"Because Thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise Thee." -Psalm 63:3

God has been very unfair to me this year.

2011-12-28T00:27:00.003+08:00

God has been very very unfair to me this year.

I haven’t always been faithful, but He has been very faithful.

I haven’t always been loving, but He has been loving and merciful.

I don’t deserve how He has been, but that’s how it is. Ever since He drew me closer in knowledge of Him it’s been one unfairness after another J

And on top of that He has blessed me with so many wonderful people… And as I am about to begin the 26^th year of my life on earth, as 2011 draws to a close- I just want to offer up my thanks for all of you (some of you are in more than 1 category and I didn’t name most of you so you have to read EVERYTHING and identify the parts that apply to you muahaha)-

To my family- mommy, daddy, and lil broie, thanks for all your support and for pampering me especially when I was swamped with thousands of essays to mark. It’s so comfortable being with the 3 people who know me and my nonsense pattern so well that I completely relax physically and emotionally when im with you. I love that we love each other so much and I couldn’t ask for a better family. Even though we’re all getting busier, I know we’ll always make the effort to have meals together here and there and I always enjoy those precious moments J

To my family in Christ, people of Shaddai and other Christian friends- I’m blessed to have you J older folk in Shaddai, thanks for praying and supporting the youths for so many firsts this year- first mission trip, first film-skit. To the youths- you’re the sweetest bunch ever and I love you all so much! And especially to the girls I have Bible study with- I feel so privileged to get to learn about God together with you and always enjoy our meet-ups for Bible study outside of seeing you on Sundays J

To Huix- thanks for the hundreds of ways you have seen me through especially since I started teaching. Really don’t know how to say to you how much of a difference you have made to me. I’m so grateful that our friendship has survived over so many years and I’m looking forward for it to survive through an overseas trip together if possible, haha!

To all my close friends whom I generally meet only twice a year (for your birthday and mine- that’s most of you =/) and have made an effort to keep in touch despite my horrible busy schedule- thanks for doing that. I’m sorry I’m always so busy and for all the times I’ve last-minute-cancelled on you. Please continue not seeing it as an indication that I don’t care, and still asking me out anyway. Thanks for looking out for me. You have saved my forgetful and navigationally-impaired butt so many times.

To the few close friends I’ve had since I was 15- you know who you are. It means a lot to me that you’ve seen some real downtimes and crappy parts of me and you’ve stuck around. Here’s to a decade of friendship!

To my colleagues in RV, especially the History Unit (yes including the honorary member) & NCC peeps- you’re an awesome, awesome bunch. You’re right up there with the students as my reason for smiling in RV. Thanks for all the help and support. I couldn’t have survived without you guys.

Which brings me to my students- those in RV, as well as students I taught years ago including tuition, those in Chung Cheng High Yishun, etc., aiyo some of you so old working already still call me Ms. Wing- most of the 192 birthday wishes I got on Facebook today was from you. and that’s just about 20% of the facebook friends I have, most of whom are my students. Thanks for all the joy you’ve brought into my life. Thanks that for some strange reason many of you appreciate me though I’ve not been a perfect teacher. It is my prayer that what I teach you about life will stay with you longer than I do J

To new friends who adopted me even though I am dao, boring and busy- I’m glad you took me into your lives. I hope your delusion continues and years down the road you’ll still be around for me to thank for a decade of friendship, and more.

And last but most of all, thanks to my Heavenly Father. I’m guilty of complaining, especially when I have to do mundane admin work, forgetting that I’m blessed to even have a job. Forgive me for my ingratitude and for all the times I have not rejoiced in what Christ has done and will do. This year one of the things that You showed me was that one of the many things I love more than You is being liked. Help me love You more than that, to love You more than anything; help me love You most. Thank You for You and all that You are; all that You have been to me even though too many times I have not been faithful. And thank You for all the wonderful people You have put in my life. Loving Father, grant that I live Your love in everything I do this coming year. Thank You for the wisdom, strength and love to serve|love; for the furtherance of Your kingdom. Looking forward to the journey with You this coming year. Bless all these people whom I’ve been blessed to know. Thank You J

extracted from "Charitas Nimia, or, The Dear Bargain" by Richard Crashaw

2011-12-21T23:42:00.000+08:00

Lord, what is man? why should he cost thee
So dear? what had his ruin lost thee?
Lord, what is man? that thou hast over-bought
So much a thing of nought?

...

Alas sweet Lord, what were't to thee
If there were no such worms as we?
Heav'n ne're the less still Heav'n would be...

...

Still would those beautious ministers of light
Burn all as bright,
And bow their flaming heads before thee;
Still Thrones and Dominations would adore thee;
Still would those ever-wakeful sons of fire
Keep warm thy praise
Both nights and days,
And teach thy lov'd name to their noble Lyre.
Let froward dust then do its kind,
And give itself for sport to the proud wind;
Why should a piece of peevish clay plead shares
In the Eternity of thy old cares?
Why shouldst thou bow thy awful breast to see
What mine own madnesses have done with me?
Should not the King still keep his Throne
Because some desperate fool's undone?
Or will the world's illustrious eyes
Weep for every worm that dies?
Will the gallant Sun
E're the less glorious run?
Will he hang down his Golden head,
Or e're the sooner seek his western bed,
Because some foolish fly
Grows wanton, and will die?
If I was lost in misery,
What was it to thy heav'n and thee?
What was it to thy precious blood
If My foul heart call'd for a flood?
What if my faithless soul and I
Would needs fall in
With guilt and sin?
What did the Lamb, that he should die?
What did the Lamb, that he should need,
When the Wolf sins, himself to bleed?
If my base lust
Bargain'd with death, and well-beseeming dust;
Why should the white
Lamb's bosom write
The purple name
Of my sin's shame?
Why should his unstain'd breast make good
My blushes with his own Heart-blood?

