Of Oxymorons & God's Modus Operandi

I learned two new words when Alan chaired the service this Sunday (07 Jan) and during Rueyfeng's resolution sharing on Sub-District BBQ on New Year's Day (01 Jan).

"Modus Operandi" - noun [S] SPECIALIZED : a particular way of doing something

"Oxymoron" - noun [C] : two words used together which have, or seem to have, opposite meanings
(according to the Cambridge Advanced Learners' Dictoinary)

I must admit that the first instance when i heard the word, I was like," eh can these words be eaten?" Haha..this shows how limited my vocabulary is. One brother even joking commended," don't worry, I think Alan is speaking in tongues." (Tsktsk, not sure whether he actually knows what is the meaning at that point in time as well.)

Thank God for Maths and Chinese. Haha...I guess God is fair in distributing talents among his children eh? :P Well, but this is not an excuse not to improve my level of English. I shall strive to learn more new words along the way :)

Interestingly, these words prompted me to ponder about some life's oxymorons and God's modus operandi about it:

It is thinking that generates feelings, not feelings that generates thinking
(Adapted By Dr. Ravi Zacharius)

This is one of the truth that impacted me the most since 3 years ago and probably one of the hardest principle which I tussled a lot with God in abiding with...I think underlying this truth lies the greatest wisdom in how one can balance his mind with his emotions. Don't get me wrong, I think there is definitely nothing wrong with being emotional. It is more of being overly-emotional to the extent that all the thinking caters to the feelings formulated; and that's where deceptions, temptations, insecurities and lies might cause one to wander away from God. The dangerous part is that it can be so subtle that it snowballed into hardening of the heart (time-bomb). Proverbs 4: 23 sums it well - "Above all, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." The mind shall guard and guide the heart, with God's word guarding the mind.

Do you carry your faith or do you allow your faith to carry you?
(Adapted By Dr. Ravi Zacharius)

Counter-intuitive isn't it? It is so assuring to live a life by sight. Human beings are creatures of logic. By our make-up, it seems strange to put our trust into something unknown or of venturing into the future that is filled with uncertainly. It is one thing to pray, but another to be dependent on prayer. I like to take the stand of solving problems along the way with God as He unfolds his plans as we are living out our lives. There is a popular view that states " I want to be fully convined and assured before I venture into something; I want to be fully committed before I go into something." By then, the cows would have come home already... I think faith is not an end in itself but rather it is the journey of discovering God and what he can do in our lives along the way. Hebrews 11:1 -"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Sometimes God may seemingly choose to steer away what we want intially and we struggle to understand why but I believe God works for for those who has been called according to His purpose; and we will understand it ultimately. As long as one operates within God's boundaries for our lives, I think God will work.

I have experienced it before, haha but my heart will still faint at the point in time when I experience it.

May you experienced some oxymoronic truth and God's modus operandi along the way. :)

New Year, Old Reflection

It was with a great embarkment of anticipation that I stumbled upon the idea of writing my journal on blog. Writing in a way helps to crystalise my thoughts, scrutinise my ideas and conjugate my views. Thanks for the brothers and sisters who had inspired me with your life through your blogs, for it had encouraged me greatly to kickstart mine as well. :) I had actually dabbled for a long time as to whether I should start my blog, not because I am insecure to share my innermost thoughts through the public domain; but it is more of whether I have the consistency to update and maintain one. I do not want a very sporadic and outdated blog at the end of the day. However, seeing how God has been so real in each and every one of the brothers & sisters' life touches me greatly and serves as a source of inspiration for me to thank God conscientiously for what he has done and will be continuing to do in my life.

Somehow as i was writing this entry, my mind travelled back to Dr. Ravi Zacharius seminar in Singapore which I have attended 3 years ago. I remembered vividly that I was awestruck by one truth that he shared..

"I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me." - Matthew 18: 3-4

Such simple yet thought-provoking truth isn't it? Sometimes I think that Human being have the tendency to over-complicate simple Godly precepts. We over-rationalised our lives, setting subtle ceilings to limit the God-given potential in our lives and customising God into our ways instead of living within His boundaries. I think at the core of our hearts lies a longing for absolute security, to be able to know things with absolute certainty.We feel that we should be absolutely sure of everything that we believe. Surely, we ought to be able to prove everything that we believe. However I think we all feel lost sometimes. In fact, we probably feel lost all the time, just that the magnitude of this sentiment varies. Sometimes we get out of the rut, and sometimes we slip back in without too much thought.

Are we so caught up with having the need for absolute certainty or absolute security in our feelings before we trust God for the next step? (Or for non-believers,the decision to accepting Him as our Lord and saviour.)

More like desensitised I guess...We go through so much crap in life that we stop feeling anymore. Maybe that's the sad bit about growing up. Some call it maturity. I think it's a beautiful child like quality lost. Faith is not belief without proof, but trust without reservations—a trust in a God who has shown himself worthy of that trust—a trust in His Word that promises a Hope and a Future. The seed of any great act is but a mere thought. Then we nourish it with action. Then it blossoms into an eventuality.

God... as I enter into 2007, my resolution is for you to teach to relearn the beauty of the blooming bud once again even if it means me having to be jolted roughly out of my comfort zone.

Happy New Year Everyone!! :)