Moving

Personal Posts:
http://like-apples-of-gold.blogspot.com

Under Construction

Am still trying to convert this to a blog in the conventional sense of the word before I leave, instead of a storage space for my stuff... heh.

Thanks for your patience as I figure things out and get used to this whole thing..!

Akan Datang! :)

Steve Jobs on Youth Ministry

The Culture of Violence

“Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?
and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.
And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.”
Genesis 4:6-7

We worry for the world that our children are being brought up in. The mass shooting at Virginia Tech last month spawned several similar incidents in its aftermath, the latest being the stabbing rampage by a 17-year-old Guangdong student that resulted in 6 victims just last Tuesday.

As we ‘progress’ in technological advancement and material gain, perhaps more so in affluent, developed countries, we are also increasingly made to grapple with acts of unspeakable violence committed by students who seem to be getting younger and younger. It can only be a matter of time before these disturbing trends hit our shores, and more frightening than our children being victims of violence of this nature, is the possibility of themselves being the perpetrators of it. Are we prepared to face these fearsome truths? How can such acts be explained, and as Christians how can we respond, if at all?

Explanations for Violence
The world is quick to single out various factors that explain such occurrences of violence from psychosis and emotional turmoil, to gun access and cultural norms; the current most prominent one being ‘clinical narcissism’ – the condition defined by “disablingly low self-esteem, requiring the sufferer to seek almost constant recognition and reward” (TIME Magazine, 30 April 2007). Perhaps in not so many words, this is also known not so foreignly to us as the nature of loneliness and disappointment that has plagued us since our sinful condition came into being.

For youth especially in their awkward years, the sense of disconnectedness and not-belonging can be painful and in some cases, destructive personally or to others. Furthermore, young people today have experienced so much, so soon, that promised to deliver the ultimate, and it has let them down. The nature of loneliness and disappointment, leave an entrenched emptiness in lives. An emptiness that is definitely not unique to youths, but as we can affirm, is something that can be experienced by all alike.

Ravi Zacharias contends that there is one of two responses to make – either come to God on His terms and find our perfect peace in His acceptance of us, or "play God" with self-defining morality and kill. We see this being played out in the first murder committed in human history – the murder of Abel by Cain. Cain shed his brother’s blood because he wilfully refused to heed God’s advice to gain acceptance by doing what is right, and instead chose by violence to seek to lift himself up by getting rid of the competition in the form of Abel.

Responses to Violence
If we are to ever find a real answer to the problem of violence, it will not be in the form of gun control or preemptive counseling of troubled youth, but intrinsically in the knowledge and belief that there is a Creator God who not only defines us and infuses meaning into life, but also meets us in our greatest need and gives us the confidence and comfort that we are beloved and not orphaned in this world. At the end of the day, the choice is between turning to God or playing God. Our youth need to know this truth and be assured of their value and worth in Christ, as defined by Him and not the world in terms of looks, popularity, intelligence, or wealth.

Secondly, the importance of community cannot be undermined – the importance of having friends and being a friend. Rightly put by John Donne, “no man is an island”. Many of the young killers have been described as remote or disengaged. The truth is that we cannot live apart from relationships with others. Our relational God made us in His image this way, and time and effort need to be invested into building and sustaining friendships, especially with fellow brothers and sisters-in-Christ. This is not any less important for those engaged in the modern, competitive, individualistic workplace. Likewise, we as Christians also ought to be the first to reach out to those who do not ‘fit in’ and take the first step in offering friendship and showing compassion, as a reflection of Christ’s love and acceptance of us.

Only then will we know the life-giving nurture of relationships, and the sense of belonging that will enable us to anticipate the hope of heaven – the place where every experience of belonging in this life is but an echo and foretaste.

Lengthening LENT

I have a personal fascination with commemorative events on the Christian calendar.

There is just something beautiful about walking through certain events in the life of Jesus when He was on earth – His birth, death, resurrection and ascension, or understanding the symbolic practices the Jewish people carried out in remembrance of God’s deliverance and faithfulness. Significant dates are made all the richer when time is taken to fully appreciate the history behind and cultural context that surrounded them!

Furthermore, the stipulated period of time leading up to an event, as opposed to just a single day, gives me the much-needed time in reflection and preparation before the oft-busy season descends on the church.

It hardly seemed two months ago that Advent preceded Christmas, and now we are already into the second week of Lent.

Lent what, you may ask?

Foreign as this term may be to some of us, Lent actually is one of the oldest observations on the Christian calendar. Historically in Western Christianity, Lent is the 40-day period, not counting Sundays, lasting from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. This is a time set aside in preparation for Easter, to be spent in quiet self-examination and repentance of sin, demonstrated by self-denial of some form – usually fasting. These forty days are an imitation of Jesus’ withdrawal into the wilderness for forty days before He was tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1-2).

Lent is more commonly observed by churches with a more liturgical tradition, while it comes and goes without a mention for others. Although we may frown upon the ritualistic observances and mandatory adherence to a fast that are practiced in some places, Lent can possibly be adopted as a useful period for reflection and taking stock for us. It offers us ways to ‘lengthen’ the Good Friday and Easter season through the time of meditation on the deep significance of Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection for our own lives and for the world.