O my Savior, make me see,
How dearly thou hast paid for me,
That Lost again my life may prove,
As then in Death, so now in Love.

poem by Henry Ernest Hardy

2011-11-06T20:44:00.000+08:00

O London town has many moods,

and mingled mongst its many broods

a leavening of saints.

And ever up and down its streets

if one has eyes to see, one meets

stuff that an artist paints.

I've seen a back street bathed in blue,

such as the soul of whistler new,

a smudge of amber light

where some fried fish shop plied its trade,

a perfect note of color made.

O it was exquisite.

I once came through St. James Park

betwixt the sunset and the dark,

and O the mystery of gray and green and violet,

I would I never might forget that evening harmony.

I hold it true that God is there.

If beauty breaks through anywhere.

And His most blessed feet

who once life's roughest roadway trod,

who came as man to show us God,

still pass along the street.

2011-11-05T15:46:00.000+08:00

"Waiting on the Lord with faith is a form of worship."

-Spurgeon

meditations on God's wisdom- especially for a precious sister in Christ =)

2011-10-13T13:53:00.009+08:00

1. 1 Corinthians 1:25
God is infinitely more wise than us-

2. Daniel 2:20-22
because God's wisdom is infinite. He created & sovereignly rules the world in His wisdom.

3. Ephesians 1:16-21
we can ask God for wisdom which involves knowledge of Him; the greatness of His power toward us.

therefore,
we should not rely on our own wisdom,
but trust in His wisdom
and ask that He enables us
to know Him & His power in our lives
so as to do things His way
for His glory.

we praise God that He will grant us the grace to believe and live this- amen =)

2011-10-08T22:32:00.002+08:00

Be Strong in the Lord

Be strong in the Lord, and be of good courage;
Your mighty Defender is always the same.
Mount up with wings, as the eagle ascending;
Vict’ry is sure when you call on His name.

Refrain:
Be strong, be strong, be strong in the Lord;
And be of good courage, for He is your guide.
Be strong, be strong, be strong in the Lord;
And rejoice for the vict’ry is yours.

So put on the armor the Lord has provided,
And place your defense in His unfailing care.
Trust Him for He will be with you in battle,
Lighting your path to avoid every snare. (Refrain)
(by Linda Lee Johnson ©1979 Hope Publishing Company ARR, UBP)

divine discontent =)

2011-10-01T20:37:00.004+08:00

“Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.” -Proverbs 2:3-5

“Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.” -Isaiah 55:1-2

“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”
–Matthew 5:6

“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby...”
-1 Peter 2:2

“But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.” –Deuteronomy 4:29

“Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” -Psalm 37:4

“O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.” –Psalm 63:1-6

“How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King, and my God. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them. Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools. They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God. O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah. Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed. For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.” -Psalm 84

“In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.” -Psalm 94:19

“Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee. With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.” -Isaiah 26:8-9

“And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”
–Jeremiah 29:13

“The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.” –Lamentations 3:25-26

“Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.” -Hosea 10:12

“In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.” –John 7:37

“And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.” –Revelation 21:6

2011-09-24T18:27:00.001+08:00

Savouring the sweetness of Psalm 32-

"Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.

When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.

I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.

For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.

Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.

I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.

Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.

Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart."

"The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin..."
-Exodus 34:6-7

extracted from sermon by John Piper, desiringgod.org

2011-09-20T01:16:00.003+08:00

The fear of the Lord is fear of fleeing out of his fellowship into the way of sin. Therefore the fear of the Lord is full of peace and security and hope. It keeps us near to the merciful heart of God, our fortress, our refuge, our sanctuary, our shield, our sun. Isaiah 8:13 says, "The Lord of Hosts, . . . let him be your fear, and let him be your dread, and he will become a sanctuary." A proper fear of the Lord keeps us under the shadow of his wings where we need not be afraid.

Therefore the fear of the Lord is accompanied by tremendous blessing. Listen to the psalms. Psalm 25:14, "The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him; he makes known to them his covenant." Psalm 31:19, "How abundant is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for those who fear thee, and wrought for those who take refuge in thee." (Notice that fearing God and taking refuge in him are parallel. Those who keep the fear of God before their eyes will not run from him but take refuge in him.) Psalm 34:7, "The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and delivers them." Psalm 103:11, "As the heavens are high above the earth so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him." Verse 13, "As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear him." Psalm 145:19, "He fulfills the desire of all who fear him."

