"You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve

(John 6:67)

Sometimes I wonder if it's worth it all. Being a Christian in a world that hates Christ, in a body that just wants to follow its own rules, with an instinct that turns to rebellion first rather than obedience... it's hard.

And Jesus knew it was going to be hard. Many a time he warned his disciples that following him would mean hardship and suffering. And the Bible makes it clear that some were put off by this.

At one specific point, when Jesus again utters teachings that were hard to accept, many disciples actually turn back (John 6). Seeing this, Jesus asks the Twelve whether they too wanted to leave. But Simon Peter poignantly answers:

"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life!" (John 6:68)

And this is why I stick it through too: "Lord, to whom shall I go? You have the words of eternal life!"

Amen.

bzzz... bzzz... bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

That mosquitoes exist is not only proof that God is gracious (I would've wiped out this species eons ago), that He has a sense of humour, and that He is serious about teaching His children (in this case, me) patience.

heehee...

Stop doing dead things!

"As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. BUT because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved" (Ephesians 2:1-5).

I think the above passage makes it clear that we've been raised from death to life - from being one of those bandage-wrapped, stinky, decaying-hand, foot-falling-off zombies to someone who is alive, clean, dandy, as fresh as a daisy thank you!

So the question is: why do we still do things that are more appropriate for the corpses we once were, rather than the living beings we now are?

It's hard. Trust me, I know! I mess up the WHOLE time. And I think it's partly 'cause I haven't been trained in the new way of righteousness, and it's partly 'cause I don't click mentally that I don't have to behave the way I always do*.

Well, guess what?!? We don't have to do those things we used to do!! We are alive in Christ and no longer in the Camp of the Zombies! So let's stop doing dead things!

STOP!


*Obviously, there's more to that than this, but for the purposes of this post, let's not get too complicated.

Symptoms..

For some reason, I know I'm struggling/ doubtful/ unhappy/ cross with God/ [something is not right] when I'm not eating properly. I tend to eat quite healthily and when I
1) overeat (which is saying much, cause I actually eat a LOT in the first place!), or
2) eat junk food (I enjoy eating healthily and don't usually don't touch the stuff),
then I know something's up.

The last few days, I've had: the glorious Maccy D's fries, eaten a whole big pack of chips by myself (Mexican habanero flavour actually.. it was frigging awesome.. I felt like I was burning inside!! Yum yum! So I had to eat more for the fire feeling!), tons of pizza (which I usually avoid because I don't do well with dairy), fudge, ice-cream (again, dairy), choc sticks... Get the picture?

It's quite a handy symptom. And it makes sense. If something's not right with your relationship with God, obviously you'll turn to an idol that you can control. Or not really. Overeating/ eating junk food might actually just be a minor self-destructing tendency.

...I think I over-psychoanalyse.

Either way, something's up. Hmm....

The image of God

What does the Bible mean when it says that we're made in the image of God (see Genesis 1:26-28)? I'm thinking through that (very slowly), but a friend sent me the following post from Shannon Lewis which was really insightful. I'm cutting and pasting some of it here:

"Moses wrote the book of Genesis. In ancient times – in Egypt and the other surrounding areas where Moses lived, they had Pharaohs and Emperors who ruled over huge territories. They didn't have TV's, nor Billboards, so to remind the people of who was "Boss" – who was "Head Honcho" – who owned all of 'this' – you had IMAGES (little statues) on every street corner, and in front of important places of business. In fact, just about anywhere you went, who ever your King was – he'd have his Face & Shoulders carved into wood, or stone, shaped from gold or some other expensive metal. And EVERY PLACE you saw an image of the Emperor – it was as good as if the Emperor had been standing there saying "THIS IS MINE" – it stood as a constant reminder of who he was, and who you were in relationship to him – it represented his sovereignty, power, and authority over you, and whatever you did to that image, you might as well have done it to him. Yet, this image was replaceable, because it was normally just clay or stone – on rare occasion they were made of more valuable metals and such, but even then…it wasn't what the images were MADE OF themselves that made them valuable, it was who the represented that determined their worth.

And THAT is what Moses is referring to when he calls you the "image of God"…you were created for one primary reason, to spread God's kingdom by simply "being" like God to people. When you look upon another person, they are to act as a reminder of God – that they are His, that THIS is ALL HIS – to you. As much as you may not like me - no matter how you feel about me – I am a reminder, an image, of God to you…and you are to me the same!

But here's the real tricky part – do you know what that means? If you attack me physically – God takes it as if you are attacking Him. It's just like you taking a beautiful statue of your ruling Pharaoh, Emperor, King, or President, and bashing it to pieces right before his eyes. And when you make fun of or speak badly about others, you might as well take that beautiful statue of God, and paint graffiti all over it – deface it for the entire world to see. You don't think it's true?"

He takes the Genesis passage further and concludes that "The meaning of Life: to be like God, to represent God to those who don't see Him yet, to recognize God in people and place who can't believe that they might be His, and to SPREAD that IMAGE, so that others will recognize their need to be like God, to represent God, and to see Him places that they may have never recognized Him before! In one short phrase – the meaning of your life is to GLORIFY GOD!"

Wow, that's the last time I'm kicking my brother.

Showing favouritism.. or not...

Heard the coolest reason for not showing favouritism the other day:

We should be awed by the glory of God, not by the glory of individuals.

