Certain in God's Faithfulness?

I like to watch TV. I admit, sometimes I watch too much TV. And because I tend to forget the story after a while, it's become a habit of mine to re-watch my favorite shows from time to time. Looking at all those TV shows, I came to realize that I am a kind of person who likes to watch a strong and solid character. Series like Bones and Castle, my favorite kind ^_^, are very entertaining because it gives us 'perfect' characters who are very capable to do their jobs and in fact, at the top of their game. Though, like any other good stories, they often encounter problems, you'd still get the feeling that everything would be okay at the end because those leaders are good.

Other more challenging series like Life, however, is just okay for me because watching it can create an unsettling feeling. While it is a very good series, I often feel restless watching it because there is always a possibility that the lead character would do something stupid that can ruin his life. Call me silly, but I really don't like that feeling. For me, watching TV is supposed to be relaxing and enjoyable moment.

Anyway, why am I talking about TV series? Well, today devotion focuses on certainty in God's faithfulness. It talks about how Jesus, even through His last moment, was so certain in God's faithfulness that His faith radiates to His disciples and it guides Him through the suffering.

We all like certainty. It's kind of funny that way. Because there are many unpredictable events in our lives, we like to keep everything that's close to us very predictable. That's why trust and honesty become very crucial in any relationship because we need a certainty that we can count on those who are close to us in time of needs.

The question is how about our relationship with God. I know that I am not dependable, but can I trust God to be dependable? While it seems like an easy question to answer, I know that many times in my life, I doubt God for no reason. It's kind of sad that I found certainty in my favorite TV series but couldn't find it in my relationship with God.

Walker says, "Jesus was so sure that God's faithfulness would be present in all circumstances that his certainty radiated throughout his whole being" (2009, p.22). Wow... can I radiate with certainty? I guess that's a question I have to answer with my life.

Look at Things Above?

I have been watching the TED for last couple of days and learned so much about new technology. I'm quite impressed that they make the presentation available for everyone to see. One of the presentation talks about perception.

The presenter gives an illustration that when we look down to our feet, our range of perception is very limited. Yes, we can still walk and it's fine, but we would not be able to prepare ourselves against possible danger that might come.

When we start to raise our head, then our range of view will expand which gives us a better chance to survive since we can see the danger that might come from in front of us and helps us to relate to those around us.

However, our lives is not just about surviving, but about improving and enjoying life. That's why, from time to time, we want to lift our head up and see things slightly above us. That way, we can enjoy the sky and make attempt to improve the qualities of our lives.

The presenter then jokingly warns that while want to be able to look up, we need to be careful to know when to stop. If we continue to look up and up, we would eventually lose sight of everything and can only look at view directly above us. He says that it's "God". He then jokingly says that "God is the answer when there is no answer" (it's more like a mockery statement rather than a belief statement).

While people laughed and found it funny, I personally found it ironic because I really believe it's true and no other people has put it in a better word than the person who doesn't believe in it. (Please note I do NOT know his background belief and all my arguments are based on my perception of him). Yes, it might seem funny, but this is the key of my belief. In fact, without regularly 'looking up', I don't think I could survive in this confusing world. Without 'looking up', I wouldn't even know where to go. Quite opposite to the presenter, I find 'looking up' is the key to look forward in life.

In one of the devotion, Walker quotes Colossians 3:2 as the Bible verse which says, "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things". I do believe that this is the key to walk our Christian lives. After all, our home is not on earth but it's in heaven.

Please note that I do NOT own these pictures.

Funny little thing called FAITH

One of the big topic for the last couple days of devotion seems to spin around this little and powerful thing called faith.
What is faith anyway?

Religious people sees it as the key of their belief
Rationalist calls it (quoted from my favorite TV series, "Bones") "an irrational belief in something that is logically impossible"
Marxism argues it to be "the opiate of the people"
And for most of us, we tend to treat it as an encouraging word when nothing else seems to work.

What is Faith anyway?

The bible describes faith as "being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" (Hebrews 11:1). This definition didn't make a lot of sense to me before. I used to like this sentence just because it sounds smart and intelligent but I didn't really understand what it means. Lately, it started to click together for me.

For me, faith is a conviction of the heart of what we believe in. While we can try to convince ourselves by saying that we believe, our heart knows the truth in us. The key is not about knowing or saying that we believe, the key is to convince our heart. That's why in Mark 9:24 we got a statement such as "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!".

Reflection 4: He Is Amazing

Today's devotion titled, "It's the 'WOW!', not the HOW" (Walker, 2009, p.16). Like the title suggests, the lesson today focuses on changing our perspective of what the Lord has done for us. Through this lesson, Walker (2009) challenges us to say "WOW!" for everything that the Lord had done instead of "HOW?".

While I am not opposing the idea to find the learn about bible and to dig deeper and deeper to get a little closer to the truth one step at the time, I think it is also very important to just stop for a moment and realize that His work is amazing. Maybe, we do spend too much time on figuring what God means when He gave us the account of creation that we often forget to stop and simply say "Wow! He created the heaven and the earth".

It's kind of ironic that we as Christians often boast about our God and how amazing He is, but very rarely show the world how amazed we are of Him through our lives. Instead, we come to others with our own defense mechanism and try really hard to convince others through our words. I guess, it is time for me to start saying, "WOW!" through my lives. After all, He is amazing God.