The promises God makes to those who fear him are so staggering that the summons to fear God and the summons to hope in God are inseparable. And so the psalmist puts them together, for example, in Psalm 33:18, "The eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his mercy." Psalm 147:11, "The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his mercy." A person who fears the Lord will not run away from God to satisfy his longings and relieve his anxieties. He will wait for the Lord. He will hope in God. He will stay close to the heart of God and trust in his promises. The prospect of departing into the way of sin will be too fearful to pursue; and the benefits of abiding in the shadow of the Almighty too glorious to forsake.

extracted from The Humiliation of Christ, John Macarthur on gty.org

2011-09-17T21:56:00.004+08:00

Let's begin in verse 6. And here again we begin with Jesus as God. It says in verse 6, "He existed in the form of God." That's where the incarnation begins. That's the point from which He descends and condescends.

Now what does he mean by the word "form"? By the way, he uses it again in verse 7, as we shall see in a moment, but this is crucial. Morpheis the word. We use that as part of a word in English, endomorph, ectomorph and various other things. Morphesignifies a form, according to Molten(?) and Milligan(?) Lexicon, signifies a form which truly and fully expresses the being which underlies it. In other words, it is a word that refers to essence or essential being or nature. Here applied to God, the form of God. It means His deepest being, what He is in Himself, His essential being. The statement then is saying that Jesus Christ existed in the essential being of God. And He has always and continuously and unalterably existed in that essence.

You can perhaps understand the word morpheif you compare it to another Greek word, schema. Both of them could be translated in English "form." That's really the best English word but it...it loses something unless it's split into those two Greek words. Let me show you the distinction. "Form" or morpheis the essential character of something, what it is in itself. Schemais the outward form that it takes. The morphenever changes, theschemachanges. Perhaps a simple illustration would be this. I am a man, I possess manhood. I have possessed manhood since I was conceived and I will possess manhood until I die, that is my morphe. But that essential character of manhood is manifested in many different schema, if I can transliterate a bit. In other words, there was a time I was an embryo, there was a time I was a baby. There was a time I was child. Then I was a boy, then I was a youth. Then I was a young man, then I was an adult. And some day I will an old man. And right now I am in the prime of life. I could feel your impulses on that one.

But, you see, my morpheis manhood, my schemachanges. And when Paul selects the word morphehe is saying something very specific. He is saying that Jesus has always existed in the unchangeable essence of the being of God. To make it simple, he is saying Jesus is God. He possesses the very being and the very nature of God and He has always possessed that. And that interpretation of that first phrase is certainly strengthened by the second phrase in which He speaks of Jesus having equality with God. And thereby he describes, of course, what he meant by being in the form of God, he meant being equal with God. Why is it that we have so much discussion on this issue? Because it is the heart and soul of the Christian faith. And inevitably when people attack the Christian faith, when forms of religion other than the truth attack us, they attack at the point of the deity of Christ.

Yesterday I had some visitors at my house. They were Jehovah's Witnesses. They didn't stay long. They were there to tell me a certain message. You know what the message was? "You need to know this, sir. Jesus is not God." That's the message of the Jehovah's Witnesses. Oh they won't come out and say it unless you ask them, but that's the message. That is a denial of the essence of the Christian faith. In John's gospel it seems to be his particular concern and burden and passion under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to leave the reader with absolutely no doubt at all in his mind that Jesus is God, and so he even begins with that statement, "In the beginning was the Word," referring to Christ, "and the Word was with God and the Word was God." And then to demonstrate that, he says, "All things came into being by Him and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life and the life was the light of men. He is creator."

In verse 14 he says of Christ that He became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory and the glory that He had was that of the only begotten from the Father. He is God. He has him saying, of course, in the wonderful record of John 8 and verse 58 that before Abraham was, I am. And therefore taking on Him the very name of God who said "I am that I am hath sent you." And in Colossians the Apostle Paul in that wonderful first chapter and verse 15, speaking of Christ, says, "He is the image, or the exact replica, of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. By Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created by Him and for Him and He is before all things and in Him all things hold together."

Twice then, John and Paul, we find that the great evidence of the deity of Christ is His ability to create. And He gave evidence of that. Plenty of evidence. If you ever wonder whether Jesus is God, look at how He can create. Not only in the past, not only at the point of creation, but look at His creative miracles in His life. He created fish, He created bread. He created an ear when Peter chopped one off. He created new legs and new eyes and new ears and a new mouth. He created new internal organs to replace the diseased ones, acts of creation. He is the creator. He is God.

In Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3, do you remember this? "He is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His nature." That's where it all starts. It all starts with the recognition that Jesus Christ existed in the very essence of the eternal God. That's where it starts. Christianity then is a tremendously simple and yet infinitely profound truth that God became man and we now follow the path of His incarnation. Look back at verse 6, "Although He existed in the form of God He did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped." He did not consider it something to clutch. That word "equality" is interesting. The Greek word is the word isos. It's a very interesting word. It means exactly equal in size, quantity, quality, character, number, whatever. But it means exactly equal. We use it that way even in English. Are you familiar with terms like isomer? Some of you in science are. An isomer is a chemical molecule having very slightly different structure from another molecule but being absolutely identical with it in terms of its chemical elements and weight. It's equal. We could say itsschemamay be different but its morpheis the same. Isomorph means having the same form. Isometric means equal measures. And an isosceles triangle, you will remember from your days in school, is a triangle that has two equal sides. The word means equal. He was equal with God...exactly equal with God. He is in the form of God. He is God, that's what Paul is saying. In fact, literally the Greek text reads in verse 6, "He did not regard the being equal with God," a tremendous statement, He is equal with God.

