm, wait, is this even a mod? may be they should make it a mod). Well, with my limited 21-22 years of experience, walk with God (lesser than 21-22 yrs...), and with my minute brain power and the what nots, this is what i can think of.... Probably have many more etc.... but lets leave it as that shall we? God Bless
Pronounced Brain-dead by Dr Tan.... Certify.... Certify... Certify....
To God be the Glory, THE BEST IS YET TO BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Really thank God that I managed to cope with the readings etc. It wasn't easy and the teachers have high expectations, but I think I managed to cope with it somewhat. QT was also quite fruitful. God challenged me in a lot of areas and I hope to live it out. Well, wasn't regular in terms of prayer for the CYYAM. Pray that I can be more regular with it because I feel that it is really one of the best way to show concern for our brothers and sisters.
Ahhhh..... need to wake up so early on Sunday for the fund raising thing.... haha.... feeling super tired.... oh wells, pray that I will have the strength and stamina to help out.
Oh wells, the toughest day of the week is over..... Today has been rather crazy but thank God for friends, haha, make life easier for me:D
Grin, seem like i am writing in rather incoherent sentences....
Today saw a sms on the talk for girls for the bgr... This actually triggered my memory about a recent chat with a brother-in-Christ about BGR. Well, we were talking about random things before we somehow started chatting about BGR... I still have a pretty good idea of the conversation. One thing that particularly struck me was the part when I said I was still 21..... kkk.... going 22. I said that being 21-22 is still young... He immediately pointed out that actually it's not young anymore... He got a point there. 21-22 isn't exactly young buuuuuuutttt, neither is it exactly old. Lets not talk about the olden times where people get married at 14-18...may be 23 at most. 21-22 is about the time where we should start taking BGR stuff more seriously... Not that it isn't good to think earlier than that, just that it is about time that we should think much much deeper about such stuff.... Shouldn't wait till >27 to start thinking about it. Well, it isn't late, but then you don't have a good idea of what you are looking for when you are from our age onwards.
So what is my thoughts about all this?
The bible actually encourage marriage in many parts of it. Genesis 2 stated the first marriage and why it is good. (Uncle James will have a wonderful bible talk about it... bet everyone is looking forward to it). Paul in his many letters also said that it is good for marriage, esp those who are constantly tempted by (greek:porniea) fornication. Unless one has a gift from God to stay single, then it is good to marry. Well, either ways it is a gift from God. Those who are single shouldn't envy those who are married. If you are not meant to be single, God will provide. If you are meant to be, thank God for you will be able to serve God without certain distractions that couples and family will face. If you are meant to be married or already married, thank God that you have a helper or a leader to help the family grow physically and more importantly (and hopefully) spiritually.
Well, been evaluating myself... I don't think I am meant to be single. Can't be certain for sure, but very likely. Therefore, this means that i have to put more thought into BGR. (man, have to keep reminding myself that it is BGR and not BGS {a uni mod})1. I have to think what are the things that I am looking for in my future partner. 2. What are the stuff that I have to improve upon so that I can lead my future family into a Godly life. 3. What is my goal in my serving ( some will wonder, huh? what has it got to do with finding a partner? will explain in greater detail). 4. Is the Family of God going to support the family and whether the marriage will allow us to work even better with the Family of God. 5.Is the marriage going to allow us to have an even better fellowship with God or not. The list is not exhaustive, but I feel that these are the bigger points that everyone who are meant for marriage to think about. There are probably more reason that I currently in the state of brain deadness cannot think of or due to my limited brain capacity that can only generate minute calculations and reasons that is well, minute. Well, actually these points can be interlink... It is really hard to break them apart.
