Life of simplicity

What is a life of simplicity?

Is simplicity equal poverty (like Mother Theresa and Saint Francis of Assisi) or frugality? For example: being careful and keep re-thinking and discussing (between spouses) whether to buy that video recorder? Is the “Poverty Saint Syndrome” the way to holiness for the Christians (like Mother Theresa; Saint Anthony who sold away all his wealth and lived in poverty; like Saint Francis who foregone all his father’s wealth and lived a life of asceticism??)

When you have just sufficient for the family, living in simplicity is easy. (You don’t have a choice to spend and to waste).

Last Sunday, Pastor shared how he lives a life of simplicity and how he spends prudently. It is quite easy to live simply and spends prudently when you just have sufficient. Hearing him talking and his needs for a piggy-bank as a reminder to save tells me that he does not have abundance. How much should full-time church workers be paid? Shouldn’t their salary be peg to those working as social workers and counselors?

Ya!! Maybe the church should relook into his salary!! :) What do the rest of you think?

How does one who has abundances yet lives a life of simplicity?

Is it OK when we have abundance to also adopt a life of convenience? By that, I mean buying 2 cars (one is a very cheap car) to make travelling and transportation more convenient for the family? Have 2 or more computers at home so that family members need not wait for one another to use it. Having a mobile iPhone … Is there any wrong with these?


Or is a life of simplicity just a change of mind-set?: (This is what I do)

(1) Not pressured into last minute purchase – No “last day sales discount”?

(2) Buy for needs rather than wants – is a hand phone a need or a want?

(3) Share rather than own things – one computer 4 or 5 people share?

(4) No need branded goods – normal running shoes, No Nike, Adidas or New Balance?

(5) “Waste not, want not” mentality

(6) Habit to give freely

(7) No addiction, no covetousness – see a nice handbag, must buy. No free football channel, must subscribed to pay TV?.

Like to hear from you all! :)

Silence versus Speech

Today’s Devotion from Our Daily Bread, reminds me of the verse in Ecclesiastes 3:7b “a time to be silent and a time to speak”

The quote at the end of the devotion passage “Silence can be valuable; don’t break it unless you can improve on it.” give me a guide when to remain silent or when to speak up.

There are places where we must speak up. Group Bible study is one of these places. Oftentimes, I find that people come to Bible study and behave like a phantom. Quietly they come and go, without any sharing. Even if they are called to share, it’s either a monosyllable or repeating what others have said. And I am not talking about newcomers into our Bible study group; they have been with us for a long time.

In a relationship, conversation is necessary. We open our lives to others and learn of what others are going through life. Blogging is one of those ways where we share our lives and our thoughts. However, I find that none of my so call “friends” really bother to share or blog about what they are going through in their lives. Often times, it is important to add a comment to others’ blog. It is about “giving” your thoughts after reading his post. I believe I have done my fair shares to those blogs that I have read. (Though none are from Bethany) How strong a community of faith is, is measured by the depth of its sharing. Although I am out of bound to the Living Water BSG and the Eden BSG, I think the ladies Bible Study groups should probably be stronger than the guys’. Only then can they pull together and do meaningful project like raising fund for the Haiti Crisis.

Silent does have its place though. Listen and reflect what others are saying. Listen to sermon and reflect deeply on them. When be falsely accused, it is best to remain silence. When we need to defend, Eph 4:15 applies – Speak, Truth, Love


Above all learn to be silent & listen to God. (will share about this in future)

PTL

Devotional Thought: Why follow Jesus?

My thought: "What does it mean to follow Jesus?"

Reading today’s Daily Bread on Matthew 4:18-25 , this question lingers on my mind for a long time …

Different people follow Jesus for different reasons. Let’s read the text again:


Jesus’ offer: “Come, follow me!” (verse 19)

Peter and Andrew follow Him. (verse 20)

James and John follow Him. (verse 22)

Large crowd follow Him (verse 25)

To Peter and Andrew, following Jesus meant that they need to forsake their net (their lively hood) and travel around preaching. It’s a tough calling. :( For James and John, it’s much more. They left their father and their boat. Seem like they are wealthier, to own a boat. They have to give up their own business. :(

What about the large crowd. Well, they follow Jesus because they can get good things by being followers. Jesus can do miracles – healing, feeding them with bread, …

But what did Jesus call them to follow Him for?

To be made fisher of men.

So, all who follow Jesus must be made to be “fisher of men”.

Are you a fisher of men? (Not yet, lah!)

If so, where are your fish??

Have you throw any bait recently?

Bible study / Meditation

How’s your personal meditation daily (I wonder)?

Not sure who are following this blog and have been regularly mediating on the WORD. This blog is meant for saints who want to be equipped.

Perhaps, you are struggling with personal devotion or don’t really know what to do after reading the Bible passage. Let me share how I do it. But first, I like to point out the different between Bible Study and Meditation:

Bible Study .......................Meditation
- dissect the text .............................- savor & enter the text
- ask questions bout the text ........- let the text ask questions of you
- read and compare fact .................- read and let God speak to you
- find ways to apply ........................- let the light/fact shine on you


Let’s meditate on today’s devotion from Our Daily Bread on Luke 15:1-7

As you enter into the text, you may want to imagine yourself as the lost sheep. What is it like to be lost and helpless? What is the feeling like? Let it flows through you. As you read the passage again, questions will arise: How did the sheep (which is me) get lost? The text never says how, so let the spirit prompt you. How will you get lost? The shepherd here is the LORD, He went looking for this lost sheep. How does it feel to know that my LORD is looking out for me when I am lost? …

There are many things to learn in meditation and after pondering over the text and being questions by the text, have you any incident when you were lost physically or emotionally? How doest this passage encourage you now? Share with someone and encourage one another.

