How can God be one, and three at the same time?

This idea has baffled theologians and saints alike for not just centuries, but millennia. People have tried to equate air, water and ice to triunity, which of course is a flawed analogy. Other analogies have been made, but really nothing comes close. There’s nothing in creation that can fully describe the Creator.

But of course, we see clues to the Great Mystery in our lives and in His creation as well.

I had a revelation many months back, but really took till today to put it to paper. I really think a lot, mostly on the bus rides, which explains why most of my thoughts never get to paper. But this one is a good revelation, hence I’m reminded of it, and this time, reminded to write of it.

Let me connect some dots:

The Kingdom of Heaven is a Kingdom of Love

The Kingdom of Heaven is not like our earthly kingdom. On Earth, one extra person around means less resources for all; because of scarcity, we are led to believe in the survival of the fittest.

Yet the Kingdom of Heaven is made richer because one more person lives there. It’s like a husband and wife choosing to have children. “Yes, you and I are enough. But if we have a child, there is one more person in the family to love.”
Though joy existed in the family, but joy was made fuller because of the child.

Now with not only the wife to love, now the husband has his child to love.

And his wife, vice versa

At the risk of making this too technical, let me put this in Math form:

Husband to Wife = 1 connection of love.

After Child,

Husband to Wife, Husband to Child, Wife to Child = 3 connections of love.

You see, the family was made 3 times richer because the child was born.

Now, input a huge figure into that equation like: 100 people and do your math. Can you see the staggering amount of love in Heaven!?!?

I see the kingdom of Heaven not as being made up of individuals, but the Kingdom of Heaven is made up of these so called ‘connections of love.’

You see, Heaven is made richer because of you. It is made richer the more people enter into the Kingdom.
Unlike Earth where more people in one place means less for all, in Heaven, more people means more for all!

“I” don’t exist in Heaven.

Heaven is not made of many “I”s. It is made up of “Yous”. If you really think about it, perfect love comes when your life is fully focused outwards and upwards. When your heart only seeks to look to God and the interest of others, it’s when love in you is perfected.

“I” cannot exist in Heaven. “I” exists in Hell.

It’s humbling to know that every selfish thought in us shall be banished in the presence of God, and the fruit of every selfish act be burned up in the fiery purity of His Holiness.

Nothing you do on Earth that is selfish will make it into the Heavenly gates. All your acts and deeds done in self-preservation will never bear fruit or count for anything in eternity.

Let me confirm that with a verse:

“For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” – 1 Corinthians 3:11-15

For some the fire will burn big, some burn small; but its comforting to know that, still the good Christian himself will make into His everlasting presence.

And with that as a foundational thought, here’s a revelation of the Triune nature of God.

God IS Love.

Above all, God exhibits the truest nature of his Kingdom of Heaven.

In fact, God IS the love relationship of the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit!.

God is a relationship!

This, to me, is a staggering Truth!

This means that the Father cannot exist apart from the Son, and the Son cannot exist apart from the Father!

As the Son looks up to the Father in perfect love through the Spirit, so the Father looks down lovingly unto the Son.

John 10:30 says simply, I and My Father are one.

Having said all that, it answers many mysteries for me:

- Because God is the love relationship between Father and Son (through the Spirit of love), He exists in Himself. He is perfect in Himself and does not need another human being or angel to exist.

- Like the Husband and Wife analogy, His joy is made fuller when YOU are in the Kingdom!

- Love is the deepest reality of the Kingdom. If you want to become like God, stop trying to think of how you can, and start being. When God made you in His image, He made you such that you become fully alive, fully yourself when you are focused upwards to God, and outward to others, never self-wards.

Beneath all that sin and selfishness, deep within you lies the nature of Him who loves perfectly.

The more you think “How can I become like God?”, the less you are becoming like Him. The more you love, you the more you become who you truly are, and more like Him.

So in summary,

Love. It’s the only thing that matters.

Haha, okay that was like trying to prove 1+1=2.

But now that you know why 1+1 =2, you’ll appreciate it all the more.

Good night!

We spoke over the phone, and one of the first few things I remember saying to her was:

“Don’t give them theories. You have to give the boys an identity to live up to.”

I remember one very interesting interaction I had with my 4.5 year old nephew. Once I saw him still being fed by my aunties (at 4.5 years old!), and I got a little annoyed, after asking him to eat himself a few times and failing to do so, I looked at him in all seriousness: “Elijah, are you a WARRIOR!?”. He frowned and returned the glance, and nodded his head. “Warriors eat their dinners by themselves you know.” “Are you a BABY?” He shook his head. “Only babies get others to feed them.”

Guess what, the next meal he had, he REFUSED people to help him. He insisted on eating himself! He drank and ate the whole meal by himself, refusing my aunties to help him, even though they kept saying that he’ll get dirty.

I was so amused by the interaction, but I remembered an important principle that day too:

Don’t try to change people’s behaviors by telling them straight. Remind them of who they are, and they will change accordingly.
It answers the biggest question of all: Who am I?

All of us come into earth into a state of spiritual amnesia, with our hearts forgetting its true home in God; our sonship in Him. Hence all of us spend our lives trying to answer that question, Who am I?

And I find that our primary approach to sanctification is incorrect. Of course, we want to become better people and love God more, but the way to it is never changing your behavior about what you do, but always receiving a greater revelation of who you are.

After all, God is the Great I Am, not the Great I Do.

So Who Am I?

What does the Bible have to say about who we are?

From the very beginning, God has already expressly said it:

We are made in the image of God our Father.

However, that statement has been made so many times that it has lost its power to speak life into us.

Truth, of all others the most awful and interesting, are too often considered as so true that they lose all the power of truth and lie bed ridden in the dormitory of the soul, side by side with the most despised and exploded errors – Coleridge.

Hmm, imagine Gladiator,

Or Braveheart.

If I told you (I speak to the guys) that your father was either one of them, what would it make you feel? Powerful? Strong? Fierce, maybe?

“My father overcame immense odds against the English to bring freedom to Scotland.”

“My father killed the evil Roman emperor to set liberty to the whole of Rome.”

