Hey Guys,
If you've ever tutored math, especially if math is a couple of years behind you, this feeling may sound familiar. You know how a problem is solved but you do not have a good foundational understanding for the concepts behind those solutions. Being able to derive the answer versus understanding why the answer is what it is are two different things and it shows every time your student asks "why?"
It is like this with any knowledge, be it calculus or gospel truths. It is so easy to casually accept truths for truths and move on. To hear a sermon we like and not 15 minutes later, unable to recall what it was about. Ridiculously easy to read a book or a verse, be emotionally and spiritually touched; yet when the need for gospel centered truths arises, that knowledge is nowhere to be found. True understanding needs a bit of wrestling, it requires more work; and there lies the heart of the problem. We're so easily satisfied with being mentally tickled by some new concept or idea that we do not take the time to fully internalize. The loss comes when someone needs to hear that gospel centered truth, and we fumble for answers we ourselves do not truly understand. Furthermore, we are unable to preach such truths to ourselves simply because we do not retain what we never fully understood or appreciated.
Diligent contemplation is as much an act of worship as singing praise songs. Do we wrestle with the truth? Do we dig at the bits that confounds us until we make sense of it instead of giving it up as "higher theology" that belongs to the domains of pastors and "uber Christians?" Are we driven to understand God's nature, purpose, and workings throughout the pages of history? Can we articulate the reasons why we love Christ?
May we delight in knowing God as fully as we are intellectually able, that we may help others do the same.
Have a happy Wed...I mean Thursday,
Edward
"Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, " 1 peter 3:15
Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.
2 timothy 4:2
Singing Christmas Hedgehogs (thanks Christina!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HIGCgpHYB4
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Happy Wednesday (12/14/2011) (Ego)
"Then Jesus said to His disciples, 'If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.'" Matthew 16:24
Hi,
A while back, a friend made a general statement saying all Christians are alike. She did not mean any ill by it, in fact her perspective of Christians was a rather positive one, but it did raise an uncomfortable point of thought for me. Do we lose our identity in our pursuit of God? Afterall, Matthew 16:24 appears to paints a stark picture of blind obedience and the self denial. What exactly DO we lose when we follow Christ? This is not a question of doubt but one of faith, as by counting the cost to us in this divine transaction we get a feel for the worth of what we gain.
I was greatly helped in this by the writings of Oswald Chambers, who made a brilliant distinction between "individuality" and "personality." The former refers to the ego: Our sense of self, and desire for autonomy and uniqueness. The latter refers to who we are: Our quirks, histories, humour, character, values, etc. There is more going on here than mere semantics, the startling distinction he drew was that individuality craves after isolation whereas personality thrives on - , is shaped by - , and can only exist within the context of social interaction. This we retain in our relationship to God; what we lose is individuality. What we put to death in the waters of baptism is our sinful desire for autonomy.
How we CHAFE at that! We naturally recoil against any demands for even partial surrender to our rights to self governance. Most of my arguments can be boiled down to people asking me to give up an opinion of some sort and adopt theirs. Now, If a call to partial surrender leads to so much anger and conflict in our lives, how much more difficult is it to truly surrender completely to God and fully deny ourselves (in fact, it is humanly impossible without the aid of the Spirit). So often we try to enter into relationship with Christ while effectively maintaining that we are our own gods. That part of us needs to die in order to gain Christ. And he is worth that sacrifice! If he is what we gain in losing our ego, then we walk away the richer for the bargain.
So while there is a loss of self-based identity that takes place, there is the gaining of a new God-based identity that is still as unique as our own thumbprints. We lose our individuality but we gain a God who relates to us in the context of our individual personality. It is my understanding that Edward would continue to crack beef jokes in heaven even as my will becomes perfectly merged with God's will, this is profound and praiseworthy truth.
Have a happy Wednesday!
Edward
"I and the Father are one." John10:30.
"You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." Ephesians 4:22-24
Chinese cover of Lady Gaga, sung by old peepos (thanks Grace!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF5WYaoWXI4&feature=youtu.be
Hi,
A while back, a friend made a general statement saying all Christians are alike. She did not mean any ill by it, in fact her perspective of Christians was a rather positive one, but it did raise an uncomfortable point of thought for me. Do we lose our identity in our pursuit of God? Afterall, Matthew 16:24 appears to paints a stark picture of blind obedience and the self denial. What exactly DO we lose when we follow Christ? This is not a question of doubt but one of faith, as by counting the cost to us in this divine transaction we get a feel for the worth of what we gain.
I was greatly helped in this by the writings of Oswald Chambers, who made a brilliant distinction between "individuality" and "personality." The former refers to the ego: Our sense of self, and desire for autonomy and uniqueness. The latter refers to who we are: Our quirks, histories, humour, character, values, etc. There is more going on here than mere semantics, the startling distinction he drew was that individuality craves after isolation whereas personality thrives on - , is shaped by - , and can only exist within the context of social interaction. This we retain in our relationship to God; what we lose is individuality. What we put to death in the waters of baptism is our sinful desire for autonomy.
How we CHAFE at that! We naturally recoil against any demands for even partial surrender to our rights to self governance. Most of my arguments can be boiled down to people asking me to give up an opinion of some sort and adopt theirs. Now, If a call to partial surrender leads to so much anger and conflict in our lives, how much more difficult is it to truly surrender completely to God and fully deny ourselves (in fact, it is humanly impossible without the aid of the Spirit). So often we try to enter into relationship with Christ while effectively maintaining that we are our own gods. That part of us needs to die in order to gain Christ. And he is worth that sacrifice! If he is what we gain in losing our ego, then we walk away the richer for the bargain.