Why should I (and also those readers who are thinking about it) think about things (e.g. factors, or characteristics) of what you want in your future partner? Well, if I/we do not have an idea of what we are looking for in a partner, we will either 1. fall in love with every single lady/gentleman that walk past us (because you have no factors to consider-meaning that everyone fits) 2. fall in love with no one but yourself (because you have so many factors in your head that only a perfect person can fit in... which is no one but youself.... technically you yourself are not perfect. However, these type of people are usually narcissist) 3. Most of us will probably fall into this category of being in between 1 and 2 where we have some floating idea of who we want but aren't really sure about it. Therefore we keep on scratching our heads and wondering whether he/she is the one. Well, I guess you readers get the drift of why we should be clear of what we should look for in our future partner. (Remember to take into account that your partner can and should be growing spiritually, therefore give them some slack..... don't be a narcissist)
Lets go on to the next point. What are the stuff that I/ we should improve upon. Well, as Christian, our life should be improving and getting closer to Christ's character as the fruit of the Spirit starts to grow. So why should we still think about these. By the way, I think this point is very very important especially to male readers (boy, men, gentlemen, whatever)( I am not saying that this is not important for female readers, but then you see, I am a guy so I am clearer about why guys to take note. Not trying to be sexist). It is very important for us guys because we are suppose to lead a family when we get married. If we have some atrocious habits or some habits that is ungodly in us and the poor girls who get married to such guys because of whatever love reasons(love is not blind, but then it can colour your eyes... lets hope it doesn't colour it that you cannot see beyond the surface because your eyes are coloured opaque black) (therefore, girls, choose wisely. Get your spiritual girl leader to help you see past your coloured vision. By the way, guys too. Get someone to help you see beyond her looks. Sometimes i think we have such wonderful coloured eyes that we just see only the surface e.g. looks and certain characters. Well, don't laugh, we may sometimes have eyes that are coloured worse than opaque black). Well, it is obvious that we will never be perfect during this lifetime, it is not a reason not to change our atrocious characteristics. If we are not improving on those characteristics, it is very likely that you will find it hard to steer your family in a Godly way. Your kids will pick up your wonderfully atrocious habits and you will start wondering who in the world did they learn those habits. Your dear wife will also be lead astray. If she didn't and she kick you such that you wake up your idea, then praise God and be utterly utterly ashamed of yourself. Well, all these can also be found in the bible... don't have the verse with me... Go and enjoy reading the bible and finding the verses that support it :D
OK, NEXXXXXT.... What is my/ our goal in serving. HUH? WHAT? That is my own business right? NOTTTTTTT. Lets take for example. Guy A wants to be a missionary. Guy A likes Girl B. Girl B has other ideas about serving. She wants to serving in the church and hates getting unhygienic, working with people in the missionary field, leaving the comforts of home and family and friends etc. Well, of course there are exceptions where the wife is willing to submit and follow , learning what God wants her to learn even though it is hard for her. However, in many cases she may not be willing to submit or learn in those areas. If you are going to marry her knowing full well that her serving direction is utterly different from yours and is not willing to submit, then you are in for a very jolly good time. Let me just congratulate you because you will be learning many many painful things that you will probably not have learned if you marry someone who has similar goals. Of course such things happen, and it is part of God's plan that you learn from it ( though it is not for the faint-hearted. Guys, don't try to be a hero and think that well, its cool to have such a challenge. I think you will be heading for a good time with Mr Migraine). Instead of complementing each other, you will probably spending much time quarrelling and bickering instead of serving with all your heart and with all your soul. You will probably try to get your voices heard and God will then not be central to your lives. Then again there are exceptions, buttttt, why try to find someone who have a drastically different serving direction from you and not willing to submit and accomodate when there are others who probably can compliment you? (actually this point is open for debate... some will disagree... Well, this point is not a rule, but rather a point of consideration. If you found a partner with a drastic viewpoint of serving that differ from yours and yet you can still serve God with all your heart and soul and mind and glorify Him, by all means, get married)
Point 4 is important. VERY VERY IMPORTANT. If the Family of God don't support your marriage due to various reasons and you are unable to serve the Family of God better as a couple, then I/ us/we/ whatever has to rethink SERIOUSLY whether this marriage is feasible and whether God intends you to be married to the partner. Something is obviously wrong if the Family of God don't support your marriage and you are unable to serve the Family of God better. When I say Family of God it means the church as a whole, not individuals who may also have interest in your partner and express his utter disgust that you are getting married (that guy ought to rethink his attitude because if you two are meant to be, then he should be happy... k that is hard but then if he express utter disgust then obviously he has some attitude problem). The marriage is for the partners to complement each other in serving and I believe that if you complement each other in serving and serve even better than if you two are single then it is remotely unlikely that the Church will not support your marriage unless the pastor is the guy who is utterly disgusted because you took away his ideal partner and lead others astray (the pastor ought to rethink is position and the members of the church should question the ability of the pastor to sheperd the flock)...
