| it was good friday yesterday. after church & lunching with the girls, i used an mrt home with natalie. it was just a normal mrt ride, yet it was an encouraging, reassuring one. it suddenly hit me how desperate i am for my loved ones to receive God's salvation.
i remember that i told aunty sally during cell that God's vision for me, is to bring the people i love to Christ.
i have this really good friend of mine that i dearly love. he's catholic so he hasn't accepted jesus as his personal saviour. he thinks God is selfish to disallow the entry of those who didn't accept jesus when they knock on heaven's gates. i admit, i haven't really been praying for him that much recently. but hearing him say such things, there was a pang of sadness in my heart.
i've never really felt how it was like to be rejected by someone i loved. but this time, he rejected my offer to know my God. it hurt. and i've finally understood why God wept when he saw the state of the world. everytime someone rejects and denies God, He weeps because He loves us so much that it hurts Him.
i chose to take a long bus ride from the mrt station back home that day to spend a longer time alone with my saviour.
today, i chanced about this email sent by kim. and yes, it spoke volumes for me. if you want to know this God of mine, who loves me even though i'm significant, please read this.
The only God of love It is Good Friday today and I confess I don't understand many things. But, I choose to make a choice about my faith, my religion, my afterlife.
Is there an after life? I think so. I have no proof but I have put my trust in God. My God because he is the only God I know who loves me.
He is the God of love- the only God I know who says he loves me, the only God I know whose love is unconditional, the only God I know who teaches me about love.
Most religions teach good values I agree but I find that there is only one God who would sacrifice his only son to be degraded from Prince to man to criminal to die on the cross so that as long as one believes, Jesus' sacrifice erases ALL my sins and puts me in heaven with him.
There is such joy and hope in that promise. Which other God or man would do that for you?
I often ask myself if someone I loved were in immediate danger would I risk my life to save him?
My answer is "maybe yes" if the chance of me surviving is present but "no" if I were to meet certain death.
Yes, that is selfishness but I believe everyone is. Our lives are precious to us.
Yet, Jesus came to earth KNOWING that he would meet guaranteed torture, humiliation and death. He must therefore really love me.
The bible says that God knows the number of hairs on our heads and he planned and created us. Therefore, when Jesus died on the cross, he knew he was saving not just Mary, Peter and Paul. He knew he was saving me- Little inconsequential me to be borne centuries later was worth his consideration.
This is what draws me to my God every time. The knowledge of his love and my unworthiness.
It saddens me when people ask why my God demands love and acknowledgement if his love was selfless.
It perplexes me how people never understand that only he who believes in Jesus can be saved. How can you reap the benefits of something you don't believe in?
It troubles me that people do not realise they are not puppets in a show and be thankful for it. God did not make us to be performers for him. He made us as companions and gave us the choice to believe in him or not.
If you say you believe in the abilities of an aeroplane but choose not to utilise it to travel, how do you reap the benefits of the invention.
As small an analogy as it is, it points out a vital fact- unless you believe in God, Jesus and his sacrifice that saved you, you cannot grasp how much he loves you and receive his never-ending blessings.
These blessing may not bring you wealth, prosperity and a long life because life is rough. We make it rough for ourselves and others make it rough for us. Yet, these blessings promise that we will know of his love even in tough times. We shall never be lonely or fearful but confident in God thus being joyful in times of turmoil.
As people get more educated, they are encouraged to keep an open mind about everything and to question everything.
Some question the institutions of religious bodies, some question the notion of believing without seeing (how would you know unless you try?), some choose to believe that religious men are influenced minds and some thus choose to formulate their own ideas about God and spirituality.
As unknowledgable as I am I know this- There are intelligent men who still choose to put their faith in God. No perspective or criticism about God or religion is that unique, merely repackaged so doubts do not imply sudden enlightenment. Lastly, formulating your own unique idea of God or religion doesn't make anyone smarter or unique. It just makes you too arrogant to believe that others might be right. It also makes you too proud to acknowledge a God bigger than yourself.
I suppose this Good Friday I am remembering what kind of a God I have and I suppose I am desperate for more people to know of his love. Perhaps this is all they need to see life as it is.
So, to end off I just want to pose a few questions-
Is everything worth keeping an open mind about?
Do you know there's an afterlife?
Are you confident enough in yourself such that putting your faith in your own set of beliefs will promise you the afterlife you want?
Are you sure everyone else is wrong about God but you?
Is your soul worth betting all these on?
Put aside the quarrels you have with your religious organisation and ask yourself these questions.
Know my God before its too late. I know He's waiting to show you the love of a Father. |