Wow, we would have spoken that with a sense of pride. We would have felt powerful, because of our heritage and relation to such great men. “He was my father!”

But have we ever considered how much greater a man our Father in Heaven was? As I’ve said before, whatever that inspires us in men, we will see it in much more measure in our Father. And we are a stem of that victorious root!

But the story of most guys goes like this. As Narla in Lion King would sing,
“He’s holding back, he’s hiding; from what I can’t decide. Why won’t he be the king I know he is, the king I see inside?” – Can You Feel the Love Tonight

Because most guys would prefer to sing this song:
“Hakuna Matata, it means no worries, for the rest of your days. It’s our problem free philosophy. Hakuna Matata.” (Yes, this song has a negative connotation, no matter how catchy it sounds. Hahaha)

This is the song of a man who refuses to take charge, to rule and reign, and bear the burden for his kingdom, and the result? Darkness and chaos under the rule of evil. (i.e Scarface)

And so the High King Mufasa, returns to give my favorite speech of the show:

“Mufasa’s ghost: Simba, you have forgotten me.
Adult Simba: No. How could I?
Mufasa’s ghost: You have forgotten who you are and so have forgotten me. Look inside yourself, Simba. You are more than what you have become. You must take your place in the Circle of Life.
Adult Simba: How can I go back? I’m not who I used to be.
Mufasa’s ghost: Remember who you are. You are my son, and the one true king. Remember…”

The key phrase is this: Remember who you are!

Why most guys can’t change is simply because of this, they have forgotten who they are, and in doing so, forgotten who God is. This is big.

So you see, the key is not trying to become something you’re not. Most of us think we’re just lowly people that Jesus has given 2nd chance to be good, but the truth that God is speaking to us is this : You are a true King in the Kingdom of Heaven, Remember who you are!! Return to who you are from the beginning of time!!

Return to your Kingdom! Take the authority that is rightfully yours!

I hope my guy readers are getting this.

You CANNOT become better by trying to change your behaviors or trying to be more of this and that, what you need is not change. What you need is a revelation of your identity in God! When you have that, all you have to do is to enter into your position in Christ, and take the power and authority that is rightfully yours!!!

Anyway, go watch Lion King again with these eyes.

The key here is to remember! Goodness, this is so big, I just can’t stop emphasizing it. If you can receive this, it will change the way you see life, Christianity and God forever!

It is not to try to become something you’re not, nor is it to change into something that is more acceptable by people.

You ARE a king, a warrior, a mighty deliverer, as He is. Son of the Most High.

Now remember it.

How about women?

(I had originally intended to write this section, but it was such a big topic I thought I’ll just leave it for another day, which will probably never come. Ha)

“Why is this happening to me?”

“What did I do to deserve this?”

OR even, more religiously,

“Is God punishing me for what I’ve done?”

But most plainly, this is what these people are saying:

“I don’t know God’s will for my life.”

I think this is probably the biggest question for most of us Christians. What did God put me here on Earth to do? What should I be doing with my time that is most in line with His Will? Am I doing what He tells me to do?
These are simply general questions, but often we find those questions asked in ways during important crossroads in our lives.

What job should I take?

Should I marry my boyfriend?

Should I join a ministry?

Should we have kids?

And the list goes on and on.

But as I’ve mentioned earlier, it all boils down to this question, “What is really God’s will for my life?”

It’s a big question needing to be answered. Let me offer my thoughts:

While the Bible tells us a lot of things, you’ll realize that it never really answers any of those questions that are pertinent to you. Sure, you know that you shouldn’t commit immorality, but how about something like ‘which job should I take?’
Well, my answer to that is: there is no answer. There isn’t meant to be a correct answer to this. You see, much of life is a mystery, and God meant for it to be that way.

We have to embrace that mystery in our lives, and learn to trust Him in the dark.
What we shouldn’t do, however, is to try to create answers for ourselves.

Isaiah 50:10-11
“ Who among you fears the LORD?
Who obeys the voice of His Servant?
Who walks in darkness
And has no light?
Let him trust in the name of the LORD
And rely upon his God.
Look, all you who kindle a fire,
Who encircle yourselves with sparks:
Walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks you have kindled—
This you shall have from My hand:
You shall lie down in torment.

The Bible makes it clear that when we don’t have answers, the one thing NOT to do is to ‘light fires.’ What it means is: don’t fall back on your own wisdom for answers.

Today, the world has lighted many fires. Dating websites come up with love calculators, astrologers use star signs, and people consult fortune tellers, and so on, all with the intention of unraveling what God has made mystery.

I’ve had one Christian come ask me, “do you think a God loving Christians should take a job in with regular hours so that he has time to serve God, or a job that is hectic and he will have very little time to serve God?” Of course, his tone told me he believed deeply it was the first answer.

And that applies to every other question you can ask even as a Christian.

“I’ve having a hard time with my boyfriend, should I carry on or give up now?”

And as I told the no. 1 fan of my blog, you can’t use your head to answer these questions. You can argue both ways for almost any case, and even bring in Scripture to argue both sides of the case.

But what you need now is to trust in the Lord, says the Bible. How to trust in the Lord? Listen to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit about what to do, trust in Him in the darkness. But let me get back to that later.

But God is silent to me now. What if making the wrong choice takes me out of the will of God?

No doubt, this is a constant worry in the hearts of many a believer. All of us sincere believers who love God want to walk in His will. But most of the time, we’re not just simply not clear about what He wants at the moment.

Let me offer some words for comfort. In the Great Divorce, CS Lewis explains a very complex concept of Heaven and Hell through his allegory. In the Great Divorce, a group of people from Hell visit the outskirts of Heaven, where the spirits of Heaven try to convince them to follow them into the Kingdom.

So in the story, George Macdonald tells CS Lewis, if a person chooses to leave the “Hell” and follow the spirits into Heaven, then the “Hell” would just have been a purgatory, a holding place for a soul before he enters into Heaven . If however, they reject the invitation into Heaven, then the place that they’ve been would have been Hell all along.

It means that the choices we make in our lives today give context to our past choices.

