Oh God (literally) xD

I finished a paragraph on my English essay on the impact of the Printing Press, and the translations of the Bible on the English language and… 


 

I rewarded myself (as you do) 

by permitting myself some time ‘off’ to read an essay on the inerrancy of Scripture. 

#whatshappeningtome

#totallyhavealife

#nosarcasm

Corporate Worship

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God

Colossians 3:16 

Lord, as we sing your praises, as we worship you corporately as a Church on Sunday; mould the shape of our hearts, and not the sinews of our larynx. 

For this is what the high and lofty One says—he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.

Isaiah 57:15

Why I deactivated my facebook #2

In the most concise and simplest way possible.

This sums up EVERY reason as to why I don’t have a facebook account at this present point of my life. 

So you can pretty much ignore the first post

But just as a foreword: I’m not attacking anyone, I’m most prominently challenging and questioning myself. If this post makes you uncomfortable or offended, that’s something you need to deal with yourself, ‘cos that’s something you need to wrestle between you and God. For if I was attacking someone in particular (YOU! ;D) with this post, I might as well be offending every person that claims to be a Christian on facebook, and I’m guessing that would be a lot of people xD

From this we may gather that man’s nature, so to speak, is a perpetual factory of idols.

John Calvin (Institutes of Christian Religion)



Please get with the analogy.
As flawed as my expression and imagination may be xD

If: 

My heart 
is an IDOL FACTORY

 

…every one of us is, even from his mother’s womb, expert in inventing idols.

John Calvin (Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles)

and

My mind 
is like an architect, thinking up and designing and sketching idols literally from scratch (I feel like I can always creatively invent idols out of nothing, sometimes it can be so natural and easy!)

and

My soul  
is like an engineer, it fashions and makes the idol into reality and substance in all its physical or mental forms. Then I can worship it; giving it all my time, from then on that’s where I get all my value and my esteem and worth (which I should be getting from Jesus and Him alone) 



Then facebook…
is like a freakin’ timberyard or goldmine from which I can gather all the latest gems, ornaments, timber, minerals and resources available, to carve and sculpt out all of my beautiful idols, may it be;

my self-worth 
my self-esteem 
men’s approval
self-gratification
popularity
social status
‘Likes’ 
‘Comments’
the Fear of Man (Proverbs 29:25) 
my entertainment
my procrastination

*cough* [not to mention the perpetual time-waster of Youtube; as much as I love watching KevJumba and CommunityChannel as awesome sources of cultural relevance and comedic enjoyment; I reckon I’ve spent half my life watching their videos… and I’m certain God isn’t too pleased about that] 




NOTE (and this is a BIG note): I’m not saying that using Youtube or Facebook is a SIN. Because in itself, it’s not. [If I said it was, I would be prescribing religion. And Jesus hates religion.] I don’t what it is for you but for me; both can end up like breeding grounds for my deepest, most hidden idols. 

As Paul says:

“Everything is permissible for me”—but not everything is beneficial.
“Everything is permissible for me”—but I will not be mastered by anything.”

1 Corinthians 6:12 

As much as facebook is permissible, it hasn’t been very ‘beneficial’ at all. I know on many occasions it’s mastered and enslaved my life; becoming my primary source of value, worth, satisfaction and at times my greatest comfort

And that may friends, my brothers and sisters, is to put it blunty: IDOLATRY.
A direct violation of the First Commandment. Exodus 20:3.  

When there comes a time (and this is indefinite) I feel that my self-control and discipline is sufficient for me to use facebook in a non-idolatrous, God-honouring and fruitful way; surely my account will be reactivated.

That time has not yet come.  

2 Chronicles 31:1
trying to do a ‘Hezekiah’ on all my idols

Demolishing idols alongside you,
DLi  

If God had a twitter…

If our God had a Twitter account; I’m certain the world would not have near enough servers, or the internet would not have near enough gigabyte space to accommodate His thoughts. 

Psalm 139:17-18
 

How precious to me are your thoughts, God! 

   How vast is the sum of them! 
Were I to count them, 
   they would outnumber the grains of sand— 
   when I awake, I am still with you.

But doesn’t stop this from being a cool video though (:
If Jesus had a Twitter 

your thoughts?

ONE: resolutions

ONE SAVIOUR. ONE LIFE. ONE NIGHT.
DON’T WASTE IT. 

My head is a sugared-up mush at the moment, as I attempt to digest the eternal reality and truth that was presented so faithfully tonight. I must rest as soon as I finish this, as the body of which God has given me is prompting me to slumber. 

I am resolved.  

But before we are all quick to ramble about the resolutions we’ve made in order to ‘encourage’ our BaSiC, without a thought or ponderance about the desperation and need to immediately fall on our knees in prayer

I quote this piece of wisdom, albeit a worldly wisdom. 

