It really amazes me sometimes, how christians can be so hypocritical. It really amazes me that they can call themselves "Christians" and yet they do not put Christianity into practise.
What is the essence of Christianity? To obey the 10 commandments and to obey God are just some of the many things. And just how do we obey God? Well, it's a circular argument really, that when we obey God, we obey the 10 commandments.
What is the greatest of all commandments? Someone once asked Jesus, intending to trick him. And he said, the greatest commandment of all is to "love your God and love your neighbour as yourself" because the basis of Christianity is in the love that our Father has for us. And before we say that we love God, we first have to love our neighbour.
So who exactly does our neighbour encompass? Not just literally the person living next to you or the person sitting next to you in class or in your office. But the neighbour that Jesus refers to here is everyone that we have contact with. It could be the person that bumped into you on the train this morning, the person on the bus, basically everyone! And this includes people we do not like, people who are unlike us perhaps in terms of race, language, religion, beliefs, looks, attitude, values, aptitude, expectations. It encompasses a wide range of people!
So my question today is: how can we call ourselves Christians (and lecture others on being a christian) and not be a true christian ourselves? how can we discriminate against others and still call ourselves a child of God?
As a child of God, we have to follow and seek after God's own heart. We have to love others as we love ourselves, even those whom we find the most difficult to love, even those whom are different from us. Each and everyone of us have been fearfully and wonderfully made by God and he loves each and everyone of us. All of us are perfect in His eyes. So if our heavenly Father loves even those whom we feel are unlovable, even those whom shun Him, who are we to do anything other than love them? Who are we to decide how we want to treat others?
Just as our heavenly Father loves us, so should we love others.
I honestly think that alot of Christians ought to reflect before discriminating against others. By discriminating against others, we are insulting God and His creations. For being the one true God, He has created everything in his image and likeness. So, by shunning people who are not like us, we are shunning God.
"Them. Us. Look at them, they are us. What differences do you see?"
|2:19 PM|
(0) comments
Monday, August 10, 2009
in every season
I’ve been waiting for my dreams To turn into something I could believe in And looking for that Magic rainbow On the horizon I couldn’t see it Until I let go Gave into love and watched all the bitterness burn Now I’m coming alive Body and soul And feelin’ my world start to turn
And I’ll taste every moment And live it out loud I know this is the time, This is the time To be more than a name Or a face in the crowd I know this is the time This is the time of my life Time of my life
Holding onto things that vanished Into the air Left me in pieces But now I’m rising from the ashes Finding my wings And all that I needed Was there all along Within my reach As close as the beat of my heart
and I’ll taste every moment And live it out loud I know this is the time, This is the time to be More than a name Or a face in the crowd I know this is the time This is the time of my life Time of my life
And I’m out on the edge of forever Ready to run I’m keeping my feet on the ground Arms open wide Face to the sun
the time of my life by David Cook
|8:52 PM|
(0) comments
Friday, May 08, 2009
sometimes
the weather has been really freaky these few days. just a really simple example: the weather yesterday was crazily hot while the night before there was a huge thunderstorm. This morning, i woke up to the cool breeze that hinted at the possibility of having heavy rain and clouds for the rest of the day. While walking to the bus stop, it suddenly occurred to me that although weathermen can predict the weather, or attempt to predict the weather, there are times when the weather still changes at the last minute, where the weather is actually highly unpredictable. What is the point of talking about all this you might ask?
Well, a random thought occurred to me as I watch the cars go by and ponder about the things that are going on in my life. Human feelings and emotions are just like the weather, or are very similar to. This is because the unpredictability of the weather is just like the unpredictability of our emotions. Who can say with certainty what would happen tomorrow? Who can say for certain how we would feel a few hours from now, or even minutes from now, much less the next day or even weeks, months and years? (Of course apart from God who knows our hearts and feelings)
This then again links to another thought. The unpredictability of human emotions parallels that of the unpredictability and uncertainty of life. Again, who can say for sure what would happen tomorrow? Who can say for sure what would even happen 5 minutes from now. Today might be just like any other normal day, where we wake up and go about our daily routine. For all we know, today might be a turning point in our lives. Who's to say?
Sometimes (or in fact most of the time) we search for comfort and security in a world that is uncertain. It is human nature to desire and yearn for security, to be able to hold on to something that we can be sure of, be it God or even our friends. I believe that we are creatures of habit. Of course it is undeniable that change is exciting and can be fun but change can also be tiring. I'm not trying to be an advocate for a state of inertia. I believe that there are always 2 sides of the coin and we cannot just look at one side and come up with our verdict.
|10:11 AM|
(0) comments
Sunday, April 26, 2009
the voice of truth tells me a different story
Oh,what I would do to have the kind of faith it takes To climb out of this boat I'm in Onto the crashing waves To step out of my comfort zone Into the realm of the unknown Where Jesus is, And he's holding out his hand
But the waves are calling out my name and they laugh at me Reminding me of all the times I've tried before and failed The waves they keep on telling me time and time again "Boy, you'll never win, you'll never win."
But the voice of truth tells me a different story the voice of truth says "do not be afraid!" and the voice of truth says "this is for my glory" Out of all the voices calling out to me I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth
Oh, what I would do to have the kind of strength it takes To stand before a giant with just a sling and a stone Surrounded by the sound of a thousand warriors shaking in their armor Wishing they'd have had the strength to stand
But the giant's calling out my name and he laughs at me Reminding me of all the times I've tried before and failed The giant keeps on telling me time and time again "Boy you'll never win, you'll never win."
But the voice of truth tells me a different story the voice of truth says "do not be afraid!" and the voice of truth says "this is for my glory" Out of all the voices calling out to me I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth
But the stone was just the right size to put the giant on the ground and the waves they don't seem so high from on top of them looking down I will soar with the wings of eagles when I stop and listen to the sound of Jesus singing over me
But the voice of truth tells me a different story The voice of truth says "do not be afraid" And the voice of truth says "this is for my glory" Out of all the voices calling out to me I will choose to listen and believe I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth
I will listen and believe I will listen and believe the voice of truth I will listen and believe 'Cause Jesus you are the voice of truth And I will listen to you..
it is amazing how things can change so easily, how people and feelings can change so easily ... one minute, everything is normal and the next, you wonder why you're doing the things you do, why you're in the situation you are .. at the point of time when you are making that decision, everything seems so right, when you're in it, it seems so right ... but when you take a step back to look at the bigger picture, when you step back to re-evaluate, you realise what you thought you wanted all the while, may not actually be what you desire, or what you want .. how is someone to come to terms with that? how is someone to decide what is it that he/she really wants?
our life is constantly changing.. as the people and environment in our lives change, so does the situations we are in and so are the things we yearn and look forward to .. when this happens, inevitably, our person changes, our outlook and attitude changes ... what had felt so right all the while, now turns out to be something that we are constantly in doubt of, something that we are confused about ... what is the rationale for us doing the things that we do? how do we decide when we have made the right decision? do we really want to look back on our lives with regret? do we want to always be wondering what things would have been like should we have chosen a different path? what's a person to do when conflicting emotions and wishes come into play? we pray, but what if we are unsure of what God's answer is? a decision can change our lives .. for better or for worse, we wouldn't know until we have made that decision, until we have experienced for ourselves the consequences (not necessarily bad) of our decisions
so ... when do we know that we have what we want? i honestly believe that we never will ... afterall, the grass is always greener on the other side ...
the greatest joke of human kind is that we are never satisfied .. the dangerous question of 'what if' is always tormenting us and will always be on our minds, even if we think we are sure of our decision and we are sure that we have done the right thing, we always want something more, we always want something different ...
