Plenty of great comments again. :) In particular, Ellie reminded us that when Jesus said "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?", He was praying Psalms 22 - which begins in a desperate cry out to God but ends in Praise. At the risk of exposing myself as someone who re-cycles the stuff in my posts, I will stop going off topic and just point you to a longer version here. ;)
Actually, what got me started on this topic was a personal observation that I made 2 weeks ago in Tokyo. I wasn't having a good week and the funny thing is that often when life presses in, the quality of my worship actually improves. Well, I made a rather simple but yet profound (to me) discovery - when I am immersed in the depths of worship, I become incapable of sinful thoughts/temptations!
Perhaps this is what Paul referred to when he said:
"Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God." Romans 8:5-8 (NIV)
So it seems to me that worship and sin/temptation are polar opposites. Somehow, I cannot praise God and yet habour sinful thoughts. It certainly took no effort on my part to work out that I was not being fair on my senior managers & colleagues who were travelling with me - I simply cannot praise God for His love with a hard heart! Now if only I can be CONSISTENT in worshipping the Lord... ;)
On the training front, today's headlines says it all - "Singapore maintains health advisory over haze". It has been incredibly frustrating that when I am finally back in town and can be away from the kids for a few hours, the haze prevents me from heading out for a swim, bike or run. While it's summer in Singapore all year round, this period of haze effectively brings on a "off-season" for any sort of outdoors training. :(
Thanks for the well-wishes and prayers. R2 is much betta this morning, Praise God, but we kept him from school as he still has a fever.
To you guys/gals that are still able to train, do it safely and God Speed!
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4 comments:
Kewl,
I know i am good at is lying to myself. It is so easy to say I worship God at the same time harbour the sinful nature and try to justify it.
It takes a lot of commitment and self conscious to really focus on the Spirit and what the Spirit desires.
When I am at that stage, I found that I am at most peace at myself.
Sucks to hear about the smog condition in Malaysia. I am glad R2 is doing better.
OK, Now I get what you mean by polar opposites. You are right as we mature in the christian life our natrual life grows in parallel with our spiritual growth. It seems as we grow in the Lord we would not sin or have evil thoughts but we do. I think the Lord tests and proves our faith for our perfecting and maturity in Him.
Our natural lives would go so much more smoothly if we could remember Prov. 3:6 with absolutely everything we do:
"...in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths."
I found you through Papa Louie and I am glad that I did! It is hard to be a human on this spiritual journey because we (too quickly) become our own worst enemies. Just keep praising God, keep living His will!
Job 23:10
:) Pixie in Texas
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