Unlike previously where I shared that I was wasting my time away doing pointless activities (or nothing), things have really picked up since then. I have been learning quite a bit about God and am real excited to continue knowing more about Him =). (Reason why I have not penned down my thoughts here or updated the RAFT blog is because I am still trying to chew and digest many of the things I have read)
It's really been helpful thinking about God in a more intellectual sense as it has helped shape a few paradigms, aided me in coming up with what’s my stand on certain issues and allowed me to appreciate God more. (Reminder to self; let’s not get carried away with stimulating ourselves intellectually and forget about using our heart to feel and listen to God and vice-versa. I personally have neglected the deeper intellectual dimension for a quite while)
Anyway I shan’t bore you all those supposedly “more intellectual” thoughts (which very likely would seem rudimentary to you, the reader) with my inability to expresses such things concisely and with clarity. Hence I shall share some thoughts that apply more directly to my life.
Before I proceed with the actual sharing, let me note that something read from the bible that seems to have some link to what we may be experiencing does not equate to an exact interpretation / explanation of the current situation. Though are many times when God has used His word from the bible to deal with my ongoing situation head-on, we must always be wary of not interpreting the word to suit our circumstances despite our predilection to draw links between the two. We must always evaluate the word with minds, heart and most importantly the spirit as “his anointing (the spirit) teaches you (us) about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit – 1 John 2:27”. Having mulled over the word, I would like to make it clear that the bible passages (Isaiah 29-30) that I will be referring is something that God has used to teach and deal with me personally and by using these passages, I am not trying to imply that they represent the current state of affairs.
The reason why I must emphasize the above is because I will be using Isaiah 29-30 to relate to the small brouhaha in the Youth Ministry of recent, and what I feel God has impressed on my heart in all humility. The chapters taken from Isaiah talk about the time before the siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib. Thus what I have been painstakingly trying to put across is that our YM is not under any siege by the parents and verses such as Isaiah 29:24 (“… those who complain will accept instruction.”) are not an allusion to them in any way. With that aside I hope I can now proceed with my sharing without causing any misunderstanding freely.
Amongst the many lessons I got out from these passages which I found so enriching, I shall take out 4 points.
Formalities
Isaiah 29:13 “The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.”
Worship of God pertains to the whole spectrum of living our lives but for the sake of brevity I shall focus on the corporate worship session at church. I am the sort of person who believes (and still striving to be such a person) that when we worship, we should put all formalities and opinions of others around us aside; let’s lift our voices, dance, raise our hands, kneel, cry… whatever God inspires us to do as we use all of our heart, body soul and mind to reach out to Him.
My initial mindset usually relates “rules taught by men” as those sort worship sessions where some people feels it’s their obligation to give the very solemn (sometimes pained and glum) look, remain very still as if they were part of a marching contingent, etc. Just to clarify, I am not trying to criticize such worships; I truly believe that God looks at the heart above all.
But on the flip-side, could our “rules taught by men” now be the raising of hands, jumping etc.? Do we think to ourselves, “Oh the music is starting to build up; time to start raising hands” or “This is the sort of song where everyone jumps so I ought to join in”? Our outwardly exuberant appearances and postures of worship are of no significance if our “hearts are far from” God.
Moreover, this more visible expression of worship could be a greater stumbling block to others. Imagine if our friends/parents see us worshipping God with all these outward expressions but do not see the change in our hearts when we leave the worship hall. I am sure that would cause a lot of doubts to fill their minds vis-à-vis our reasons for worshipping in such a manner, hence giving some parents an added reason to speculate and raise concerns.
In a rather crude way of putting it across, I sometimes would rather people look as if they were mannequins if their attitudes for worshipping were wrong and if they do not let their experience with God transform their lives lest outsides conclude that God was not working through the lives of others who were worshipping God with all their might.
This being said, I also hope the contrary does not happen where people think, “My life is such a mess, I am not worthy to give my all in worship to God today or else others may think I am a hypocrite.” Do not be discouraged if you do not find yourself turning into a saint after the worship session. Instead, having examined our hearts, let us endeavor to give everything we have to Him in worship despite how distant we may seem from God. Allow the Holy Spirit to convict and empower us to change our lives. I believe that there will definitely be a change in one’s life if we continually do so, if not, let’s re-examine our lives.
Just as we worship in song with all our might, live the life He wants us to live with all our might.
(Due to time constraints, I think I shall stop here for now. I hope what was written did not come out as gibberish. And if there any parts inappropriate I should remove please do tell me. Thanks.)