Example from the Bible: the story of Joseph.

Joseph went to the lowest of lowest points in his life to the very top through his life process. But when did his life make sense? At the very end of it. Only at the very end of it could Joseph say, “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.” Let me say that again:

Joseph’s life only made sense at the end of it!

Did he make the wrong choice in telling his brothers about his dreams of greatness? I mean, after all, he wouldn’t have gotten into trouble if he kept to himself, right?

Did he make the wrong choice in not choosing to have an affair with the lady of the house? He might have promoted to the head of the house, since everything he did, prospered, right?

I hope you’re getting what I’m driving at. The thing is, whether something is the right or wrong choice is never known in a specific point in time. You can never decide that something was right or wrong based on its immediate consequences.
So I say, whether your life makes sense at all or not, whether you are in God’s Will or not, is not dependent on what has already been done before; it in fact, is dependent on the choices you make today.

If you’ve been trusting God, your life will make eventually make sense. At the gates of Heaven, the purpose of every suffering, every tribulation, every victory and defeat will become clear in your eyes.

Your life will only make sense at the end of it IF you have been trusting God.

Instead of asking, am I in the Will of God, ask: Am I trusting Him today?

The Express Will of God

Honestly, God has already told us His Will in the Bible.

Living in the Will of God is really tough, but simple.

The Bible already states to us how we should live very clearly in the Bible. All that, treating your neighbor as yourself, don’t go stealing, lying and worshipping idols. Just do what it says, and don’t violate the express commandments of the Lord. AND most importantly, Love the Lord your God with all your heart soul and strength.

I love the simplicity by which Mother Teresa makes the Christian life.

“Spend one hour each day in adoration of the Lord, and never do what you know is wrong. Do that, and you’ll be fine.”
Before you ask God for the things like which job to choose and which girl to pick, ask yourself, are you doing what He already is telling you to do through the Bible?

Are you spending time in prayer, praising and worshipping Him? Are you serving and living in love?

What I find is that, the people who spend time in the Presence of God do not have these questions. They don’t ask too many questions about the job nor the girl nor the next decision to make. They just simply know as the Spirit speaks. Like how you know that you have the Holy Spirit, you just simply know the next step to take.

The Holy Spirit gives clarity

The Holy Spirit is the opener of eyes. To the one who does nothing of this sort, there will be many questions; there will be confusing thoughts, complex decision making processes, many weights and balances involved.

This is the veil upon every single person whose eyes are not open in the Spirit. The world creates complex thinking upon complex thinking in a bid to light a fire, to use worldly wisdom to solve heavenly things, but when the Spirit comes upon you, momentarily, the veil is lifted and you can ‘see.’

So to the person who’s confused, who’s unsure about his/her next step, being concerned about living in His Will. What I say is this: Do what He tells you to do. Pray to Him, seek Him, worship and praise Him, do what is right, and you will have your answers.

Enter into the presence behind the veil and I promise, you will see what you need to see.

“Happy Easter, Jesus.”

Wait. Jesus didn’t exactly have a happy Easter. Easter for him was the most traumatizing time in his life. Happy Easter doesn’t describe that day for him at all.

“(Remember) The Passion of the Christ.” were the words that the Spirit spoke to me in the morning.

Passionate living is the only true way of living. We cannot live apart from passion, or from desire. John Eldredge says that God gave us eyes that we might see, ears that we might hear, hearts that we might live.

Jesus says in John 10:10 that He has come to give us Life and life more abundantly. I think sometimes we don’t take His words seriously enough.

And Jesus truly led a life of passion. He knew his purpose from the start and set his face like a flint toward his call. Never once was he distracted or lost about what he was supposed to do here. His sense of mission and purpose was perfect.

If God wills us to live lives of passion, how come I only feel spiritual lethargy and weariness most of the time?

Most of our days are spent without that fiery burning passion that we see in Jesus, and sometimes we wonder why. We wonder how to find that passion that Jesus had in ourselves. Where is that passion?

Why isn’t something burning inside of me that causes me to act?

Let me offer an answer.

It is in you. The passion for life that you long to have, it is there.

But something happened along the way to.. sedate it. Sedation, that’s what most of us are facing. Like the addict who craves his daily dose of drugs because he cannot do without it, most of us have our daily dose of sedatives to cure the emptiness inside of us.

We are very hungry people. We are people who hunger and thirst after Life. I quote CS Lewis… From the great saints to the big sinners; they all have one thing in common. It’s hunger. They recognize their hunger and they will do anything in their power to fill it.

The only difference is how they choose to fill that hunger. While the great saint chooses to fill the void of emptiness by staying in the Presence of God, the big sinner chooses to walk into a brothel.

But of most of us, because we neither know how to fill that emptiness, nor will go and blatantly sin, we choose sedation. We allow ourselves small bits of pleasure for our hearts so that it can be momentarily satisfied, much like keeping a dog on a leash.

So most of us end up doing small little things that keep the hungering heart quiet. Eating a little more than usual maybe? Watching TV? Playing Starcraft? A bit of retail therapy? Just that little bit of pleasure to keep that aching heart sedated.

Modern society isn’t helping. With the amount of advertisements and the new things to do, all with the same subtle promise,”Do this and you will have Life. Buy me and you will be filled. If you own me, you will be happy.“

Look at the advertisements nowadays, all promising life, from MacDonald’s to the Banks to the Washing Detergent. All bringing in the theme of family wholeness and love. The subtle message is,” Buy me and your family will be happy.”. Even to the very best of us who resist such, we would buy into a lie or two.

Sedation is really denying our hearts its true thirst by giving it a poorer, more mediocre substitute.

Example: If I put a really nice drink, like Starbucks Ice Blended Green Tea Latte in front of you, and plain water. If we are mildly thirsty, most of us will pick the Ice Blended Green Tea Latte for many reasons.

But let’s say if you’ve been walking in the desert for a whole day and the same option gets presented to you: which one would you grab immediately? That’s right, WATER!!

In this small little example lies our secret to passion, and Jesus calls it Fasting! You see, when we fast, our heart’s true thirst becomes clearer to us.

