Shall We Love?

What do you mean by "falling in love"? A romantic exchange of eye sights? Passionate hugs (usually the next scene is on the bed in movies)? A heartily conversation?

Sigh... nowadays all about love is "making myself happy". When someone says "I love this!", it means he 'likes' it. We are abusing the word 'love'. Even in worship, when is the time you think you gave the best worship? Some Christians will say "when I am totally immersed into the atmosphere and tear because I feel the love of God and His presence is so near me."

Sigh..., self feeling again.

Well... it is not wrong to feel God's presence, enjoy His majesty and touched by His love. However, that is only the primitive beginning, worshipping is giving God what He deserve ...

"Have you ever been driven to do something for God not because you felt that it was useful or your duty to do so, or that there was anything in it for you, but simply because you love Him? Have you ever realized that you can give things to God that are of value to Him? Or are you just sitting around daydreaming about the greatness of His redemption, while neglecting all the things you could be doing for Him?"

"If what we call love doesn’t take us beyond ourselves, it is not really love. If we have the idea that love is characterized as cautious, wise, sensible, shrewd, and never taken to extremes, we have missed the true meaning. This may describe affection and it may bring us a warm feeling, but it is not a true and accurate description of love. " - Oswald Chamers. (My Ulmost Highest)

I call "love is ignorant" if we do not excercise God's given Spirit of Truth, and "love is shallow" if we do not give anything that hurts us.

BTW, according to the Bible, actually we cannot call the above 'love', Paul said:
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. " 1 Cor. 4-7

Being "patient" is when someone pissed you off again and again and again , and again (7 x 77 times) but you still undertand. Being kind is givng others what they do not deserve and you actually do not have to give at all. Love DOES NOT delight in ANY evil but rejoices with ALL truth. I think I am not adding new things into the Bible, but the existential descriptors (as a mathematician's bad habit) remind us that love does not come with homosexuality or premartial sex. Anyway, I guess we already cannot call ourselves loving at this point already...

Love without obeying God is lust. Sins strip us off from God's glory.

The world is fallen, really.

Rubbish I

Snowflakes fly, snowflakes float,
Drifting while the wind blows.
Where to land? Where to go?
We cannot tell and nobody knows.

Fall on grasses, fall on a window.
But will not last until tomorrow.
Hopefully dirty floor is not the goal,
Being trampled and melted in sorrow.

Snowflakes with you, snowflakes with me.
A warm company like honey and bees.
They come, they leave.
I cannot keep them but only can see.

Sometime I wonder in my bed,
Especially when I'm lonely and sad,
"When will a snowflake fall on my head?"
Maybe I should ask my meow meow cat,

Taxi Theology

In Singapore, I love to take taxi because it's so cheap. From the far west end of singapore to the other end in the east, it will only take about S$20. Why should I buy a car?

Well, since I am not local here, the smart taxi drivers realise my accent and sometime they will do something funny. Some of them are quite cunning especially in non-rushing hours, when they do not have many customers. Once, there was one taxi driver who took me a big round with the high way. Finally, the fee was more than %50 more than usual, I felt cheated.

So, sometime I am nervous on a taxi. My emotions on taxi can be.... tensed and stressed, because I need to direct the route. Or sometime it's "pai seh" (Singlish, meaning "shy"or a sense of "shame") since my directions can be very complicated. Of course, the worst feeling will be at getting annoyed when the taxi driver insists to go for the longer way. I will feel cheated and "I will never take your taxi again" (Well it's hard to take his taxi again anyway.)

However, why am I got pissed just because of a few dollars?!?!

When I think about it, actually it's only such a small amount of money (and sometime the longer route maybe faster). I like to study my own emotions usually and I found myself very calculating. Upon reflection, I am so blessed already with all my family, jobs and friends, why should I care about a few dollars.

I guess sometime my life is like that also. Namely, because of some mistakes others made, I will get very annoyed. Although I do not lost my temper, but the 'debt' is pinned in my heart. I will not yell at people, but I will feel uneasy. Normal human responses? However, Jesus taught us,

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"
Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

I don't know if I need to keep an account of 77 times of taxi rides, but in my life, better remember our Lord's grace from time to time. We are forgiven, again and again. I know someone may take it as a command that we need to forgive others. However, I guess it's a natural result if we really understand the forgiveness from God and the price paid by Jesus's humiliation and His horrible death. Just want to say, I didn't realize how much He gave when I was a young Christian. Probably I do not understand and appreciate it fully now. But after I realize more, I know Jesus did not just "die and resurrect". He gave all He could give and it DID hurt Him.

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." Jim Elliot October 28, 1949

It always reminds me about the movie Babette's Feast, when the servant gave all she could have given. Do I ever give ALL I could give to someone? NEVER. I wish I will have the chance to do that for my future wife and children. Well, I cannot do that now but God did that for my sins. And the question is, am I going to calculate what others have done to me?!?! no matter big or small?

"Love is ... not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs."

So, next time we are on a taxi, remember that we are under the grace system. Upon receiving such grace, our life direction should be totalled re-aligned.