Love.

We all agree that humans know what love is. We all agree that in some way, humans are capable of loving some things/people, and not loving other things/people. Such a definitive difference leads to other emotions, including rebellion, anger, hatred, repulsiveness, or on the other side of things, attraction, camaraderie, team spirit and unity.

I’m sure most of us are also aware that God, and I’m sure only God, is capable of fully unconditional love. As humans, I seriously doubt anyone can love fully unconditionally, for eternity. 1 Cor 13:4-8 gives us the definition of love:

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. (1 Cor 13:4-8 (ESV))

Ideally, all of us should follow what is laid down here when loving, but of course this is an ideal situation. Less than ideally, most humans are not capable of doing this. As with many relationships, love is unable to bear and endure all things.

Why am I talking about all this? A recent spate of events has triggered this one particular thought: is the capacity for a human to love like a water tank? Is love a filling up process? My theory is this: when you love someone, you are filling their tank. When people love you, they are filling your tank.

How much love/care/concern can one person give to another, without returns, before that one person runs dry and can no longer love? How much can you pour out yourself, before you run dry? This is, of course, an extreme case. Very rarely do you love someone without them showing no love to you at all.

There is this one particular person I have tried showing love/care/concern to. It is tough, especially since I honestly feel as though the person doesn’t really bother whether I care or not, and possibly takes for granted the fact that I care. I also feel that I receive little topping up from that person; it’s almost like I’m pouring out without getting refills.

Well, just a random rant…

Still waiting for you to realise I really care. Why won’t you even show that you care?

Waiting.

Epic Phailure.

Just as I expected…an epic failure.

So much for all that work. It’s gone down the bloody storm drain.

Worth it?

Think-time – at least 16 hours.

Lost sleep – unaccounted for.

Sweat and tears – unaccounted for.

Excel spreadsheet – 4 hours of work, two drafts.

Emails – two written, not entirely well-received.

Keynote presentation – half an hour, still progressing.

Word documents – at least 5 hours of work, two drafts.

Phone calls, SMS messages, MSN correspondences – unaccounted for.

Worth it?

 

Say nothing. Don’t even bother commenting or replying (I hardly receive comments or replies anyway). This is the effort I have attempted to put in. I will now attempt to sleep on it and see how it unfolds. Honestly though, at this point in time, I don’t give a blind sheep how this turns out. In fact, I am considering calling the whole damn thing off. After all, one car can only have so many backseat drivers before it crashes.

Bad Holiday, This.

It’s been a rather sad affair.

It’s hardly been a social holiday. I met up with Lester & Toh on Monday, spent Tuesday alone doing stuff at home, spent the most of Wednesday at home alone too, aside from Mosaic at night with Hann’s team.

Ditto Thursday, aside from Mosaic with David Goh and some of Manrong’s team.

Hardly social.

):

What Does It Mean To Honour God?

What does it mean to honor God?

In the Bible, God clearly states

“Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained.” (1 Sam 2:30)

Hence, a contrast can be drawn – honouring God is to not despise God. To despise is to feel a contempt for. To despise is of far greater a degree than to merely dislike. One can express a certain dislike for a person, but to despise may well be the purest form of hatred.

What is hatred then? In the Bible, it is also taught that to hate your brother is tantamount to committing murder.

“We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” (1 John 4:19-21)

More than just that, we, as believers, have been granted the gift of eternal life, because God, who first loved us, sent His only son to die for us, redeeming our transgressions out of sheer love for us. Hence, we should also practice love and tolerance to one another, for this reflects God’s love for us.

“We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” (1 John 3:14-16)

Back to the original question of what honouring God means, I believe it would mean loving your brother/sister, for starters. Of course, this is not limited to siblings. Loving one another through expressing tolerance, correcting one another, that we may all improve ourselves and learn from mistakes. Such small things are also considered as loving each other, and go some way towards honouring God.

It also means doing things that please God. Paul wrote to the Philippians,

“…continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” (Phil 2:12-13)

Many times I have asked myself, and many have also raised this question – if salvation is free, why do we have to “work out our salvation”? If it may be summarised into a phrase, the phrase would be “as you are so freely given, so, freely give” (Matt 10:8). Salvation is given free. Hence, because of that, you are compelled, because of Jesus’ love, to also give freely unto others what you have received, through evangelism, through ministry (whether it be as a Musician, as a Church Cleaner, or as a Soundman).

Working out our salvation with fear and trembling does not literally mean I do stuff that pleases God because I am quaking in fear of Him. No, to work out our salvation with fear and trembling means to do what I do – stuff that pleases God, such as ministry, evangelism, loving one another – out of a deep reverence and love for God. It is when you serve with a sincere heart, that it honours God.

If I may put it literally, honouring God is making God smile. Why do you want to make God smile? It’s the same way you want to make your Dad smile. You want to make him smile because he loves you and cares for you, so you want to reciprocate that love in some way. When that reciprocation is successfully carried out, a smile is usually the easiest, most recognisable way to know that it is a success. Hence, to make God smile, it is the same. We want to honour God because God loves us, and we want to reciprocate that love in a way that we are good at, and in a way that will make God smile.

As you go about your daily lives, stop and think. Did what I say to my classmate just now please God, or not? Did it put a smile on His face? What can I do today to make God smile?