Reminder from Scripture re: money

1 Timothy 6:6 -

"But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that (wow). People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs".

The response -

"But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you make your good confession in the presence of many witnesses..."

Father, please help me...

Persecution?

<sup>2 Timothy 3:

10</sup> "You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, ¹¹ persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. ¹² In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, ¹³ while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived."

My thoughts: here, it says that: "everyone who wants to live a godly life will be persecuted".

That phrase got my attention.

Why is it that I (and many Christ-followers) who claim that we desire to live a godly life don't get persecuted?

Is it because of the accepting culture we live in; or that we are not living or desiring a godly life to which God loves; or that the time has not come; or ...?

Chess Camp - Website

Chess camp in Brisbane - www.lamschessacademy.com

Master in Heaven

Heavenly Father,

Who can describe who you are? Abounding in love, the Almighty God, the Holy One of Israel who stands no sin, the Prince of Peace and who loves me deeply. Father, You are so great!

Father, I am your child and I love You. But why do my actions and life not show it?

Lord, you know that there is so much self-love in my life, so much pride, how I can seek to please people rather than You, Father. Father, why are there so many 'gods' of my life?

Lord you know my sin before you. Please transform me, to be a servant for you. Please teach me how I can one day truly say, with all honesty: 'I love you, Lord'.

Thank you Father.

Your son and servant,

Ross

Forgiveness

It's amazing to know that we have been forgiven by God to escape His wrath. To have our deserved judgement/separation from God cancelled, and to instead be called children of God!

Been thinking, however:

1. At what point do we become forgiven by God? When we recognise Him as our Lord & Saviour? When Jesus died on the cross? Or before the world even began..?

2. If Jesus' death is for once-and-for-all, why do we continually need to ask God for forgiveness (not saying we shouldn't, it's a good thing) - is it not once-for-all?

Would love to hear your thoughts!

Baffled

One afternoon, a young boy broke down. He wept openly, tears flowed down his face. He was perplexed - unable to comprehend what had just happened.

Just moments before, he was playing in a transfer chess tournament (variation played on two chessboards by four players in teams of two). On his partner's board, he saw the potential to win the game instantly, by a stunning move. It was an instant checkmate. He suggested his move to his partner, with excitement. Excited about winning the game, and perhaps excited about the prospects of taking a prize - a can of coke - as winners of the competition.

To his surprise, his (younger and less experienced) partner declined to do what he suggested. Instead, his partner made a string of (foolish) moves that cost them the game. This young boy was baffled, broken. He simply could not understand why his partner would not have followed what he said - they would have won! Instead, his partner chose a foolish path.

As I was reflecting at home, I wondered whether God would sometimes react like how this young boy did. When I reject what God desires for me to do, I wonder whether I'm like the boy who chose to foolishly decline the 'right' path. I also wonder whether the saddened and baffled boy is how God is like, when people choose to reject Him and spit on His claims as Lord. The young boy saw that the stakes were high - he was playing for a soft drink. How much greater is the cost in our life if we choose to reject Jesus' claims?

Give Thanks

"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever." (Ps 106:1)

So true!

Letting go

Why does letting go hurt so much?

Letting go

Letting go of my burdens & my cares to Him above.

"Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens." (Ps 68:19)

World's Greatest Shave

Hey everyone,

I will be participating in the 'World's Greatest Shave' this year. Proceeds will go to Leukaemia Foundation. To actually see me go bald (which will be my first, since 19 years ago) ask me for more details (I think it'll be on the night of March 12).

For more info, go to:

My team's page: http://my.imisfriendraising.com.au/TeamPage.aspx?teamID=44018&langPref=en-CA

My page: http://my.imisfriendraising.com.au/personalPage.aspx?registrationID=334808&LangPref=en-CA

Thanks!

The Story of the Rich Fool

The following story is one of the many that was taught during a week @ the Sunny Coast. The story is quite bold and anti-cultural in that it challenges our perspectives. It is also interesting as the story contains another story within it.

Someone from the crowd asked Jesus: 'hey, can you tell my bro to divide the inheritance with me?'. Jesus: 'huh :S, who appointed me as judge between you 2?' He then said, 'watch out for all kinds of greed! Life is not all about abundance in $$ slash gadgets.'

Jesus told them this story:

There was a rich man who had an abundance of crops. He thought to himself: 'Hang on, I actually don't have enough space to store it all up! Hmm... what should I do? Ah! This is what I'll do: I'll tear down my smaller barns and build huge ones, so I can store up all my crops. And then I'll be set for my life - I'll take life easy, eat, drink, and chill!'

But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night ur life will be demanded from you. Then who will get all this stuff u've prepared for urself?

Jesus, then concluded, saying, 'this is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.'

Ref: Lk 12

This story strikes me with a familiar chord. So often do I get caught up thinking that all there is to life is $$ - watch the numbers in ur back account grow, get good grades --> top job, climb the ladder, etc. Now, $$ and a good career is an awesome blessing from God, so don't get me wrong, but I guess the trick is to be rich towards God through it.

I know in my life, being rich towards God is hard! It's easy to say that you can be rich towards God, but doing it is another matter, entirely!

For me, this story gives me a good reminder, and helps me get my perspectives right.

Goodness and Coffee

Today was my first day of work experience.

It was great - nice and relaxing. There is such a friendly working environment there - a friendly boss and friendly solicitors, unlimited access to the boss' food (their golden rule), and - exceptional coffee.

I'm no coffee expert but, I must say, it's the best I've ever had. It was just amazing. Amazing machine, amazing frothy stuff, amazing coffee beans. There were a nice variety of quality coffee beans available - about 20ish - all subtly and stylishly different. I only tasted one coffee bean type today, looking forward to the next time I work.

