Home :)

"But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body."

There is no place like Home :)

But what IS home?

One of the biggest hassles of moving to Goondiwindi has been setting up "home base" here. I've got a whole two-story two-bedroom unit to myself - some may think it's awesome to have a lot of space, but that would be forgetting that more space means more CLEANING that you have to do >< It has been quite an effort to get everything cleaned up and set up so it looks more like a home rather than some run-down insect hive.

My first week several weeks ago was rather interesting, because I barely had any furniture. I was eating off chairs, and doing my work on the floor. I also didn't have a freezer!... Which was terrible because it meant I didn't have icecream!! ><

When I finally came back, I managed to bring in one table, procure another table from the practice, and bought myself a fridge that had a freezer. Instantly the house had a different feel. My paperwork was no longer on the floor; I could eat at a table now; and I had icecream :)

But still, the house is pretty empty. So the question arose: Would I get anything else for this place? After thinking about it a bit, I realised I probably won't be getting much, if any, more furniture for this place, because my training dictates that in a year's time I will be moving elsewhere. Furthermore, I plan to go back to Brisbane as soon as I practically can :P So it wouldn't make sense for me to accumulate all this furniture and then have to figure out some way to haul it back to Brisbane! I didn't mind the sparseness because I anticipated that I will go back to a much better place (my real home in Brisbane) relatively soon.

And that made me think about my Spiritual Home.  My real, real, home. As Paul indicates in Philippians, our real citizenship, the place where we really belong now, is in Heaven. We don't belong on this Earth any more, because we have been redeemed by our Father. And given that fact, there is (supposed to be) very little reason for us to be so attached to our Earthly lives.

Yet this is not the case. Even as Christians, most of us live as if we've always lived here, and always will be. We're so busy building up our own little empires, like ants building a massive hive unaware that some human is about to pour boiling water down on them and destroy their lives. (Sorry, I've been dreaming a lot about ant-destruction lately because of the ant infestation in my house :P). Our real home may be in Heaven, but if we're truly honest with ourselves, the deepest parts of our hearts believes that Home is some place on Earth (whether physically in a particular city, or socially in relationship with a particular group of people).

I had a taste of that tonight. I decided to "attend" a prayer-meeting back in Brisbane via Skype. It was quite fun and interesting. But straight afterward, a huge pang of homesickness struck me. I wanted to go back.

And it made me contemplate on a few things. Why did I attend the prayer meeting? Was I honestly interested in praying for God's Kingdom to come, or was it simply so I could bask in the presence of the feeling of "home" in Brisbane? Where did I really think my Home was? Was it Heaven or was it Brisbane? If I'm homesick for Brisbane, am I homesick for Heaven? What would happen if I was as homesick for Heaven as I was for Brisbane?

Obviously the whole situation pointed to a flaw in my desires, and that's ok, because we're all growing towards Christlikeness. But it does give me a direction to grow towards :)

So for those brothers and sisters in Christ who are far away from home and feeling homesick: Yes, it's painful, and no, there's nothing I can say to lessen the burden. But remember that even if you do go back to your Earthly home, we're not really "Home" yet; it's just a temporary stopover. We're all temporary residents, no matter where we are. And it helps to remember where we're heading :)

And for those brothers and sisters in Christ who are comfortable at home: Don't get too comfortable :P Otherwise you're in for a rude shock when you really do get dragged Home by the scruff of your neck. Live not as citizens of this World, but as citizens and ambassadors of the Next.

One day, we can say Home, Sweet Home.

But not yet :)

What if I stumble?

"The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today

Is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips

Then walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle.

That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."

What if I stumble, what if I fall?

What if I lose my step and I make fools of us all?

Will the love continue when my walk becomes a crawl?

What if I stumble, and what if I fall?

• From "What if I Stumble", by DC Talk

-----

A while back some dear brothers had decided to have a party in a more "secular" fashion. In particular, it involved some people getting wasted on alcohol. As I was in a position to respond, I decided to write an email about it. After reflecting on it, I thought there were some things that would be useful for other Christians to think on and contemplate about, since it addresses issues that are very prevalent to our generation these days. Too many Christians live very ordinary worldly and lukewarm lives.

[Please note: This letter was written to Christians who profess they follow Jesus. Most of what is written below would not apply to non-Christians, simply because they haven't declared to follow Jesus yet; if you're not playing the game, you can't break the rules, so-to-speak. So this is not a high-and-mighty criticism of "pagan ways", but simply a letter to tell Christians to walk the talk.]

And so here it is:

…[some introductory words]…

But have you thought about the spiritual consequences of such an exercise?

So what has happened? Not much right? A few people got a bit drunk. Doesn't really matter right? You may have even stayed sober and simply enjoyed the night with your friends. Not too bad, considering that it could have been much, much worse, and other people have done much worse things.

But I need you all to look at it from a spiritual perspective, to look at it through the eyes of Christ Himself. What happened that was so bad last night? It wasn't really the act of getting drunk that is disturbing. It's the fact that you are proactively defying the Will of God, as proclaimed in the Bible, ignoring it so that you can do what you want. In short: Sin.

We all know what God's standard is. I have made it quite clear, even if you hadn't known about it already: "Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. " (Ephesians 5:18) Drinking is a good thing, and when used appropriately can greatly help people celebrate important life events. But the Bible is very clear: do not get drunk.

