Meditations

Posted by: thaishin | June 21, 2011

A discussion that did not end too well

I was pondering this question: If Jesus is not God, how can he take away the sins of the world. That question was meant for a neighbour of mine who is a committed Jehovah’s witness. They believe that Jesus is only a man and not God.

As I asked him this question, he cited the example of Adam and Eve who were created perfect and so is Jesus, he claimed. As a father teaches the son, Jesus was also taught well by his father. He showed me some verses from the bible and I also showed him some verses that I know. Each of us were determined that our own view was correct. As each of us were determined to try to convince each other, it left a sour note as we parted company.

Actually, my initial thoughts were that I felt my neighbour is a good man and he deserves to know Jesus God. But the bible says in Jonah 2:9 that salvation comes from the Lord. Sometimes, we in our own mind decide for ourselves who deserves to know Jesus and we pick those who we are comfortable with to talk about Jesus God. That should not be the case.

3 Comments

Posted in thoughts | Tags: God, Jesus, perfect, Salvation, sins, thoughts

Posted by: thaishin | May 30, 2011

My son lost his second tooth

My son lost his second tooth on Saturday 28 May 2011. Tooth is lower front tooth and it dropped off on that fateful day.

Light of the world or live quiet lives?

Question:

Matthew 5

14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. -niv

1 Tim 2

1 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, -niv

Are we suppose to be the light of the world which sometimes stirs up controversies or are we suppose to lead quiet lives?

Answer from Pastor Hollister:

It is perhaps most helpful to begin with the 1 Tim 2 passage, framing its particular focus. We are urged to pray for “kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.” In other words, we are to pray for governing authorities, that they would govern in such a way that the Church in her worship and service can prosper undisturbed. Such a situation is good for the whole of society. When governments oppress and persecute the Church, it is invariably bad for the society. But God uses both providences for His glory and for the good of His people.

We know that “all those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” Persecution, which comes in many and varied forms is an inevitability. And the whole spectrum of persecution may be seen throughout the world in its various cultures and societies. There is that most extreme form of imprisonment and death, but there are a multitude of lesser and more subtle forms (shunning, being bypassed for promotions, severe and biased work critiques, etc.). As we have seen from Romans 12:18 (nkjv), the exhortation there is: “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.” Again, it is not always possible! Why? Because if we live godly lives according to godly convictions, our “light shines!” And men love the darkness rather than the light because their deeds are evil. Our godly lives –yes, lived graciously and in kindness –invariably expose the godlessness and moral bankruptcy of the unbelieving. Paul writes, “as much as depends on you, live peaceably.” Our lives and behavior should not present any JUST cause for offense and antagonism. (For example, some professing Christians can be just plain rude and obnoxious in their behavior!).

We are exhorted to “let our light shine before others, that they may see our good deeds and glorify our Father in heaven.” We should live in such a way that we are not exalting ourselves or pointing to our own “great” righteousness, but rather our lives are continually pointing others to Christ and to His righteousness. As we live lives of godliness and humility –again, ever pointing away from ourselves and to Christ — people will indeed be confronted with Christ; God will be glorified. Yet it is inevitable that some persons will then respond with antagonism.

So there is really no contradiction between the passages you cite. Both principles are true. The light which shines from our lives will indeed at times provoke an antagonistic response from men. At the same time, we seek to be at peace with all men, treating them with grace and kindness, even as we speak the truth in love. But we cannot control how they will react to this light.

2 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: Consistency of Scripture, Light of the world, Persecutions, Pray, Quiet Lives

Posted by: thaishin | May 18, 2011

And advising him to try his best is not helping

These past few days my son was playing the race car game on the internet and he was able to clear the lower level using his own abilities. When it came to a higher level, he always came in 6th place and he was crying so hard.

I tried to console him. “Just try your best,” I said. He was still crying. ” Try another game” and he was still grumbling. No matter how I try to console him, he was still tearing up.

Finally, I said, ” Why don’t you pray to Jesus?” He asked me how to pray. So, I said,”Pray to Jesus to give you faster hands. Pray to Jesus to give you a clear mind. Pray to Jesus that you will clear the level of the game you are stuck at.” And he prayed with me.

Then he asked,” Then what is Jesus going to do?”. So, I said, “Jesus is going to work through you. He will give you faster hands and a clear mind if only you believe. But, you must do your part, you must also learn, you must also know where are the rocks and obstacles near the track. ” Only then did he stopped crying and started to be positive and talking about how to clear the game. He said he believe in Jesus already.

My son has to come to the end of being able to rely on his own ability to be able to depend on Jesus. He cleared the difficult level today. I hope he has increased his faith in Jesus.

