Yeah... it is been a long time since I last posted... Anyway I want to share about a book that I was reading... It is titled:"Every Man, God's Man" by Stephen Arterburn and Kenny Luck... So yeah... thought it was a pretty cool book and bought it, started reading it thinking that it is just a book... How wrong I was.
The second chapter of this book was titled:"Our Divided Hearts" and the quoted verse struck me.
The eyes of the LORD search the whole earth in order to strenghten those whose hearts are fully commited to Him. [2 Chronicles 16:9]
I mean, when you read the verse, typical ppl would say that their hearts are fully commited, thus the above verse is related to them. But it got me thinking... I mean, thoughts just got into my mind, such as "Why am I serving the Music Ministry?", "Do I really have a heart for God?"... all these kind of questions that can seriously blow up your morale.
As I read further on in the chapter, it is talking about how people literally chiong forward, telling God, "I want to serve you!", but when they see the amount of time they have to spend serving etc. (a.k.a commitment), they start to break off from the service. So... what is a definition of "A Divided Heart"? Personally, I think that a divided heart is like the story about the rich young ruler in Mark 10:17-25. A divided heart is when part of you want to serve God, while the other part wants to serve the world. Example... my school life. A couple of months back, before God appeared to me, I always wanted to please my classmates so that I can scale up the Popularity Ladder. Pleasing my classmates is defined here as:Bullying the anti-social guy in the class, talking bad about ppl, agree with the Top Dogs whatever they say, even if it goes against your personal principles... That is the heart which wants to serve the world. I remember reading this from somewhere... not too sure where...
"If you serve the world, the world welcomes you. But if you want to run after Jesus, the world will despise you. Friends will turn away from you, calling you a weirdo and a supporter of nothingness"
I mean... in my case, this statement is pretty true. When I started witnessing (and during the exam period... a little weird right?) my "buddies" refuse to talk to me and they call me "Jesus freak", "Fanatic", even "Demon possesed". To God be the praise... He was protecting me all the way.
So, do we have divided hearts? I think soul searching and praying to God will help us answer the question... If we live according to the standards of the world, who are we living for? But if we live for Jesus, we will gain MUCH MUCH more compared to what the world can give...
Yeah... I'm also crapping too much... Signing off...
God rocks!
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hey yong quan!
sorry for my late comment... been busy with church and stuff and i haven't actually had the time to read your posting until this morning.. hee... sorry...
but i'm encouraged that ure beginning to read christian books coz i think those are useful tools to challenge our thinking and they can be used quite incredibly by God to change us and stuff.
but anyway, i agree with u that it's so much more worth it living for God, following His ways instead of that of the world. initially, when u step up into this new 'identity' as a committed child of God, people will ridicule u but remember what Jesus said in matthew 5:10
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
cool eh? He promises us His kingdom :) and i think that being able to stand for Him in our different areas of influence not only speaks of our faith in Him as God but also speaks of our security in Him. security regarding our identity in Christ, something that is uniquely precious to the committed christian. so yeah, don't be afraid or discouraged when people laugh at u or make fun of u because one, ure making a statement for Him and two, God is pleased and i believe that God can and will use u to minister to people and point them to Himself. so don't give up! persevere! :D
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