A torch shining in the night seems to have a powerful bright light. But in the dawning of the sun, that light is nothing at all. In the same way, the glory of individuals should be nothing in the light of Christ's glory.

And this has a few implications: if God's glory is more than people's glory, we won't be concerned with others' meaningless human glory as seen in achievements. I don't say this to diminish other people's achievements - many people have done amazing things! - but rather to point out that God is so overwhelmingly glorious that anything else will seem meaningless beside him. Another implication is that if God's glory is more than other people's glory, we will want to live for Him and be like Him - treating others not on basis of superficial characteristics like class, money, status, but being equal and consistent to all because He commands us to love in this way. Another reason we treat people in this way is because all people have been created in God's glorious image. See? Ooh la la, lots to think about! Hope this post made sense; busy multitasking like a person with five heads and ten arms!

Laying down your life

I was reading John this morning and read the following verse: "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13), thinking as I usually do when I read that, that there definitely are some people I'd be willing to be die for.

Then it struck me.

This verse isn't really talking about a once-off-dying-thing-like-if-you're-stuck-in-a-concentration-camp-and-the-guards-are-nasty-and-want-to-blow-someone's-brains-out-and-you-step-forward-cause-you-know-that-everyone-else-has-a-really-good-reason-for-wanting-to-live-to-see-another-sunrise (not that I'm planning to be in a concentration camp any time soon). Well, I suppose this verse would cover that scenario as well. But I hadn't clicked yet this verse also covers daily sacrifices and graces that you carry out for your friends. The things you do when you don't quite feel like it, the things you say when you actually feel like being nasty and irritated, the things you think when your mental critic is raging forth..

Ne-c'est pas? Makea da sense?

Hahahahahahahahaha. Hohohohohohohoho. Hehehehehehhe. Umph.

I've been thinking a lot about grace (seethis post on a recent thought on grace) and inevitably that has led me to consider areas in which I could use a little bit more grace.

In particular, God's been teaching me a lot about the way I use my humour. More specifically, the way I use mean humour to get laughs. You know what I mean: we call it 'ripping off' and under the guise of 'good fun', we use words to break others down.

But on Friday, it suddenly struck me: Why do we distinguish between the way we joke and the way we usually talk about stuff? What makes it acceptable that we joke about coarse things or that we joke ungraciously when God commands us to be pure and gracious in all things? What makes it acceptable when we wouldn't even think about being ungracious or impure when we're 'serious'? I don't think this means the end to all joking. I think this means we must learn to use joking in a way that DOES build up or that does not rely on breaking others down.

I've heard from some people that it could be okay to only use 'ripping off' jokes on those people that we know are strong enough to deal with them. However, God's also been using people to make those jokes at my expense recently when I haven't been all that emotionally strong. And even though I was aware these jokes were made in jest, they really sucked. So again, why do we justify these jokes?

The one explanation I can think of is that this is the vocabulary of humour for the majority of the people we're surrounded with, and we've unthinkingly let the world's standards determine our own standards. Another thing is that we are deeply self-centered (or insecure) and we let our egos control our jokes - so we make jokes in a way that imply that we're better than others. One last factor I've been thinking about is that it's so much harder having to be creative with your humour and practising humour that won't offend or hurt. But let's do it! Let's be different and love Jesus and fellow brothers and sisters with our humour!

Here are Awesome Joe-some's thoughts on this: "But here's another thought, which we can ask ourselves once we've sorted out the bad joking - the question still stands, of what the main thing about us is:
[W]e should seriously consider whether there is more to us than just our joking - Are you most known for that, or for being a solid, sound Christian brother/sister who is fun?"

Let's be the living models of grace

or rather, gracious. 'Cause I'm not too being gracious at times!

Last week's memory verse (how exciting, I'm doing well at keeping up with this memorizing thing thus far) was 2 Corinthians 12:9

But he said to me: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

And I was just blown away by this reminder of God's grace. But then that made me think: If we're supposed to be like God, how many people feel genuinely that they can come to us with their insecurities and weaknesses and problems knowing that we'll be gracious and gentle with them? That we're different from others who might mock them? 'Cause it's so great to be able to turn to God with our problems knowing that He is compassionate, loving, gracious and understanding. Are we the same?

Be strong and courageous!

My memory verse for today is a verse I already blogged on a few posts back:

"Then the leaders of Judah will say in their hearts: 'The people of Jerusalem are strong because the Lord Almighty is their God" (Zech 12:5).

And I've already decided that next week's memory verse will be Joshua 1:9

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."

I've decided on these verses specifically because I haven't been feeling that brave or strong or courageous lately. In fact, when I realized that a specific situation might turn into a particularly trying one, instead of praising God for seeing fit to mould me more like Him, or for asking God for strength, I was desperately praying: "God, no, no, no, no, no. Not a good idea! Please no." Or you know, something like that. Lots of panicking!

Then I read a bit of John yesterday and I hit a verse which was really amazing. Jesus had just finished telling his disciples about his death again, and he says:

"Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour?' No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!'" (John 12:27-8).

What a great reminder that I shouldn't be scared or freaked out by various circumstances - because it's not really about me. It's about God's glory. The reason why I'm still here on earth is to glorify God's name in whatever circumstances and struggles I face. And His name WILL be glorified. And I CAN be brave and strong and courageous because he is MY GOD!

And because I've started eating a heck lot of spinach. ;)