[[*---Virtu contro al Furore---*]]

Sunday, November 28, 2004

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The LORD changes everything.

Went to church today with a significantly different attitude than... ach, i can't say for how long. All this time it had been a routine, a chore, a task to be grudgingly completed and forgotten...
Perspectives really change once you put God at the forefront of your life. Went out on friday, for the entire day thanks to activities here and there, and at the end of it all, i questioned why it had not gone the way i had wanted it to. Perhaps in the old days (well that refers to the time before last tuesday, so that's not exactly very old) i might have once again berated myself for not trying hard enough, or something of that sort. Yet that day, as i reflected on the events of the day, i realized that it had stemmed from not putting God first. For a simple prayer and devotion at the start of the day, helps to put everything into perspective again. Anyway, thinking again, what could i have expected from going out with 3 people i didn't know and 1 whom i've known for about 2 weeks? Well as you might have expected, not much.

Still, back to the issue of this week in general, things haven't changed. There's still... that, if you know what i mean, and not that much has really changed in general. People are yet the same as they have been for a long time. Yet it seemed to me to be so much more cheerful, more joyous, more glowing. Recognize then, that many problems exist but only in our head. Perspectives change everything. To look at something as Good or Bad is really an arbitrary judgemental statement that changes if one looks at it in a different fashion. God changes everything, indeed. Once i felt so attached to my money that i could not bear to part with it, but now it's but secondary. I think today was the first time i put money into the offering bag in many many years. 6? 8? I can't remember anymore. My parents say it's cause my money supply used to be much more limited, but i see that now as no excuse. No excuse at all. Giving to God should be regardless of how much you get, how old you are, and it's especially mutually exclusive with whether you're working or not. If you don't start giving, you won't ever do so, not in the forseeable future, and not until you realize the error of your ways...

If I am to berate myself for anything then, it would be on how ostensible the distance between me and God was for so long. Material things, personal glory, achievement, all the things of the world, i thought, as my parents said, that if i did well, if i did my duty as a student, that is to study, then the LORD would be glorified through that.
But,

"Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD ?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the LORD ,
he has rejected you as king."
-- 1 Samuel 15:22-23

So really, all these things of the world, achievement, grades, personal glory, all are like the burnt offerings of Saul. Does the LORD delight in one who has drifted? I realize that all this while, i was like a lost sheep, wandering in darkness, with no light, no direction, but just aimlessly meandering on through life, "De2 Guo4 Qie3 Guo4" (Live life from day to day) as they say in chinese. Where then, was the meaning in that?

Don't get me wrong. I'm not scoffing at achievement. For God has appointed unto us to labour, to work, and to enjoy all that in the short days of our life. But Money, Materialism, and Mammon (Hebrew word for the general concept of material things), they drag us down, they cloud our view, until they are all that we pursue. These things are neutral in and of themselves - there is no law in the bible against being wealthy or rich. But what it does say, is that the rich man who clings on to the things of this world (and it doesn't need to be necessarily a rich man - it applies to all people), a person who cannot at once abandon what he has to pursue God's will, that is what God looks down upon. And it is true that christians can become so caught up with the things of this world, that they harden their hearts so much that they heed not to God's call. What then? I shudder to think of it.

Yet,

"So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow."
-- 1 Corinthians 3:7

So what then? Remember, it is appointed unto man to die once, and then the judgement. So what then? Where do you stand? Have you hardened your heart against his calling? Yet fear not, for God is infallible. He will not hesitate to call you back to him, if only you would ask.
For,
"I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent."
-- Luke 15:7

Put the LORD back into the focus of your life. Call unto Him, for he is always waiting.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace...

[edit](6.30 pm) Just tagged/encouraged (where applicable) everyone on my links list. To think that took 3 hours. Anyway, must drop Vicsiek a call soon.

People need the LORD...

[[ Sagacious Musings ]]*|2:45 PM|

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