And here's the first step down, He didn't grasp that. He didn't clutch it. He didn't seize it. He didn't hold it. He didn't possess it as something not to be yielded up even though He was equal with God. There is no question about this in the Scripture. There was no question that Jesus claimed this and there was absolutely no question at the people who listened to Him knew He claimed it. In John 5:18 it says the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him. Why? Because He was not only breaking the sabbath was also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. And when any of those people come along who want to deny that Jesus is equal to God, it's most interesting to say to them, "It's strange to me that you don't even know what His worst enemies knew because His worst enemies, the apostate Christ-rejecting Jews who were bound up in self- righteousness, didn't miss what He said, they knew exactly what He was claiming. He was claiming to be equal with God." No one can miss that who reads the New Testament.

In John 10:33 the Jews answered Him again, "For a good work we do not stone you, but for blasphemy." Why? "Because You being a man make Yourself out to be God." They knew what He was claiming...patently obvious. And He said to them, "You ought to look at the things I do and know and understand that the Father is in Me and I in the Father." And He says to His disciples, "Have I been so long with you and you don't yet know who I am? If you've seen Me you've seen the Father." And Thomas in chapter 20 verse 28 says, "My Lord and my...what?...my God."

But here's the first step down. Though He had all the rights and privileges and honors of being God, He didn't clutch them. That word originally meant robbery, or a thing gained by robbery or a thing seized. But it came to mean anything clutched, embraced, held tightly, prized, clung to. He existed as God but He refused to cling to that favored position. He refused to cling to all the rights and honors that went with it. He was willing to give them up, that's the idea.

That's the incredible message of Christianity. It's not the same as other religions. In India you watch the people trying to appease a god so he won't be angry with them. In Christianity you see God looking down on wretched sinners who hate Him and are His enemies and willingly yielding up His privileges to come down for their sake. That's the attitude of humility that begins the incarnation. It begins with the unselfishness of the second person of the trinity.

And then what follows? Please notice verse 7. "But emptied Himself." A profound statement introduced by a Greek term that means "not this but this." He didn't think this something to be clutched but rather on the other hand emptied Himself. It's a contrastive kind of connection. The being equal with God didn't lead Him to fill Himself up, it led Him to empty Himself. The verb "empty" kenoois the verb from which we get that classic theological term the kenosiswhich is what theologians have called the self-emptying or the incarnation the doctrine of the kenosis, the self-emptying of Christ. It's a very graphic expression. He emptied Himself...self-renunciation, refusal to use what was rightfully His, refusal to cling to His advantages and privileges as God. Can you imagine? God who owns everything, who can do everything, who has a right to everything, who is fully satisfied within Himself...but He emptied Himself.

Now what does that mean? This, of course, has been discussed much. What does it mean He emptied, what did He empty? First of all, will you note this? Don't ever forget it. He did not empty Himself of His deity. He did not empty Himself of His deity or He would have ceased to exist. And if He ceased to exist, so would God the Father and so would God the Holy Spirit because their life is one life. He did not empty Himself of His deity or of any portion of His deity because He couldn't be less than who He was. He is eternally in the morpheof God. He did not cease to be God. In fact it's very clear in Luke 9:32 that when He went on the Mount of Transfiguration and pulled back His flesh they saw the glory that was there. He didn't exchange deity for humanity. He didn't stop being God and start to become man. If He had done that He would have died on a cross and stayed there in the grave because only God had the power to die and in dying conquered death. Only God could create and do the miracles that He did. Only God could say the words that He said. He did not stop being God nor was there any part of His essential divine nature at all that was given up, none of it. He couldn't cut out some piece of who He was. There are those who would advocate such a blasphemous view.

You say, "What did He give up?" First of all, He gave up His heavenly glory. He gave up His heavenly glory. He dove into the water and went all the way down to the black cold water to the slime and the ooze of this world. And that's why He cries out in John 17 and says, "Father, restore Me to the glory I had with You before the world began." Glory when He was face to face with God. He gave up His glory for the muck of this earth. He gave up the worship of angels, the adoring presence of angels for the spittle of men. He gave up all of the shining brilliance of the glories of heaven for the dark prison where He was kept before His death. Yes, He emptied out His glory in that sense.

Another way to look at it is that He covered up His glory. He veiled it. They saw a glimpse of it on the Mount of Transfiguration. There were glimpses of it in all His miracles. There were glimpses of it in His attitude. There were glimpses of it in His words. There were certainly glimpses of it even on the cross. There was a blazing manifestation of it in the resurrection, the ascension. But He...but He emptied Himself of some of the outward manifestation and the personal enjoyment of heavenly glory.