But what hit me the most today was: God's goodness. A month or two ago, I applied to many firms. Some responded initially, but not long after the first phone-call/email/interview, there were no more. It made me wonder - opportunities were open and slammed with a bang.

When I came to this particular firm's interview, God reminded me that He is the One that opens doors and closes them. I don't need to fear and be anxious (though I was!), as He shall open and close doors by will.

I had a drama getting to that interview. I was actually late. I somehow got extremely lost - despite it only being a 10 min drive from my place (and I left 45 mins early!). I was speeding and also nearly crashed. But God in His mercy - got me there - and presented me with such an awesome job environment. He provides, hey. :)

But I don't understand God's goodness... Anyways, all I know is that God's good!

Promises

I don't know about you, but I make promises to God occassionally. From selfish asian-bargaining promises: "if you do this for me, I'll do that for you", to promises testing and expressing my 'love' for Jesus. Unfortunately, after the heat of the moment dies, memories of what God has done for me seems distant, His providencial acts forgotten, and the weight of my promises vapourised.

I want these promises to completely evaporate - cuz I've forgotten what God has done for me. I try to justify why I can't fulfil them or whatnot. But they make me unsettled, uncomfortable. It is the knowledge that I have made a promise to my God, and have not fulfilled it. Is it guilt? What's the main trigger of this unsettling feeling?

"When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfil ur vow. It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfil it. Do not let ur mouth lead u into sin. And do not protest to the temple messenger, "My vow was a mistake." Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of ur hands? Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God."

Pretty explicit to me. So, maybe a vow to God = binding contract without termination?

Crossing the Finishing Line

I can't think properly, but I'm totally bored right now, so I shall make a short post. :P

Past few weeks have been pretty draining and stressful. But hey, God's shown me again and again that I don't need to stress like crazy cuz He carries me in His arms. Despite the stress, He's been looking after me - helping me keep things in perspective (that God is BIG, I'm not), bringing ppl to support me, and when received encouragement from our God, the God of peace, there's always opportunities to try and encourage others with that comfort. What's also cool is that although exams are pretty big, they're tiny in comparison to our Almighty God!

And so 2 years of uni has nearly come to end. Have my last one tmr! I've been slack with this subject - throughout semester - so don't deserve to do well at all. Oh well. :)

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Look!

"The people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!


Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us." So Moses prayed for the people.


The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived." (Nu 21: 4-9)

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"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." (Jn 3:14)

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Reminder to myself: just look up to the Rescuer. Just look at Christ lifted up. Just, look up!

Where's my heart?

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Mt 6: 21)

Mid-sem To-Do list

• Get plenty of quiet time in. Hope to get alot of progress with Romans, and chat with God heaps. Oh, and finish off BSF.
• YF prep
• Catch up on the lectures that I missed (I think about 18hrs in total :P)
• Start and (nearly) finish 2 SLAT assignments
• Get some chores done - eg., clean my messy room
• Catch up with friends (if my health permits)
• Play lots of baddy (if my health permits)
• Apply for Summer work - work experience and retail jobs.

After typing that list...I realise it's a fair bit... arghh... see how much of it gets done. :)

Cont (2) (see previous post)

"A son honours his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honour due to me? If I am a master, where is the respect due to me?" says the LORD Almighty" (Mal 1:6).

The next chunk of verses tell of how the priests sacrificed "crippled or diseased animals" to God. God is displeased as "He is a great king", and demands the best from His people in sacrifice to Him.

How often do I make a promise to God that I will give this to God, but then I either do not give it to God at all, or make a compromise, doing an asian bargaining thing with God: God, how about I give this instead (a smaller amount, or if it's something that I promised that I would do, how about I do it later, and do something else altogether). But surely, if He is a "great king...and [his name] is to be feared" (Mal 1: 14), where is His honour? It saddens me that I often don't treat Him as King, and instead, treat Him as my servant - sigh. Malachi is a good reminder to me that He is God Almighty, so I better treat Him and fear Him as God Almighty.

I'm really interested in this Book, and there are alot of things I don't understand:

1. So what actually happened to Edom?
2. When the "dreadful day" is described in 4:1-6, and "judgment" in 3: 1-5) is it referring to the Lord's first or second coming, or both?

Malachi intrigues me! :)

In FEAR and in AWE (1)

I was reading Malachi today, and this Book reminded me to fear and be in awe of our God Almighty - praise God! Here's a few reasons that triggered this reminder:

"I (ie. God) have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated" (Mal 1: 2,3). My first reaction is: what has Esau done to deserve to be 'hated', and what has Jacob done to be loved? I flip to Genesis, and Jacob seems to be the devious & mischevious one. After Esau's hard work he is famished and asks Jacob for his stew. But Jacob is the one that takes advantage of Esau's starving state and makes a deal with Esau to exchange stew with birthright (Gen 25: 29-34). Later, Jacob lies and misleads in order to take Esau's blessing from his father (Gen 27). It's illogical - shouldn't Jacob be the one "hated", and Esau, the one "loved" by God? Doesn't this passage refute the claim that God is love?

But, perhaps, it's not a matter of what Esau and Jacob has done. Perhaps it's not a matter of man's desire or effort. Rather, it may be about God's sovereign choice and mercy (Ro 9: 10-16ish). That He, because He is God - the God Almighty, gets to choose whom He should have compassion with, and whom He should have mercy on. Because He is the Great God, He gets to choose who are His people, and He gets to choose whose land He will destroy (in this case, Esau's: see Mal 1:3-5ish). Knowing how holy and sovereign God is, made me: wow...

(For better readability I'm going to post (2) in the next post) :)