fragment.

at the end of the day,
i’m still not sure if He caught me
or just never let me go to begin with.

but whatever the case,
i’m just so glad i’m not falling
because it feels so good to fly.

Hate who?

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple." - Luk 14:26

Those are tough words, there's no denying that. In light of Jesus' teachings about loving everyone, even your enemies; this verse seems to contradict the message of love that can be found elsewhere in the NT -- especially because it talks about hating those closest to you. But if you do a little research elsewhere in the Bible, you will realize that "hate" in this context was used as a hyperbole, certainly not meant to be taken literally.

According to Strong's Bible dictionary, one meaning of the word hate is 'to love less.' This is affirmed in Genesis 20.

Gen 29:30 - So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and served Laban for another seven years. 31 - When the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.

Since Rachel was loved more than Leah, Leah was hated by comparison. Therefore, hate can be rendered 'to love less.'

Now, let's look at the parallel of Luke 14:26, located in Matthew 10:37 -- "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me."

So really, the verse in Luke isn't telling us to hate our families in the direct sense of the word; rather, it is saying that there is nothing that we should put before God. It's a matter of priority. You know what is right, just, and true; and nothing -- no member of your family, not even fear for your own life, should prevent you from doing it.

However, discernement is certainly necessary in cases like these. As Paul tells us in
Rom 14:20, "Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble."

Therefore, we must assess our motives. If God is truly calling us, we cannot put anything before him, and must obey him first. But if the matter has nothing to do with salvation or God's calling, but more with ourselves; it may be better in some cases to abstain for the sake of those aound you.

For instance, if you have a friend with an alcohol problem, is it right to drink around them, leading them into temptation, just because you're free to do so? Or if all of your family has a religion that prohibits them from eating meat, why create a rift by eating it, and cause them to blaspheme God's name?

Again, these circumstances are very difficult, and require a lot of prayer. But when God is truly calling you, sometimes you need to sacrifice the approval of your family, your reputation, certain aspects of your life, or all of it; just like Jesus did.

That's called loving God more.

My Favourite Lines from Les Miserables

... One day the Bishop arrived at Senez, which is an ancient episcopal city. He was mounted on a donkey. His purse, which was very dry at that moment, did not permit him any other equipage. The mayor of the town came to receive him at the gate of the town, and watched him dismount from his donkey, with scandalized eyes. Some of the citizens were laughing around him. "Monsieur the Mayor," said the Bishop, "and Messieurs Citizens, I perceive that I shock you. You think it very arrogant in a poor priest to ride an animal which was used by Jesus Christ. I have done so from necessity, I assure you, and not from vanity."

I just love, love, love those lines... that is what being Christ-like is all about. Let them laugh! We have our mission, and that is to surrender fully to Christ. No matter how hard, no matter how unpopular, no matter how 'scandalous'! We have to decrease so He can increase; the one who is humble is great.

You had a bad day...

I had a terrible week.

To name just a few things: I got hit in the head with a ball two times in a row during gym and my glasses got bent and jammed painfully into my face; I walked out of school with my lock in my hand and didn't even notice; I realized that I had lost my SECOND Romeo and Juliet book of the semester; I managed somehow to jab my eye with a water bottle; and, to top it off, I practically failed my math summative, partially because I forgot to put my calculator on "degrees" mode. There goes 10% of my mark!

Sigh...

As you can imagine, I wasn't exactly in the best mood. I opened my Bible that evening, and I readily confess that it was really out of a nagging sense of duty, rather than out of my love for God. But God never misses a chance to speak to someone who needs Him, even they don't come to Him with a particularly open heart.

I opened to a page in Matthew, and as I looked at it, I thought: "I've read this so many times already... what new lesson could I possibly learn from it?" (hey, I told you I was in a bad mood!). But before I could turn to a different book, Someone led my eyes to Matt. 14:10-14.

It described Jesus finding out about John the Baptist's death. Deeply saddened, Jesus "withdrew to a desolate place by himself," probably to mourn and pray. But then, the people began to come.

They brought the sick to Him and he healed them.
They told Him their problems and sins, and he listened with love and compassion.
Their numbers grew and grew, until there were 5000 there. Then He fed them all.

And that made me think.

Jesus was feeling a lot worse than I was -- after all, failing a math summative doesn't even come close to having one of your best friends die. And yet, when the needy came to Him, he did so much for them... even though he probably wasn't in the mood for socialising!

Whereas I, with my insignificant little problems, really did nothing for others except complain to them. I was so full of self-pity that I seemed to forget that other people existed too, and had problems of their own that I could help them with.

That really struck a chord with me, and to anyone reading, I just want to say:

It doesn't matter how bad life is going for you... nothing can prevent you from doing good.

Did Jesus borrow the idea of the Golden Rule from Buddhism?

Buddhism states: "Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful." This is very true, but it's only a tiny part of the idea the Golden Rule of the Bible encompasses. Buddhism says that, for example, you should not hate anyone if you don't want to be hated. Christianity says that not only should you refrain from hating anyone, but you should also make an effort to LOVE them as well. "If someone compels you to go one mile, go with them two," says the Bible. It's that extra mile that makes all the difference.

Modern philosophies agree: have you ever heard psychologists say that you are not just supposed to tolerate differences but embrace them as well? Or that you should not be a bystander but an active player? The above quote from Buddhism says: "don't do." As Christians, we believe not doing is not enough.

By the way, a paraphrase of the Golden rule actually exists in Leviticus 19: "The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God." Leviticus was written nearly 1000 years before Buddhist writings came into existence.

Finally, the availability of Buddhist writings in Isreal in the first century was almost certainly close to to none. It is not at all likely that Jesus could have had access to them.

Hope that clears it up... any thoughts from Buddhist friends? :) I'd love to hear your views.

If God is love how can He hate?

The Bible clearly states that God is love, loves people, and wants us to love in the same way that He showed us love on the Cross. However, the Bible also states that God hates sins such as lyring, pride, divorce, etc. So how can someone who is 100% love, have any particle of hate in Himself?

Here is my take, which I pray is Spirit-directed. It came to me just this morning:

It's simple. God is love; so wherever God is, there Love abides as well. God does NOT dwell in evil things ... no part of Him is in blasphemy, cruelty, and lies. Those things are full of satan and evil spirits, and by nature, have no Love in them. Therefore, if you take away love, you are left with hate. If God is not in them, He does not love them.

Tonight

I was writing a blog post tonight, for my other blog. It was very worldly... completely oriented around myself, with only paragraphthat had anything to do with God. I had spent about an hour on it, when I accidentally logged off and closed the window. When I came back, everything I had written was gone.

I cried.

The conviction was so strong. I had just wasted one hour without praising God, serving God, doing anything to glorify God.

It reminds me of 1 Corinthians 3:15 -- "If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire." How much of what I am building is eternal? How much of what I am building is pleasing to God? How much will withstand the fire?

I don't want to be saved only as one escaping through the flames. I want to make the most of every second, and have the incomparable joy of carrying out God's will in this world. I want to stop wating my time on worldly things that are worthless.

Please pray for me.