END OF SIDE ONE

SIDE TWO

Secondly, He emptied Himself of independent authority. Now I don't understand how the trinity operates. I know it operates in perfect harmony. And I know that in perfect harmony there would be no discord and no disagreement and that would be the way it is in the trinity. But nonetheless in some way mysterious to my mind which I will never understand, He completely submitted Himself to the will of the Father. I will never understand that and I don't want you to even think about it too long or you'll be under the bed saying the Greek alphabet because it does not compute. But the point is He laid aside a voluntary exercise of His own will and He learned to be a servant and He submitted Himself. And He was obedient, it says in verse 8. He was obedient. I don't understand that but He was obedient. In the garden He says, "Not My will but Thine be done." He learned obedience by the things He suffered, Hebrews 5 says. He said I am...I am come to do the Father's will, John 5:30. So He set aside His independent authority.

Thirdly, He set aside the prerogatives of His deity. Or He set aside the voluntary use of His attributes. You say, "Did He stop being omniscient?" No. "Did He stop being omnipresent?" No. "Did He stop being unchangeable God?" No. He didn't stop being anything, He just didn't use those attributes. Some have said He gave up the prerogatives of His deity. I know He was omniscient. He knew everything cause He knew what was in the heart of a man, John 2. I know He was omnipresent because He saw Nathaniel when He wasn't even where Nathaniel was in His human form. He didn't give up any of His deity but He gave up the free exercise of those attributes and limited Himself to the point where in Matthew 24:36 He says, "No man knows when the Son of Man will come," not men and not even the Son of Man. He restricted His omniscience. So He gave up the prerogatives of His deity.

Fourthly, and I love to think about this, He gave up His personal riches...He gave up His personal riches. Though He was rich yet for your sakes He became poor, 2 Corinthians 8:9, that you through His poverty might be made rich. He became terribly poor in this world...terribly poor. He had nothing...nothing.

And then lastly, as I mentioned last time, He gave up a favorable relationship to God. "He who knew no sin was made sin for us...He who knew no sin was made sin for us." And as a result He says, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" He gave up a favorable relationship to God.

Now listen to me. Though He gave up the full expression of his heavenly glory and the full enjoyment of it, though He gave up independent authority and exercise of His own will and learned obedience, though He gave up the prerogatives to express all of the majesty of all of His attributes which He could have done, by the way, and though He gave up personal riches for the poverty of this world and though He gave up a favorable relationship with God when He was made sin, listen to me, He never ceased to be God, never. He remained fully God. He remained fully God.

At any moment in time He could have blasted His enemies off the face of the earth with the breath of His mouth. But He didn't. He emptied Himself.

There's a sense in which He emptied Himself not by giving something up alone, but He emptied Himself by also taking something on. That's right. Look at verse 7. "He took the form of a bondservant." He gave up something, we mentioned what they were, and He took on something, the form of a servant. In a sense His self-giving, His self-emptying, His kenosiswas not only by giving up something but by taking on something...the form of a servant.

Notice the word "form" again, there it is again, morphe, the essence. This is not a cloak, this is not an outwardschema. He literally took on the essence of a servant. By the way, the only other New Testament use of that word, morphe, is in Mark 16:12 where Jesus takes on resurrection morphe, the nature of a resurrected body. But here He really became a doulos, a bondslave. And He came to serve God's will and God's purpose and submit to God and therefore submit to the needs of men as well. It goes all the way back to Isaiah 52:13 and 14 which identifies the coming Messiah as the servant, really the servant, became poor, became a slave.

Imagine, He owned everything. But when He came into this world He was borrowing everything from men, unthinkable. He had to borrow a place to be born and not much of a place at that. He had to borrow a place to lay His head, He didn't even have a home. Many nights He slept on the Mount of Olives. He had to borrow a boat to cross the little Sea of Galilee. He had to borrow a boat to preach from. He had to borrow an animal to ride into the city when He was being triumphantly welcomed as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He had to borrow a room for the Passover because He didn't even have a house in Jerusalem. He had to borrow a tomb to be buried in. The only person who had the right to everything wound up with nothing, became a servant. He came into the world as King of Kings, Lord of Lords, rightful heir to David's throne as well as God in human flesh, but He had no advantages, He had no privileges in this world. He came as a servant. Nobody gave Him anything. Nobody entrusted Him with any treasure. Nobody gave Him a home. Nobody gave Him animals to ride. Nobody gave Him land to call His own. Nobody gave Him anything. He served everyone. He had no advantages. He had no privileges. This is God, you remember this? This is God. This is the God of the universe we're talking about, who made all things, "By Him were all things made and without Him was not anything made that was made and of Him and through Him and to Him are all things and yet He has nothing."

Then He came down another step. It says in verse 7, "And being made in the likeness of men." He's just like men. He was given the essential attributes of humanity. He was homeomati(?), He was homogenous to men, kind of the idea. He became man...truly human, really human. Didn't stop being God. And He didn't take on some body. He isn't God in a body, He is God-man and man is more than a body. All of the essence of humanity...body, soul, mind, truly human. That's why in Luke 2:52 it says, "He grew in wisdom and stature." He was growing as a human.

