Amazing Spiderman 2: NEED / HOPE?

I love movies that I can relate to. Remembering Amazing Spiderman 2 – the main themes that are depicted so perfectly in the movie, which are NEED and HOPE. Peter Parker is NEEDed by the New Yorkers to feel safe in their community and fighting against bad people. He HOPE to be giver of HOPE to his society. Peter NEED to know the truth of what had happened to his parents and drawing the links of different events. He HOPE the truth is that his parents did not abandoned him and discovering the truth of all the links. Gwen Stacey NEED Peter to fight for her and not him just letting her go because her father made him promise to stay away from her. She HOPE that Peter is willing to risk life with her. MAX, the nerd who wants to feel to be NEEDed in his own community of coworkers and people around him. One statement of, “I NEED YOU” had given a glimpse of HOPE to Max. Because of his great desire of wanting to feel needed, in the scene of the city with flowing electricity and lights, when Spiderman took away his ‘fame’ when people had noticed him, he was furious. Instead of being partners with Spidey, he decided he is going to make people need him like how they need Spidey. He HOPE to be seen by the world and people counting on him. Harry, a rich man’s son NEEDs help with his genetic disease. With only a short time he had and his father’s accomplice that wanted to take over the company, he was pushed to the point of no return. Because of another man’s greed, he suffered the consequences of being in NEED. He NEED his NEED to be fulfilled. He HOPE to be heal and not die a horrible death. At the end, Spiderman lost hope because Gwen had died snapping from his web. It is in Gwen’s speech, that Spiderman begins to see the light of HOPE to fulfill a need.

NEED brings about positive or negative responses. There are many needs in our world today that craves for our attentions. The need to care and to be cared for. The need to give and be given. The need to listen and be listen to. The need to speak up and shut up. The need to take a stand. The need to pray. And the list goes on. I asked, what is then a NEED that I can fulfill in my lifetime? Where then should I focus my attention to? What are the drivers that drive me to the needs I see? With these questions, HOPE comes to mind. HOPE gives life. Hope brings change. Hope gives a positive kind of future.

In our world, everyone wants to feel needed and wants their need to be fulfilled or answered. There’s a saying that goes, ‘No man is an island’. This is because at the end of day, we are in these positions of being needed and fulfilling our needs. However, our former needs should not make us feel indispensable, where as our latter needs should not be the key to how we relate to people (to just take what we want from people to ‘fulfill’ our needs). Also, we want to be HOPEFUL too. We want to be the ones that gives people HOPE to live. However, we cannot sustain by giving people HOPE if our source of hope comes entirely from ourselves. We will eventually come to a point of drying out and needing to find the meaning of HOPE again for ourselves.

In a Christian worldview, Jesus is our source of HOPE which is the giver of life to our being. Tentatively, Jesus will be our ultimate NEED in life. He should be ultimately the one thing that our hearts desire most compared to many things that is in our life. Just like how the song, ‘Jesus be the center of it all’ puts it; he ought to be in the center of everything we do and everything we revolve ourselves by. From our perspectives, to journey on this race of life, we NEED God in anything and everything we do. We can rely on our own strength to run this race. It’s impossible. It’s impossible to say, ‘God, I got this life thing all figured out. I even GOT us figured out! I know I am strong in You no matter what happened…….’ But, the fact is we can never figure who God is ultimately. We only catch a GLIMPSE of who He is. We can never say for sure how strong we will REMAIN in Him. This is because we are human. Our eyes and perspectives will be clouded with disillusionment when we began to rely on our own strength to carry on this faith. We NEED God to grow even more hungry for His WORD. We NEED God to grow our faith in Him. We NEED God to overcome every single temptations that comes our way. We NEED God to help us see His fingerprints in our journey of life. We NEED God to teach us to be patience, to wait, to learn, to unlearn, to relearn, to forgive, to give, to praise, and more…in every aspects of our life, WE NEED HIM! Why? Because He gave us HOPE to venture on this life even how difficult it may seems to travel on. How then do I remained in this HOPE of God? By discovering Him through His Word and experiencing living in Spirit with Him.

