Girly.
Albert, what are you trying to say, my last layout sucked is it... Never tell me earlier! And why you complain bout the stars and not the pink colour... Hahaha... Think something wrong with you. :P Okay, joking.
Well if you all wanna meet up I am free! Duh. Haha.
Hm, what should I post about? Well, actually, last night on my way home, I saw this guy on the bus. From the back, he looked a lot like someone I know. Then he turned around, and it wasn't him. I felt quite disappointed, and surprised that I was disappointed. Then I thought about how often in life that this kind of scenario happens. When we pray, "Lord, Your will be done." and the Lord's will is done, but it wasn't what we wanted, we get disappointed. Why?
I don't really have an answer. Lately I have been drifting quite far away, :( I'm not sure why also.
Proverbs 6
10 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:
11 So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.
I've been sleeping spiritually. I feel like, I just need a rest. But it's like going up a down escalator: once you stop going up, it means you're going down. Sigh.
Hi. Been busy with camp and school. Hope you two are doing fine in Indo. Well Rita all of us have our own set of problems with our parents; parents are also human and imperfect. Just honour them in the Lord, have faith, be strong yah? Pray for them :)
Had a huge dinner at my grandma's house earlier. Stuffed! Think I've eaten enough to last me until next year ahaha...
* * *
No voice can sing, no heart can frame,
Nor can the memory find,
A sweeter sound than Jesus' name,
The Saviour of mankind.
But what to those who find? Ah, this -
Nor tongue nor pen can show;
The love of Jesus, what it is,
None but His loved ones know.
- Bernard of Clairvaux (trans. Edward Caswall)
May the joy of the Lord fill your heart and your home as we celebrate the birthday of our Lord and King.
Blessed Christmas!
Seek, Set, Subdue.
Sorry Albert! We wanted a little "girl time" =D Okay next time definitely invite you. Haha. Glad to hear your uni life's improving. Mine is kind of at a normalised level. I am still looking forward to the summer break.
Had a very good message this afternoon. I typed out what I took down to share with you guys (and added some afterthoughts while I was typing). Hope this will help you in your walk with the Lord.
* * *
Inward Change: Seek the Heavenly
Colossians 3:1-5
1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
The theme of Colossians is the preeminence of Christ. Evidence of this is found in the following verse:
Colossians 1:18
And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
As it is natural for man to want to take control of his own destiny, so to speak, there is then an ongoing struggle between the natural man's desires and giving Christ the preeminence in all things. But you may ask, why should Christ have the preeminence in all things? What right has He got, that He should require preeminence in all things?
Colossians 1:20-21
20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
and
Colossians 2:6-7
6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
The foundation for
everything in a Christian's life - success, happiness, whatever - should be Christ. You can only find fullness through Him and Him alone.
Logically, we owe this preeminence to Christ in all things in our life because our life belongs to Him - He paid for it with His blood (
Colossians 1:20 ...through the blood of his cross...).
Chapter 3 is basically about how are we to live in view of Christ's preeminence.
3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
The
If... in verse 1 translated means "since". It is not a question - it is an affirmation of a fact. It is indeed a fact that we, as the elect, are risen with Christ. The basis for this verse goes back to the previous chapter:
in
Colossians 2:20
Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,
Christ died in our place, that most of us are aware of. However, He also
arose in our place, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God, interceding for us daily.
In the Gospel of Mark we are told that after Jesus had arisen from the grave and had spoken to His disciples, He ascended into heaven, and sat at His Father's right hand:
Mark 16:19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.
Jesus is interceding for us daily, which is to say that our prayers, prayed
in Jesus' name, are brought to God, made righteous because Christ intercedes for us, and we are covered with the blood of Christ (for that is the only way which God can hear us; David says in
Psalms 66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:); and Christ and the Father are one - as is shown here in the following passage:
John 17:9-11
9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
We are
dead with Christ (
Colossians 2:20) - dead to our old ways (...
from the rudiments of the world... - rudiments means ways). So why are we subject (or following) the ways of the world?
As Paul says in
Colossians 3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above... because, if we are indeed one in Christ, as the Father and Son are (
John 17:11 ...
that they may be one, as we are.) then, we are already risen with Christ, in heaven, at the right hand of God.
Colossians 2:13 says,
And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
So, since we know we have been crucified with Christ, as Paul says in
Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: neverthless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me., and we know we have been ressurected with Him, then we are bound by the obligation of such knowledge to attribute our redemption to the saving grace of His blood, and that we owe our lives to the redeemer, which is Christ Himself.
The implications of such knowledge are that we
MUST act differently. It should not come as a surprise to us that the rest of the world sees us as foreigners, because we
ARE foreigners. Having been
...quickened together with him... (
Colossians 2:13) we are henceforth His, and that also is to say, not of the world. We can never be of both.
Jesus says in
Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
We are then to
seek the heavenly. This is not an emotion, it is a choice. We have to earnestly want it, but not just want it - not just feel that we have to, but we must also follow through with it.
Seek is an action, a verb.
Also note that
...things which are above... does not mean that we just only look forward to heaven, but bear in mind the purpose of the seeking of heavenly things - which is the preeminence of Christ. The believer's life should therefore be dominated by a pattern of the heavenly, because that is where Christ is. We must always be conscious of our desires, whether they are earthly, or heavenly. We become worldly because we are not constantly seeking the heavenly. As Christ is perfect, so should we strive to be perfect in all things. Earthly things cannot be perfect. There is always something that will corrupt its beauty. But heaven is where your heart should be.