The longer we deprive ourselves of something we think gives us life, the clearer we will be about what truly does (give us life). By depriving ourselves of the things we usually use to sedate our hearts, first we will experience withdrawal symptoms, deep emptiness, frustration, irritation … all the signs any addict will feel.

In that moment, normally, we do everything in can in our power to ‘cure’ the pain. Call friends? Watch TV? Play Computer Games? Shopping? Everything within our reach, we try to grasp.

But then, if we fast long enough, Transformation happens.

Our hearts suddenly recognize this fact: No, you don’t need this for Life. You can let go of it, and you’ll be okay. You don’t have to have ________ ( the girl, the car, the house, the money, the retail therapy, the computer games).

Our hearts find Rest in that moment. You alone are all sufficient, O God. You are my Soul’s Shelter, my true Provider. In You I live.You are more than enough for me.

2 sub-revelations came from this Revelation:

1. Don’t judge.

Everyone’s thirst is the same. What defines us as great sinners or saints is simply what we choose to do with the thirst. Hence, don’t judge. While you may choose to deal with your hunger with less ‘sinful’ activities, other less ‘religious’ people may have chosen other ways to do it.

Remember how Jesus looked at the prostitutes and the other sinners. He accepted them. He accepts people who are true to their hunger. He didn’t accept them in their sins, He accepted them because He was the way out of their sins!

What Jesus cannot stand is people who choose to sedate their heart’s thirst, and then judge the people who are true to it. Case in point, the Pharisees. The people who do the ‘right’ thing all the time, but choose to deny their heart’s true desire.

When you meet a person all messed up, all over the place because of all the wrong choices the person has made, don’t look at the person with the eyes of judgement, but answer the person according to his/her thirst. The message you want to bring across is this: Your thirst for life is true. It is in me too. Come let me lead you to the Fountain of Life.

Remember what I mentioned in the previous post as well: God works with Desire. As long as you have a desire for something to be better in your life, God can use it. You just have to lift it up to God. What God cannot work with is a man fully sedated, desire-less and wanting nothing more in his/her life.

2. Fasting and Abstinence is the key to Passionate Living

I would really recommend this book The Way of the Heart by Henri Nouwen. It’s one of the best short books I have read that talks about the wisdom of the desert.

Remember that alot of the saints have their desert experiences before they were launched into ministry. John the Baptist had his, and Jesus had his.

I believe that the desert experience often brings us into another level because it clears out the ‘junk’ in our lives that are just simply taking our attention from the life of the spirit. By removing every single obstacle that sedates us, we become fully aware of Life, and there begin to truly live.

But, I mean, for a start, we don’t have to go out there 40 days 40 nights or what. It’s just a beginning of a self-awareness toward what might possibly be ‘sedating’ us from our thirst.

When you’re restless, what do you do? What do you grasp within your reach? Is it calling your friends? Facebook? Starcraft? Switching on the TV? Whatsapp? Finding something ‘productive’ to do?

It would be useful at that moment to just hold it right there, be still, close your eyes and pray. Instead of grasping something within your reach, we should, in that moment, lift up our desire to God. Rest in Him. That’s a momentary fast, and a moment closer to God than any moment.

Trust me, when the moment you’re grasping, quick, go run to prayer and cry out to Him, wrestle with Him, go argue it out with Him, scream at Him if you have to, I guarantee in that moment you’ll be closer to God than any other moment. In that moment, you become your most alive. =D

Today, it was one of my favorite youtube videos from Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. The final ending song called Into the West.

If you haven’t watched Lord of the Rings, you’re missing out. Lord of the Rings is one of the most epic movies that have ever been created, and one of the best stories ever written.

To give you some relevance of this song, in the story, the Undying Lands; the lands where only men who were heroes in Middle Earth would qualify to sail to. The Undying Lands laid to the west of Middle Earth, hence the song Into the West. No doubt, if you’ve watched the show and you’re a Christian, you’ll probably already have a good guess that J R Tolkien was writing about heaven.

Merry: “I din’t think it would end this way.”
Gandalf: “End? No, the journey doesn’t end here. The grey rain curtain of this world draws back, and all turns into silver glass. And then you see it…”
Merry: “What, Gandalf? See what?”
Gandalf:”White shores…and beyond… a far green country.. under a swift sunrise.”

Well, what really struck me was not just the song itself; it’s beautiful. But as I scrolled down to read the comments on this youtube video:

“If the Shire was a real place, i would live there forever… O the beauty and paradise”

“you are not the only one, wish we could all live in peace in the shire, telling stories and singing songs all together as real humans. But unlikily it’s not real… or maybe yes?”

These were non Christians, and they were talking about a Paradise. They commented about how they cried at the end of the story, and how they want this played in their funerals. Through that song and the movie, the hearts of these non believers awakened to a deeper reality.

Whether we are Christian or not, God has set eternity in our hearts. The non Christians that speak so much of a Paradise, or another world that they wish to belong to, show their deep longing and desire to be in Heaven too. What we Christians hope to achieve through reaching out to our friends; Tolkien did it with a story. (and eventually a movie).

Pastor Kong calls it, the Cultural Mandate.

A Greater Revelation of Heaven

I feel that we have to move beyond an idea of Heaven that is an imagery of a nice place to go to AFTER we die. In fact, most people kinda think that Heaven is a dull place to be. I once even heard a Christian friend honestly tell me that he would be very sad if he died. And most of us believe we only have ‘one’ life to live. And secretly in our hearts, we’ll be pretty disappointed with the idea of death. (Yet Paul says, to live is Christ, to die is gain. How so?)

But yet, Heaven is so much more than what we think it is. After Aslan destroys the old Narnia, he brings the children and the Narnians into the new.The Unicorn in CS Lewis’ final book of the Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle says it so well:

” I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it until now. The reason why we loved the old Narnia is that it sometimes looked a little like this.”

And the reason we love this Earth so much is because it sometimes looks a little like Heaven. The reason we love this life so much is because it sometimes resembles Eternal Life.