It's really been helpful thinking about God in a more intellectual sense as it has helped shape a few paradigms, aided me in coming up with what’s my stand on certain issues and allowed me to appreciate God more. (Reminder to self; let’s not get carried away with stimulating ourselves intellectually and forget about using our heart to feel and listen to God and vice-versa. I personally have neglected the deeper intellectual dimension for a quite while)
Anyway I shan’t bore you all those supposedly “more intellectual” thoughts (which very likely would seem rudimentary to you, the reader) with my inability to expresses such things concisely and with clarity. Hence I shall share some thoughts that apply more directly to my life.
Before I proceed with the actual sharing, let me note that something read from the bible that seems to have some link to what we may be experiencing does not equate to an exact interpretation / explanation of the current situation. Though are many times when God has used His word from the bible to deal with my ongoing situation head-on, we must always be wary of not interpreting the word to suit our circumstances despite our predilection to draw links between the two. We must always evaluate the word with minds, heart and most importantly the spirit as “his anointing (the spirit) teaches you (us) about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit – 1 John 2:27”. Having mulled over the word, I would like to make it clear that the bible passages (Isaiah 29-30) that I will be referring is something that God has used to teach and deal with me personally and by using these passages, I am not trying to imply that they represent the current state of affairs.
The reason why I must emphasize the above is because I will be using Isaiah 29-30 to relate to the small brouhaha in the Youth Ministry of recent, and what I feel God has impressed on my heart in all humility. The chapters taken from Isaiah talk about the time before the siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib. Thus what I have been painstakingly trying to put across is that our YM is not under any siege by the parents and verses such as Isaiah 29:24 (“… those who complain will accept instruction.”) are not an allusion to them in any way. With that aside I hope I can now proceed with my sharing without causing any misunderstanding freely.
Amongst the many lessons I got out from these passages which I found so enriching, I shall take out 4 points.
Formalities
Isaiah 29:13 “The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.”
Worship of God pertains to the whole spectrum of living our lives but for the sake of brevity I shall focus on the corporate worship session at church. I am the sort of person who believes (and still striving to be such a person) that when we worship, we should put all formalities and opinions of others around us aside; let’s lift our voices, dance, raise our hands, kneel, cry… whatever God inspires us to do as we use all of our heart, body soul and mind to reach out to Him.
My initial mindset usually relates “rules taught by men” as those sort worship sessions where some people feels it’s their obligation to give the very solemn (sometimes pained and glum) look, remain very still as if they were part of a marching contingent, etc. Just to clarify, I am not trying to criticize such worships; I truly believe that God looks at the heart above all.
But on the flip-side, could our “rules taught by men” now be the raising of hands, jumping etc.? Do we think to ourselves, “Oh the music is starting to build up; time to start raising hands” or “This is the sort of song where everyone jumps so I ought to join in”? Our outwardly exuberant appearances and postures of worship are of no significance if our “hearts are far from” God.
Moreover, this more visible expression of worship could be a greater stumbling block to others. Imagine if our friends/parents see us worshipping God with all these outward expressions but do not see the change in our hearts when we leave the worship hall. I am sure that would cause a lot of doubts to fill their minds vis-à-vis our reasons for worshipping in such a manner, hence giving some parents an added reason to speculate and raise concerns.
In a rather crude way of putting it across, I sometimes would rather people look as if they were mannequins if their attitudes for worshipping were wrong and if they do not let their experience with God transform their lives lest outsides conclude that God was not working through the lives of others who were worshipping God with all their might.
This being said, I also hope the contrary does not happen where people think, “My life is such a mess, I am not worthy to give my all in worship to God today or else others may think I am a hypocrite.” Do not be discouraged if you do not find yourself turning into a saint after the worship session. Instead, having examined our hearts, let us endeavor to give everything we have to Him in worship despite how distant we may seem from God. Allow the Holy Spirit to convict and empower us to change our lives. I believe that there will definitely be a change in one’s life if we continually do so, if not, let’s re-examine our lives.
Just as we worship in song with all our might, live the life He wants us to live with all our might.
(Due to time constraints, I think I shall stop here for now. I hope what was written did not come out as gibberish. And if there any parts inappropriate I should remove please do tell me. Thanks.)
3 comments:
hey man.
really encouraging post.
and thanks for.well reminding me about my position as a christian. and the language i use sometimes too(:
hello. that's only 1 point! where're the other 3? haha. and pls use simpler english for the sake of the rest of us :P
Tianyi - No prob man. Glad you took the mail in the right spirit =). Let's continue to strive to live for Him everyday.
Minwei - Paiseh, I didn't want to write too long a mail or else spoil everyone's eyes =p. The ingerwish kewhite seemple wad.
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