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Sunday, April 29, 2007
had a good 3-hour talk with marcus over lunch today. it helped put some things into perspective. no more being emo 24/7. of course it's impossible to avoid being emo altogether, but i'll regain that joy that i always had. i will. after the talk with him, i now feel enabled and empowered to help others. the talk came just at the right time, because i was thinking as i lay in bed yesterday and troubled thoughts were starting to come in. i dont know how long this whole joy thing will last (technically it'll never go away. it's just how much i let it show) but ah well. do you intend to let the joy be suppressed by temporary difficulties?
was clearing my inbox just now and found this email samlim sent out around the start of the year. i remember promising to try not to let all the heavy workload get to me. it turned out to be a complete failure. i can relate to the article because now that studies is one of my least concerns, it leaves me with mainly youth and occasionally gb stuff which im busy with. both are supposed to be service to God, but what's 'service' if there's no fellowship and if i dont even know who im serving. "im too busy" is a lousy excuse. ive always know that. but even now, i dont know what im going to do about it (well the greatest possibility is that i'll just carry on living my life the way i have been doing). i havnt done qt for ages, and the scary thing is that i can go on with my life and it's no longer "dieee i didnt do qt yesterday". i need Him to change me, but i have to be willing to change. overused analogy but it's just like someone trying to open a door that is bolted on the inside. the only 2 ways to do it is: 1. the person inside unlatches it or 2. the person outside breaks in by force. i dont want to learn things the hard way, but if i have to, i'll rather do it than live my life aimlessly. i cant stand not having any aim.
change my heart o God
make it ever true
change my heart o God
may i be like You
You are the potter
i am the clay
mould me and make me
this is what i pray
one of the songs ben chose to sing yesterday is an old song. ive known this song since i was young, but yesterday i realised how much it takes to sing it and really mean it. it's quite ironic actually that so many times we claim to want to be a vessel that He can use, but yet at the same time we resist when He wants to mould us because we know that it's going to be a long and tiring process. when He chooses to take us and mould us, we start grumbling and questioning His intentions. im guilty of that. but going through that whole moulding process is not an option, it's a requirement and it's necessary. but sometimes the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. or worse, many times in fact the spirit and flesh are not willing. and that's when it's truly only by His grace.
having said so much, i wonder what im going to do about it.
The Barreness of Busyness by Samuel Lim
I’m sure many of us are very familiar with the word ‘busy’. Time is not something we have much of in our frantic and hectic lives. With so many demands we have upon us, we have to be able to recognize our priorities so that we can give our time to what is most important to us. Sadly, many of us do not regard time to nurture our spiritual lives as a priority.
When I woke up one morning, after washing up, I was all prepared to spend time doing my QT and pray. But when I looked out of my home and saw a good ray of sunshine and having remembered I’ve got laundry to do, I decided to do my laundry first. After finishing my laundry, I was all ready to put my clothes to hang when I realized the skies had turned cloudy, not much sunshine. Then it struck me. I had made God too small in my eyes. With that small action of putting my laundry before fellowshipping with God doing QT, I had assumed that the Creator of heaven and earth, was not able to hold the sunshine for me while I spend some time with Him. What a fool I was! To many of us, spending time with God is considered a luxury, something we will do if we have enough time. And the trouble is that with so many demands on us, we seldom have time. Slowly God gets squeezed out of our schedule.
Because of our frantic lifestyle, we are so used to being busy with activities. The pursuit of activities and deadlines have taken such importance in our lives. And as Christians, this is where the temptation comes in. Sometimes we get so busy doing and planning things for God that we neglect to spend time in fellowship with Him. The success of Christian activities outweighs fellowshipping with God. We so often kid ourselves that God is pleased with us on the basis of our service and what we achieve for Him. When the fact is He wants our fellowship more than He wants our work.
“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.”
It is clearly written in John 15 that fellowshipping with the Lord should always be our priority as Christians. Even more for those of us who are in ministry serving God’s people. We must know that we can do nothing unless we are strengthened by God. We may seem to be doing much planting, pruning, fertilizing and watering, But still we will see no fruits coming out of our ministry that will glorify our Father, unless we abide in Him and serve from a heart that overflows from an active relationship with God.
As we are in the start of a new year, let make it our top priority to be busy in active search for God. Let us grow in His love, live by His word, serve through His strength.
“By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love.” John 15:8-9
simplicity.
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simple facts
peiling
30 march
christian
tnsrgs
