Reflector

In everything that we do, we should ask ourselves, what do we want out of it?

In our school life, what do we want out of it? Is it just to get ahead of everyone else? Do well in our tests and exams? Get a good honours degree so we can get better job prospects and a better pay? Or is there more that we can do during this period of time?

In our group of friends, what do we want out of it? Do we want people to help us book seats in the lecture theatres? A clique to hang out during lunch time or to study with so we won’t be lonely? Or do we want to serve them, encourage them when they feel stressed or worked up about tests, and care for their well-being?

In our Christian walk, what do we want out of it? A religion? An assurance that we’ll go to heaven? Something easy which doesn’t drastically change our way of life, the way we think and view things, or our routine? Or do we want something more?

In going to church, what do we want out of it? Do we want to listen to a sermon every week and not remember what was being preached after the service, but feel good anyway cos we fulfilled our “duty”? Do we want a pastor who preaches exactly what we want to hear, which doesn’t challenge us or ask us to do anything too “difficult”? Or do we want to open our hearts, and accept the message, even if we don’t like it? Do we want our lives to be radically changed and to be fruitful for the kingdom of God?

During praise and worship, what do we want out of it? Do we want to get it over with because it’s just part of the service? Do we jump because want to look like we’re doing the right thing? Or because we want to give our all and give God the praise He deserves, like King David in the bible, even if it means looking out of place or silly at times? When we lift our hands during worship, do we do it because everyone else is doing it? Or do we do it because we want a touch from God?

Do we sing songs just to feel good about it? Do we sing safe songs or old songs because we feel comfortable with them and we don’t want to associate with pop culture too much because it’s too “worldly”? Or do we sing to God, to glorify Him? Because the bible says to make a joyful noise unto the Lord, to sing a new song to Him? Do we have flashing lights and cool graphics because we have no where else to spend our money? Or do we have these things to reflect who God is, that He is a colourful and creative God?

Mark 2:22 says “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”

If we want to do something new with an old mindset, it’ll never work. If our mindset is old, how can God pour new ideas and new things into our lives?

When people tell us things which conflict with our own ideas, it’s easy to say “Oh the person is wrong, because this is the way I think, and it’s definitely correct” Or it may just mean that we need a mindset change. There might be certain assumptions which we make automatically about things, which we don’t even pause to consider whether those assumptions are right or not.

And people tend to trust their feelings when they do things. Sometimes, it’s good. Sometimes, it’s not. When I feel like eating jap food, and I go and eat it, I feel good, and that’s good. When I feel like studying, and I go study, that’s good.

But when I feel like the PAP is “brain-washing” the people, I don’t migrate to another country or attack them on my blog (I’m not saying they are, it’s just an analogy). I know that they’re doing a good job because Singapore is a progressive country with a low crime rate and a high literacy rate, so I won’t migrate. Just because I feel like changing church a million times because of various reasons (some of which are really good personal reasons by the way), I don’t, because I know from experience that I wasn’t fruitful in a lot of other churches I’ve been to and if I leave, I know the outcome. Know a man by his fruits, because God emphasises a lot on fruitfulness.

Criticism from others is inevitable when you want to do something for God. What matters is not the criticism. Because we seek God’s approval, and don’t do things just because people say that’s the “right” way to do things, or preach things just because it’s “safe”.

A few years ago, any statement which sounded a bit wrong doctrinally will irk me tremendously. Being a christian from a young age, having been to many churches, having attended sunday school, and having siblings and relatives who would make remarks or talk about certain doggy doctrines, I thought I knew what was right and what was wrong. I thought that everything in the world ought to be black and white. I thought. But that was the past.

Doctrines and theories can give you an idea about what kind of morals to have, what kind of behaviour is correct and what is not. They give a picture of how everything functions in the world. But I realise now that doctrines and theories can only take you so far. Even with all the doctrines in the world, it cannot save you.

When people debate about the nitty-gritty details in the bible or about ideas and schools of thought, a lot of times, it doesn’t help them to love God more or to know Him in a deeper way. Why do people do that? Why did I use to do that? Come to think of it, I think I just wanted to be right. And partly, it’s also out of fear of doing something wrong. Fearfulness. But then, the bible says that everything done out of fear and not of faith, doesn’t please God. 

A walk with God is more than just debates about what is theoretically sound. Doctrines don’t give you a relationship with God. And having a relationship with our Creator is really what christianity is all about, and it’s what we’re made for in the first place.

I got over the stage when I seriously found fault with the smallest of things. The way things were done in church, the things people said, and many other things. But thank God He was so patient with me and allowed me to see things in a different light over time. Thank God He kept me from leaving my church for another, even though it was soooooo hard to hang on. You can’t imagine. And I can’t remember a lot of it already haha. But thank God for His grace. I think if I had left, I wouldn’t have known what I missed (which would have been a lot hahaha), and I’d have lost hope of a breakthrough.

In everything that we do, God looks at our heart. Our motivation for doing things. Our attitude.

And what really matters is our personal relationship with God. For me, it’s my personal relationship with Him. For you, it’s yours. A verse which truly spoke to me was John 21:20-22.

John 21:20-22 says “Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?” Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, “But Lord, what about this man?”
Jesus said to him, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.”

A lot of times, we’re so caught up about judging other people and criticizing that we overlook our own relationship with God. Then that’s when we stagnate, because we channel all our effort into criticizing and forget that there’re still areas in our lives which we need to change. There is NEVER a point in time where we can say, “There’s no need for me to change anymore, the problem lies with you.” Because if we do that, we miss the point entirely. There is ALWAYS some area in our lives, an attitude, a habit, a dream, which we need to surrender to God. And in this walk with Him, if we’re not lukewarm and stagnant, we should find ourselves surrendering more and more of ourselves to Him.