For the more convicted, this might be an appropriate time to be involved in prayer and daily fasting. For others, it might be a call to give up a coffee or meal each week or even ‘fasting’ from the media such as television, computer games, or lifestyle magazines. Quite often, our bodily appetites control our actions. The purpose of fasting is to make our bodily appetites our servant rather than our master. The emphasis ought not to be so much on the fasting in and of itself, as on the spiritual renewal desired as Easter approaches through the cultivation of humility and reliance on the Father. The purpose of Lent is fulfilled when the desire is created in us to do God’s will and to make His kingdom come by making it come first of all in our hearts.

Today in our day, age, and church culture, Lent can become a purposeful time when material things are put again in their proper secondary position; when we make the effort to adjust our lenses to sharpen our ability to see the spiritual in our daily lives. If we missed the opportunity twice over in the new years recently passed to contemplate the year past and set resolutions, this can be an opportune time to take that long overdue spiritual inventory as we reflect upon our present position in the journey and double-check our directions. However, more than just mental resolutions to do better, this time of personal readjustment can be about yielding ourselves afresh to the God who demands to be obeyed, and identifying again with the Saviour who makes all things new…

Go ahead and take up the challenge to spend protected time with the Lord in the days leading up to Easter beginning today. Give something up, or simplify an area of life. And in doing so, not let the busyness of our lives and the season be yet another excuse for the irony of missing the very One we want to celebrate and worship.

35 Days to Easter!

The Mind of a Servant

Jesus knowing that...
the Father had given all things into His hands,
and that He was come from God,
and went to God;
He riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments
...and began to wash the disciples’ feet.
John 13:3-5

Dedication Sunday took place last Sunday and each year, I find a quiet joy receiving the prayer of blessing as we corporately dedicate our service afresh to the Lord’s work and people. The reminder of His faithful sustaining in the year past and the necessity for dependence on God in the journey ahead in yet another year, is needful. It also brought to mind some personal reflections on service during a bible study we had at the YF ExCo Leaders’ Retreat not too long ago.

We were looking at the all-too-familiar passage in John, chronicling the account of Jesus washing the feet of His disciples the night before His crucifixion. Without a doubt, humility was at the very core of Jesus’ words and actions. John, in recording this event, does not gloss over the details. He makes it a point to carefully narrate each step Jesus takes in the entire process - Him rising from the supper, laying aside His outer garment, taking a linen cloth, tying it around His waist to be used to dry their feet after the wash, pouring water into a basin, before finally proceeding to do the deed. One can almost imagine the scene playing out in slow motion, with each deliberate step a literal and figurative stripping away of Himself in a demonstration of humility - a visual demonstration of a greater one to follow, a humiliation unto death on a cross.

In service, in ministry, in working with others who may or may not think or act like us, we need humility. But how exactly does this humility come about? There is a humorous saying that goes we cannot know for sure if we are humble, as one who is truly humble will never admit that he is! However, I believe that the key to this question lies at what was going through the mind of Jesus at that point when He decided to wash His disciples’ feet in John 13:3. It was the knowledge of these 3 truths that enabled the Master to serve the disciples which we ought to emulate:

1. Know...God’s AUTHORITY (the Father had given all things into His hands)
In service, do you sometimes feel burnt out, overwhelmed, or inadequate?

Just as Jesus came into the world with the authority of the Father to serve mankind, we too go out with His authority (Matt 28:18-20) to render unto others what Christ had demonstrated to us. Our time, money and giftings are given into our hands from the Father that we may use them to serve God and others, and not serve ourselves. When we do that, our source of power and strength, is the source of power and strength, God Himself. When we feel like we are running on empty, check to see the real source of our fuel...

2. Know...our IDENTITY (He was come from God)
In service, do you sometimes feel like you need to always try harder, be impressive, or are unwilling to fail?

Our identity is in Christ and Christ alone. How smart we are, how rich we are, how talented we are, how attractive to others we are, how healthy we are, whatever, does not change our position as sons and daughters, and heirs of God (Romans 8:17). Our identity in Christ or lack thereof has repercussions in the way we behave toward God and others. Once we iron that out and come to the realisation that we do not need to work or be of a certain calibre to earn our position in Christ, we learn that what we do, does not determine who we are, and that there is nothing ‘beneath us’ to get our hands dirty with. We can thus find the freedom and security to do even the most menial of tasks...

3. Know...our final HOPE (He went [was going back] to God)
In service, do you sometimes feel unappreciated, short-changed, or discouraged?

In order to allow Himself to be made of no reputation, to take upon Himself the form of a servant, a man, before finally having to be humbled by dying on a cross, Jesus fixed His eyes on the final and eternal hope of not just returning back to God’s presence, but also of eventually being highly exalted (Philippians 2). We likewise, have that hope - that as we suffer for His sake, we will also be glorified together with Him (Romans 8:17). As we have come to realise in one way or another, the world more often than not does not operate on the law of fairness, made evident by the exploitation and material inequality around us. Someone works, but another claims the credit or enjoys the benefits. However, what keeps us going will be the rewards that await us beyond this world, and the new world where God’s chosen will not labour in vain - they, and not another, will live in the houses they build and eat the fruit of their own vineyards (Isaiah 65:21-23). As we toil and labour for His kingdom, we persevere and eagerly anticipate our just rewards and new inhabitance...

Looking at the perfect example of Jesus, I believe these are the 3 keys of successful service as we look ahead to a brand new year. In rendering any kind of service - big or small, we need to put on the mind of the ultimate Servant; to put on the mind of Christ - by having the knowledge that we go in God’s authority, that our identity comes from Him, and that we are eventually returning back to Him... only then will be able to begin to wash the dusty feet of others.