So while there is a loss of self-based identity that takes place, there is the gaining of a new God-based identity that is still as unique as our own thumbprints. We lose our individuality but we gain a God who relates to us in the context of our individual personality. It is my understanding that Edward would continue to crack beef jokes in heaven even as my will becomes perfectly merged with God's will, this is profound and praiseworthy truth.
Have a happy Wednesday!
Edward
"I and the Father are one." John10:30.
"You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." Ephesians 4:22-24
Chinese cover of Lady Gaga, sung by old peepos (thanks Grace!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF5WYaoWXI4&feature=youtu.be
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Happy Wednesday (11/30/11) (Remember)
Dear People (and future Edward),
For the past week or so, I debated whether I should write about my accident on 11/20/2011, 12:47pm. I finally opted for yes because this blog is not only for you, my readers, but mainly for myself to remember past lessons. Humanity has a tendency to forget miracles. A few weeks ago I came remarkably close to death, yet came out of the incident completely unscathed. For the next few days, I lived with with a simple exhilaration of being alive; it is now merely 11 days later and that feeling has already started to fade. Already, I am forgetting when I do not want to forget. Such is human nature, and so I write:
I was on a particularly twisted exit ramp going from one freeway to another when this happened. The road was wet from the rain. I was driving just a little too fast when my tires slipped on the road. My immediate reaction upon losing control of my car was to tap the brakes. Stupid. If you're ever in this situation, take your foot off the gas pedal and try to keep your car going straight until you feel traction under your wheels again. Regardless, my braking caused the car to spin in a wild 180° arc into the merging lane on my right where I narrowly passed right in between two cars. Then I spun off the edge of the freeway and my car rolled onto its ceiling before grinding to a halt a few meters off the freeway shoulder. I couldn't believe that I was alive. In retrospect, I should've taken a picture while I was hanging upside down. It would've made for one EPIC Facebook profile picture. As it was; I fought down waves of claustrophobia, rolled down my window and crawled out of my car completely uninjured.
Now, I can turn around and thank Honda engineering for designing such a crash resistant vehicle. But I know the true credit goes completely to God for his mercy upon me that day. It was not my time. It was a day of little bits. It rained just a little bit, I drove just a little bit fast, slipped just a little bit, braked just a little bit - and my world was turned upside down. On the FLIP side...had I gone just a little bit faster or slower, I would've hit another car; had I slid just a little bit less, I would've remained on the freeway where I could've easily collided with another car turning around the corner. All in all, this was a miracle. A fact chillingly punctuated by the story relayed to me of a lady who passed away just a few days prior in almost the exact same accident.
THIS, is what I am slowly forgetting and I wish it wasn't so. I wish I could hold onto the feelings of exhilaration and vitality. I wish I could remember how much I loved my friends and family in what I thought was my final moment. I wish I could still look upon a sunset with such wonder as I did the following day. I wish so much that I could remain completely aware of God's mercy and grace upon my life. And so I write.
May we continuously see how GOOD God is, and remember what he has done in our lives.
Edward
For the past week or so, I debated whether I should write about my accident on 11/20/2011, 12:47pm. I finally opted for yes because this blog is not only for you, my readers, but mainly for myself to remember past lessons. Humanity has a tendency to forget miracles. A few weeks ago I came remarkably close to death, yet came out of the incident completely unscathed. For the next few days, I lived with with a simple exhilaration of being alive; it is now merely 11 days later and that feeling has already started to fade. Already, I am forgetting when I do not want to forget. Such is human nature, and so I write:
I was on a particularly twisted exit ramp going from one freeway to another when this happened. The road was wet from the rain. I was driving just a little too fast when my tires slipped on the road. My immediate reaction upon losing control of my car was to tap the brakes. Stupid. If you're ever in this situation, take your foot off the gas pedal and try to keep your car going straight until you feel traction under your wheels again. Regardless, my braking caused the car to spin in a wild 180° arc into the merging lane on my right where I narrowly passed right in between two cars. Then I spun off the edge of the freeway and my car rolled onto its ceiling before grinding to a halt a few meters off the freeway shoulder. I couldn't believe that I was alive. In retrospect, I should've taken a picture while I was hanging upside down. It would've made for one EPIC Facebook profile picture. As it was; I fought down waves of claustrophobia, rolled down my window and crawled out of my car completely uninjured.
Now, I can turn around and thank Honda engineering for designing such a crash resistant vehicle. But I know the true credit goes completely to God for his mercy upon me that day. It was not my time. It was a day of little bits. It rained just a little bit, I drove just a little bit fast, slipped just a little bit, braked just a little bit - and my world was turned upside down. On the FLIP side...had I gone just a little bit faster or slower, I would've hit another car; had I slid just a little bit less, I would've remained on the freeway where I could've easily collided with another car turning around the corner. All in all, this was a miracle. A fact chillingly punctuated by the story relayed to me of a lady who passed away just a few days prior in almost the exact same accident.
THIS, is what I am slowly forgetting and I wish it wasn't so. I wish I could hold onto the feelings of exhilaration and vitality. I wish I could remember how much I loved my friends and family in what I thought was my final moment. I wish I could still look upon a sunset with such wonder as I did the following day. I wish so much that I could remain completely aware of God's mercy and grace upon my life. And so I write.
May we continuously see how GOOD God is, and remember what he has done in our lives.
Edward
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