That brings me back to the few questions I had asked earlier, “What is then a NEED that I can fulfill in my lifetime? Where then should I focus my attention to? What are the drivers that drive me to the needs I see?” The needs I see to be fulfilled in other people’s life is driven by the compelling HOPE I found in my Saviour. Even in my focus of my attention to it. I yearn to do a lot of things, however to do a lot of things is to go on a road that will not divide my attention to it which do not allowed me to give my best in it. So, I’ll continue to fix my eyes on Jesus Christ no matter what happens and be faithful in the small things He had given in my life.

Where is your HOPE?

What drives your NEED?

Trusting Game

This place of trust isn't a comfortable place to be; in fact, it flies in the face of everything we've been taught about proper planning. We like finding refuge in what we already have rather than in what we hope God will provide. But when Christ says to count the cost of following Him, it means we MUST SURRENDER everything. It means going like the disciples, going without an extra tunic or a place to sleep at night, and sometimes without knowing where we are going. 

- Francis Chan, author of Crazy Love - 

I thought to myself, how many will actually go as such? How many will give up all they own and go? There are some whom I had the opportunity to meet when I visit Timor Leste. They are called missionaries. With this entitlement, many ordinary people would think, "Surely they have a 'calling' to go to the 'mission field' and laid their life for others". THEY and US have the SAME EXACT calling! That is, the most important one ....'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength'. The second is this: 'Love your neighbours as yourself.' (Mark 12:29-31)

You need to have a paradigm shift! Mission field do not only categorize when you go abroad, when you visit the Orang Asli, when you do ministry in kampung, when you go to a poorer region! Your life, where you are now is the mission field. The people you come in contact with, that's your mission field. What you have now, your work, your friends, your studies, your lecturers, are all GIFTS from God to live as a missionary.

In whatever you do, let it be unto Him. 

Now, let's look back at the disciples. Why would the Lord had asked the disciples to act radically to not bring anything extra / plan ahead in the next place they are going for rest? Because He is setting the HIGHEST STANDARD of trusting Christ. For them to be in a place of discomfort! For them to realise that it is not by what they have to continue on the journey, but by full trust in God.

Will it be the same for us? No, I wouldn't think so. However, I believe if the Lord would want us to journey as such, He would grant us the full assurance to go. But, you see many would take the excuse, 'Nah, it ain't for me to go through as the disciples because God never call. So God, I will take a rain check on that. Call me maybe......next time or never '. Excuses, fear or just us pushes our focus away from what the Lord had called us to be.

From the example of the disciples, the Lord is ultimately DRAWING A PICTURE for us to NOT RELY ON OURSELVES and our CAPABILITIES, but to RELY SOLELY ON HIM! He is telling us to TRUST by FAITH and not with our eyes. Don't allow our physical eyes be DISTRACTED from what He has called us to.

May difficult questions come your way that cause you to think further! May you be granted with discomfort to push you out of comfort zone.

I pray when the doors of opportunities are open to us, we will be willingly answering that call of trust!

Narrow door

As I read Luke 13:22-30. A question that is always on in my mind, “Will everyone be saved?” “Will everyone come to know the Lord?” It amazed me that this is something that was even asked during the times of Jesus, when He was living on Earth. How similar we all are, in olden times, or in modern times.

Jesus gave the explanation based on the narrow door. He made it so clear. MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO ENTER THROUGH THE NARROW DOOR, because many WILL TRY to enter and WILL NOT be able to. He said MAKE EVERY EFFORT. Meaning the narrow door is really small. Visualization came to my mind, a man who is large and obese tries to enter a small door. He tried to squeeze, but he could not get through. What he needs to do, is to work out and loose the EXTRA weight to get through. That is EFFORT on his part, not just squeezing thru. How then does this apply to me personally? It is then about working out my faith: discovering for self what does my faith means and building a genuine intimate relationship with God (these take TIME and PERSEVERANCE). Look at the visual, a wide door can be enter easily.

