Work matters

I've always been quite intrigued by all the various little psychological syndromes that appear in print in the self-help section at the bookstore. There's Texas Syndrome (similar to Short Man Syndrome, the need to have everything bigger and better), Peter Pan Syndrome (for men who refuse to grow up and act like adults), Barney Syndrome (when you believe that you're a giant purple dinosaur) [joking ;)] etc.etc. I've successfully diagnosed myself with the Saviour Syndrome (the belief that I can 'save' people by helping them out and doing things for them), and the Superman Syndrome (the belief that I can do everything!) ;).

What this means practically that if someone asks me to do something I shall say yes. Never mind if I'm already getting less than 8 hours of sleep (okay, okay, I sleep a LOT so this is a BIG DEAL for me!!), and barely get time for a lunch break! GRACE SHALL DO IT [do you hear the Superman theme song in the background??]

Except... Neither the Saviour nor Superman were actually little Asian girls... In fact, Superman don't even exist, dude!! So God's been teaching me over the last few years that I need to say NO.
I can not do everything. And even if it seems as if I'm coping, God reminds me that He doesn't want me just to cope - He doesn't care what the results are, 'cause what matters to Him is my attitude towards whatever I'm doing.

This realization has struck me particularly concerning my work and my ministry so I shall tackle this in two different posts.

"Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to work we go".

When was the last time you heard such a cheerful attitude about work? Can only be in a fictional imaginary cartoon world inhabited by little people with names such as Sleepy and Dopey!!

I live in a student town, where the general attitude towards work is unconcerned and apathetic.
"I started studying for this a hour before I wrote!"
"I failed but I can do it again next year!"
"Didn't go to a lesson all year."
Even many of the solid godly Christians are suckered in by this worldly perspective towards work.

Like I wrote earlier, I was doing a lot in the last two/three years, and that meant everything suffered a little due to time constraints. But I thought it was okay, 'cause I was coping (just barely, but I was!!!) and my marks were still okay. However, I hadn't remembered that God doesn't care about marks. He doesn't care if you get a 40%, 50%, or even 90%! He cares that you treat your work as if you were doing it for Him!

Colossians 3 :23 states:

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.

I know that I might speak from one extreme- I tend to work for my academic glory and self-worth rather than for God's, but that is my personal struggle. For many their struggle will be similar, for others theirs will be to take work more seriously. I think it is up to each one of us to look at even this area of their life and ask themselves if God is Lord there!!

Ministry matters

I've always been quite intrigued by all the various little psychological syndromes that appear in print in the self-help section at the bookstore. There's Texas Syndrome (similar to Short Man Syndrome, the need to have everything bigger and better), Peter Pan Syndrome (for men who refuse to grow up and act like adults), Barney Syndrome (when you believe that you're a giant purple dinosaur) [joking ;)] etc.etc. I've successfully diagnosed myself with the Saviour Syndrome (the belief that I can 'save' people by helping them out and doing things for them), and the Superman Syndrome (the belief that I can do everything!) ;).

What this means practically that if someone asks me to do something I shall say yes. Never mind if I'm already getting less than 8 hours of sleep (okay, okay, I sleep a LOT so this is a BIG DEAL for me!!), and barely get time for a lunch break! GRACE SHALL DO IT [do you hear the Superman theme song in the background??]

Except... Neither the Saviour nor Superman were actually little Asian girls... In fact, Superman don't even exist, dude!! So God's been teaching me over the last few years that I need to say NO.

I can not do everything. And even if it seems as if I'm coping, God reminds me that He doesn't want me just to cope - He doesn't care what the results are, 'cause what matters to Him is my attitude towards whatever I'm doing.

This realization has struck me particularly concerning my work and my ministry so I shall tackle this in two different posts.

This rebuke struck home particularly with regards to youth ministry. I shall confess now that I rarely spent much time prepping for youth. In fact a few times I would just read the passage we were to tackle before the session, and wing it on the good solid teaching I'd received and able memory God had graciously blessed me with. And they got the lesson, but that doesn't matter regarding my godliness 'cause God cares how I treat ministry because this shows how I regard His work and therefore Him. What I was showing was that I didn't really care that much!