5 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: Ability, Believe, Child Evangelism, Cry, Jesus, Race car game

Posted by: thaishin | April 25, 2011

His clothes were divided

After good friday and easter Sunday, it is timely to remind ourselves of prophecy fulfilled in

Psalms 22:18

¹⁸ They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment. -niv 2011

Psalms is found in the old testament and was written many years before the gospel was written.

Fulfilled in the four gospels. All from niv 2011.

Matthew 27:35

³⁵ When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots

Mark 15:24

²⁴ And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get.

Luke 23:34

³⁴ Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

John 19:23-24

²³When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. ²⁴“Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.” This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said, “They divided my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment. So this is what the soldiers did.

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Posted in Prophecy | Tags: Easter Sunday, Good Friday, John, Luke, Mark, Matthew, Prophecy, Psalms

Posted by: thaishin | April 13, 2011

Ghost and spirituality

There was once at a get together when a few of my friends were discussing about the spiritual aspects of their lives. One of my friends shared about his encounter of the ghostly kind. He was out at sea fishing with friends when he said he saw a ghost. When he recalled his encounter, he said he just left it alone.

I never had that ghostly spiritual experience before. But we can experience spirituality as stated in this verse in John 5:24 (niv):

²⁴ “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.

We can experience eternal life the moment we believe in Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Life will be very different after that because we will have a renewed mind. With a renewed mind, we will have very different perspective of things.

But first, you will have to seek. Read the gospel of John in the bible and let the journey begin.

Follow Him

As a former navigator, I was taught that it was imperative for christians to disciple others and materialize the great commission.

The closest that I came was the encounter with a former colleague of mine. I got to know him when I was on job assignment to Taiwan. As we got a bit closer, he expressed an interest to attend church. After I left the company, we still kept in touch. Later on, I even got him to do a bible study with me and he accepted Christ during the session.

As I followed up with him at a distance, there was a time when he attended life church with me in Singapore. Later on, he went to attend a mega church and eventually left that church. There was a time when I wanted to pass mentoring him to other navigator friends of mine but my colleague declined.

The latest I heard from him: He married a chinese girl and his father came to know the Lord through his relatives. At that time, he was already not attending church.

As much as I lament my lack of skills in discipling him, the one thing that I should have done is to emphasize to him the need to follow Jesus, not me or any body on this earth.

3 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: Church, colleague, Discipling, Jesus

Posted by: thaishin | February 1, 2011

The deceitful heart

Jeremiah 17:9:

⁹The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? -kjv

⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? -niv

Meditations:

1) The heart is the place where our thoughts arise and dwell, the place where we make our decisions. The heart is also the place where our feelings arise and dwell. It is also the place where our thoughts and feelings interact.

2) The heart is described as deceitful. This means that sometimes we lie to ourselves. Even when we are able to justify our actions with reasons, the actual reason might not be what we think it is.

3) The heart is also described as desperately wicked. This means evil/bad thoughts are natural to it.

4) Who can know it? It means sometimes we don’t even understand ourselves.

4 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: Deceitful, Feelings, Jeremiah, rational, thoughts, understanding, Wicked

Posted by: thaishin | January 21, 2011

First sub zero of the winter of 2010/11

A deep freeze has taken over Chicago/Joliet area this Thursday night/Friday morning.

As I started my car on Friday morning, the thermometer in my car read 1 degree Fahrenheit. I believe the temperature went negative last night and I read from the news that wind chill were nearly 20 below on Friday morning. When I walked to the school building to send my son to his classroom and walk back to the car, I can feel the freezing cold on my laps and on my fingers when I am in the car already even though I am wearing long johns, jeans and gloves.

It is dangerous to be outdoors for long under this condition or one might suffer frost bite and hypothermia. Frost bite happens when blood circulation is impaired by frigid temperatures, meaning the skin/tissue gets frozen. A hat and gloves are necessary to lessen the risk of frost bite.

Thank God it’s going to be a bit warmer on Saturday.

Sanctification and sin

I used to think that the motivation to try not to sin again is because we don’t want to crucify Jesus at the cross again with our sinful thought, speech and action. But, in my experience, sin occurs naturally within us because of our sinful nature. Even if we are able to control our speech and action, sinful thoughts still occur. Our love for Jesus is not vast enough to prevent us from sinning or else we will be trying to be God. So, I guess we have to acknowledge the reality of our fallen nature, not to think that Jesus is not able to withstand our sins again and again, not because we want it but we cannot help it. And finally, we have to repent again and again once we sin again and again. Don’t get me wrong, we should exercise self control in speech and action but my point is we cannot exercise self control in thoughts because they occur naturally.