Serving God

Kinda hit on this topic when i was talking to a friend, and found it rather interesting.

As you guys probably know by now, i'm someone with very wierd views that will seem very controversial. But hey, i AM entitled to my own views right? And i trust that you as my readers do have your own ideas and opinions as well. Or you would make me guilty of improper influence of funny ideas..haha..if there was such a crime

Anyway, the topic was about serving God, and not the world. And i kinda realised that the whole point was to remember that we love God, not the world, not the marketplace where we operate in.

And when we talk about the marketplace, our pastor broke it down neatly into a few sectors that every civilisation would have: Education, Business, Government, Church, Entertainment, Welfare and something else i can't remember. But the point i wanted to use is that Church is one of the marketplace sectors.

And since the topic was about serving God, i was fiercely [okay..maybe only mildly loudly] pointing out that it was possible to love church more than God as well. In many ways too. For example, if you desired to be in church more than you desired to do good deeds, you are loving the church more than God.

I do believe that everyone has misused the term "serving God". What does it mean to serve God? Does God need serving? Isn't He almighty? How does anything that we do serve Him?

The truth is that we cannot. There is nothing that we can do that would serve Him. Only when you bring the Kingdom of God in to the world, can you be considered serving Him. And the kingdom of God is where people live in peace and love and people live righteously. If you spread love and joy around, you are serving God and putting a smile on His face. If you show people that you can care for them with no strings attached, you are demonstrating God's love, even if you are not a christian.

Anything other than that is either self serving or sector serving. Think carefully; does your work serve God? Or does it serve some other purpose?

And the church is NOT God. And neither is God restricted in the walls of the church. God can be found on sundays in service within the church, He can be seen moving amongst the people on other days as well. God is omnipresent and all powerful.

And it IS possible to love the church more than you love God. And it IS possible to be serving the church rather than serving God.

I'm not trying to say that anyone is NOT serving God. I'm just listing down facts, and hopefully you become clearer as to what things are. Of course, God DO recognise services rendered to the church. But we should not discount other forms of service as well. One does not NEED to serve in church to serve God. Our lives should be a form of service to God in a sense.

Stay blessed

Loving God, Loving the world

To many christians, to be the friend of the world is to be the enemy of God. To love God, is to hate the world, and vice versa.

I beg to differ.

"For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten son."

The world is the creation of God, like man, it contains traces of His presence and identity and being. Interwoven in the creation of the world is God's signature and His love and effort.

Just like man. Just like man was the creation of God, so is the world. And anyone who claims that the world is not created by God cannot be a true christian. to claim that God did not have a hand in the tabloids, to claim that God was not the one to invent motor cars and aeroplanes or that He did not think of economic strategies that people could think of, is simply blashemy.

Just like how Lucifer started his life of rebellion when he refused to love what God had created

Are we going to hate the world in order to stay pure and 'to bring His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven?"

To want to bring the Kingdom of God to the world is to love the world. It means to love the people around us regardless of their background. Ruth was not a Jew; even if she was the wife of a Jew, even if she was a God fearer, she was not a Jew, and she will never be considered a Jew. Yet through her faith and her righteousness she was given the task of birthing forth a line of descendants that eventually brought Jesus to the world. Ruth to the Jews are like the normal citizens of the world to Christians.

Whoever mentioned that only Christians would bring forth the kingdom of God? Who says that only the believers will be used by God? Who says that God only touches those who believes Him?

God uses all. God loves all. And God is all-mighty.

I believe when you care for people around you, when you decide that you want to better the lives of others, when you give advise that brings people to a righteous life, when you mentor others to understand the morals and ethics behind a mature mind, you bring a glimpse of the Kingdom to earth. When you bring a smile on someone's face, you bring a smile on God's face. When you care for someone, you allow God to use you to care for people.

Love the world around you.

Cheers

Back In Singapore

Hey Guyz

Well, i've been back for a couple of weeks already. So i'd think i can give a fair comment about how i'm doing back in Singapore, spiritually.

For one, things simply do not change just because of your geographic position. That much i learnt since i arrived in America and found myself pretty much the same.

Adapting back to church and cell group taks pretty much actually. I had not realised that it took that much. Some things feels natural, as though i never left it behind, while some things have changed. I guess that goes for almost everything else too..

One of the problems i foresaw was the practice of speaking in tongues in my cell group. For someone who had not practiced it much over 8 months, i feel that this worry is well justified, however, it proved to be the least of my worries, cos it feels like i've simply picked off where i left it last. Or to put it in another way, it's as awkward as ever.

Other conceptual problems/conflicts that i see now are much tougher to handle. Things like the concept of prayer, the concept of serving God, as well as the concept of being a christian.

I still believe in the same God, i still feel like i would want to contribute to a better world as God envisions it. I still believe that God is all powerful and that He does miracles in our lives everyday. But i also believe that He does so despite our praying, not because of our prayer.

I still believe that God does not need us to serve. That He has plans that are in place that we cannot understand, and that we should not be so prideful to believe that we are the key to bringing forth the plan.

And i still want to believe that being a christian means to be God fearing, not fear the world, and to live life as well as you can, guided by the teachings that Jesus gave us through the Gospel. That all God wants is for us to obey his Commandments, and to guide others to follow His commandments and appreciate what He has given them, regardless of whether they know that it came from Him or not.

And i guess that basically places me out of the christian denomination complete..haha..so wierd. I've grown out of the church that i was 'born' in. even out of any church out there. So perhaps i'm simply in the midst of finding my world view.

And hopefully i remain persistant in pursuing the truth and accepting it. And God willing, i'll be able to find it too. Within my lifetime. Kinda like a life quest. Yepps. So that's Brian Wang Chongyu back in Singapore. Confused, uncomfortable but complacent, and irresponsibly silent about sharing that except through this blog. Just like anyone else out there. Just more honest. i hope..

Cheers