People who talk about their intentions are less likely to make them happen. Announcing your plans to others satisfies your self-identity needs just enough that you’re less motivated to do the hard work needed 

Derek Sivers

And now for something from someone I deeply respect alongside Godly Bible-loving/living based men such as Piper and Lennox. 

Always remember: you cannot carry a cross in company. Though a man were surrounded by a vast crowd, his cross is his alone and his carrying of it marks him as a man apart. Society has turned against him; otherwise he would have no cross. No one is a friend to the man with a cross. “They all forsook Him, and fled.” 

Taken from a chapter titled ‘The Saint Must Walk Alone’ written by A.W. Tozer

So as we reflect on the utter seriousness and sincerity of our ‘Resolutions for life’ let us be quick to pray and ask God in our humility, in that place of solitude, to make them into a reality. That 10000 people would truly deny themselves, simply for the encompassing richness and satisfaction that is found ONLY in Christ Jesus. There is only #onesaviour

There are some convictions that we must keep between, simply, you and God. There are just those ‘secret’ things, like those private moments you share only with your most intimate friends. Except this is your most intimate friend, the most important relationship; with the creator and Lord of the universe. 

That is not to say that we are not to be accountable to our Brothers and Sisters in Christ. 

But I know that I must first fall on my knees, and if prompted by the Spirit, share my resolutions with perhaps a few trusted BaSiC. 

Not everything in life must be shared openly to everyone. But everything in life, must lived without wasting. 

And with that, 
Good Night!

(looking forward to waking up ‘astonished’ that I’m still alive in the morning)

when will I leave home?

I’m not leaving home yet, not until ‘my ministry’ as a son and ultimately as a ‘brother in christ’ is finished there. Just like any other ministry, my objective is the perpetual encouragement and edification of my family (in this case my earthly family) towards Christ. That may manifest through its various forms: may that be household chores, prayer, encouragement, reading the bible together, studying, getting the marks or even just relating, ministering, talking, caring, living WITH your family. All of which is done with the motivation and innate bursting forth of free-flowing, Spirit-driven agape LOVE. 

But that’s my side, ‘my service to them.’

I’ve always ‘kinda’ known that side of it, then it hit me.

It just clicked. 

Perhaps there’s another reason, one of which I overlooked. 

Being the primary beneficiary and receiver of this ‘ministry’ (that is simply being in the family), may it be through financial assistance (I make my rents sound like loan brokers…), life lessons, the imparting of wisdom, the modelling of discipleship.

I realised something I’d never thought before.

I cannot leave home until my parent’s continuing service to me in the last 18 years has been brought to completion. To clarify that potentially confusing and perhaps self-absorbed statement. When it comes to ministry, there’s always the balance between serving and ‘permitting’ the other to serve you. That’s how fellowship works. 

Sometimes we’re so caught up in serving the other, we forget to let ourselves be served. It’s not total dependence or total independence but we work together in inter-dependence and most certainly: complete satisfaction and dependence on Christ Himself, the capstone and cornerstone of every ministry.

Suffice to say, there can be dangerous interpretations on either sides of the spectrum. On one extremity, you weren’t called to be a life-quenching, utterly dependent leech of any ministry; sucking off all you can get from your family or your church, without the thought of ‘service’ ever crossing your mind, then complaining that the church or the ministry is not doing enough to grow you.

NOR are you supposed to be the epic uber-HERO leader of your ministry, ‘serving’ everyone with your obviously infallible, perfectly righteous, ‘my spiritual life is fine, I am so humble and I can help you and everyone’ ego-driven personality. 

Because Jesus is the hero. FULL STOP. 

I don’t say these things to condemn you, I say them because I’ve struggled with leaning on either of these spectrums. From utter selfishness to the subtleties of my deepest pride, all of which are derivatives of sin and in my weakness, it is Christ that has rescued me from a life of apathy and people-pleasing emptiness into one of truly life-giving service that stems from the grace and love that God has poured out upon me. 

It is then that I see myself in my truest, once depraved yet redeemed form, it is then that I know what true humility is, knowing exactly where I stand as a sinner before a Holy God. 

So to answer the title question, I will leave home when my mum and dad’s ministry as Godly parents in rebuking, teaching and offering of wisdom has sufficed and I have been taught enough, and listened enough for them to recognise that they have fulfilled what is required of them as Godly parents.

Perhaps, an alternative way of saying it is: when the time has come for me to start living a life where I am completely dependent on God for strength, when I am ready and equipped (as much as my parents that have stewardship of money, businesses, my siblings, ministries can possibly do) to take up the batch of responsibilities (and perhaps simultaneously: the privileges) of biblical manhood, only then their obedience to God as parents to ‘yours truly’ will be commended and rewarded accordingly by the LORD almighty Himself.

When both my parents and I have completed what is required of us in perhaps what is the most important of God’s ministries, especially (but not exclusively) those coming from Christian households: THE FAMILY.  

It is only then that I shall leave the home.