Now, you might turn around and say that, "I didn't get drunk!". In fact, maybe even none of the Christians got drunk. But we were still enabling, even encouraging people to do so (in order to have a "good time"). Even if we weren't the ones sinning, the message we shouted out last night was "God's standards don't really matter; just have a good time with your friends, that's more important. In fact, you can't even really have fun by sticking to God's standard; you can only have real fun by straying from His will".

How can that be a good witness to the goodness of God (Acts 1:8)? How can we say that we agree that His Will is "good, pleasing and perfect" (Romans 12:2)? How can we tell our non-Christian friends that Jesus is LORD when we ourselves don't even want to submit under His Lordship (Romans 14:11)?

Do you see what has gone wrong? We have basically thrown away an incredible opportunity to witness to non-Christians about how important we feel our God is. In fact, we may have thrown away future opportunities; we have disqualified ourselves from having any authority in saying that God's ways are indeed good.

We are living in a world where Christians are way too willing to compromise on God's standards. That is why we are losing our power to convict the world; Christians are no different to non-Christians, so why bother with the change? We're uncomfortable with showing the World that we love Jesus' way more than the World's ways, because it might bring shame and ridicule. And so we compromise. Getting "just a bit drunk" becomes ok and normal. Getting into compromising situations with your girlfriend, even sleeping with them, becomes ok. Downloading (ie stealing) songs and movies from the internet becomes a "culturally acceptable practice"; after all, "everyone does it".

"But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men." (Matt 5:13) Without its distinctiveness, Christianity is useless. Christianity without Christ is pointless; it cannot change the world. The Gospel should bring fire to anyone who drinks deeply of it: Either a fiery opposition to it, or a fiery devotion to it; not this pathetic lukewarmness that we have become all-too-familiar with in this generation.

While the Gospel proclaims God's grace in allowing us to be saved no matter how sinful we are, it also calls us to turn around  (aka repent) and live to standards that are humanly impossible (without the Spirit in you). Have a closer look at Ephesians 5: "But among you there must not even be a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving… For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light… and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do  in secret… Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is… (and then read on to the end of vs 20).

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:23-27)

It goes even stronger than that: "But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother (ie, calls himself a Christian) but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat." (1 Cor 5:11)

My dear brothers, I am sorry to bring this Word that is so difficult to swallow. Believe me, I do not want to bring you this sort of pain. But the Desire of the Gospel means that I need to be able to put Christ first, even if it threatens the relationships that I cherish the most in this world.

… [Some more personal messages edited out]...

The Lord bless you and keep you, may His light shine upon you forevermore. May His love fill you to overflowing so that it cannot help but spill out into the world as a witness to His goodness to you, now and forever. May you become Salty and Bright. (Not salty wet ;) )

With the deepest love,

YBIC

Vincent

----

I hear You whispering my name

You say, "My love for You will never change"

What if I stumble, what if I fall?

You never turn in the heat of it all

What if I stumble, what if I fall?

You are my comfort, and my God

Thinking BIG - an anecdote

Reflecting upon the lessons learnt at the few ignite talks I've been to in the last week, I realised that God had been giving me lessons in thinking outside my own little world in not just theoretical ways, but also practically as well. And it is quite amazing how much of a difference it makes to (try to) think of it from God's perspective.

The whole reason why I could go to Ignite at all was because of the rains and flooding that prevented me from going out west. At first I was pleasantly surprised at the unexpected extended weekend, (forgetting the fact that my holiday was bought at the expense of others' pain). But then, I realised that I had left my passport at Goondiwindi. And that was a big problem because I was due to go to HK on Friday!

At first I wasn't too concerned because I thought the roads would clear up soon enough and I would be able to go back. But as the road blocks dragged on, I had to face up with the reality that I might not be able to go. This wasn't just any trip to HK; for particular reasons that I won't get into, it was particularly special to me and I really wanted to go and had actually been waiting for it for months! And to come right to the doorstep of it and not be able to go was just really disappointing for me.

How, then, should I pray?

At this time, I had started going to Ignite, and the lessons about thinking BIG, thinking God-sized Gospel-shaped prayers had begun to kick in. It took a bit of wrestling, but eventually I was able to rest upon the fact that, no matter what happens, God has His Big Plans, and so long as these are fulfilled and He gets the glory, nothing else really matters. What's a 12-day trip to HK and visiting a few friends in the face of Eternity? Pathetically small and insignificant, really. Yes, I would still really like to go, and yes, I would still be disappointed if I couldn't go, but in the end if it means that I can further God's glory back in Brisbane in some way, then it will be fine.

And so I waited.

Days passed and it looked like it was looking more and more like I was going to stay in Brisbane. I had settled my heart with the thought of staying. I was prepared.

And then a phonecall came from Gundy: There was news that the roads were going to open up soon! Furthermore, the my practice had decided that I should just stay back in Brisbane for the rest of the week and I shouldn't risk it getting out there, and since the owners were going to come to Brisbane anyway, they would bring me my Passport so I could go on my holiday!

I was (cautiously) delighted, of course :)

But my mind was still filled with the thoughts about the BIGness of God, and how insignificant little things like my trip were. And I became amazed at another thing: how nice it was of my Father that even though He was so very big, He would still take such close attention to the little things, like letting me go on that trip :) I am not the Centre of the Universe. But the Centre of the Universe loves me deeply :)

Praise God that, as Mighty as He is, He loves us so tenderly and intimately that He cares for such tiny details as my little trip to HK :)

"I don't know what's going to happen, that's alright with me;

I open up my arms and embrace the mystery" - India Arie 

(What I'm listening to at the time of finishing this up :) )