Colossians 1 verse 22 it says, "Yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body." He had a body like your body, a fleshly body. He's not a phantom...a real body. In Galatians 4:4 it says He was made of a woman, made under the law. In Hebrews chapter 2 verse 14, "Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same." The same flesh and blood that we have. And I don't want you to be confused by this that when He came into the world He came in and the flesh that He took on was normal human flesh that felt all the effects of the Fall. It was not a kind of pre-Fall humanity like Adam's but a post-Fall humanity in the sense that it could know sorrow and tears and crying and suffering and pain and thirst and hunger and death. And death can only touch humanity that is touched by the Fall already. So He felt the effects of the Fall without ever knowing or experiencing or touching the sin in the Fall. And Hebrews says He partook the same as the children who take flesh and blood. He made...He was made like His brethren in all things, Hebrews 2:17, in all things. Why? That He might become a merciful and faithful high priest. How is He going to know what we feel unless He's felt what we feel. And if He feels it in an unfallen humanity, He won't feel it cause it isn't there. He was human in the sense that He experienced all the test and temptation of men. And that's why He's such a faithful and understanding high priest. Yet He never sinned, Hebrews 4:15, yet without sin, never sinned, couldn't sin because God can't sin.

He came down, all the way down. Took on Him the form of a servant, a slave and was made in the likeness of men. Verse 8 takes us a step further. "And being found in appearance as a man." I just look at this statement and I keep mulling it over in my mind. At first you think, "Well, isn't that a repeat of the end of verse 7...made in the likeness of men, but it isn't." It says that He was discovered to appear as a man. And now it looks at His humiliation from the viewpoint of the people who saw Him. Yes He is God/man, but as people viewed Him they saw Him in the appearance of a man, and the word here is schemati(?) from schema. The outward form to them was a man. They looked at the outward form. And they saw a man. And that's right. They would see Him as a man. But there was so much more that they didn't see and I think that's implied here. That's part of His humiliation. He came all the way down to be the God/man but they never saw the God part. They looked at Him and His appearance was a man. And the schemaof a man was all they saw.

Beloved, it would have been one thing for God to become man, that is humbling enough but for God to become man and man to think He is only man is indeed a humbling thing. That's humiliating. And He did all the works and He said all the words, performed all the miracles and they said, "This man has a demon." And the Jews said, "We know this man, we know His mother and father. We know where He's from and where does He come off saying, I came down from heaven? Where does He get that?" They just saw Him as a man. And that was so humiliating. Their minds were darkened by sin. They recognized His humanity. They missed His deity. They didn't know who He was...they didn't know who He was. How humbling.

Here He is God in human flesh, King of Kings, the regal royal majestic King of the universe and they don't even know it. And they treat Him not only like man but the worst of men. They treat Him like a criminal.

Well, do you say, "Did He fight back?" No. He went down even lower. Verse 8, "He humbled Himself." He humbled Himself under that treatment. He was already humiliated. It would have been enough for Him to just be willing not to clutch His rights, but then to empty Himself of the exercise of those things and then to come all the way down to be a bondservant who was a King, and then to be made exactly like human beings, to suffer everything they suffer and feel everything they feel, except sin, and then to be seen only as a man would have been enough, but by then you would have screamed and said, "I want My rights, that's enough. Do you know who I am?" And you would have blown over a tall building or something...or created something, fought back.

No, He humbled Himself. He just went down another level. Look at Him at His trial. The humiliation is absolutely unbelievable. And the thing that amazes you in this humiliation is that He answers never a word. And finally He admits who He is when He's asked and He says, "You said it." Utter humiliation. They are mocking Him. They are punching Him. They are pulling out His beard. They are treating Him like scum and He is God. And He doesn't say a word. And they pass Him from mock trial phase to phase and He doesn't say anything and He accepts it. And He doesn't demand His rights. Oh my, what a picture of humility that is. He humbled Himself.

He went even lower. How low did He go? Verse 8 says, "By becoming obedient to the point of death." Now somewhere short of that you would think He would have said, "Stop...that's enough." Somewhere in the middle of that trial you would have assumed that He would have blasted them with fire from His mouth and consumed the whole rotten bunch. But He doesn't. Somewhere when He's being mocked and dragged half naked through the city of Jerusalem with a cross on His back you would have thought that He would have stopped and said, "Halt, that is enough, you are not worth this effort. I demand for you to know who I am." But He doesn't. Somewhere on the cross you would have thought He would have screamed out who He was but He never says it...never. He was obedient to the point of death...all the way down to the muck and the slime and the ooze of the deep dark places in order that He might bring us up to the color again.

And, says Paul, not just death but the last statement, "Even death on a cross." The word "even" calls attention to the shocking feature of Christ's ultimate humiliation. This is the bottom. This is the end of the line. Not just death but even death on a cross, crucifixion, excruciating embarrassing degrading painful humiliating cruel...devised originally by the Persians and perfected by the Romans it was only fit for a slave and the worst riff-raff among the criminals. The Jews hated it because they remembered Deuteronomy 21:22 which said, "Cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree," Paul quotes that in Galatians 3. They hated it. They despised it. This is the ultimate in human degradation, hanging in the sky, stark-naked, as it were, before the watching world with nails driven through your hands and feet, the mocking object. There He is. This is God. This is the God who created the universe.

Somewhere along the path down you'd think He'd say to Himself, "You know, these people aren't worth redeeming. This is too degrading. This is too humiliating." This is what He did. That's the grace of God. That's the love of God for sinners. And He did it to die for you and die for me. This is an amazing plan, is it not? This is a plan that no man would have devised. Is it any wonder when the Apostle Paul looks at salvation not...not from the historical perspective here but from the doctrinal perspective and for eleven chapters in Romans he shows how God became man and died and rose again to provide salvation, and at the end of it all in Romans 11:33 he says, "O how unsearchable are Your judgments and Your ways passed finding out." He's literally in awe. God, what a plan. Who would have ever dreamed of this? Who would have imagined that God would do that?