The world thirsts for the Eternal, and we have the answers with us. It’s a pity when it is us Christians that do not recognize our own soul’s deep thirst and longing for the Life to come. We think that as Christians, we’re supposed to show the world that we ‘have it all’, that we have all parts of our life figured out. Because the truth is, we don’t; we’re as thirsty as they are; it’s just that we’ve discovered the Fountain of Life.

Like Jesus in John 7:37, we should be telling the world, “Are you thirsty? then go to Jesus to drink!”.

Life is Epic, not mundane

Yeah, that’s what the show Lord of the Rings tell me. Having seen Frodo leaving the comforts of his Shire all the way to the gates of Mordor; his quest was no small task.

Such a movie reminds us that life is not just about our jobs to do, our bills to pay, and our money to make. There is a Great Battle against Good and Evil going on, and we have an essential part to play in this Great Battle.

Like Frodo and his fellowship, us in Christian fellowship have a purpose in the Great Battle against Good and Evil. There is an enemy; there is a quest. And there is a fellowship.

You might think I’m being too ‘spiritual’, or thinking too much to purport something like that. It only shows how much has been done to cloud our minds from the Great Battle that is already going on from the beginning of time. For most of us, we live a life of practical agnosticism. We live from day to day, constantly forgetting that we have a role to play in the bigger scheme of things. We make the unimportant important, vice versa.

Blaise Pascal says, Our imagination powerfully magnifies time, by continual reflections upon it, and so diminishes eternity… For want of reflection, that we make a nothing of eternity and an eternity of nothing.

A story like Lord of the Rings helps us remember. It helps our forgetful mind to remember that there is something Big is going on in our lives. Heaven against Hell, and Earth is the Battlefield. It tells us this:

1. We have a mission.

Like Frodo in the Lord of the Rings, we have a great mission we are called to fulfill in our lives. This mission will challenge us, change us, transform us. But there is purpose for which we are sent here, and it is an essential mission to fulfill in the Great Battle. This is something we forget so easily each day with our daily routines and mundane tasks overtaking our spiritual sense.

2. God is wild, but good.

LOTR shows us how unpredictable life can be. Are we able to pull through when all seems dark and uncertain? When Frodo falls into captivity time and time again, falls into trial after trials, faces betrayal by his friends. But ultimately, Good triumphs over Evil. Isn’t there any doubt that God is a wild God? In times like Frodo’s, where everything that gave him comfort and security was in shambles, the only thing he could lean on is that there is still good in this world.

“Frodo: I can’t do this, Sam.
Sam: I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.
Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?
Sam: That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo… and it’s worth fighting for. “

And the only thing we can lean on is the goodness of God. That God will be good to come through for you. That He will be our mighty deliverer. No matter how chaotic or uncertain our lives are sometimes, the thing we must hold on to is trust that God is good.

3. We need a fellowship.
Frodo may be the hero of the story, but he could have never done it without Sam, Aragorn, Legolas, Gandalf and Gimli. Although he was the ring bearer, but he needed the support of his fellowship to finish the mission. Without the main army distracting the armies of Mordor, Frodo might never make it to the volcano to destroy the ring.

We have used the word fellowship a lot, but I believe that till we are clear about our mission here on Earth, we will never see the true purpose and importance of a fellowship of intimate allies. They’re not just your cell group members, they’re intimate allies in your life to help you fulfill the mission God has called you to do. It can be a pity when we don’t recognize it, because then we choose to keep a safe distance from each one so that no one gets hurt; and in doing so deny ourselves opportunities for transformation, sharpening and growing together.

They’re not just your cell group members. They are your Sams, Legolases, Aragorns and Gandalfs, which are crucial in completing your earthly mission.

Every great story borrows from the Great Story.
When we see a great movie, isn’t it interesting to note that it usually borrows from the Gospels?

Tales of selfless sacrifice, of overcoming the odds, of David’s beating Goliaths, of faith and fear all borrow themselves from the Greatest Story of All. If you’ve ever seen a show that speaks so deeply into your soul, you’ll find that it often has gospel elements in it.

If Braveheart died for Scotland, the Jesus did far more; he died for all mankind.

If Gladiator fought and yet with his eyes on Heaven, even more did Jesus. (Hebrews 12:2)

If Frodo left the comforts of his Paradise in the Shire to fulfill a great mission, so did Jesus do far greater by leaving His throne to come to Earth.

These movies all moved millions, and spoke to many hearts. People can watch a youtube video and be true to their longing of Heaven, or believe in love again, or believe in sacrificing for the greater good. All while not hearing a single thing about the gospels.

I believe we have to do better to present the Gospel in this light. In our minds, the imagery of Jesus dying on the cross can be totally uninspiring. Yet a myth to retell the same story can become epic, breathtaking, awe-inspiring. Remember, that whatever that inspires us in this life; we find it in its entirety in the person of Jesus.

One little boy writes to CS Lewis, saying he feels really bad because he loves Aslan more than Jesus. But Lewis reassures him, telling him that all that he loved in Aslan was Jesus.

Our Forgetfulness

C S Lewis writes a book in the Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair to describe the our forgetfulness so well.

Prince Rilian is under a spell and he only ‘wakes up’ to who he is 1 hour a day. However during that time, he is bound to chains. When he is back under the spell, he believes that he needs to be under chains during that 1 hour because he becomes a beast.

When the spell is finally broken, the prince says:

“How long have I been under the power of the witch?” “It is more than ten years ..” “Ten years!” said the Prince, drawing his hand across his face as if to rub away the past. “Yes I believe you. For now that I am myself I can remember that enchanted life, though while I was enchanted I could not remember my true self.”

Movies, myths and stories are meant to break the spell on our agnostic condition; to remind us that there is a God, and there is a Devil. And there is a great mission we are called to fulfill in this world. There are things going on in our lives that are more than meets the eye.

We need to snap out of the condition that life isn’t just about jobs, money, blessings, being good. It’s not that it is not right to see life by this perspective; it is that we need to open up our hearts to see the greater, deeper things that are going on in our lives.The spiritual warfare, the struggles, the urgent timing we’re on.