Jesus says in
Matthew 6:19-21
19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
The next verse,
3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
While
seek is a decision, a making up of your mind to do it,
set is a heart response. It's something that takes time.
But if you do not first
seek, you won't
set. Without conscious effort, your affections will not change.
The verse further outlines positive: what you should set your affection on - things above, and negative: what you should
not set your affection on - things on the earth.
The state we are in is the state of the 'natural man' (
1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.). We have this natural tendency towards the earthly. While having your affections set on the heavenly does not mean your affections for the earthly will disappear, it does mean that they will be in subjection to what Christ wants, ...
that in all things he might have the preeminence. (
Colossians 1:18)
Verse three:
3:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
All that we have, all that we are, all that we will ever have, and all that we will ever be, is all because of Christ. We have been set free by His death and ressurection. We can enjoy all things that are heavenly, but not all things that are earthly. Just as a foreigner in a country cannot enjoy everything that the country has to offer to its citizens unless he does so illegally, a Christian cannot enjoy everything this world has to offer, unless he does so sinfully, disobediently. And we are foreigners in this world, because we have been made dead to the world, and hence, sin (...
ye are dead,...
Colossians 3:3).
Jesus said in
John 10:27-29
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
Our lives are
hid with Christ in God, and no one, nothing, can pluck us out of God's hands.
Romans 8:38-39
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
3:4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
Christ is our life - what does this mean? We have an heavenly inheritance and wealth. We are rich in Christ. Right now, we have only partaken of a very small measure of our future inheritance, and we will see the full measure of it at His second coming.
So why should there even be a question of regret at giving up the earthly for the heavenly?
Many Christians are either unwilling to change, or unconvinced of the necessity for change. They don't see the worth in the heavenly things. An example that the speaker gave was that of a pot of gold and a pot of dung. Many Christians are holding on to the pot of dung, blind to the gold in the other pot, and not willing to work towards the path that will bring them to that pot of gold.
At this point, the well-known parable of the wise man and the foolish man in
Matthew 7 came to my mind.
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
1 John 5:11-12
11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
Paul also says in
Philippians 3:10,14
10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
What kind of mark are we pressing towards? We are told to seek the heavenly, to set our affection on the things above; to come to a realisation, to have a change in mindset and perspective.
3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
1 Peter 2:9
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;
In my previous entry I wrote about being the lights of the world. We are
chosen, a
royal priesthood, and being priests, are therefore
holy, and being strangers on earth, a
peculiar people - the world will not know us, because they do not recognise the sons of God; they knew not Christ.
1 John 3:1
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
The speaker talked about a very pertinent point: having this knowledge of our inheritance and position as the children of heaven, verse 5 is not a suggestion. God is not saying, "
Please..." It is in fact, a command. We are to
put to death sinful thoughts and desires, the affections we have set on earthly things that are displeasing to God - the lust of the eyes, pride of life, and lust of the flesh. It is again, not a request, suggestion, or plea. There is no excuse, no 'but's.
Jesus said in
Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Seek. Set. Subdue.
sunshine in my soul
Was great to meet up with you Rita :) Are we still meeting next week? Three of us. Albert let us know when you're free?
I've a new blog address: http://tatatee.motime.com
As you know, this week has been quite a trying one for me. I guess it might seem kind of silly (I do/did feel quite silly about it - but though I tried not to let it get too far, I guess in the end, it still affected me quite a bit), but yeah. These things happen.
But it helped to talk to you guys. Thanks. :)
I also took comfort in this:
Job 1:21 Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.
I thank God for the smiles the friendship brought to my face (still does sometimes), and also thank God for taking away something I think was affecting me in my service to Him (all that struggle over the motives - now I can be assured that they are pure). Like I said, I do believe that God has a higher purpose and better plan for me than what I can see right now, but at the same time, I guess it's natural to want to mope for a while. Alright, enough. On to other things.
Just want to draw your attention to a few passages:
First, 2 Corinthians 1:3-7
3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.
6 And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
7 And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.
And
Psalms 43
3 O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.
4 Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God.
5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
Basically, I have been holding on to these two passages very tightly for the past few days.
The thing that came to my mind when I read the first part of
Psalms 43:3 O send out thy light and thy truth... was Jesus' words in
Matthew 5
14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
We have this duty to let our lights shine before men, so that our Father in heaven might be glorified. What I feel is that I can't be an effective light if I'm depressed.
Ok lah, don't need to "feel". I think it's true, and not just for me. When you're blue, it's hard to comfort others, let alone witness to them, or give thanks and glorify God.
And, reading
Psalms 43:5, where David questions his reason for being sad -
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? - I also felt that like him, I should question myself: why am I feeling down?
hope thou in God - we have this special hope, that of salvation, and of the return of the Lord, when we shall go to a place where there is no more sadness.
So I think that since God is sovereign, and almighty, and can do anything, He can surely comfort me.
Job 23:10 says
...when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. I read that on my calendar yesterday (it's a daily calendar with a verse for every day) and it said, "If your hopes are being disappointed now, it means they are being refined."
Like Paul says,
whether we be afflicted,... or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. (
2 Corinthians 1:6)
And I also think that sometimes we've gotta be sensitive to the need of our friends who are quietly praying,
God, send out Your light and truth, people who want to come to God's house and receive true peace, but who maybe don't know how to go about doing it.
So let the joy of the Lord be your strength (
Nehemiah 8:10), lest while I'm feeling down, I miss some opportunities to lead others to God's holy hill and to His tabernacles.
