C.S. Lewis on New Life |
- C.S. Lewis on New Life
- Jesus as PR Man (He didn't read 'How to Win Friends & Influence People')
- The Giving Tree
- 7 Suggestions on How to Respond to MH370 Tragedy
- People First, Traditions Second
| Posted: 16 Mar 2014 09:13 AM PDT
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come" (2 Corinthians 5:17, ESV. Read chapter 5 and 6 for the text context) Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) or famously known simply as C.S. Lewis is one of my favourite writer. He was one of the intellectual giants of the 20th century and arguably the most influential writer of his day (probably even now). Here on the subject of new life he wrote in Mere Christianity: "In the long run God is no one but Himself and what He does is like nothing else. You could hardly expect it to be. What, then, is the difference which He has made to the whole human mass? It is just this; that the business of becoming a son of God, of being turned from a created thing into a begotten thing, of passing over from the temporary biological life into timeless 'spiritual' life, has been done for us. Humanity is already 'saved' in principle. We individuals have to appropriate that salvation. But the really tough work – the bit we could not have done for ourselves – has been done for us. We have not got to try to climb up into spiritual life by our own efforts; it has already come down into the human race. If we will only lay ourselves open to the one Man (that is Jesus Christ) in whom it was fully present, and who, in spite of being God, is also a real man. He will do it in us and for us. Remember what I said about 'good infection'. One of our own race has this new life; if we get close to Him we shall catch it from Him. Of course, you can express this in all sorts of different ways. You can say that Christ died for our sins. You may say that the Father has forgiven us because Christ has done for us what we ought to have done. You may say that we are washed in the blood of the Lamb. You may say that Christ has defeated death. They are all true." THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.   | ||
| Jesus as PR Man (He didn't read 'How to Win Friends & Influence People') Posted: 12 Mar 2014 09:15 PM PDT Why?I asked as I read the Gospel stories. In some ways Jesus made things hard for Himself. Those who had read Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends & Influence People would probably point our five serious mistakes He made:  First, He did not go directly and ministered to the upper-class members of Jewish society. Second, He wasted time by going to the lower-class (even the low-of-the-lowest-class) and calling on the poor, the sick, the tax collectors, shepherds, the fishermen, and the most obvious sinners in Jerusalem. Third, He didn't try to talk people into supporting His messiahship. He didn't use sales or insurance marketing strategy, make no glorious promises. Fourth, He almost ignored those in leadership. And to make thing worst, at times it seemed He went out His way to confront them. Lastly, He refused to compromise. He won't give up His theology and integrity even to pull some strings in His ministry to get benefits, endorsements and political favors. P.s: Had there been a Jerusalem Idol in the first century, trying to choose the most successful and influence preacher, not many people would vote for Jesus. In the end He didn't have a lot of popular appeal. Unlike Jesus, we stake so much of having a good reputation, being appreciated, gathered as many awards and best-selling lists, major in entertainment worship to win youths, misquoting and ignoring some part of the Scripture for the sake of being relevant, compromise Biblical theology in order to achieve unity over the truth, etc. In all of these, Jesus has nothing to do with it. Jesus stood alone. Jesus didn't come to win supports. He did the Kingdom agenda whether or not anyone supported Him. In The Book of John, Jesus spoke strongly to would-be followers and let them know what it meant to follow Him. "Because of this, many of Jesus' followers turned back and would not go with him anymore. So he asked the twelve disciples, 'And you – would you also like to leave?' Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. And now we believe and know that you are the Holy One who has come from God.'" (John 6:66-69, GNB). The diehards stayed, everyone left. The disciples stayed no one else left. But, I wonder, what if ALL of them had left? What would Jesus have done? I think, the Lord Jesus in His humanity would still obediently continue His ministry. He had come to save humankind, with or without human support. His chief ministry was to die on the cross to win God's favor, not to win human support. He is the model of leadership, obedience and love-in-action, not as good PR Man. Follow Him and you'll be unpopular (at least for the most part – to the world). But follow Him and you'll have eternal life. "Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life" | ||
| Posted: 11 Mar 2014 10:58 PM PDT
Jesus Christ said, "Give as freely as you have received" (Matthew 10:8, NLT). Paul quoted Jesus as saying, "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35). The principle of generous-giving here, as I understand it, is that we never lose by giving – we can only gain. To cynics that may sound strange, but it works. As we give of ourselves to others, we produce a giving-attitude and model for others. Giving also produce better relationships. Giving makes the Golden Rules – "Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you" (Matthew 7:12) – a practical way of life. I understand, by nature, however, most of us would prefer not to give. Deep inside my heart and mind, I'm reluctant and never desire to give. But the Holy Spirit that works in me gives me joy and the desire to "freely give." That joy is the first blessing that one will receive in return. Now realize this, we usually learn generosity because someone has (first) shown us by example. Jesus Himself has shown us first what the generosity of God means is on the cross and in His divine providence. Now He asks us to do the same. It always works like this: we have been helped by a benefactor, a friend, a teacher, coworker, or boss, – and want to do likewise for another. Do you want to be the example of giving for others to follow? Do you want to be - for God - the giving tree? Go for it-lah! THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP. | ||