And most of all, Who am I? Prince Rilian remembers that He is a prince of Narnia. Will we ‘remember’ who we are?

In the King James Version of the Bible, the word “Remember” is used 148 times. It just shows us how forgetful we are. “You shall REMEMBER the Lord your God!”

Conclusion

So 2500 words later, what am I exactly pointing at? I’m saying that the deepest reality of the human condition are often best expressed in myth. Because life is most mythical; magical and mysterious.

We have to allow these myths to capture our hearts and realize that all that have captured our hearts find its entirety in Jesus. That way, we become more understanding and equipped to understand the human desire and longing, and speak Jesus into people’s lives far more deeply and effectively.

And we are to remember, daily, that Life is Epic.

Raise my heart Heavenward.

It is a staggering question Jesus poses to the blind man. I mean, surely the Lord of the whole Universe knows that the blind man needs to be healed of his blindness? Why does he have to ask that question even in the first place? God knows exactly which part of the body to heal right?

But yet, after the healing, Jesus says, “Your faith has healed you.” Your faith? Not God?

If we understand the heart of God, we realize that Jesus never asks an irrelevant question. Jesus wasn’t after the man’s physical healing. He was after the healing of the blind man’s desire. Desire. Yes. After years and years of becoming blind, this man would have probably resigned to the fate that he would be blind for the rest of his life. But the question Jesus poses reveals so much about a man’s heart,” What do you want?”

Before we think that this story is just a simple story of physical healing, it isn’t. It’s a story of prayer and desire.

As Christians, we cannot live without Desire. We ARE desire. We live to long. St Augustine says that all of the Christian life is a holy longing.

But yet when we look around, we still see Christians who seemed resigned to the fate that their lives are going to be the same for the rest of their lives. We see Christians who believe that the affliction, their standard of living, their lives will probably be status quo.

We cannot live like that. To believe that your life is going to remain the same; to ask for nothing in prayer is to say that you have resigned to your fate, to believe that nothing else in your life will change; to believe that God is NOT good. It is a godless attitude to take.

When we desire; we are essentially telling God, “God you have made my heart; my desires, and You are good to fulfill those desires.” Desiring doesn’t have to be that spiritual. You can desire simple things, you can desire material things.

What if we desire the wrong thing? Then trust God the Father to redirect your desire.

In George Macdonald’s words,
“Even such as ask amiss may sometimes have their prayers answered. The Father will never give the child a stone that asks for bread; but I am not sure that He will never give the child a stone that asks for a stone. If the Father says,”My child, that is a stone, it is no bread,” and the child answer,”I am sure it is bread; I want it,” may it not be well that he should try his “bread”?

God is a good Father, ever discipling us and correcting us to bring us to Him. At the heart of it, the mission of God here is to awaken our hearts and desires that have been long dead from resignation, addiction and disappointments.

I need to digress here a little. “Then how about really bad things? Drugs? Sexual immorality? Are people meant to walk there as well to ‘follow their desires’?” Firstly, don’t say are ‘people’ meant to. Ask yourself. Are you meant to? You have a very clear answer for yourself already; there’s no need to think for another person. You already know it’s wrong, and that’s good enough. The Bible says the commandments were given to us as a tutor in Galatians.

Galatians 3:24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

There are things that God is clearly telling us that ‘it’s not the correct path for your heart, don’t take it.’ God knows, you’ll be tempted to do it, but the Bible already says, “This is not the way that leads to Life. Don’t do it.”

But I’m not speaking to this group here. I’m speaking to Christians who know what is right and wrong, and yet their hearts are resigned, disappointed, addicted, and in essence, dead. Ask them what the Bible says about the act of fornication, or about covetousness, they give you perfect answers. Ask them, what are they believing for in their lives? They struggle to find an answer.

George Macdonald (who, by the way is from Scotland!!), says this of false spirituality: Sometimes to one praying will come the feeling .. “Were it not better to abstain? If this be good, will He not give it (to) me? Would He not be better pleased if I left it altogether to Him?” It comes, I think, of a lack of faith and childlikeness… it may even come of ambition after spiritual distinction.

We need to live each day as Christians with a heart that is longing, desiring for something greater in our lives; and all the while with that innate longing and desire for the restoration of all things. We have to true to this heart that is sorely missing all that it truly desires.

So when we ask,“Do you have any prayer requests?”, we are really asking, “What do you want?” or What do you long for?”.

Is it a higher paying job? is it a car? a house maybe? a girlfriend? It doesn’t matter. Start there and pray with passion. The journey of desire is a journey of your heart and it’s destination is at home with God.

Can’t I just desire God immediately? You can’t. The journey of your heart is not the journey of your head. At the intellectual level all of us Christians know that God is what we should desire. But do we?

Look at the lives of Christians around you? Are they people who desire? We gotta realize that we can know so much about the Bible, like Pharisees, but our hearts can remain so far away from the Lord.

This is not an occasion for guilt, it is an occasion for us to realize that our hearts needs to start on that journey. And we have to trust the Lord to bring our hearts Home.

Sure, you might end up in some horrible situations. Great. Every occasion I have been brought to my knees for some stupid decision in my life brought me to another level with Jesus. A deeper level of trust. A greater knowing of Grace. A deeper desire for Restoration. It gave me great revelation and wisdom about Life and about God. The question is: can you trust Him to lead your heart Home?

Christianity is not about getting your life in order; it’s about knowing the Lord deeper. I mean, think about Jesus, Moses, Daniel, Joseph’s lives in the Bible. Would you use the word ‘getting their lives in order’ to describe it?

That aside, we can’t have nothing you want to pray for; it’s an evidence of a dead heart! We have a heart that is ever praying and believing for something, and we need to be true to it. And we need to lift it up to God.

Jesus says in Matthew 24 will be exactly like this. These few decades have been unprecedented in terms of the rate of giant natural disasters; earthquakes, tsunamis, pestilences.

