Found this e-booklet while searching for materials, entitled
Time With God. Though I just skimmed through, it was quite a refreshing read. Knowing how hard it is sometimes when spending time with God seemed too dry.
What is integrity? Is integrity something people still value nowadays? I find it quite irksome to maintain integrity if that should still exist. It is like ethiques only a different kind of way...or is it
sama-sama?
I want to be someone more different...
What is being real? And what is not?
Sometimes when we wear a mask to hide our true self, that mask somewhat gets stuck. Then we cannot remove it. No matter how we try to, it just doesn't come out anymore. When you get too serious often, people assumed that you have a really mature, serious behaviour and you wouldn't tolerate immature behaviour. When you try to relax and laugh like a man who has never laughed for a very long time (think Mary Poppins), people might question you, "Are you okay? Do you need to see doctor? Nuts already ah?" And you might be forced to assume back your serious expression, then deep in you, you felt that you don't even know yourself anymore.
Then this is where my title comes in. Recently, I attended a Women's Conference where there is only WOMEN participants (like duh!). On the first day, Pr Lee Choo spoke about self-worth and self-identity.
Many times we rely on our friends, our parents, our neighbours, our colleagues, and other people around us to determine our worth. It hurts a LOT when everyone seemed to be rejecting you. It hurts when people walk away when you come near them. It hurts when people say, "Why can't you do this?!" or "Stupid!"...After a while, we believed what they say about us and felt that we are as useless as they say we are...
Grace, however, permeates through and show us the self-worth we should be having. We ask, "What is grace?" To me, grace is the very essence of the church of Christ and Jesus Himself. As Pr Lee Choo continued to say,
I found this definition of grace and I'm gonna share this with you. Grace is the permission that God gave us to be human without feeling sinful.And where does it applies? Grace shows us that we are not worthless or useless. God understands every inch of us when we feel sinful, when we feel worthless and He will open up His hands to offer grace that will block out all those hurtful words and leaves us secure. It is only because Jesus Christ Himself loved and so He could offer that kind of grace.
We read about the Prodigal Son: The younger son wanted his inheritance and so the father gave. The younger son squandered every bit of his fortune and left with nothing to boast about. Then he realised that his father's servants would probably be able to boast more than him. He felt bad and he went back, seeking to be a servant instead of a son. The father however have been waiting for him, and when he sees his lost son, he rejoiced and ordered that a calf be killed in his honour.
Wait a minute. The father still have the older son right? The older son is a filial kid and yet he received nothing in his honour. Jesus must have gotten the characters wrong, didn't He?
And yet, and yet and yet...
This is the story of grace. As Philip Yancey, author of What's So Amazing About Grace? puts it this way:
In one of His last acts before death, Jesus forgave a thief dangling on a cross, knowing full well the thief had converted out of plain fear. That thief would never study the Bible, never attended synagogue or church, and never make amends to all those he had wronged. He simply said, "Jesus, remember me," and Jesus promised, "Today you will be with Me in paradise." It was another shocking reminder that grace does not depend on what we have done for God but rather what God has done for us...
Another scholar puts it this way:
When it is a question of a sinner He does not merely stand still, open His arms and say "Come hither"; no, He stands there and waits, as the father of the lost son waited, rather He does not stand and wait, He goes forth to seek, as the shepherd sought the lost sheep, as the woman sought the lost coin. He goes --- yet no, He has gone, but infinitely farther than any shepherd or any woman, He went, in sooth, the infinitely long way from being God to becoming man, and that way He went in search of sinners.
You may not agree with the things I say or quote. But think about it. Even so, it's not over yet.
Reference:
1. What's So Amazing About Grace? Philip Yancey, OMF Literature Click Here for book info
2. The Parable Of The Lost Sheep, Lost Coin and Lost Son Luke 15
::Day and night I'll stick with GOD;I've got a good thing going and I'm not letting go::