Now if we had planned it, we would have sent Him to a palace. And we would have Him born into wealth and a prominent family. And we would have had Him educated in the finest universities with all the most elite teachers and the finest tutors exposed to the very best of human wisdom and information. If we had orchestrated God coming into this world we would have made sure everybody loved Him and revered Him and honored Him and respected Him. And we would have made sure He was in all the prominent places, meeting all the prominent people. And we would have been sure that there was a public relations campaign to end all to promote great affection for Him. We certainly would never have let Him be born in a stable. And we would never have let Him be born to a family in poverty. We would never have let Him spend His time in a carpenter shop in an obscure town in Galilee. We would never ever have allowed Him to live without any earthly goods, nor would we have allowed Him to go through His life and ministry with a rag-tag band of followers like He did. We would have made sure that we had people qualified to be His disciples. And the qualifications would have been very stiff.

We would have done it differently. We would never have allowed Him to be humiliated. We would have imprisoned or executed anybody who spit on Him, or pulled His beard or mocked Him to the face or drove nails through His hands. We would have done it very differently and we wouldn't be saved. Is it any wonder that the psalmist says in Psalm 36:6, "Thy judgments are like a great deep?" This is too much for us, we can't understand this. How unsearchable are His ways, untrackable. You can't find the end of them. You can't get to either the source or the goal. You don't understand it. Such profound truth, such deep divine purpose. And this God has done for us...for us. Let's bow in prayer.

Lord, we say with the Apostle Paul, "O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways, for who has known the mind of the Lord or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to Him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to Him be the glory forever, amen." O God, we cannot understand such a miracle as the incarnation, too deep for us...too deep. Surely Your judgments, Your decisions are a great deep. But, Lord, even though we cannot understand, You have said, "Except a man become as a little child he cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven." And what our minds cannot grasp our hearts can and we can grasp that You loved us so much, You loved us so much that You came into this world and died on a cross to pay the death for our sin that we should pay. And that if we put our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and give Him our lives, as we believe and as we follow, we receive eternal life. O Lord God, I pray for every person here that each may search his or her own heart. The humiliation is enough, all the way to death. But there is yet another step, and that is the further humiliation of having done all that and being rejected by the people You did it for. Forgive us, Lord. Forgive us for the time of our unbelief when we further humiliated Christ by rejecting His humiliation.

And I pray, O God, for any in our fellowship this morning who have not confessed Jesus as Lord, who have not come to Him for forgiveness and life.

While your heads are bowed, we can't close this message without asking you in your own heart to look to God and just perhaps the Spirit is moving in your life and maybe this is the time for you to pray a prayer that says, "O God, I see what You've done in Christ for me and I ask Christ to forgive my sin, come into my life and be my Lord." Can you pray that prayer? Christ has died for you but if you reject it, it does no good for you.

You say, "How do I make this my own?" By faith, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and that faith involves turning from your sin and turning to follow Him. Can you pray that prayer? Lord Jesus, I turn from my sin to follow You who have died for me.

2011-09-14T17:03:00.002+08:00

Lord, i thank You that in this brief brief life of mine You will work things out for Your glory...

"A Wedding Prayer" by Alfred P. Gibbs

2011-09-04T00:02:00.003+08:00

think the words are beautiful... would be nice to have this song at my wedding =)

Thou glorious Bridegroom who from heaven’s splendour, came to the cross, Thy chosen Bride to gain;
Draw near, we pray, and grace this happy union, and o’er their lives do Thou supremely reign!

We seek for them, Oh Lord Thy benediction, each good and perfect gift from heav’n above;
The strength of faith, of courage, and forbearance, the light of wisdom and the warmth of love.

O, may they prove Thy grace is all sufficient, those needs to meet they cannot now foresee;
And have the conscious sense of Thine own presence, as they in all their ways, acknowledge Thee.

Into Thy gracious hands we now commend them, for that rich blessing Thou alone can give;
And pray that they may grow in grace and knowledge, and for Thy glory ever seek to live.

Love is just a Game (or Waltz?)

2011-08-22T17:49:00.002+08:00

while i waltzed, heck- i would go so far as to say i tangoed
you were playing a tennis game, where lines are drawn
and love means nothing-
who says i had no lines-
you never said sorry when you stepped on my toes
so forgive me- i cannot resist
a waltz across your court
just a waltz
since i can't bear to
throw your tennis balls in your face
or even stop
no-
i cannot.