But before I continue, I’d like to say this: God didn’t cause this. We did. With our non-ecological ways, we have upset the balance of nature to bring all these to come to pass. Just because God foresaw it doesn’t mean that He made it happen.
“But why didn’t God stop it?” It’s like asking God why He didn’t stop you from being selfish when you didn’t want to share your things with another person. OR It’s like asking God why didn’t He stop the water tap from flowing when you just let it flow when you were brushing your teeth. It’s called Free Will. And apparently God thinks its more sacred than anything else, for while from Free Will man can sin, but it is also only from Free Will that he can love.

When He made the Earth, it was meant to be in a delicate balance, living under rules and principles of science created by Him. When we screw it up ourselves, we don’t start blaming God for it. That’s not exactly being fair.

Anyway, back to the topic.

It is not the end. It will be as the days of Noah, it is written. This is God coming back to press the reset button. “So that whatever that can be shaken, will be shaken.”

It is the beginning of the restoration of all things. “Behold, I am making all things new” says the Lord.

But when I heard and am reminded of the coming of Jesus to be imminent, it was a mix of joy and terror. If you had told me a few years earlier, it might just have been pure terror.

“When the Son of Man returns, will He find faith on earth?”. Will he return to find a people eagerly waiting for His return? I think for so long, we’ve lived lives that believe that this is the only life that we will have, and we have best make the full use of it. Get the full enjoyment and pleasure out of it.

When there are wars, unrest, natural disasters all over the world, in our hearts, instead of that joy that our Master is returning, we find despair. It reveals so much about our hearts. It is a heart of agnosticism. It is a heart that says,” God, if you’re coming, it’s good. If not, it’s fine too. I will try to make the best out of my life, and try to make a Heaven on earth here.”

So when He comes, we kind of feel like He’s here to mess up our plans. Hence we receive His words in terror. “He is coming to spoil the day. We were just having fun with life.”

The image of a summer songbird resting on a barren tree against a azure clear blue sky haunts me. It reminds me that the Eternal Morning is coming.

A friend once showed me this worship song: Before the Morning.

That morning is coming very soon.

As we hear the news of wars, earthquakes, pestilences as spoken in Matthew 24 (Jesus said that 2000 years ago! Can you imagine how amazing that is?!?!?), what is our response? Do we find ourselves disappointed that life looks like its not going to work for out for us? OR do we find a place in our hearts that is joyful despite the darkness, because He is coming?

“Surely, I am coming quickly.” We who believe in His Holy Spirit, His active work in our lives; let’s also take His word seriously. He shall come like a thief, at an hour none will expect, and let’s makes sure we have enough oil for the night (Matthew 25);)

He is coming.

We will reign with Him for a 1,000 years. Yeah, we’re gonna be around in Earth for at least another 1,000. But this time with Jesus! =)

At the end of that ,immortality awaits us. Let us live for that eternity. =) It will be beautiful.

Beauty has a way of catching you while you’re totally not ready for it. It’s the kinda thing that you will stop what you’re doing just to take a second look. Today I took my time to admire the sunset from my house.

It reminded me of:

1. The same New Jersey sunset, with a pink sky and clouds, as I drove 40km from New Jersey downtown to South Bound Brook in the New Jersey suburbs.

2. A poem in Desire by Wordsworth:

There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight,
To me did seem
Appareled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream…
Heaven lies about us in our infancy;
(then the sad part – italics mine)
Shades of the prison house begin to close
Upon the growing boy,
But he holds the light, and whence it flows.
He sees it in his joy;…
At length the man perceives it die away,
And fade into the light of common day.
(Ode, Intimations of Immortality from Recollection of Childhood)

3. The song Morning has Broken

Morning has broken, like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning
Praise for the springing fresh from the word

Sweet the rain’s new fall, sunlit from heaven
Like the first dewfall, on the first grass
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden
Sprung in completeness where his feet pass

Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning
Born of the one light, Eden saw play
Praise with elation, praise every morning
God’s recreation of the new day

I would imagine myself walking through falling golden autumn leaves in slow motion, where I observe the beauty of every falling leaf. How glorious how glorious.

One of my non Christian once looked at a beautiful landscape of a high altitude lake and exclaimed,”Wow, this is like Heaven.” I turned, looked at her and said, “How do you know? Have you seen Heaven?”.

God has written eternity in our hearts. He has put Heaven in our hearts. In every heart. When we see beautiful scenery, majestic snow capped mountains, lakes that mirror the world above them; our hearts sometimes give a sigh. For me, that sigh came early. It came at the age of 14. I was unaware that I was seeking something that was beyond this world.

That sigh, is a sigh of homesickness. Ever since Man had fallen from Eden, everything was not meant to be. We had left home, and now we’re trying to find our way back.

Untouched nature echoes the glory, the beauty of a life beyond. A life that was meant to be. Deep calling unto deep.

I am calling you, says God. I am calling you. There is a world beyond this one. I am calling you to it.

I love Corrinne May’s song: Love song for Number 1. In the verse, she sings of how God reveals himself:

In the twinkling stars that dance like fireflies
In the blushing fruit that hangs upon the vine
In the face of a baby as he forms his first smile
I see you

In the whisper of the wind’s soft lullaby
In the laughter and the roar of the rushing tide
In the song of a sparrow as he takes his first flight
I hear you

Romans 1:20 says “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

Heaven is real. Jesus says that the Kingdom of Heaven is upon us. When we think of Heaven, we’d like to think of a place. In a geographical sense. Like how the sky is above us, and the earth is beneath us. While the Bible does make references to the location of Heaven. But the Kingdom of Heaven ultimately is a spiritual kingdom.

The Kingdom of Heaven is an eternal kingdom. And it can never be understood in the context of time and space. And that is why some people might think of Heaven, or of eternal life is .. life that goes on and on. Nope. We must remember that God is the one who made time, and therefore not subject to it; and His kingdom is in the same way, beyond it.

Of course, we don’t have to go into a philosophical talk to try to grasp the concept of Heaven. By it’s definition, Heaven cannot be understood by our intellects. It can only be ‘understood’ by the heart. So anyway, I have no intention of confusing my readers nor go into a discussion, so let’s accept that we will won’t understand it in its fullness now, and move on.