There is a time frame for this, as it is said in the passage. The owner will come and CLOSE the door. Once the door is closed, no matter how much effort you put in by calling, knocking, wailing and kicking, it will not be open, because the owner of the house (who is Jesus Christ) will not recognize you at all. Then, it dawned on me, the crucial of living out and working out my faith.my faith. This whole passage refers back to the question post by the person that had asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”

This post as a reminder to me, that if I confess I am a believer today, I cannot just SIT BACK and RELAX. I need to go on a quest to discover God. In this limited time, let's take heart making our days count as we strive to enter the narrow door opened by Jesus Christ  In this limited time, let's take heart making our days count as we strive to enter the narrow door opened by Jesus Christ!

Simple.

To live a simple life was a call for students since 1976 till now. It is a call to live less luxuriously. It is a call to live life different from what the world standards. Three main points of living life simply:

Luke 12: 29-31

29 And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it.30 For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them.31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

In the first point to not worry what we eat or drink, we are called not to be anxious about the provisions in the future life. 

Our second point reemphasizes with this verse: Luke 12:15

15Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

Note that in Luke 12:34, 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The central teaching of Jesus on the simple life highlights first that this life is preoccupied with God - seeking first the kingdom - but second acknowledging that 'all the rest' (Luke 12:31) fall into their right and rightful place. Jesus warned that possessions in life is not the main quality of life, if this becomes our primary focus, then our feelings and motivations will be attached. How easy it is to live 'a life of faith', telling ourselves that we are concentrating on seeking first the kingdom of God, while knowing fully well in our heart that if this faith life fails, we have stored up abundances somewhere that will carry us through. There's an agony in actions to practice what is written in these verses. Eller wrote; "...be very clear, this is not to say that it is immaterial whether the simple life has a concrete manifestation or not. No, no, no; It is incredible that a person could freely and wholeheartedly choose God and become the absolutely obedient to him without it making some change in his relationship to things of the world. If some sort of outward change did not take place it rightly could be suspected whether he had actually chosen God. That change, of course, will be in the direction of simplicity, a lessened evaluation of what the world promotes as important. Yet, nevertheless, no one can dictate specifies to another; each person, with God's help, will have to evolve his style of simple living for himself". 

John McInnes wrote, it worries me that Christians as for others the luxuries of yesterday have become the necessities of today and that the luxuries of today will be the necessities of tomorrow. Our community we lived in are calling for this, to be safe than to be sorry. The church of the Laodiceans in Revelation Chapter  3, a church that was being well taught and firmly established in the time of Paul. They have become lukewarm: one of the heaviest condemnation in the scriptures; I am about to spit you out of my mouth. Rev 3:16. Was their sin a doctrinal error? No! It was materialistic takeover. They have been sucked in by the culture of their day in terms of wealth (I am rich), position (I have prospered), and possessions (I need nothing) (verse 17). 

The final question remains, what do we do? 

Bishop Taylor says, it is not enough to say these things; our world is waiting for concrete examples in realizations. It is not enough to point out the contrast between our idolatry of Growth and the Bible's theology of Enough: we have to opt out of the drift and help one another to live in cheerful protest against it. We must not wait for all Christians to be persuaded of the need for this, neither should we waste out time designing a single rule of life for those who are so persuaded. 

In the end, it is still our individual response and decision. The pressure of the consumer society is so strong. It is difficult to stand against the trend. We may need to keep each other accountable and on the mark. That's why Christian Fellowship play such an important role. Finally, simplicity is not a side issue. Nor it is to preserve of the ultra-bright or the super-spiritual. It is RADICAL living, if radical means going to the radical or the heart of the issue. The solution? we make one decision that will LAST forever. A true and individually satisfying answer to the question of the simplicity will demand that we give the Christ Lordship over the whole of our lives and not even the whole of our personal, private and reflective lives but over our living patterns as well. 

[Excerpt from article, Simplicity, John McInnes, IFES]

WE are called not to worry for our well-being, because God will provide 

(Our Jehovah Jireh). 

The greatest Gift

Christmas is a time where giving and receiving wholeheartedly. Every corner I looked, I see another person who is more willing to show love in actions. In other words, many are more willing to Love Out Loud (LOL). Yes, we who are called as followers of Christ ought to show love and good will year round. Yet, the greatest gift for Christmas is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is not born on the 25^th Dec, historically. Even in the Bible, it is not written the specific date. However, the important message is that Jesus Christ was born to Earth.

It all began with God.