A verse that jumped out at me during a time of conviction and rebuke about this issue was 1 Thessalonians 2:8. Paul writes:

We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.

I think this is an amazing model of ministry. We are called to share the good news of God with others, but how will they believe us, and how will they see the change in our lives if we cannot share our lives with them and show that our sharing of the news comes from our love for them - that we want the best for them! Ministry is serious - and we can see it in the way Paul (for example) treated it!

So often my mistake is to do the one thing and not the other... e.g. with some of my friends I'll share the gospel of God with them (in this case I happily did so with my youth), and with others I shared my life with them but I didn't share the Word of God with them...

What a lot to think about!

Money, money, money, ain't so funny

A few posts ago, I blogged a bit on how foolish we are in running after money and material things, when we have been promised the Creator of the Universe as our portion!!

As this is something which I spent much time thinking about last year, and which I was rebuked quite a few times about (esp. by the Brother, a Commerce student), I've decided to spend more time sharing what I've learnt!

Note: This is not an all-encompassing list. This is just a few thoughts I've had about money.

1. We tend to idolize money because this is what the rest of the world idolizes and runs after.
I don't think this is a particularly new thought- just have a look at what advertising and marketing sells: a better lifestyle and life but ONLY if you have their products... And the only way you get things in this life is Moola (money). We've become a culture driven by instant gratification (which is a truism recognised by such books as Poor Dad, Rich Dad which state that one of the ways of getting rich is to delay instant gratification. i.e. don't buy on credit!) (But sorry, I digress)
At this point, I'd like you to remind you of Colossians 2:8

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

Hollow, deceptive philosophy = lies.

2. We tend to idolize money because in this way we are still able to retain some sense of our Kingship and control over our lives.
The funny thing is that in the end, our love of money gets the better of us, and that Money ends up ruling us. The very thing we were avoiding- that of living under God's GRACIOUS and RIGHTFUL rule becomes a life of living under Money's tyrannical and unfulfilling despotism. True story. Jesus himself warns us of this:

No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money (Matthew 6:24).

3. We tend to idolize money because we forget about what's waiting for us!

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life (1 Timothy 6:17-19).

Note that it isn't money that leads to our downfall, but rather our attitude towards money.
As it says in 1 Timothy 6:10: "For the LOVE of money is a root of all kinds of evil."

So what to do!??!?

What really helped me is:
1. Recognise how you value money.
The fact that I was so reluctant to give showed me exactly where my fault was- I was not trusting God's awesome promise of faithfulness and His great Sovereign character. Instead I was holding on to money tightly because it was the only way I could hold retain a modicum of control over my own life.

2. Remind yourself why you're giving it away.
The reason why we do anything as Christians is because of what Christ has done for us. There is not point in just giving money to the church because it's another thing to do in our checklist of How to be the Perfect Christian. We give to the church because Christ died for us, and because He is now our life and treasure... How much easier is is to give when we are reminded of what we have in Christ!!!!!!!!!!!

3. Give it away!
There's nothing like giving it away to lessen it's control over your life. Spend some, save some ,and GIVE SOME AWAY for the glory of God - i.e. the spreading of His Kingdom!

God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7). But because I wasn't cheerful about giving my money away, I was using this as an excuse not to give. Which is actually really daft because of course I wouldn't be happy giving money away if it had such a strong hold over me! Luckily the Brother reminded me that sometimes we need to just be self-disciplined!

There is so much more than can be said here, but here's one last thought.
There is no minimum age nor minimum salary income necessary for giving. No more excuses! I think if you're only 'just' getting pocket money, you should be willing to give some of it away to further God's work! If God really is Lord of our lives, we will be showing this in the way we treat our earthly goods.

Isaiah 55: 2, 6 reminds us that money can not fulfill us:

Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labour on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
...
Seek the Lord while He may be found,
call on Him while He is near.