Complicating Matters

2011-08-22T16:17:00.004+08:00

and they lived happily ever after
provided
and- nothing else,
provided
they were with the they they were meant to be,
provided
they stayed they,
provided
they lived,
and lived the lived,
provided
happy exists,
and happy can be happily,
provided
there was no ever before
or ever again,
provided
nothing came
after after-
the end.

the most beautiful woman

2011-08-13T22:05:00.006+08:00

i visited my paternal grandma in hospital today. she's having heart and kidney problems. my uncle said she's much better than last night or this morning. she kept asking for a soft drink with ice though, and we had to refuse because the doctor said it would be really bad for her kidney. she was very unhappy but after a while she gave up and had some plain water and fruit, so i was glad.

as i was watching my grandma, i heard terrible coughing from the neighbouring bed, and i was relieved when someone came to attend to her. she looked awfully frail and groaned repeatedly, in great pain. my first glimpse of that someone was a back view. white-haired, skinny, a very old man. he was gently dabbing her forehead with a small hand-towel.

the next time i glanced over, he was talking with my uncle, smiling. i couldn't make out most of the words because i'm not familiar with dialect and was some distance away, but i managed to catch "80-plus, her age". he kept pointing at the old lady beside my grandma. he couldn't stop talking about her. he couldn't stop smiling.

when the doctor came, he hijacked him and asked a billion questions in halting mandarin. again i could barely catch the words, but i could hear the urgency in his voice. after the questions i got the sense that he was complaining about the hospital, demanding that she be taken better care of, because a protective look came into his eyes. during this time his mouth was pursed. after that i know he was talking about her again because his smile came back. more than anything, over and over again throughout the entire conversation, i heard "wo de tai tai, wo de tai tai" (my wife, my wife). he never took her eyes off her.

all this while the old lady was also being watched by a younger man, their son. i could tell because he looked so much like his father. his eyes were more anxious, but the same smile would appear every time he looked at her. when the old man seemed to feel that he had spent too much time away from his wife, he beckoned for his son to continue the "harassment" of the doctor. the doctor was an obliging fellow; he repeated what seemed to be the same answers to the same questions and the same reassurances to the same concerns- in english.

i barely paid attention to that conversation though i might have understood more of it; i couldn't take my eyes off the old man. he had hurried back to her bedside. he caressed her face- getting as close as he could to her through the bars around the bed, he gently touched her forehead, her nose, her cheeks, her lips. he held her hand. he massaged her legs. she never opened her eyes or even moved, but i saw him speaking softly to her. his brow was slightly furrowed, no doubt because she was so weak, but he couldn't help smiling every now and then.

then his son released the doctor and hurried to her bedside too, so there was one more smile, except its owner was black-haired. and the older one and the younger one talked. i have never seen two men talk so much in my entire life. i couldn't hear a single word but i think i know what they were talking about, because they never stopped smiling and looking at her.

then some nurses came, and they had to pull the curtains around her bed. i couldn't see the younger man's face, but the old man looked forlorn. he did not stop staring at the curtains.

after a few minutes, what seemed like an eternity to the old man who was staring and perching right outside the curtains nervously, they finally opened the curtains. he eagerly returned to her side, grabbed her hand. again, he caressed her face, massaged her limbs, gently dabbed her forehead. he did these same things over and over again.

it was the most beautiful thing i had ever seen. with every touch my own heart was soothed. as i walked away, i thanked God for the blessing of having been there to witness such tenderness.

2011-08-08T15:20:00.003+08:00

You may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. You may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate, nor establish love. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

Martin Luther King, Jr.

2011-08-05T23:59:00.003+08:00

one flower, one flower
one tree, one tree.
same Earth.
a flower under a tree
under one Sky.

not a directly Christian song, but i think it shows why we need God =)

2011-08-02T12:01:00.001+08:00

"More to Life" by Stacy Orrico

I've got it all, but I feel so deprived
I go up, I come down and I'm emptier inside
Tell me what is this thing that I feel like I'm missing
And why can't I let go

There's gotta be more to life...
Than chasing down every temporary high to satisfy me
Cause the more that I'm...
Tripping out thinking there must be more to life
Well it's life, but I'm sure... there's gotta be more
(Than wanting more)

I've got the time and I'm wasting it slowly
Here in this moment I'm half way out the door
Onto the next thing, I'm searching for something that's missing

There's gotta be more to life...
Than chasing down every temporary high to satisfy me
Cause the more that I'm...
Tripping out thinking there must be more to life
Well it's life, but I'm sure... there's gotta be more
(Than wanting more)

I'm always waiting on something other than this
Why am I feelin' like there's something I missed.....

The Folded Page by Mrs. Charles Cowman

2011-08-01T14:53:00.003+08:00

Up in the quaint old attic, as the raindrops pattered down,
And I sat conning over a school book–dusty, work, and brown–
I came to a leaf that was folded, and marked in a childish hand,
“The teacher says to leave this now, Tis hard to understand.”

What was so hard? I wondered. I opened it with a smile.
Only to read, at the problem’s end: “We learned ‘why’ after a while.”
My tears fell thick as the raindrops then, up in the attic old,
As I thought of leaves that are ‘folded down’ till the days of our lives are told.

One was folded there with a tender hand to the sound of summer rain;
When the dust of years lies thick above, will we open this page again?
And can we write with steady hand, and on our lips a smile,
“At last our Teacher told us ‘why,’ and we learned it–after a while!"

Our Great Saviour by J. Wilbur Chapman

2011-07-31T23:31:00.001+08:00

Jesus! what a Friend for sinners!
Jesus! Lover of my soul;
Friends may fail me, foes assail me,
He, my Savior, makes me whole.