So, Canada was the first time I had a desire to see a beautiful country fulfilled. I always rave about Canada, (and now SCOTLAND!) to my friends. Of course, some probably won’t get why I’m so into these places. Truth is, when I say that, I’m really saying ” I long for Heaven. I long for the restoration of all things. For the end of days.”. But of course I won’t say that, Canada and Scotland sound more relatable.

It’s like telling people you need a car, when what you really want is a convenient way to get your destinations. Or that you need to head down to Macdonald’s, when what you’re really saying is that you’re hungry and really, any other better alternatives to Macdonald’s would work too. It’s implied.

So yes, back to Canada. Sigh. Beautiful country. Sunsets to die for. A weather that is cool, crisp; and when the sunrays caress your face,.. wow. Perfect weather. Beautiful old mountains. Man. It’s closer to Heaven, I wrote in my facebook note.

Now, dreaming of Heaven? Why can’t we just live our lives here on earth and then think of Heaven when Heaven comes?

We can’t. You see, ever since the fall of Adam, we’ve been trying to find our way back to Paradise. Without God’s help. We’ve built our cities of brick and stone. Convinced ourselves that a high paying job, a big house and a nice car is the equivalent of a full, completed life. Or that the latest KOI bubble tea is the must have, or the Hello Kitty. We fight over it. We give our lives to pursuit of such things because we want to create a “Heaven” for ourselves on Earth.

We tell God (in our hearts), you know what God, I’m going to try to create a life that I don’t need You. I’ll have everything I need. Without depending on You. It’s fine, you know. We can get by without You interfering in our lives.

Nope. You see, the abiding vision of Heaven reminds us that the life that we have here is but for a moment. The broken friendship? Yes, it will be restored at the End of Days. That broken down body of ours,” Yeap, It’ll work perfectly at the end of our days.”

Now of course, I’m not saying that because of that, we give up all that we’re supposed to do and just slack off the rest of our days. “Heaven’s coming anyway.” Wrong. The Kingdom of Heaven is a spiritual kingdom. A kingdom of attitude. If you had taken that attitude, you would have create, in that moment, a hell. That part of you will simply not enter the Kingdom.

What I’m really saying is that we take an attitude of rest toward life. That we stop striving and try to create a “Heaven” for ourselves. We stop manipulating our relationships to get what we want out of them. We stop trying to find the “best” job that will fulfill me perfectly. Or the best paying job so that my house and car will fulfill me.

So now, then it leads to the sermon on Hope.

Hebrews 12:1-2: Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

The vision of Heaven, the remembering towards Heaven builds in our hearts a capacity for hope, and in that endurance and longsuffering. The key to becoming a more enduring person is to keep our eyes in the life that is to come. The greater the vision of the coming Life, the greater the capacity of any man to go through hardship and suffering.

C.S Lewis once said something to that effect, that the people who were most effective in this life were those who kept their eyes on the coming one.

Now, how do we keep our eyes in Heaven? I think Corrinne May’s song provides a wonderful start.

In the twinkling stars that dance like fireflies
In the blushing fruit that hangs upon the vine
In the face of a baby as he forms his first smile
I see you

In the whisper of the wind’s soft lullaby
In the laughter and the roar of the rushing tide
In the song of a sparrow as he takes his first flight
I hear you

The Kingdom of Heaven is near us, says Jesus. (Matt 3:2).

Community living is a true blessing. Whether it is from family or from church, having a community were we belong to is a gift.

Huibin from my cg also shared during testimony that he was thankful of the love from the cg and from his family during the CNY period. What, I believe, he was thankful for, was the blessing of community living.

For one thing, community living means that we walk and live in accountability: you can never go too wrong when you’re with a group of people who are grounded solidly in strong values. Some people might feel that it ‘restricts’ them, but trust me, you don’t want to NOT be in a community.

One of my friends once shared how the people in the US envy the Asians because of our strong sense of community and tradition. Truly, most Americans as we know and see from TV don’t live or visit their parents, nor have any idea about their extended families. “Isn’t it good that I don’t have to answer to anyone?”. You can ask the Americans about that.

Like a stray sheep that leaves the flock, a person out of the community is subject to the harsh dangers and storms out there, without anyone to look to. And where the devil can strike the easiest.

Imagine getting into an abusive relationship in your life without anyone to look to, share with, and ask for wisdom. Imagine getting into heavy debts without anyone to give wise financial advise. For most of us, imagine living a life without fathers to look up to, and brothers and sisters to grow up with.

Indeed, living in a community means that we have role models to look to. We have this guy who’s such a wonderful husband and an example for us a follow. And this great ministry leader who has such a heart of service that we can learn from. Or brothers and sisters that we can share our lives with, grow up through the different stages of university, jobs, changing jobs, getting married, having kids together.

To have not just friends, but a fellowship of brothers and sisters to face the challenges of life and faith with.

It’s interesting to note that in almost every movie, a hero is not without his companions. His victory is always as part of a team. There is no one man show, even for heroes. For Frodo in the Lord of the Rings, he may have been the One, but without his fellowship, he wouldn’t have survived the journey. Same for almost every other show you can think of. It is so because it is true of life.

We must be part of a fellowship, and best of all a Christian fellowship. If we are to take life’s challenges effectively, we must live as part of one.

1 John 1:7
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

I’m sure that you have met someone who was not part of a fellowship. You find them …. I don’t know the word for it. Weird maybe? Without being part of a community, a person’s motives and intentions are often in the dark. His sins are in the dark as well. I’ve seen people get attached to someone not part of a strong community, outside or inside church; it often means trouble. Without the accountability and the ‘light’ that a fellowship brings, it’s often best not to get too involved with that person.

Anyway, to end off, did you know that Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers introduction talks about how a community migrated from a remote part of Italy live long lives because they live in community? It a pretty amazing finding. Now even science has proved the Bible. (In accordance to Pst Paul Scanlon’s msg!).

Well, I’m glad to be part of a strong extended family community, as well as a church community. It’s truly a blessing to be able to have friends to grow up with, and leaders to look up to, and young ones to teach and lead. =)