Mar 28, 2009

He Bore Our Griefs

I stumbled upon this beautiful poem, He Bore Our Griefs, written by Jacob Revius. Very moving and relevant piece for these holy weeks:

No, it was not the Jews who crucified,
Nor who betrayed You in the judgment place,
Nor who, Lord Jesus, spat into Your face,
Nor who with buffets struck You as You died.

No, it was not the soldiers fisted bold
Who lifted up the hammer and the nail,
Or raised the cursed cross on Calvary’s hill,
Or, gambling, tossed the dice to win Your robe.

I am the one, O Lord, who brought you there,
I am the heavy cross You had to bear,
I am the rope that bound You to the tree,
The whip, the nail, the hammer, and the spear,
The blood-stained crown of thorns You had to wear;
It was my sin, alas, it was for me.

Mar 16, 2009

When Christ meets WIIFM

As an Indonesian-born Chinese, I instinctively know how deep the concept of 'gain and loss' is embedded in my life (and countless others who were brought up in Indonesia - and the rest of the world, for that matter). Our well-meaning parents typically teach us to approach every single issue with this one big idea: "How is that gonna benefit you?" If we make a silly decision or a foolish bargain, they will say "Shame on you. How could you not lose if you did that?" Such seemingly innocent remarks given repeatedly over a few critical years at young age cement in our mind a certain attitude that goes very far in our lives. We are wired to think: "What's in it for me?"

What's in it for me. WIIFM. That's the mantra we live by.

Nearly everyday we are led to believe that if we don't think "I, Me, My, Mine, and Myself", we won't last in this dog-eat-dog world. If you don't look out for yourself, no one will. Only the paranoid survive.

Find it hard to believe? Think again.

When it comes to choose a major, we assume it is only logical if we think along this line: Which one will give me the most opportunities to land in a most highly-paid, socially admirable, eternally secure job?

When it comes to getting to know new acquaintances, we wonder: Which ones of these folks who will at least allow me to reap half the benefit I give if I make some efforts to befriend them? Let see this couple has a social status I want to be associated with, she has very powerful friends who knows other powerful people, he is good with financial stuff, she is the queen of bargain stuff, he is a handy man I can always rely on, and so on.

When it comes to select a business opportunity, we will be remiss if we don't ask: Which one will give the greatest rate of return, so I can take my family to five-star overseas holiday every year, pay off that mortgage ASAP, or retire young?

When it comes to find a soul mate, we ask: Which man or woman will satisfy me the most first visually, then perhaps emotionally, relationally, intellectually, morally, spiritually, physically, etc. (often it's not in that order).

When it comes to choose a church, we muse: Which church will help me to experience the most enjoyable worship? The most inspirational sermons? The warmest fellowship? The nicest folks? The most gourmet snack after church?

. . . and so on (feel free to contribute to the list).

I am more and more convinced today that this WIIFM mindset is a huge barrier that stops us from personally coming face to face with Christ to experience inside out transformation. Of course we swim well along the religious tide in our Christian circles, but we never knew that our WIIFM tendency is in a major collision with Christ's terms.

WIIFM Christians always ask: How does following Christ benefit me?

If by knowing Christ, going to church, obeying the 10 Commandments, getting involved in the ministry, praying, fasting, tithing, I will be less likely to be infected with anything from flu virus to cancerous cells, I will be getting a great job and an ideal soulmate, I will be having obedient kids, I will have a comfortable life relatively free from stress-inducing problems, then HEY I WILL BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO DO ALL THAT!

We serve the Lord and sacrifice our time, energy, and money to make him indebted to us that He owes us His blessings.
We lead a holy life and avoid sinful behavior so the Lord felt compelled to bless us with what we wish to get.

Christ Jesus is nothing but a means to an end. In our interaction with Him, we are the ones who hold the remote control, since we control how much we give and surrender to Him on the basis of what we can get out of Him. Either that or Christ is useless.

If we are willing to step aside from all the trapping of our religious circus, we will know that there are areas in our lives where we relate to Christ the way the Greeks relate to their gods. When I was little, I lived in a remote town in the deep end of East Java where the villagers there dutifully worship the goddess of the sea, Nyai Roro Kidul, of course while expecting something in return from the goddess. Safety, Fertility, Harmony, Peace, Comfort, Health, Success. I don't see much differences between the villagers and the 21st century suburban Christians in big cities.

WIIFM stops us from seeing Christ as He really is. We just don't get it, just as Judas never got it though He was always physically close to Christ. We never taste and see the majestic glory of God, the blinding holiness of God, the deafening love of God in Christ, the sweet grace of Jesus Christ, the astonishing death of Jesus Christ, and the life-altering resurrection power of Christ. We know all that intellectually of course, but never personally. We know that in group, but never alone one-on-one with Christ.

The only way to reverse this trend is not to try harder. But to turn to Christ and humbly cry:

Lord, please undo my WIIFM so I can see you for who you really are.
Save me from myself, from my relentless desire to control my life.
Save me from using You to get the things I wish and want.
Save me from moving on the road that leads to eternal destruction.

Turn me o Lord for the pig that I am who trample the pearl You gave me
Into a new creation, a fully spiritual human being who values the pearl
That is, Christ who came for me, the almighty became a single cell for me,
Lived the life I should have lived, and died the death I should have died.

Stop me Lord from asking what You can do for me in the future
by continually pondering what you have done for me in the past.

I don't want to make You a means of my success.
because I now see that You alone are my success.
I don't want to add You so I live a happy life
because I now see that You are my happiness

I don't want to ask You to find me the man/woman I love
because I now see that You alone are my true lover.
I don't want to use You for to get Your blessings
because I now serve You for Your intrinsic worth

I offer my life promptly and sincerely
For you alone are worthy O Lord.

