The paradoxical side of Love | Friday, May 30, 2008
At this particular moment, I am contemplating of the meaning of love and what does it signify? I think throughout the ages, this question is not new nor is it something to get excited. People have been searching for love, true love and our hearts are pleasantly touched when we see good endings in the fairy tale stories and that those who are truly in love will live happily till the end of their lives.
However, at this modern pace of life, I think the good old fashioned love has slowly eroded and now, we do not even recognise of what it is anymore. We can change our affections and seek for new love when our love for the spouses have faded and that, there is nothing we can look forward to. We want to find some excitement in our relationships, a spark to keep it going but no matter how hard we try, how hard we put in our effort, that mysterious spark seem to disappear and it looked like we would never got hold of it. Then we may take the two choices that are left to us and that is to give up or to quietly bear with it and forget that the spark has ever appeared in our lives.
Personally, I feel that we do not really know how to love or rather to nurture the love that we feel for our loved ones. We take them for granted, expecting them to be there for us when we need them and chuck them aside when we do not need them. On reflection, I think that is what all of us tend to treat God at one point or another time in our lives. Yet, God has not left us and we truly deserved to be abandoned, ignored because of our selfishness and the desire for personal fulfillment. He loves us so much that even if we have hurt Him so much, we do not want to spend time with Him and definitely, we do not even want to talk to Him and listen to His voice and follow His will that He has for our lives, that will not change His love for us. If our loved ones did that to us the way we treated God, very soon, we will not love them anymore, or at least not as much as we have loved them as in the beginning.
Every quarrel, every upset, every cold war and harsh words will draw away our love for each other until we are left with great disappointment, discouragement and little hopes and expeactations for each other. Then, we would rethink our commitment for one another and also, whether we have made the wrong choice at all in the first place. That is not so with God. God loves us and He must have known at the end, that some will spit at Him, some will stamp on His broken body, angry at Him, disgraced by Him and to leave Him alone. Yet, that does not change the fact of the statement, so poignant, that He loves us so strong that He gave His son for us. Not because we are so good, not because we deserve His love but simply because He chooses to love us and have mercy on us. That is true love that all of us have been searching for.
Love can be so fragile that it can easily be broken, yet
Love can be tough too that it can stand firm in the midst of the storms.
Love can grow so cold that it will be not be aroused for anything, yet
Love can also be so passionate that it can consume everything
Love can be hardened to protect oneself from the hurts in one's life, yet
Love can be tender to those and how beautiful will that be.
Love is indeed paradoxical and I think the way to love is to follow our Father's example and that we can indeed day on that blessed day to our loved ones, "For better, or for worse, for health and for sicknesses, till death do we part." That should be our commitment to one another and that we are in this relationship because we choose to be and that we will be committed to nurture this love between us that it will grow to be a strong and fruitful tree. The thought of changing our affections should not even cross in our minds because of the commitment we shared. I love you for who you are and no matter what we say to another in our upsetting times, we may feel hurt and angry with one another but that will not change our love for one another.
Maybe I am hopeless in trying to understand the concept of love and maybe I am naive in my thoughts about love but one thing I strive to do and will always try to do is to follow the example of my Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. May He showers me grace that I will prove the worth of my words.
Created at 12:48 PM
At this particular moment, I am contemplating of the meaning of love and what does it signify? I think throughout the ages, this question is not new nor is it something to get excited. People have been searching for love, true love and our hearts are pleasantly touched when we see good endings in the fairy tale stories and that those who are truly in love will live happily till the end of their lives.
However, at this modern pace of life, I think the good old fashioned love has slowly eroded and now, we do not even recognise of what it is anymore. We can change our affections and seek for new love when our love for the spouses have faded and that, there is nothing we can look forward to. We want to find some excitement in our relationships, a spark to keep it going but no matter how hard we try, how hard we put in our effort, that mysterious spark seem to disappear and it looked like we would never got hold of it. Then we may take the two choices that are left to us and that is to give up or to quietly bear with it and forget that the spark has ever appeared in our lives.
Personally, I feel that we do not really know how to love or rather to nurture the love that we feel for our loved ones. We take them for granted, expecting them to be there for us when we need them and chuck them aside when we do not need them. On reflection, I think that is what all of us tend to treat God at one point or another time in our lives. Yet, God has not left us and we truly deserved to be abandoned, ignored because of our selfishness and the desire for personal fulfillment. He loves us so much that even if we have hurt Him so much, we do not want to spend time with Him and definitely, we do not even want to talk to Him and listen to His voice and follow His will that He has for our lives, that will not change His love for us. If our loved ones did that to us the way we treated God, very soon, we will not love them anymore, or at least not as much as we have loved them as in the beginning.
