May 2011
19 posts
“Sometimes we change what the bible says: Instead of “God will supply for all our needs”, it is “God will supply for all our greed.”
—Pastor Soong: sermon in COGS
It’s been a really slow month waiting for my job offer letter to come and getting the employment pass stuff done. I really can’t wait to start and all these setbacks (although I know it’s just protocol and procedure) just makes me really want to hurl in boredom. Going to collect and update my offer at NTU this afternoon. Then the procedures for the employment pass can finally commence. And I pray that the government will approve fast.
I’m glad that I’ve got Tiffany, Bright, Shaun and Abo (who specially came down from KL for a 2 nights trip to JB) to be with me. We won’t have much time to hang about a lot when I start work.
That Song
See that bill?
It holds a song.
That song which rises from the heart of greed.
Winding, twisting, sneaking all.
It’ll tangle your life,
From the root to the fruit.
Life can never separate itself from that bill.
We rely on it too much for survival.
But what if one day that paper burns?
What else do we have living for?
The money, the cars, the houses, perhaps people.
They’ll never satisfy that vacuum which sits at the chest.
If we wonder why we’ve lost our meaning and our humanity,
It’s because we fill that vacuum with temporal things.
But love- oh my love -it sings,
With a different song, a lasting song.
A song that brings eternal life and joy.
A song that is willing to sacrifice for you.
That song is a gift that requires no condition.
It is based on truth and grace.
Bringing fulfilled promises and glorious rainbows.
And that will be the song of love I will sing.
The Church's All-Time Biggest Blunders | The Vine →
thevinetoday.com
by Bob Gass
It’s never too late to learn from our blunders. Here are 7:
(1) We’ve made unbelief a doctrine. While third-world nations believe God for New Testament results, we teach our seminary students that God doesn’t do miracles anymore.
(2) We’ve tolerated division. Who needs the devil when we’re so adept at hating one another in the name of denominational loyalty?
(3) We’ve cultivated a religious spirit. We’ve taught that Christianity is about avoiding things like smoking and drinking. As a result we’ve lost our joy, because intimacy with God cannot be achieved through performance.
(4) We’ve encouraged “super stars.” Consequently, some of our preachers have stopped modeling servanthood, and forgotten that Jesus washed feet and rode on a donkey.
(5) We’ve equated money with success. We’ve found a way to ‘theologise’ greed, instead of using our God-given prosperity to feed the poor and reach the world with the Gospel.
(6) We’ve stayed in the pews and become irrelevant. We freak out when somebody uses rap or rock music to reach the younger generation. Instead of engaging the culture we’re hiding from it.
(7) We’ve taught people to be escape-artists. Instead of “occupying till He comes,” we’d rather be astronauts and fly away. We read rapture novels when we should be praying for those living on the verge of martyrdom. Why can’t we have their kind of faith? We can - if we’re willing to pay the price and commit ourselves fully to God!
“Look at the cross! Christianity is not a religion. It’s about relationship. Firstly between God the Father and us [vertical]. And then between one another [horizontal]. We are made right with God and then called to be right with one another.”
—Pastor Soong: today’s sermon at COGS
April 2011
67 posts
What is your story?
Every time I enter the MRT, or bus, or a shopping mall, or just walking by the roadside, I see the strangers around me with the same stony face and I wonder what is their story?
Behind that city facade who are they really?
Do they have financial or relationship problems? Is that person a victim of domestic abuse? Is that person having an extra marital affair? Are those college kids making it through their studies? Are those young’uns playing truant?
I like to imagine their lives. Based on what I see, for that one instance, I dream of their situations behind that stony (usually unsmiling) face.
Of course, all of that stays inside my head.