Mar 14, 2009

The Pig and the Pearl

Of all commentaries written on the Sermon on the Mount that I have read (and there are quite many), Dallas Willard's Divine Conspiracy I think most accurately explains Matthew 7:6 “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you":
So let us be clear once and for all that Jesus is not suggesting that certain classes of people are to be viewed as pigs or dogs. Nor is he saying that we should not give good things and do good deeds to people who might reject or misuse them. In fact, his teaching is precisely the opposite. We are to be like the Father in the heavens who is "kind to the unthankful and to the evil" (Luke 6:35).

The problem with pearls for pigs is not that pigs are not worthy. Worthiness is not in question here at all, but helpfulness. Pigs cannot digest pearls, nor nourish themselves upon them. Likewise for a dog with a Bible or a crucifix. The dog cannot eat it. The reason these animals will finally 'turn and rend you', when you one day step up to them with another load of Bible or pearls, is that you at least are edible.

... The needy person will finally become angry and attack us. The point is not the waste of the pearl, but that the person given the pearl is not helped.

Mar 11, 2009

Technology Sabbath

To me it is quickly (or slowly) becoming a matter of necessity to take Technology Sabbath, as suggested by a recent article in Breakpoint. To unplug my life from the god of technology so I can focus on communing with the Almighty God (and spending quality time with my family) even for 12 hours would be a huge challenge for me. But the stats cited in the article is quite startling:
According to a 2005 survey, most Americans—including children—spend at least nine hours a day watching TV, surfing the web, or talking on their cell phones. Of those hours, one-third of the time is spent using two or more of those media at once.

While technology has many worthwhile purposes, it demands a high price from us. Studies have shown that our increasing media dependency is crippling our attention spans, wounding our ability to create meaningful relationships, and generating a false expectation that we should be able to be contacted at every hour of the day.
Do you think you will be able to go over the next 24 hours unplugged?

Mar 4, 2009

Using iPod to Memorize Scripture

Kevin Young posted step-by-step instructions on how to download certain bible passages to your iPod for free. Doing that helps him to memorize the Scripture. This is what he wrote:
I love memorizing Scripture. But I don’t do it much. I love memorizing Scripture because it enriches my prayers with Scripture, it helps me counsel people well, it saturates and sanctifies my mind with God’s words, and in general helps me to set my mind on things above (Col. 3:2) and to think about what is pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise (Phil. 4:8).
Here are the steps he proposed:
1. Open another browser tab so that you can refer back to these instructions as you do what I tell you to do.

2. Go to the ESV Online site.

3. In the top right corner, click on the “Options” tab.

4. Under “Audio Options,” click in one of the buttons for MP3 (I use David Cochran Heath because he has the most “normal” sounding voice).

5. At the bottom left of the page, click the “Save” button (that should open a page that says, “Your preferences have been saved” at the top).

6. Type the passage you want (e.g. Ephesians 4:29 or Matthew 6:25-34) into the search bar and click “search.”

7. When the passage comes up, you should see a link that says “Listen” next to the passage reference. Control-click (silly PC users right-click) on the “Listen” tab. A menu box should come up. Click on “Save Link As…”

8. When the box pops up, you will have to add an extension name on the end of the title if it doesn’t have one. So, for example, if the title of your selection is “49004029″ then you need to add .mp3 on the end, so that it reads “49004029.mp3″. Save the file to your Desktop.

9. Find the file on your desktop and open it with iTunes or Windows Media Player, or whatever you use. You can then load it onto your iPod, MP3 player, or burn it onto a CD for your car.

Mar 3, 2009

How should one pray during financial crisis?

During one of the most volatile periods of the current economic crisis—a week in which global stock markets declined by $7 trillion—Philip Yancey received a call from an editor at Time magazine. The editor's question was simple: "How should a person pray during a crisis like this?" Here is a summary of what Yancey shared in response:
The first stage is simple, an instinctive cry: "Help!" For someone who faces a job cut or health crisis or watches retirement savings wither away, prayer offers a way to voice fear and anxiety. I have learned to resist the tendency to edit my prayers so that they sound sophisticated and mature. I believe God wants us to come exactly as we are, no matter how childlike we may feel. A God aware of every sparrow that falls surely knows the impact of scary financial times on frail human beings. . .

If I pray with the intent to listen as well as talk, I can enter into a second stage, that of meditation and reflection. Okay, my life savings has virtually disappeared. What can I learn from this seeming catastrophe? . . .

A time of crisis presents a good opportunity to identify the foundation on which I construct my life. If I place my ultimate trust in financial security or in the government's ability to solve my problems, I will surely watch the basement flood and the walls crumble. . .

A friend from Chicago, Bill Leslie, used to say that the Bible asks three main questions about money: (1) How did you get it? (Legally and justly or exploitatively?); (2) What are you doing with it? (Indulging in luxuries or helping the needy?); and (3) What is it doing to you? Some of Jesus' most trenchant parables and sayings go straight to the heart of that last question. . .

The same week that global wealth shrank by $7 trillion, Zimbabwe's inflation rate hit a record 231 million percent. In other words, if you had saved $1 million Zimbabwean dollars by Monday, on Tuesday it was worth $158. This sobering fact leads me to the third and most difficult stage of prayer in crisis: I need God's help in taking my eyes off my own problems in order to look with compassion on the truly desperate. . .

What a testimony it would be if, in 2009, Christians resolved to increase their giving to build houses for the poor, combat AIDS in Africa, and announce kingdom values to a decadent, celebrity-driven culture. Such a response defies all logic and common sense — unless, of course, we take seriously the moral of Jesus' simple tale about building houses on a sure foundation.
Read the full-text Christianity Today article here.