While typing this reflection, I am suddenly reminded of one of Chris Tomlin's song, titled "INDESCRIBABLE". I believe it reflects today's reflection perfectly. Here it is:

From the highest of heights to the depths of the sea
Creation's revealing Your majesty
From the colors of fall to the fragrance of spring
Every creature unique in the song that it sings
All exclaiming

Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing God
All powerful, untameable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God

Who has told every lightning bolt where it should go
Or seen heavenly storehouses laden with snow
Who imagined the sun and gives source to its light
Yet conceals it to bring us the coolness of night
None can fathom

Reflection 3: Enabled by God

Today devotion is about how as Christians, when we walk in His way, are empowered to do great things. It sounds simple... incredibly simple... yet I have failed to display this in my life many many times. I think it's not really because I feel inadequate or uncertain about what I do, but it's more about being comfortable in doing nothing.

This reminds me of a writing by Nelson Mandela:
"Our worst fear is not that we are inadequate,
our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?'
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God;
your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.
It is not just in some of us, it is in everyone,
and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

Connecting this with my previous reflection: "Can or Can't I?", I believe that great works start with a complete understanding of "I alone can't" which is followed with a journey to figure out that "with God I can".

For me, Moses is the best example for this. Being a prince, he had an attitude of "I can". However, having his life on the line, he ran away and started to realize that he can't really do anything. After years of being a servant and learning about humility, God came to him and called him out. His answer? "Thanks, but no thanks. Simply put-I can't, Lord". God's response? "Oh yes, you can! because I, the Lord, say so". From that moment forward, God used him incredibly to deliver the greatest miracles in the history of Israelite.

One question I often wonder: did Moses still struggle everyday about what God would do? We know from the bible that Israelite did, but how about Moses? There is no record about it. No fear of failure? No second doubt or second guessing God's calling?

One thing for sure, while I've learned about the end of Moses' journey, my journey has just started.

Reflection 2: Can I or Can't I?

Today devotion talks about our competence as Christians and how we need to first say, "I can't" to fully realize that only God can. Jon Walker argues that, "If we rush past 'I can't', we will never fully embrace the notion that only God can" (Walker, 2009, p.14).

I find today's devotion to be quite puzzling. In the beginning, Walker talks about how we can do nothing apart from God. But then, he continues with talking about living life led by rules vs by Holy Spirit. while I can understand both of his arguments, I find it really hard to fully understand the connection between those two. So, for now my lesson is simply that dependency on God is my only option.

It's funny to think that while we can say with our mouth that we can't do anything without Him, our actions can show a whole different message. Without realizing it, we tend to fall into what Gerald May would call "spiritual narcissism" - a condition in which we think we know what is the best for us spiritually. The question is, isn't it the reason of Jesus came to the earth is to show us who God is - because humans are so limited in knowledge and simply clueless about everything, especially God.

So, when the question is asked,"Can I or Can't I?". I believe the only answer is "I can through Him" - Philippians 4:13. Now, how can I translate that into my daily life? That, I believe, is the challenge for today.

"The gentlest form of spiritual narcissism is the idea that one can accomplish one's own spiritual growth... The belief that 'I can do it' is intimately associated with the assumption that 'it is my idea, my desire, to do it.' spiritual narcissism works to deny the realization that our spirituality comes from God" - Gerald May

Reflection 1: Living a Holy Life

Today is the first day of my journey of "Growing With Purpose" (book written by Jon Walker). He says that to live a holy life is a reasonable request because God is the one who initiates our cleansing and "it is God, not [our] efforts, who makes [us] holy" (Walker, 2009, p.13).

This makes me wonder, what is holy anyway? Is it a state? Is it a goal? or is it the journey?

I came across Addison Road's song today, titled "What Do I Know of Holy?".
The words goes like this:

I made You promises a thousand times
I tried to hear from Heaven
But I talked the whole time
I think I made You too small
I never feared You at all No
If You touched my face would I know You?
Looked into my eyes could I behold You?

(CHORUS)
What do I know of You who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood, but the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury? Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

I guess I thought that I had figured You out
I knew all the stories and I learned to talk about
How You were mighty to save
Those were only empty words on a page
Then I caught a glimpse of who You might be
The slightest hint of You brought me down to my knees

God is Holy - I know that with my mind.
But, do I know that with my heart? Do I really say that with my heart?
Do I really proclaim that holiness in my life? Do I have a desire to be like Him?
After all, Christians are followers of Christ - with a goal to be like Him.
How far behind am I on this journey?

Today is the first day of my journey. With little time aside everyday, I am determined to stop living a comfortable life and start moving forward to grow with purpose.

It's not my goal to answer questions. It is my desire to take a step out of my comfort zone and explore my weaknesses one by one. For me, the journey starts with realization that I have no clue at all about the holiness of God. I know it in my mind and I can argue about it, but I have no clue of how deep it really mean. Do you?

GROWING WITH PURPOSE

I just bought a devotional book by Jon Walker. It's amazing that it took me so long to realize that I'm a kind of person who needs an extra long time to think through a topic. Well, at least, it makes me realize that we often don't know as much about ourselves as we might proclaim.

Anyway, truth to be told, my devotion time has been lacking lately and the direction has been all over the place. So, today it finally hit me that I need help to guide me through my devotion time. Not random online devotion, but more like devotional book with a clear theme. So, I decided to buy a book titled, "Growing With Purpose" by Jon Walker.

Why did I decide on this one? Well, I realized that every stop signs in our lives are put there for a purpose. We can chose to go through it without learning anything from it, or we can take a moment to grow from it. That's why I think this devotion theme will fit better for my focus ----- at least for now. So, if you are with me, let's grow with purpose ^_^.