Chasing after beauty

The cousin of a friend of mine was recently spotted on a beach by a model agency's scout, and within the next two weeks, she is jetting off to Milan, quite possibly also Paris and Thailand, where she shall hopefully become known as the "next Cindy Crawford"! Ooh lala!

My friend was telling me how her first shoot went; how they spent a hour and a half on her hair and makeup; how she was unable to recognise herself when she looked at herself in the mirror; and how they still hadn't received the photos yet because they needed to be Photoshopped!

And it just made me a little bit sad... 'Cause all the young girls, fashionable students, older women [and to more and more of a degree, men are also being suckered in by these lies] are chasing after the ideals of beauty found on magazine covers or catwalks or movies.. Except that these "ideals" are so unattainable in real life that they can't just sommer plonk a beautiful girl in front of a camera and take photos of her without hours of preparation and editing before and after.

Does something seem a little bit FAKE to you?!?!?

Interestingly enough, when I mentioned this to Princess Sarah she related how one of her fellow art students had taken a Cosmopolitan mag to class one day to discuss her plans for her project. As soon as she took it out, the lecturer (a well-known and talented photographer) looked at her, and said in slight puzzlement: "But you know that's all fake, right?"

Just a thought.

Good, better, BEST!

I've been struggling through something recently [ooh, how cryptic], but have been blessed by the support of my close Christian sisters and brothers. I've also been extremely encouraged and excited by God's constant reminder of how faithful, how good, and how Sovereign He is, even when it seems to me that everything's just going HaYwiRe!!

Like Paul writes in Romans 8:28

And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose

Struck by this consistent reminder, I smsed one of my close friends, Goat, to tell her "God is good! And He is giving me His strength and power to be strong, but I'm still a bit sad.. okay, very very sad."

To which she replied:

"Don't let the good be the enemy of the best!"

The point being not that God isn't the best, but that whatever's happening in my life is not MERELY good, but it's the best!! How humbling to think that our God and King is always concerned about what's BEST for us, even though we might only be allowed to understand it with hindsight.

PS Okay okay, I didn't really remember my sms word-for-word, but that's the basic gist. And Goat's sms was not included in its entirety.
PPS Nice referencing, eh!

Why oh why oh why oh why do we keep on running after earthly things?!?!!?

Hebrews 13:5 says:

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
"Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you."

The writer of Psalm 73 picks this thought up in verses 25-26

25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.

Let these words be ours today, and be shown in the way we treat God in comparison with other things.

*Sigh*... More on money and materialism later.. I've got to go correct my thinking.

If it makes you happy, then why the hell are you so sad

A line from Sheryl Crow's song If it makes you happy has been running through my head lately..

If it makes you happy
then why the hell are you so sad...

As Christians, we know the answer to the mystery of life, we have all the pieces of the puzzle, and yet, even though we walk through life knowing the awesome, fulfilling Person that is God, every now and then we are still miserable for no reason.

Do you know what I mean? You might be relaxing with friends on the grass, on the most beautiful summer's day, joking about, enjoying each others' company, and all of a sudden, a feeling of indescribable sadness will creep into your joy. And you don't know why.

At times like these, I like to think that they're God's way of reminding us that we don't belong here - that even in what we think are our happiest times, God's graciously reminding us that what we are promised in heaven is INFINITELY better than anything we'll ever experience here on earth!! And I like to think that in our happiest moments we ache, because God's created us in His image, and somehow we know that our happiness will never be complete here on earth.. 'Cause this fallen world of an earth is not the way things are meant to be!

It reminds me of how the writer of Hebrews, as well as Peter, both refer to us as "aliens and strangers [in the world]" (Hebrews 11:13, 1 Peter 11:13). Let us then remember, just like everyone's favourite ExtraTerrestial, E.T., to "phone home". Okay, okay, that analogy didn't really work, but remember how E.T.'s main line is "E.T., phone home"... Just like E. T., let's remember where our real home is - Heaven, baby!!