It is because of Him, we have the festivity called Christmas. It is because of His love, He chose it to do it this, so that we are redeem to have a relationship with Him.

Gifts are really a special thing. I give because I love, not because I’m obliged to. Being brought up in a Christian home, I was taught that every Christmas I would need to prepare gifts for my loved ones. Never wondering or thinking the reason behind it. As the years went by, I learned that gifts are really a special thing. I was taught to express my love through giving reciprocating my Father’s love for us. Addition to that, I celebrate Christmas in remembrance of my Abba Father who chose to draw me near to Him this way, also reminded He is indeed with me!

John 1:1-5

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

This is the glory of God. He is all powerful and mighty to create this world. It is through him, ALL THINGS were created.

John 1:10-13

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to be children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

But, He chose to take the first step.  He came to the world He had created every bits of it. He was with his own people, yet they did not recognize him. He continues his journey looking out for the ones who had received him and believed him, giving them the right to be children of God.

John 1:14

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us: God is with us.

Because of God, I am able to be call a Child of God.

Because of God, I am able to call him Abba Father.

Because of God, I can have an intimate relationship with Him.

Because of God, I know He is with me.

This Christmas, I wish you Immanuel

Breaking the society state of mind

One day, I was just sitting outside my parents' shop and just observing different ones that walked up and down the lane. My eyes caught sight of these two persons - aged lady on a wheelchair and man in his 40s pushing her. They looked like mother and son. They came up to the curb and had difficulties of getting over the curb. The auntie could stand and move her legs but it was painful. It seems like she got gout on her feet. She is also very big in size which didn't help her much.

Then, auntie decided to stand and try to get over the curb. The man could barely hold her to get over and trying to put the wheelchair as well to the other side. So, I decided to break the norm (Norm is Chinese would usually stand by and see from aside rather to get their hands dirty - this is what I observed so far). I went near them and asked whether they needed help.

They nodded graciously. I held the auntie's arm and got her over. She kept saying thank you. Then, after that the next challenge came that is to get into the clinic. There's a level of step to get into the clinic. The man and I tried to lift the wheelchair and her on it to get into the clinic, however we failed. We made the auntie fell out from her chair. I got hold of her arm. And a man standing by also decided to come and lend a hand. So, the auntie stood on her feet and with all her might took the step into the clinic. It was difficult for her but thankfully she made it successfully and safely into the clinic. I remember her face. She looked up to the man and I and said thank you. Her son was also grateful that we came and helped.

I guess sometimes breaking the norm of the society also helped changed people's mindset. Though they may not expressed it in words that they had changed the mindset about certain norm in the society, but at least I did my part to stand out to be different.

Changing the world is everyone's dream, but how many are willing to get your hands dirty?

Christ had first show us how much He love us. Would we not also reciprocate that kind of love He had?
He said in His words:

Matthew 25:35-36, 40

For I was hungry and you gave me somthing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.... 

Truly I tell you, whatever you did for me of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it for me. 

Different points in life, but only ONE can meet us!

All of us begins at different points in life. We also have different experiences that makes who we are today. Amazing thing is only God can meet us where we are now. When we talk to our friends, sometimes it will come to no solutions to our little problem that we have in our mind. 

But, then I came across this phrase: The life of Jesus Christ is always our REFERANCE POINT. He is where we refer whenever we feel troubled and the whole world just don't seem to understand us. I dare you to read His WORD and try Him. He surely will answer. 

Through reading His words and His life, we could see very well from the perspectives how he live his life. Besides that, it also teaches us to shift our focus from our little problem to how we ought to live our life. 

Maybe we are asking the wrong questions and looking at it from our point of view. When we take ourselves out of our problems, and looking  at it from a different perspectives, it will gives us a refreshing insights. 

Reading and digesting takes time. But, many of us including me want INSTANT ANSWERs, like a microwave or fast food. But, we forgot all about the process that gets us there. The process of refining and sharpening our thinking.  

The life of Jesus Christ will always be our REFERANCE point for understanding what is right in life, for where we and the world have gone terrible wrong, and for where there is hope. Because there really is HOPE.
-taken from Jubilee: A Season Of Spiritual Renewal-