When we focus on the negative, we will fail to see the positive. I know that well haha.

God is constantly looking for ways to mould our character. But He’ll only touch what we allow Him to. From the beginning of time, the same old things prevent Him from changing us, and prevent us from drawing near to Him. They are Pride and Rebellion. There’s still a lot of pride and rebellion which I need to deal with, and I think, it’s a problem a lot, if not all, face. Look at the great men and women of God, and you’ll be able to see brokenness, and surrender. The more we surrender to God, the more He can use us.

And something my CIC bible study teacher, Marie, said today was like just…wow. She said, “When people meet you, wouldn’t it be great if even before you actually tell them you’re a christian, they can say ‘wow I see Jesus in you’.” Man…that’ll be so cool.

There are a lot of people who are just simply contented with their lives. Some are not very contented, but  they don’t see the need for any drastic changes. Others know that change is needed, just that they don’t seem very urgent about it or think that it’ll happen in the near future.

Well, all I can say is, no matter how perfect a person’s life is already, there is surely always something that needs to change in his life. Attitude, mindset, work ethic, relationships, yieldedness, etc.

Sometimes to these people, they really can’t see it themselves, because they’re in the situation itself. Other people can see it but they can’t see it themselves. That’s why it’s so important to mix around with a group of people who are spiritual, who really know God and the Word, and who care for you, will look out for you and won’t judge you. Cell group is very important. People are not perfect, but God made us to need relationships, so we still need other people. Just have to be wise to choose good friends. The cell group message was on true friends.

So if a person can’t see the need for change, then he won’t change. He won’t take steps to change. And his life will remain the same.

And honestly, if people like Billy Graham or other people who’ve done great things for God, if they’d been like that, millions of people would’ve been doomed. If Elim chew was like that, we wouldn’t have had 77th street already. If pastor kong was like that, no city harvest church today.

Every single one of us, and I mean EVERYONE, You. Me. We all have the potential to do something great in this lifetime. Whether in the realm of business, healthcare, government, you name it. We all have something planned out for us, our destiny.

BUT we’ll never be able to step into our destiny, to reach our fullest potential, IF we’re contented with what we have or where we are right now.

Every single cell group meeting, every bible study lesson, every sunday service is so important. Because that’s when God speaks to us, tell us things which need to be changed in our lives. Most of the time, change doesn’t happen overnight. A lot of times, it happens over a period of months and years. We’ve to allow God to change us, because He won’t do anything against our will. He won’t force change on us. We’ve to want it and ask for it.

Hearing the word in church, during cell group, it shapes the way we think. And pastor will challenge us never to think small. His examples are always of people who’ve made a significant impact in people’s lives, like the blind woman who was in her 80s. She told God to just take her home to heaven because she felt she didn’t have anything left on earth she could do. But God told her to prepare herself for a great work. And you know what? She found a braille phone directory in her house, so she started from the first page, and called down the phone book to share Christ with people. And by the time she was in her late 80s, she had called thousands and thousands of people. And led a few thousands to Christ!!!

If a blind old woman can do that, WHAT MORE US?!!!

It all lies in our thinking, and our attitude.

If our attitude is right, we’d do the right things. We’d allow God to change us to be who He created us to be. And really, it’s only when we’ve fulfilled what God wants us to do in our lives, at the end when we stand before Him, that’s when it feels so good to hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into your inheritance.”

You’ve only one life to live. Time is short. You decide. Don’t waste it.

Ignoring a fact will not make it go away. It just makes you less prepared for it.

This might seem like common sense, but sometimes it doesn’t sink in to people.

Some people know that they’re not doing well in their studies, but they don’t change and do what they’re supposed to be doing, which is either to change their way of studying to be more efficient, or simply to just focus, sit down and study well. Instead, some people find a way to escape from the situation. Maybe they’ll play more computer games or try to “de-stress” some more because thinking about studying makes them stressed and they think it’s causing them not to be efficient in studying. But they don’t address the root of the problem, which is inefficient studying methods. So doing more “de-stressing” and sub-consciously trying to escape from the situation isn’t going to help. It makes them less prepared because they spend more time doing other things which don’t address the issue.

There are some people, they’ve been through bible study and know what salvation is all about. But they ignore the fact that if they don’t get saved, they’ll end up spending eternity away from God. Or some people who were christians but because they think it’s “too hard” or don’t see the point of it all, they backslide. Even if they don’t see the point, it doesn’t erase the facts. They ignore the fact, or just don’t think about what will happen eventually if they stay in that state. And the bible talks about people who have known the truth, but even so, turn away from it.

Heb 6:4-6 “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.”

For them, it’s like they’re crucifying Jesus again. There are many times when I could’ve talked myself into backing away from God and just giving up this race. But I know the facts, I know what will happen if I do that and what I’ll be missing out (a lot), and that deters me from it. Hang on to God, if for no other reason than to avoid crucifying the Son of God again.

And there are christians who don’t reach out to their friends. I was once like them. They ignore the facts, and either don’t care, don’t think about it, or just think that their friends will get saved later on without them interfering. But the fact is, your friends/family are going to spend eternity away from God, if they never know Him, if they’re not even given a chance to know Him. I’m excluding painting a graphic picture of the environment but yes, it’s going to be unbearable. 

A lot of people ignore very important facts. And it makes them less prepared to face them when things actually boil over. Facts will be facts, whether you ignore them or not. They don’t disappear just because you ignore them. If you ignore problems, you’ll always be stuck with it. If you at least try to overcome them, even if you fail, you’ll find out more about the problem and are more prepared to face it the next time round.

God is always around, whether you ignore Him or not.

You’ve only ONE life to live, whether you think about it or not.