So next time you get hit by a sudden wave of misery, remind yourself that you are not of this world, but that you belong to a home that is infinitely greater than the place we currently are!

Keeping your word

I would really like to be known as a woman of my word. Someone who you can trust to follow through on what she says, whether it's something as silly as "I'll bring the chips to the party tonight", or important as "I'll look after Timmy while he swims".

It's been hard 'cause that means I've had to swallow a lot of my words and watch what I spontaneously sprout [and when I say spontaneously, I mean that I would and could rival Vesuvius in spontaneous eruptions!].

(Yet, it is satisfying to be someone others can take as face value and that others can trust. We are to be like our Father in everything, and if we cannot take His Word seriously, man oh man oh man, are we in SERIOUS trouble!)

I was reminded of this decision I'd made when I read this in Psalm 15 (1, 4):

Lord, who may dwell
in your sanctuary?
Who may live on your holy hill?
He....
who keeps his oath even when it hurts.

When was the last time you kept your oath EVEN WHEN IT HURTS?

I can't remember when.

Every day we have, is one more than we deserve

I was walking around in the video store earlier, browsing through all the titles and wondering what to take out (which, sadly, seems to be all that I end up doing in video stores!!!!!!!!!), when the tagline of the movie Up Close and Personal (starring Robert Redford and Michelle Pfeiffer) caught my eye:

"Every day we have, is one more than we deserve".

And though I'm sure the writers of that didn't mean it in a Christian context, it stayed with me because it so aptly sums up the grace God has given us in us still being alive.

To look at it from a human perspective, imagine that you've stolen a loaf of bread. Or maybe something more extreme like 5 million dollars. The police would immediately be on your case, hunting you down, and you'd eventually end up in prison (well, that is theoretically what should happen). There is no leniency for those who have committed crimes (yes, yes, I know that many people get away scot-free with awful crimes, but that's not helping my analogy, so hush baby!). Those who have broken the law get what they deserve: an apt punishment.

What about us? We, as rebellers, against the only True and Living Lord and God face death as punishment because the magnitude of our crime is so horrendous. Yet, God is so merciful he allows us to live so that those who repent might spend eternity with him. If we were to follow through with the human analogy, we should've been caught, judged, and thrown into prison ages again...

Every day we have really IS one more than we deserve.

God is good. Let us not forget His infinite mercy and patience!

Happy New Year! AND Sharing your faith in the New Year

Hello, are you well?? YAY! I'm back, alive and well from holidaying with family and friends in a wonderfully warm place further upcountry. I am now multiple shades of brown (and pale), have an uncomfortably darker nose than the rest of my face, and featured as the local Dish of the Week for that area's mosquitos, but am wonderfully relaxed [well, except for when I'm busy scratching away at my mozzie bites!] ! Ready to face the New Year.... Bring it on! [dum dum dum] ...oh dear; famous last words!! ;)

Like many of you I tend not to make or keep any New Year's resolutions. Or if I do, I facetiously say that my New Year's resolution is to not make any! But if I were to say one thing I'm striving for in the New Year, it is what I've been striving for every year ever since I became a Christian: "To live a life worthy of the calling I have received" [Ephesians 4:1]. And I think part living a life worthy is to share our faith with others: with non-Christians so that they too may participate in eternal life with us; and with Christians, so that they are encouraged to keep on.

God's been amazingly gracious and given me ample opportunities with one of my non-Christian friends (many of which I blundered) but right now we're busy in an honest dialogue concerning Christianity and other religions. It's quite exciting that he's interested, but also daunting, 'cause he asks amazingly good questions! (Thank God that He's in control!!)

But while I'm petrified stiff at the questions he's bringing up and the questions that he will still bring up, I'm very grateful that he is asking such good questions- they've been really good at sharpening my thinking and understanding of the gospel.

As Paul writes in Philemon 6:

I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith SO that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.

So, here's a New Year's challenge to you! Grow by going and sharing your faith with others!