Every quarrel, every upset, every cold war and harsh words will draw away our love for each other until we are left with great disappointment, discouragement and little hopes and expeactations for each other. Then, we would rethink our commitment for one another and also, whether we have made the wrong choice at all in the first place. That is not so with God. God loves us and He must have known at the end, that some will spit at Him, some will stamp on His broken body, angry at Him, disgraced by Him and to leave Him alone. Yet, that does not change the fact of the statement, so poignant, that He loves us so strong that He gave His son for us. Not because we are so good, not because we deserve His love but simply because He chooses to love us and have mercy on us. That is true love that all of us have been searching for.
Love can be so fragile that it can easily be broken, yet
Love can be tough too that it can stand firm in the midst of the storms.
Love can grow so cold that it will be not be aroused for anything, yet
Love can also be so passionate that it can consume everything
Love can be hardened to protect oneself from the hurts in one's life, yet
Love can be tender to those and how beautiful will that be.
Love is indeed paradoxical and I think the way to love is to follow our Father's example and that we can indeed day on that blessed day to our loved ones, "For better, or for worse, for health and for sicknesses, till death do we part." That should be our commitment to one another and that we are in this relationship because we choose to be and that we will be committed to nurture this love between us that it will grow to be a strong and fruitful tree. The thought of changing our affections should not even cross in our minds because of the commitment we shared. I love you for who you are and no matter what we say to another in our upsetting times, we may feel hurt and angry with one another but that will not change our love for one another.
Maybe I am hopeless in trying to understand the concept of love and maybe I am naive in my thoughts about love but one thing I strive to do and will always try to do is to follow the example of my Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. May He showers me grace that I will prove the worth of my words.
Created at 12:48 PM
Head Knowledge or Heart Knowledge that the Lord is good? | Friday, May 09, 2008
It has been quite some time since I have updated my blog and since I have some free time, I think I will better write down all the blessings that God has blessed me through and all my trials and troubles. Heez.
I have been thinking about the distinction of the two knowledges that we could have towards God: One is from an academic point of view and what we could derive from the Bible and the other is the experiential touch of the Lord in our hearts and make us feel so loved, that we could truly feel that He loves us. I believe that both are important but to me, I feel that a personal touch of the Lord makes all the differences between staying in my faith and giving up following Him.
This is my reason for thinking in this way when I reflect on my situation so far in a foreign country and other cultural differences:
There are times when things have been rather unpleasant and there are times when I wonder what I am doing over here that I feel like going home and reconsider things over. Yet, if not for the Lord's personal Word to me, I would have left and would have change to another mission field where I believe I will not feel so lonely and so helpless. Yes, all my Bible studies and theological knowledge told me that God is there for me, with me and will always take care of me or there are times when I said the same words to people who are feeling down, discouraged and exhausted. Don't give up, perserver on for God has not left you and that He will always take care of you.
Such words can become meaningless when we have not tasted the reality of the Goodness of the Lord. It can be meaningless to me if I have not heard the promises of the Lord in my heart and His promptings on my soul. It is that I have tasted the Goodness of the Lord that these words have a life on their own and can be relevant in our lives. God is good and He is indeed good because i have tasted and see it for myself.
I have been cheated by the taxi-driver when I first came to this country, frustrated by the greed of the local worker and subsequent "betrayal" by him and his constant questioning of me about my ministry of what I want to do. It can be so draining and tiring because to hold back one's anger and to talk reasonably and to express sympathy to him because of his hurts and disappointments in life can make me uncommunicative and retreat to my own room in silence and find refuge there.
In times like this, I can feel so discouraged because I have seen the work of the Lord doing in that worker's life and to see him being torn into two parts can be so difficult. I tried using Scriptures to encourage him but it's not working and that he may feel that I do not understand his situation and I fail to reason with him. He too knows the Scriptures and that God is His provider but he fails to trust in Him and is always trying within his means to make things work better in his situation and to keep on failing can be a serious blow to his ego and pride.
As I have said earlier, I believe in the promises of God and I have felt His hand upon me that kept me going in spite of all these discouragements. God has opened a door for me to build a better relationship with a local student. He is a seeker and he expresses his interest in wanting to know more about God and I gladly share with him of what I know. He loves to come to the centre to listen to uplifting songs and hymns and he is especially touched when I explained John 3:16 in great details about the love of God. He also would like me to baptise him when he decide to make his faith known. To me, that is a great honor and privilege and I was really touched by his request.
I was also touched by God's grace upon my life when his brother came to me on the second night after he came back from another city. His brother told me that he saw me as an older brother and that it is his desire to see me as soon as possible. They came with their cousins and we shared on the topic of love and my opinion and principle in a relationship. They like my definition of love and I was hoping to introduce on the love of God slowly into the topic for the next time and I pray that God too would open a door for me in this area.
Indeed the words of the Lord always prove true and that it will not return void to Him. That is my hope and my belief that God will make this country as the Antioch of C.A and that we will see the glory of the Lord pouring so strongly in this place and that it will flow through to other nations. I count myself most privileged to be able to partake of it and that you will be blessed to be a blessing to others too. Do not just strive to have a head knowledge of God but to really know Him of who He is. I want to invite you to "taste and see that the Lord is good" (Psalm 34:8).
Created at 2:48 PM
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