I remember one incident many years back when I needed to drive my children to Amara Hotel in Tanjong Pagar for their music theory examination. As I was not familiar with the place, I looked up the direction in the street map. I even gave myself ample timing for driving. Unfortunately as I left the house, I forgot to bring the street map along! So trusting in my memory, I headed towards the East Coast Expressway (ECP) and exited at Keppel Road. But the road I travelled seemed to be very different from what I could remember! ::(, I knew I was LOST. Fortunately, I still have time and so I drove back into ECP again and try to find the correct exit. Still, the roads looked different from what I expected. I started to get panicky. As time was running out, I began to get panic and asked the children to pray. I too prayed aloud as I drove. Then, it dawn on me to stop the car and asked for a general direction. The first person I approached did not know the direction. The second person pointed to my back and I was heading in the opposite direction. Finally, as I reached the Hotel, I was 10 minutes late.

On reflection, I got lost because I was careless. I forgot to bring my street map along. But most of all, prayer make the difference. And you know what, the children told me that even though they were late, the examination has not started yet when they enter the examination room!

PTL :))

Devotional Thoughts: Struggles in Ministry

What is your most challenging and painful encounter in Christian service and ministry?

Like it or not, doing God’s work is no easy task. Elijah had to run for his life. Moses had to face many rebellious Hebrews. Likewise for Apostle Paul as we read today’s devotional passages from 2 Corinthians 6:3-11 from Our Daily Bread.

This passage brings back memory of the time when I somehow volunteer to “work” with the Youth Alive! some 11 years ago. At that time, I had just completed my course work on Youth Ministry in the Singapore Bible College and written a good proposal about youth ministry, which earn me an A-, I thought it might be a good time to implement it in the church. And so with my big mouth, I requested the Pastor to let me serve in the Youth Ministry for 3 years. I was a bit naïve then, not knowing that he had already appointed a youth president who was running the whole youth ministry.

As it turned out, I could not do much in the youth ministry. Since all the programs were carried out by the youth president and the youth committee, some parents were very unhappy because they were not informed of what their kids were doing. After many such incidents, one parent confronted me and questioned my handling of the youth. I was dumbfounded as I was actually quite helpless. Another sad moment was when one parent told me in the face, “When my children reached secondary school age, I do not want them to join the youth ministry”.

During my time in the ministry, I would look at the youth and visualized how they would turn out when they grow into adulthood. On most occasions, I was right. Many of them are not with us in the church now. I sensed the youth ministry lack vision and direction and after 3 years disappeared from the ministry quietly.

From then on, I never will volunteer for service in Bethany PCES.

Judgmental or Analyzing?!

Self-righteous, judgmental, superiority complex, … these are some of the flawed perceptions we tend to unknowingly harbor when we climb up in the corporate and life “ladder”.

To hide our feelings and motives, we tend to say that we are just evaluating or analyzing the situations.

In today’s Our Daily Bread ,Luke 7:37-49,

That was what the Pharisee; Simon did when he saw the prostitute washing Jesus’ feet. Unknowing of his self-righteous feeling, he thought he was analyzing Jesus encounter with the woman and concluded that Jesus could not be a prophet. To be sure, Simon the Pharisee was not a good host for he did not welcome Jesus by having his servant to wash Jesus’ feet when he arrived. In those ancient days, the road was usually dusty and people wore sandals, it's a norm to get one’s feet washed when entering a house. But the woman did just that. And her intention was to seek forgiveness for her sins.

There is always this conflict when our point of view is different from others. I see the church as not growing, complacent, apathy. To me, that is analyzing, and I want to do something to change the situation. But to others, they see me as critical; there is no need to change. To some, I am like Simon the Pharisee. So, it is better to keep quiet and remain status quo in church thingy.

Stay and keep silence. OR leave quietly.

“The challenge is clear. Lulled into thinking how good we are, our love for Jesus wanes because we have forgotten that we too are among the ones “forgiven much.” And when that happens, ready or not, it’s time for a change! — Joe Stowell “

Devotional Thought - “Run by the Rules”

All game and sports have their rules. A player must know the rules and abide by them, or else he will be disqualified. A sportsman must also be discipline. I used to represent my primary school in softball. Beside our normal training period; during every recess break, we would practice our throwing, catching, pitching and batting, mustering the basic important skills.

Through sport, I learnt 2 very important virtues in life – (1) abide by the rules, (2) be discipline.

I believe these 2 virtues apply to all walks of life.

In today’s Our Daily Bread (1 Cor 9:19-27), The Apostle Paul also talk about these 2 rules – (1) Do as the “Jews” do, in other words, follow the rules; verses 19-23 (2) Be discipline or be disqualified; verses 24-27

Likewise, as a Christian, there are certain rules and discipline. Most Christians think that just by coming to worship service on Sunday is sufficient. There is more to it. Following God’s Will and His teachings found in the Bible is the rule for a Christian. Regularly or daily, I discipline myself to read, meditate on HIS Word and pray. Slowly, as one grows in his faith, he will find more rules and discipline to obey. Hence, the Christian faith is really a marathon, not a sprint.:)