| 7 Suggestions on How to Respond to MH370 Tragedy Posted: 10 Mar 2014 10:11 PM PDT 
Maybe this is the part where the Book of Job is very relevant for us today. The only truth that came out from Zaphar's lip was when he asked Job, "Can you solve the mysteries of God? Can you discover everything about the Almighty?" (Job 11:7, NLT) When Job doesn't understand what was really happened to him, God needs him to understand that – at the moment of his present disaster, Job doesn't need to understand why. Knowing this mystery and the sovereignty of God in all things can often make the difference between moving closer to the Lord or turning our backs on Him. It would be impossible, in just one short article, to go into all the reasons for suffering and for why God allows tragedy. There are many good books written for that purpose. I trust that task to the Holy Spirit to reveal and teach you and to your pastor to explain it to you. (As Christian workers, we try our best to do this). Instead, I want to focus on 7 suggestions on how we should respond to this tragedy: #1: Try to Pray-on-the-Spot Every time I read people posted "Pray for MH370", I wonder, do they really pray? Besides being hypocrite, more often than not even sincere people also sometime didn't pray because they forget about what they had said and promised they will do. Last night, I and my friends; Supang, Finiks and Donald spontaneously prayed for the tragedy while waiting for our movie show. Instead of talking and hoping for the best, we decided to take time to pray on the spot. While reading the news or while driving, take your personal time to pray. #2: Try Compassion Compassion literally means "to suffer together." While empathy refers more generally to our ability to take the perspective of and feel the emotions of another person, compassion is when those feelings and thoughts include the desire to help. I believe that if we really being compassionate toward the MH370 victims and their love ones, we wouldn't have thoughts of saying or writing about sensitive matters that may hurt others. Though in practical most of us can't be there physically to help, we do much help when we pray and spread words of hope to one another. We will seek the great good for others. #3: Try Get the Latest Updates Get the latest updates about the MH370 tragedy will help us to respond better and more accurately. Never try to be in the know-it-all or be an expert or try to spread unwarranted speculations which are not based on truth and evident. Shut up more and speak up less. Unless you're the media reporters or the rescuers on the ground, Malaysians will appreciate if you keep your opinions to yourselves. #4: Try Not to Major on Only One News By now, all eyes and ears are on the MH370 tragedy. As much as it is important to be concern about the tragedy, most of us sometime unaware of what others important news happening around Malaysia at this time such as raging Cameron Highlands forest fire, unhealthy and thick haze in Shah Alam, BR1M 3.0 is not distribute properly, no rain and water problem, Anwar Ibrahim was found guilty by the Court of Appeal, Datuk Lee Chong Wei wins the All-England Open title for a third time, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said that the leakages in the subsidy supply chain cannot be avoided as long as price controls and bulk subsidies are set in place by the government, etc. Do you know about all these news? #5: Try Self-Control By this I mean we don't need to repeat what people have said. Control the amount of our Facebook and social media posts about the MH370 tragedy. Maybe we can reduce the amount of links and only share what we ourselves have read and understood. Self-control here also mean that we don't get too obsess with the news that we forget to do what we should do such as our tasks at workplace, assignments at class and responsibilities at home. Balance between suggestion #3, #4 and #5. #6: Try Silence and Solitude Flee, be silent and pray. #7: Place Your Faith, Hope and the Future to God Yesterday I wrote: "In time of crisis, our weaknesses revealed. In time of chaos, we finally realized who our true friends are and who our real foes are. The nation is a picture of the conditions of its leaders and people. The people's reactions are the state of what they believe. There is no obvious emotional and visible differences – we all think and feel very much the same – but what really make the difference is, the invincible: Faith in the the Living Christ. That is why I consciously pray for the MH370 and places my Faith in Him who is There with us. Other than this, we have no hope both now and the future" (Edited). These are my suggestions. "We are merely moving shadows… My only hope is in you" (Psalms 39:6-7, NLT) Lord, Please Send MH370 Home, We Pray. Amen. THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP. | ||
| People First, Traditions Second Posted: 10 Mar 2014 05:29 AM PDT "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27, NLT) Jesus puts people first, regulations second. Human needs come first, traditions second. The Kingdom of God comes first – and everything else second. In practical terms, that means we must sometimes violate "sacred" traditions (or in student ministry terms "senior" traditions) and tear down barriers. Sometimes that takes great courage and wisdom.  We who would follow Jesus don't break traditions simply to break them. Customs can bring great benefits. Usually they come into being for good reasons. Yet when custom interferes with human need, we do well to consider breaking the rules. "The Sabbath was made for man."In reality, we are faced with so many traditions. We need to know when and how to apply it. Always remember this: Jesus always emphasis on loving God with all our hearts and tied this to loving our neighbors as ourselves. When I read this, I can't separate it in my mind into two commandments but in practical – both are the same commandment. How better can we show our love to God and serving people than by the way we treat them? Sometimes, because of Christ's love in us, we need to break human customs to meet human needs. THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Word Speaks Today To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 comments:
Post a Comment