~May Your Light Shine :D~

Sunday, September 16, 2007

I am absolutely bubbling with excitement and am typing this immediately after coming home from church. Today Pastor Steve Kelly spoke and guess what the title of his sermon was?

Theology of Optimism

About 2 weeks ago I wrote a post on a similar topic and this month I have been continually challenged to always look on the bright side of things. Its been so amazing to see how God is affirming His word to me and with that, my faith in Him grows ever more so.

Ps Steve took his sermon out of Genesis 1, the first book of the bible. I reckon many people, Christians and non-Christians alike have read this book. “In the beginning…” Im sure this phrase is familiar to lots of people. However, today, despite reading this passage many times over the years of my life, I have been introduced to a fresh new view. That’s what’s so amazing about the bible – the words remain the same, but it never fails to bring a brand new revelation each time. Each passage has a different application depending on your stage in life.

Ps Steve started off with how God thinks differently from us. (Duh… but you would be surprised how many people expect to have God all figured out. If we could understand everything about God, He wouldn’t be God anymore would He?)

How do you start your day?

With the morning right? And you end it with the evening. Correct? (unless you are having a night shift)

Genesis 1:5 says “God called the light ‘day’, and the darkness he called ‘night’. And there was evening, and there was morning – the first day.”

Hold on a minute. God started His day with EVENING and ended with the DAY. God’s day started in the dark and ended in the light.

The wisest man who ever lived wrote in Ecclesiastes 7:8 “The end of a matter is better than its beginning”.

What does this all mean? It means things are gonna get better! It doesn’t matter what the matter is, the end is gonna be better than the beginning. Regardless of whether you are in a good situation or bad situation now, its gonna get better! The best is yet to come.

If you are going thru tough times, and it seems there never was a good time in your life you would probably identify with Job (click here to read his story). This poor guy lost all his 10 children, livestock (which was heaps cuz he was a really rich bloke) and even his health, afflicted with painful sores all over his body. Now this guy was described as “blameless and upright, a man who feared God and shunned evil” (Job1:1).So obviously it was not because he was evil and that he was being punished. The reason why this guy had this whole lot of undeserved trouble is for another post, but if we read the last chapter of the book, Job 42:12 reads “The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first.”

So you see that God has better things in store for you, even if it may seem at this point in time that His blessings seem to just fall everywhere except on you. If you read about Jesus’ first miracle, when He turned the water into wine at a wedding, the master of the wedding banquet says this of the wine, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” (John 2:10).

Going back to Genesis 1, we see that God only rested after He made man in His image. Therefore God will not rest until you and I have been transformed by Him into His image. God does not give up halfway, He will complete the good work He has started in us (Philippians 1: 6). His image, His reflection is not impossible to achieve!

Dear brothers and sisters-in-Christ, I hope you are encouraged by this word as I have been. Truly God saves the best for the last. He is in your future, waiting for you to catch up. If you are going through a tough period, pls either tag or drop me a mail, I would love to pray for you.

Due to my experience growing up, I am often plagued with negativity. I am extremely critical of both myself and the people around me. It was not unusual for me to wrap myself in a holier-than-thou attitude which obviously ‘helped’ my PR skills. Having rediscovered a love for God, I am slowly learning to exchange criticism for encouragement, and what joy it is to be lifting people up instead of tearing them down.

Its very natural to focus on the negative and neglect the positive. The past one year of serving in OCF has opened my eyes to working in a Christian environment. I started wide-eyed and anticipated a warm and loving environment. One year later, all I can say is that it was nothing like what I expected. Somehow adding “Christianity” to the equation made things more complicated rather than simpler. A co-worker of mine once told me that she feels quite disillusioned and I can share her sentiment. BUT a very wise brother of mine helped me see the good in the situation instead of focusing on the negative.

Recently we had an occasion where we would all go out in the campus to invite students for an outreach event during the holidays. Sadly, the turnout was very small. When I shared about my disappointment with that very wise brother, he taught me to be encouraged by those who came rather than be discouraged by those who did not. It was simply a case of a glass being half empty or half full. I believe that choosing to see things in a positive light or negative way would determine your outlook of life.

My biological brother would probably attest to me being way too idealistic and some might even think I am foolish. But I believe I can make a difference in this world, not by my own merits but by God’s grace. Perhaps I am foolish, but I much rather be a fool for God than be wise for the world. We have been called to preach the GOOD NEWS, so brothers and sisters, please do not let negativity get in the way!

Lydea blogged at 1:18 PM

May your light shine...
in the darkness...