I had a conversation with a friend last night... and it came about that we began to discuss about working together for an event. So I began to ponder over the question... how should we work together.... perhaps even what was most important? The friend thought that we should be giving our best to God and in the process those who could not do good enough, should just not bother doing it as their attitude is not good. So the kind of substandard work should be used for missions field as the quality is not very high... The friend really enjoyed working with me as a team and another person ultimately, we worked independently for the same project and there was trust. Again I wondered was this the way Christians worked?
So I began to wonder... is this really the goal objective of what we are doing... The idea of best... if you do a simple word search, you'll see that the Lord throught the old testament refers a lot to the physical as he begins to show his love to his people. This was very much the people's idea too, as Joseph gets his best clothes, King Solomon gets the best foods, Daniel and friends get the best foods... Yet even in these stories, the best is yet to be.. (pun intended) Joseph realises that God's best ain't just about being the I/C, the favoured one. Rather he had to go through so much just to be molded to be used. Solomon and Nebuchadnezzar both realised that in the end.. its meaningless for it is the Lord who builds the house who makes kings the way they are. Daniel and friends would rather eat food that does not defile themselves and know that the Lord is the one who makes them strong.
I believe in working together to aid the weaker and the stronger. That's the love that Paul describes both in acts 15 and Corinth. We slow down for the weakest and in that process the love is made perfect in all of us. Speaking of perfection, I don't believe the bible speaks about perfection in the way we humans see it.
Philippians 3:12 12 Not that I have already aobtained it or have already bbecome perfect, but I press on 1so that I may clay hold of that 2for which also I dwas laid hold of by eChrist Jesus.
So Paul himself understands that perfection is something that is not possible... and that perfection is the sharing and fellowship with his sufferings. Paul is pretty consistent in this and hence I wouldn't quote any more examples..
Matthew 5:48 48 "Therefore 1ayou are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
This verse is just so crucial to help us understand what it means to be perfect. Taken out of context you can see that anyone who uses this verse to say we should give our best to God... but yet a simple logic of realising that no matter what we give and how best we do.. we are pathetic creatures at best. Jesus said this verse to remind us and in his other stories like the woman with the two copper coins makes us realise that perfection is not in seeing the final product. So what did Jesus mean by being perfect here? This was right in the middle of the sermon on the mount where the attitudes were mentioned so clearly... It was never in the instance of the product, it was in the production which counted more.
I really believe that as we grow in fellowship with Christ, the grace given to each other is a testimony of God's perfect love towards us. We would then grow and in working together, we learn and share the love of God and this molds us to be the perfect Christian dying to ourselves each day....
So I began to wonder... is this really the goal objective of what we are doing... The idea of best... if you do a simple word search, you'll see that the Lord throught the old testament refers a lot to the physical as he begins to show his love to his people. This was very much the people's idea too, as Joseph gets his best clothes, King Solomon gets the best foods, Daniel and friends get the best foods... Yet even in these stories, the best is yet to be.. (pun intended) Joseph realises that God's best ain't just about being the I/C, the favoured one. Rather he had to go through so much just to be molded to be used. Solomon and Nebuchadnezzar both realised that in the end.. its meaningless for it is the Lord who builds the house who makes kings the way they are. Daniel and friends would rather eat food that does not defile themselves and know that the Lord is the one who makes them strong.
I believe in working together to aid the weaker and the stronger. That's the love that Paul describes both in acts 15 and Corinth. We slow down for the weakest and in that process the love is made perfect in all of us. Speaking of perfection, I don't believe the bible speaks about perfection in the way we humans see it.
Philippians 3:12 12 Not that I have already aobtained it or have already bbecome perfect, but I press on 1so that I may clay hold of that 2for which also I dwas laid hold of by eChrist Jesus.
So Paul himself understands that perfection is something that is not possible... and that perfection is the sharing and fellowship with his sufferings. Paul is pretty consistent in this and hence I wouldn't quote any more examples..
Matthew 5:48 48 "Therefore 1ayou are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
This verse is just so crucial to help us understand what it means to be perfect. Taken out of context you can see that anyone who uses this verse to say we should give our best to God... but yet a simple logic of realising that no matter what we give and how best we do.. we are pathetic creatures at best. Jesus said this verse to remind us and in his other stories like the woman with the two copper coins makes us realise that perfection is not in seeing the final product. So what did Jesus mean by being perfect here? This was right in the middle of the sermon on the mount where the attitudes were mentioned so clearly... It was never in the instance of the product, it was in the production which counted more.
I really believe that as we grow in fellowship with Christ, the grace given to each other is a testimony of God's perfect love towards us. We would then grow and in working together, we learn and share the love of God and this molds us to be the perfect Christian dying to ourselves each day....
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