Point 5 is very similar to point 4. If you are unable to have better fellowship with God when you are together, then you have to question whether that person is really God intended person. Lets take an analogy. You have 2 batteries. Each battery have the same power. Any person with some IQ who wants greater power will join two batteries together to get more power. However, if he/she gets lower power than what he/she gets with each battery then something must be wrong right? Any sane person will break apart those batteries because it will yield greater power than two together. Any insane person will probably just smash those two batteries up and just laugh at the mess that they made. (if i sound incoherent, pardon me). Well, God is infinitely more sane and more wonderful than any of us. Will he prefer that you have some "lower-powered" fellowship or the "higher-powered" ? Well, it might seem lower power at first but if the net effect in the end is higher powered then it is not within this scope of argument. We as Christians will also don't want our fellowship with God to be lousier than if we are single. (unless you are insane, by which i think you won't get married anyway. If you are sane and yet have contrary thinking, think again).
This conclude today's thought.... k may be not.... considering I have other modules besides this. (hmmm, wait, is this even a mod? may be they should make it a mod). Well, with my limited 21-22 years of experience, walk with God (lesser than 21-22 yrs...), and with my minute brain power and the what nots, this is what i can think of.... Probably have many more etc.... but lets leave it as that shall we? God Bless
Pronounced Brain-dead by Dr Tan.... Certify.... Certify... Certify....
To God be the Glory, THE BEST IS YET TO BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sunday, October 12, 2008
An update to yesterday's post
After some further thinking through, I think I should clarify on some things further. With regards to whether it is ok to buy LV bags, BMW7, omega watches or properties, I think you really have to have discretion when buying such goods. Firstly, do you know anyone that has great need for this money? If yes, then you should give it to them instead of buying such goods. Secondly, do these goods retain value or even become more expensive when you sell them? If yes, and if you are ready to sell them when God wants you to sell them so that you can fund Christian works, then I think it is ok to buy them. (Well, that means that BMW7, LV bags [if you do not know how to collect them] are not really good things to buy as they depreciate and hence may not be good stewardship). All in all, these things are temporary, therefore your focus should never be on these. If you find that you have become distracted by such things as with others, then you have to watch out, cos that means you are not putting God as the love of your life or your Lord.
I also think that all in all, discretion and wisdom from God is needed in all things including these. I think these kind of things should not take up as much time as what Christians and the world are giving it now, either by bickering or focussing on such minor stuff. Much effort should instead be on reflecting on what we have done, what are our priorities, sharing gospel, serving etc.
To God Be The Glory
I also think that all in all, discretion and wisdom from God is needed in all things including these. I think these kind of things should not take up as much time as what Christians and the world are giving it now, either by bickering or focussing on such minor stuff. Much effort should instead be on reflecting on what we have done, what are our priorities, sharing gospel, serving etc.
To God Be The Glory
Friday, October 10, 2008
Thoughts abt John piper's post abt not chasing after wealth
Haha, yesterday during tuition, I was talking abt the economic crisis with Wei Hong, Ziling and Wei En. Grins, we go on and on abt how bad the economy was doing and the debt of the US was like crazy etc. Then I was talking about why we should invest now etc. Then Wei En ask me whether I have read the blog about Don't desire wealth.
Well, I have now. Haha, I agree with him with the part and that there are alot of people salivating at the prospect of pumping in money now and sit on a pile on cash latter. And I definitely agree with him that desiring to be rich is very dangerous. Money after all is the root of all evils and many have indeed got so drawn by it that they have either renounce their faith in God or walk away from God. There are many people who are rich and claim to be Christian. However, when we look into their lives, we find that they are really drawn to the world and also their children are unable to serve God with all their hearts and soul. Just look at the rich families of US and you get the drift.
The pioneers of the USA were faithful to God and God made them prosper. However, just like Israel in the Bible, they slowly walked away from God and now suffer much consequences from it. People may argue that not all the rich are like that, and I agree. However, those people are really the exceptions.
The pursue of the American dream is really like how the bible discribe the rich man storing his wealth and then think he can eat drink and be merry. However, it seem that the rest of the world is also warming up to the idea of the "American" dream..... may be just a different name for it..... like indian dream, Chinese dream blah blah blah. It is more or less the same- The pursue of wealth as an end or a means to live a high life.
So then, is it wrong for Christians to be wealthy or rich? If it is an end or a means to live a high life, then DEFINITELY YES. We are not called to live a high life here, nor to collect riches. The bible warned us of those. Then is it wrong to sit on a pile of cash or to invest? Again, it will depend on your motives. God said that we are stewards of what He has created. Therefore investing is one way to be a better steward. However, many has change investment as a way of owning business to a number machine that generate cash that is no different from the poker table or the roulette table in the casino. If you view it as that, then I think it is better that you don't invest.
I shall correct what I said above... Sitting on a pile of cash and not using it for God's kingdom is also wrong. Cos it is more or less just trying to get rich as an end.
