For it is by grace you have been saved,
through faith –
and this is not from yourselves,
it is the gift of God
Ephesians 2:8
The fine line between here and there
Wednesday, April 15, 2009 12:36 AM
The complexities of christianity are often taken for granted. To most people, it is taken to be having faith and doing God's will in love. The main focus of this would most probably be on faith and doing God's will. A lot of times, we forget the "in love" bit.
We go about trying to be nice to people, not cheating off other people's tests, doing homework, staying out of relationships and generally being "good people" because we know it's the right thing to do. But how many times do we do it because we have the heart to? There is a fine line between wanting to do something because we know it's right and we want to do the right thing and doing it simply because we love.
Pastor Edmund Chan of Covenant Evangelical once said that "God is not afraid of empty pews, only empty men". Essentially, this means that God doesn't want us to just do the right thing because it's right, He wants us to do it because we love and we mean it from the bottom of our hearts. Often, we have to put on false pretenses when we are faced with people we don't exactly like to come across in life. We try to be nice to them because we know that we have to be good examples and show people that christians are good people. But while that is true, we need to ponder of the all important question:
Just how much do we try because we love them?
Being human beings, love is sometimes a difficult emotion. The world is not made up of people who are like jigsaw puzzles and would fit perfectly into one another. No, it is made up of disputes, disagreements and a vast diversity of people who sometimes just can't stand each other. Along with love, there is hate. And it is difficult to try to love everyone when we can despise some of them.
To have motivation to try to love everyone in the first place, we need to grasp the reason behind doing everything in love. You see, when you do something when your heart is not in it, you are lying. To the people you do something to, to God and ultimately, yourself. You are forcing yourself to do something you do not want to do. When you strip away the supposed good intentions and cheerful smiles, you end up with an empty, resounding nothing. You can be the best samaritan in the world and still be that empty, resounding nothing.
1 Corinthians 13 is a nice little passage about love. We all agree it's a pleasant passage about the power of love and how love is all these great and wonderful things. But we need to pay attention to verses 1-3 in particular.
1 If I speak in tongues of men and of angels,
but have not love, I am only a resounding gong
or a clanging cymbal.
2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom
all mysteries and all knowledge,
and if I have a faith that can move mountains,
but not love, I am nothing.
3 If I give all I posess to the poor and surrender
my body to the flames, but have not love,
I gain nothing.
Often, we see this passage as telling us just how important love is. But for the actual emphasis, we really do not have to look that far. The ultimatum is this - without love, we are nothing, no matter what we do, give or have. Don't lie to yourselves, if you are incapable of doing something with love, then don't do it. In the end, they both equate to nothing, so you might as well save yourselves all that lying.
Lastly, I'm sorry if this post sounds like something you really don't want to hear. But I believe that every one of us is guilty of putting on this mask when there's really nothing behind it. I don't know about you, but not too long ago, I finally got so fed up with myself and all this lying that I thought I was going to implode. I'm tired of pretending. And I just really want a bigger heart now. I don't want to do anything "nice" and have the other party thinking that I'm such a kind person when I am nothing. I'll get what I deserve, just like all of you should. Bigger hearts take time to grow, give yourselves a little more of it, plus the patience to nurture, and we won't be empty men anymore.
Think about it.
Deborah
P/S I know you all probably want to strangle me after seeing how nice CSI's website it. To let you all know, I'm working on it, so please be patient with me. I'm designing the blogskin and looking endlessly in my photograph file. Technology kind of hates me so please do not expect Dylan-standard things. Thanks. Suggestions, please send me an email or message me on messenger at flowersforalice@gmail.com.
We go about trying to be nice to people, not cheating off other people's tests, doing homework, staying out of relationships and generally being "good people" because we know it's the right thing to do. But how many times do we do it because we have the heart to? There is a fine line between wanting to do something because we know it's right and we want to do the right thing and doing it simply because we love.
Pastor Edmund Chan of Covenant Evangelical once said that "God is not afraid of empty pews, only empty men". Essentially, this means that God doesn't want us to just do the right thing because it's right, He wants us to do it because we love and we mean it from the bottom of our hearts. Often, we have to put on false pretenses when we are faced with people we don't exactly like to come across in life. We try to be nice to them because we know that we have to be good examples and show people that christians are good people. But while that is true, we need to ponder of the all important question:
Just how much do we try because we love them?
Being human beings, love is sometimes a difficult emotion. The world is not made up of people who are like jigsaw puzzles and would fit perfectly into one another. No, it is made up of disputes, disagreements and a vast diversity of people who sometimes just can't stand each other. Along with love, there is hate. And it is difficult to try to love everyone when we can despise some of them.
To have motivation to try to love everyone in the first place, we need to grasp the reason behind doing everything in love. You see, when you do something when your heart is not in it, you are lying. To the people you do something to, to God and ultimately, yourself. You are forcing yourself to do something you do not want to do. When you strip away the supposed good intentions and cheerful smiles, you end up with an empty, resounding nothing. You can be the best samaritan in the world and still be that empty, resounding nothing.
1 Corinthians 13 is a nice little passage about love. We all agree it's a pleasant passage about the power of love and how love is all these great and wonderful things. But we need to pay attention to verses 1-3 in particular.
1 If I speak in tongues of men and of angels,
but have not love, I am only a resounding gong
or a clanging cymbal.
2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom
all mysteries and all knowledge,
and if I have a faith that can move mountains,
but not love, I am nothing.
3 If I give all I posess to the poor and surrender
my body to the flames, but have not love,
I gain nothing.
Often, we see this passage as telling us just how important love is. But for the actual emphasis, we really do not have to look that far. The ultimatum is this - without love, we are nothing, no matter what we do, give or have. Don't lie to yourselves, if you are incapable of doing something with love, then don't do it. In the end, they both equate to nothing, so you might as well save yourselves all that lying.
Lastly, I'm sorry if this post sounds like something you really don't want to hear. But I believe that every one of us is guilty of putting on this mask when there's really nothing behind it. I don't know about you, but not too long ago, I finally got so fed up with myself and all this lying that I thought I was going to implode. I'm tired of pretending. And I just really want a bigger heart now. I don't want to do anything "nice" and have the other party thinking that I'm such a kind person when I am nothing. I'll get what I deserve, just like all of you should. Bigger hearts take time to grow, give yourselves a little more of it, plus the patience to nurture, and we won't be empty men anymore.
Think about it.
Deborah
P/S I know you all probably want to strangle me after seeing how nice CSI's website it. To let you all know, I'm working on it, so please be patient with me. I'm designing the blogskin and looking endlessly in my photograph file. Technology kind of hates me so please do not expect Dylan-standard things. Thanks. Suggestions, please send me an email or message me on messenger at flowersforalice@gmail.com.
In God's awesome ♥
GO(L)D 90 FMadj. God our "Lao Da" (awesome Dad in the sky)
1. WEFC
2. Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen year olds.
3. Fuel Miracles, Fishers of Men (Yes, that would be what the FM stands for, love)
4. There is no love but in God alone
GO(L)D 90FM
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Set our sights in Him
Colossians 3:12-1712Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
13Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Speak of His love
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