The greatest evil of all is myself

Does the omnipresence of God translate into your omniobedience?

All true beauty in the universe is reflected beauty,

only God is inherently beautiful and glorious.

ugly ugly ugly

Just returned from church from the course on an introduction to pastoral ministry. One of the points was that the pastor must take off his own mask and also reach behind his fellow sheep's mask so that true fellowship may take place. We learnt about the marks of a manipulator, effects of manipulation and the vital role which genuineness in Christ plays in ministry. (ok this is just a brief summary of the lessons tonight but is not what I hope to bring out in this post.)

I was pretty upset after watching part of qian xian zui zong (frontline news) which started reporting at 10pm. It was broadcasting ugliness that is raw and in the face. The frontline team actually filmed overnight at one of the collection stands for the salvation army. Throughout the night, 5-6 waves of theft occurred and one of which is organised crime (a white truck came by, the ppl sifted through the donations, placed the 'harvestable' items by the side of the road, the truck moved to park beside the goods, they loaded it on and moved on.) They looted ~100kg of goods in one go. There was a thai dude who got confronted by the reporter, he could converse in english but used the excuse of him not being able to understand the sign which explains that stealing of the goods was punishable by law. I highly doubt that since he was able to converse in clear english, the question then is, did he understand common sense and his own conscience? The cameras rolled on throughout all the thefts.

When interviewed, the rep from the salvation army response to the spate of thefts was, "We are the salvation army, not the police force." Then he went on to spell out the measures to take to tackle this problem. Then frontline began to analyse that approx $20k was lost due to the spate of recent thefts (I won't spell out the calcs here). I was just taken aback by the rep's nonchalence..

3 evils:

1) Wickedness - The cheek of people to steal goods meant to be sent to help those in need.

2) Greed - Despicable frontline team who filmed the whole process but did not alert the police or stop the thefts?

3) Total absence of apathy and sense of responsibility - To think that others put their trust in your organisation as a middleman or agent by which those in need may be helped...and that you guys don't give a hoot and simply don't put your heart into handling resources from the public, that disgusts me.

Reminder to self though, I also learnt tonight that I should look at sinners with compassion and not hate.

Sinners saved by grace also sin, on a different level, often less detectable, more socially tolerable and as a result is possibly a more potent evil should the christian's heart become hardened and numb to sin.

Trials

Trials are given for the testing of one's faith and meant for growth.

When a christian experiences trials, one must understand that our sovereign LORD does not delight in our suffering or loss. Our LORD is wise, our LORD is good and our LORD loves us. He will not allow us to undergo suffering without purpose and treat us like lab rats or puppets to satisfy his desires.

Each christian is undoubtedly a new creation in Christ, however we are still weak in the flesh, especially when we act according to the flesh and not the spirit. We each have our own vulnerabilities, widely categorized, they are: the pride of this life, the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh.

When one experiences a trial, one should be most attentive not to the pain experienced but to the purpose and the message which God is trying to bring out through the experience. Pain is necessary for the destruction of sins in our life, usually those which are deeply rooted in our lives, sins which are hidden, sins which we do not or refuse to fight and forsake. Trials are not simply meant for the christian to experience God's grace and give praise to God, leveling up in paying lip service to God. Recall that when the apostles were persecuted for Christ's Name's sake, they rejoiced because it dawned upon them that it was an honour to be counted worthy to suffer for the sake of Christ's name! What a glorious outcome of a trial which truly brought God glory! Recall also, the 10 lepers who were healed, of which only one returned to Christ glorified God with a loud voice, fell at Christ's feet and gave thanks. What a glorious response to God in reciprocation with the whole of his being in worship of God! The outcome of trials then, ought to be to the glory of God.

So, dear christian, if you are reading this, understand this, that the LORD gives trials ultimately for His own glory, to destroy your old self and to mould you to be more Christ-like, that is truly the purpose of trials. If you are not going through the trials with such an attitude, you will be suffering blindly and that would be really pitiful and an utter waste of life. May we all live a fruitful life for Christ.

In summary, these are the points which we have to understand:

1. There is purpose in trials

2. Seek to know the purpose of your trials

3. Correct understanding of God's attributes - of Him who is the giver of trials

4. Strive to glorify God in trials, and for that matter, in all that you do.

Home cooked food :)

Had my first home cooked meal in like... almost 2 months! It was great in a special sense, not that it was exceptionally tasty, it consisted of broccoli, carrot & potato stew, fried corn egg and fried fishballs - but it was simply blissful just to have home cooked food again. Thank God for the proper dinner and I hope the maid will learn to do well and live well with my mum. Home cooked meals are always super nutritious, just that my mum and sis does not seem to fancy meat much, except for fish meat. Had a sumptuous meal at 9pm after exercising, its been a long time since I trained to the extent of feeling faint! watched a bit of channel 8, super lame, came on the comp.

Just heard the report on gaddafi's orders to the mercenaries to rape the civilians again. Read the report on BBC earlier on, shall not discuss the intentions and the ... ugh. sad outcome of things. It will only provoke me to sinful anger. Just listening to the report reminds me of how screwed this world is and how scary sin is. No mood to stay on the comp any longer. Pray.