The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we drink in every night. For all the ill that Satan can do, when God describes what keeps us from the banquet table of His love, it is a piece of land, a yoke of oxen, and a wife (Luke 14:18-20). The greatest adversary of love to God is not His enemies but His gifts. And the most deadly appetites are not for the poison of evil, for the simple pleasures of earth. For when these replace an appetite for God Himself, the idolatry is scarcely recognisable, and almost incurable.
Jesus said some people hear the word of God, and a desire for God is awakened in their hearts. But then, “as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life” (Luke 8:14). In another place He said, “The desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful” (Mark 4:19). “The pleasures of this life” and “the desires for other things” - these are not evil in themselves. These are not vices. These are gifts of God. They are your basic meat and potatoes and coffee and gardening and reading and decorating and travelling and investing and TV-watching and Internet-surfing and shopping and exercising and collecting and talking. And all of them can become deadly substitutes for God.
John Piper (A hunger for God)
Was preparing for Quiet Time this morning and noticed this in the sermon bulletin, I missed it on Sunday, but not this time. My guess is it is there to remind the adults of last Saturday’s Adult Fellowship session on Idolatry. And how true: God has given us all things to enjoy (1 Tim 6:17b), yet these are the very things that can usurp God’s place in our lives. The excuses given to justify the invitees’ absence in the Parable of the Great Banquet were the most innocuous – who would have faulted them? Yet, they revealed what their hearts were set on: the here and now. Last week, God also revealed where my heart is – in a survey that I had completed previously and had never thought would unearth more when I went through it the second time, in my sins, struggles and insecurities, in my sporadic thoughts, etc. I hate (and was afraid) to admit it, but there are idols in my life. That’s why I find it hard to love God with all of my heart, and with all of my soul, and with all of my mind. The presence of idols is adultery in my covenant relationship with God. My joy and comfort is that God, who is jealous for my love, our love, will do all things to keep me faithful and steadfast to Him. And now, it’s time to deal with these idols in my life.
Thanks to Team Archie, I received a *free* David Archuleta CD today! I’m so excited! I’m going to listen to the full album now. Ok, I admit I wasn’t really looking forward to the album, after hearing a few songs. Demographically, it’s targeted mainly at the tweens and teens, but it’s still worth a listen.
Oh yes, thanks to Joy Shihua for free deal. Hope you are enjoying the mp3 on itunes and the CD as well!
Here’s his first single from the debut album. Enjoy!
Crush - David Archuleta
I hung up The phone tonight / Something happened For the first time / Deep inside / It was a rush / What a rush / ‘Cause the possibility / That you would ever Feel the same way / About me / It’s just too much / Just too much / Why do I keep running From the truth / All I ever think About is you / You got me hypnotized / So mesmerized / And I just got to know
*Do you ever think When you’re all alone / All that we can be / Where this can go / Am I crazy Or falling in love / Is it really Just another crush / Do you catch a breath When I look at you / Are you holding back Like the way you do / ‘Cause I’m trying, trying to walk away / But I know this crush Ain’t goin’ away / Goin’ away
Has it ever crossed Your mind / When we’re hangin’ / Spending time girl / Are we just friends / Is there more / Is there more / See it’s a chance We’ve gotta take / ’cause I believe That we can Make this into / Something That will last Last forever / Forever (repeat *)
Why do I keep running From the truth / All I ever think About is you / You got me hypnotized / So mesmerized / And I just got to know (repeat *)
(was listening to Archie on thru the sound system just now, and my papa said: “sounds good!” Wah, I thought there was another Archie convert. Turns out that he meant that the sound system was good. Bah hum bug!)
(update 1) Thank God that I’d backed up my contacts in my laptop! Can’t imagine the agony of having to get back lost contacts…
First, let me tell you how I am an idiot. I screwed up the syncing of my mobile phone (which is supposed to back up my phone numbers), and erased all but two numbers in my phone. ARGH! Ok, that feels better already. *Sigh
If you are reading this, and your number is not in the Emmaus directory, could you text me your number? Muchas gracias!
The feature of this month’s Christianity Today is on the issue of global hunger, which probably doesn’t touch the skins of us living in affluent Singapore. I know that there are many hungry people out there in this world, and I had thought that it’s just a food distribution problem, but now I know that the root of the problem goes deeper. There are no easy solutions, and hunger would probably never be eradicated. After all, Jesus did say that ‘the poor you will always have with you’ (Mark 14:7), and poverty and hunger are bed fellows. But Jesus, in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Matt 25:31-46), told the disciples to feed the hungry, and when we do so, we do it unto Him.
Philip Yancey suggested an explanation for this instruction in the book The Jesus I never knew:
The parabe refers to the meantime, the centuries-long interval we live in now, the time when God seems absent. The answer to that most modern question [Where is God now?] is at once profound and shocking. God has not absconded at all. Rather, he has taken on a disguise, a most unlikely disguise of the stranger, the poor, the hungry, the prisoner, the sick, the ragged ones of earth: “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it for me.” If we cannot detect God’s presence in the world, it may be that we have been looking in the wrong place.
Commenting on this passage, the great American theologian Jonathan Edwards said that God has designated the poor as his “receivers.” Since we cannot express our love by doing anything to profit God directly, God wants us to do something profitable for the poor, who have been delegated the task of receiving Christian love.
By serving the poor, the hungry, the down-and-out, we serve Jesus. And that is why Christians have been involved in humanitarian work since the establishment of the church. When we take up this personal social responsibility, we do it unto Jesus because we love Him.
The last time I saw this video was at the Methodist Convention last year, where a Christian astrophysics professor used it to describe the height and depth of God’s creative power and sovereignty. It wasn’t my first time watching the video, but it left me flabbergasted again nonetheless. Made in 1977, the video cites the possible existence of quarks, sub-atomic structures existing within the nucleus. Now, we have come to know that quarks exist and are sub-atomic structures existing within neutrons and protons. And God’s control extends from these entities, to the biggest black hole in the universe! I don’t know about you, but God’s creative power and control boggles my mind.
If you love this video, you should watch this too: Hubble Deep Field: the most important image ever taken. I’m not sure if it is the single most important image ever taken by humanity, but it does make you feel very, very small. Hmmm… is there a possiblity of an alternative reality where there’re another you and me, living different lives on one of the planets in another galaxy? Er… don’t kill too many brain cells thinking about this. It doesn’t lead to fruition.
Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.
C.S. Lewis
Was reading Philip Yancey’s The Jesus I Never Knew (BTW, I think Yancey is an excellent, excellent writer and I would like to read his book “When God Doesn’t Answer Your Prayer”…) and twice he quoted C.S. Lewis from the Weight of Glory (another book on my ‘to read’ list). And I couldn’t agree more. More often than not, I’ve settled for the little thrills and pleasures that this world offers than to seek the immeasurable joy that God wants to grant me. My desires have been attenuated by my careless diet, and I need to retrain my taste buds.