Then what should Christian do to the cash that God has asked us to be stewards of? Investing is a good way. However, if God really bless your endevour, it is not for you to sit on it or spend it on yourselves to buy that LV bag that some of you may want or that BMW7 series, or that omega watch or whatever... Well, if you do buy that, then when it is time for you to fund some missionary or when the church needs it then you must be really be prepared to sell it. And in most cases, people are not willing to let go when the time comes. Therefore, for those who are not willing to let go, then it is better not to buy. Cos it will also mean that you see it as a treasure- A treasure on earth that you want to store up.
Then how? we cannot have any land of our own or house of our own? NO, i don't mean that. What I am saying is that you must be prepared to give it up when God ask us to. Well, Barnabas in Acts did just that. He probably have more than one land deeds or houses. For the love of his brother and sisters, he gave up his properties for God's kingdom. God gave bless him with wealth. He had the choice to choose what he wants to do with it. He chose to do what God commands. He is really an example for those who God has blessed materially.
God bless us so that we can bless others. Sadly, when we are blessed more and more, we become like the old Israelites. We forget God, or we ignore him. And God judgement will be on us.
Therefore, if we are gonna to invest, then we are to give more and more. If we cannot, then i think we shouldn't invest. It is best that you are accountable to those who are close to you so that they can remind you, cos it is very easy for our eyes to just turn elsewhere when we are so blessed.
God help us in our weakness
To God be the Glory
Well, I have now. Haha, I agree with him with the part and that there are alot of people salivating at the prospect of pumping in money now and sit on a pile on cash latter. And I definitely agree with him that desiring to be rich is very dangerous. Money after all is the root of all evils and many have indeed got so drawn by it that they have either renounce their faith in God or walk away from God. There are many people who are rich and claim to be Christian. However, when we look into their lives, we find that they are really drawn to the world and also their children are unable to serve God with all their hearts and soul. Just look at the rich families of US and you get the drift.
The pioneers of the USA were faithful to God and God made them prosper. However, just like Israel in the Bible, they slowly walked away from God and now suffer much consequences from it. People may argue that not all the rich are like that, and I agree. However, those people are really the exceptions.
The pursue of the American dream is really like how the bible discribe the rich man storing his wealth and then think he can eat drink and be merry. However, it seem that the rest of the world is also warming up to the idea of the "American" dream..... may be just a different name for it..... like indian dream, Chinese dream blah blah blah. It is more or less the same- The pursue of wealth as an end or a means to live a high life.
So then, is it wrong for Christians to be wealthy or rich? If it is an end or a means to live a high life, then DEFINITELY YES. We are not called to live a high life here, nor to collect riches. The bible warned us of those. Then is it wrong to sit on a pile of cash or to invest? Again, it will depend on your motives. God said that we are stewards of what He has created. Therefore investing is one way to be a better steward. However, many has change investment as a way of owning business to a number machine that generate cash that is no different from the poker table or the roulette table in the casino. If you view it as that, then I think it is better that you don't invest.
I shall correct what I said above... Sitting on a pile of cash and not using it for God's kingdom is also wrong. Cos it is more or less just trying to get rich as an end.
Then what should Christian do to the cash that God has asked us to be stewards of? Investing is a good way. However, if God really bless your endevour, it is not for you to sit on it or spend it on yourselves to buy that LV bag that some of you may want or that BMW7 series, or that omega watch or whatever... Well, if you do buy that, then when it is time for you to fund some missionary or when the church needs it then you must be really be prepared to sell it. And in most cases, people are not willing to let go when the time comes. Therefore, for those who are not willing to let go, then it is better not to buy. Cos it will also mean that you see it as a treasure- A treasure on earth that you want to store up.
Then how? we cannot have any land of our own or house of our own? NO, i don't mean that. What I am saying is that you must be prepared to give it up when God ask us to. Well, Barnabas in Acts did just that. He probably have more than one land deeds or houses. For the love of his brother and sisters, he gave up his properties for God's kingdom. God gave bless him with wealth. He had the choice to choose what he wants to do with it. He chose to do what God commands. He is really an example for those who God has blessed materially.
God bless us so that we can bless others. Sadly, when we are blessed more and more, we become like the old Israelites. We forget God, or we ignore him. And God judgement will be on us.
Therefore, if we are gonna to invest, then we are to give more and more. If we cannot, then i think we shouldn't invest. It is best that you are accountable to those who are close to you so that they can remind you, cos it is very easy for our eyes to just turn elsewhere when we are so blessed.
God help us in our weakness
To God be the Glory
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