a life xtraordinary

(un)Majestic God – Php 2:6-11

It’s Holy Week. Jews prepare to celebrate the Passover, Roman Catholics and Christians prepare to celebrate Easter. To most of these worshippers all over the world, it’s a big affair. But this year, there’s nothing much to celebrate, commemorate, or whatever you would call it, except to look at our miserable screen and share some food with only the nuclear family (given the movement control orders or lockdowns worldwide).

Today somehow I was led to the song written by Noel Richards You Laid Aside Your Majesty (click here for the song) inspired by Philippians 2:6-11.

although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.

~ Philippians 2:6‭-‬7 NASB

Verse 7 in most translations says Jesus emptied himself. In the NASB, it carried a note saying Jesus laid aside his privileges. Noel Richards summarised it best, Jesus laid aside / put aside / gave up His majesty.

We know Jesus to be Saviour, merciful, loving and all. We might think of Him as a perfect gentleman, always doing good. Or a hero always extending himself for others. Or as the glorious victorious King in second coming.

But let’s rewind for a moment.

Where did he start from? Majesty.

Jesus, the King of kings, with all that privileges, benefits, access, respect, power… laid it all aside, gave up everything to be the common man Jesus that we know in the Bible.

His sacrifice did not start at the sufferings of cross or Him having a common man life. His sacrifice started when He decided to put aside His crown, robes, scepter…His Kingship.

This Holy Week as we empty ourselves of all these festivities, rites, and usual protocols, let us remember Jesus the King who emptied himself into commonality.

Perhaps by using Covid-19 and taking away our distractions, God is helping us understand who He truly is, and how He would like to be known. No frills, no elaborate stuff, the same (un)majestic God.

Peservance in Tribulation, Constancy in Prayer

This Covid-19 is taking a drag. Since the initial outbreak in China, many of us have invested in business continuity plans, managing expectations, keeping people safe and things running (as much as we can). I have done the same.

Yet everytime when I think I am ahead of the curve (today included), situations deteriorate. Compounding it were the changes in governmental policies, changes in workflow, and changes in people’s expectations. Drag…it seems like it will never end.

I am very fatigued, very frustrated, very flustered. I cannot recall how many times I just want to give up. Heck it! Whatever for am I doing all these?

Yet each time I told myself I must preserve because God says it is the right thing to do. God says perseverance produces heavenly character, among the many other benefits! When I was pretty decided that I would write about perseverance, and looked up all these related bible verses (you will be amazed at how often the Bible had repeatedly called us to persevere in suffering!). And this verse in Roman 12:12 came up. Paul said,

“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer”

In a eleven words, Paul in Romans educated me on the appropriate posture to take, and directed me to a new attitude. When suffering, take hope, and rejoice on the hope we have. Be patient, for it may take time to resolve (and time to find suitable solutions for times like this). Above all, keep praying, keep looking upward to Him – the provider of all needs and the giver of all solutions. In Him belongs the only way, the only truth, the only life.

Patience from Romans 8:18-25

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God ~ Romans 8:19

The world is imperfect, we (humans) have played a part to cause this imperfection. Who would have known a fruit ate by Adam would cause a cosmic degeneration of mankind? Who would have known one person’s meal of a wildlife delicacy of Bat meat would cause a healthcare pandemic (Covid-19), and an economic / social crisis of this scale? Sufferings are not new. It is part of the imperfections of this world.

Compared to God’s cosmic problem of the fall, the pandemic of sin, this Coronavirus pandemic only one of the many (smaller) issues that God had to deal with.

As the world goes into lockdown mode, disrupting and devastating lives along the way, Romans 8 stands to encourage us of a positive finale.

Paul wrote in Romans 8:18-19 that he considers that the sufferings of this present time not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us; there shall be a final, wonderfully glorious resolution, and we wait eagerly for it.

Similarly we can believe that He who shall solve the cosmic problem, shall also bring forth a resolution to this pandemic.

When?

I can hear many asking the same questions. But I doubt any great or intelligent person, or any esteemed government leader can tell us with surety when life will go be back to what we were used to. Maybe, just perhaps maybe, it won’t. Nevertheless, we must know that God shall be at work, and we shall patiently wait in hope! Paul ended this section of Romans 8 aptly with verses 24 & 25.

For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. ~ Romans 8:24-25

He Will Come And Save You

It has been an overwhelming season. COVID-19, near global lockdown, business continuity plans. Yet the global pandemic is not abating. Hospitals overwhelmed, people dying, job losses, new cases every day.

Everything is disrupted. Routines haywire. Lives upended. No end in sight. We are in the middle of a massive storm. Yet it is at this time Don Moen’s devotion and song reminded of a simple faith: He (Jesus) will come and save you.

The One who saved Israel, the One who brought them out of darkness, the One who split the red sea, will come and save.

“When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord… And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord , which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” <Exodus 14:10‭-‬14 ESV>

This miracle thousands of years ago was the foundation story of our Good Friday and Easter. It still is the miracle for us today. Trust in the Lord. Fear not. Be silent. Let God work his salvation. He will come and save you.

You can find Don Moen’s video devotion and song here. https://youtu.be/4Wc2tvFRP9M/watch

Let’s go Home!

Elizabeth Gilbert: Success, failure and the drive…: http://youtu.be/_waBFUg_oT8

The key to keep going is to come home. Home is not a physical abode but the single thing that one loves more than anything else in the world. It is this deep passion, the calling, that makes one pushing the limits beyond the boundaries he can imagine.

What is my passion? What is the single most important thing that makes my heart burn and my mind twril? What is my definition of living a lifextraordinary?

Just One Thing

I’m thinking about my life; my life direction to be exact. A half-time review for the balance 10 or so more of my productive working years.

As I took stock of my commitments, my ‘want to dos’ and my ‘wish to haves’, I lament at the lack of time and resources. When the rubber hits the road, I recall countless occasions of being a juggernaut trying to keep all the balls in the air (and praying I don’t have to drop any!).

A typical economics problem, as I recall my econs 101 in JC days. Multiple wants versus limited resources, of which time is always the chief of limitations. How many of these wants/wishes can I really accomplish – practically?

I chanced upon a movie where the lead actor said “it is sufficient if (a person) can accomplish one thing well in his whole life” [一生做好一件事就够了!]

There is a great amount of truth I think in this. In the face of so many bottom lines of life, isn’t it better to do one thing and do it well?

It stuck me that I don’t just want to complete the journey ahead of me but I want to do it well, extraordinarily well. I want my life to be a life worth living.

You’re Amazing (True Worshippers)

This is a season of extreme challenges. All things seem to fall apart, and my faith is constantly being stretched. Yet the most amazing thing is each time I feel that I have no more to give, no more faith to pour out….there will ALWAYS be more energy, more faith, and move love.

This song by written by True Worshippers and performed here by Daniel Choo is reflects my praise to Jesus my Shepherd. For in Christ there will always be roadways in the wilderness and streams in the desert. (Isaiah 43:19). Here are the lyrics to the song:

AMAZING (TRUE WORSHIPPERS COVER)

Your’re my everything
The reason I sing
You’ve taken me under Your wings
And closer to You I draw near

Pre-Chorus:
My life’s in Your hands
My heart beats in Your perfect love
My lips shall praise You
Adore You
And lifting my love I will sing

Chorus:
You’re amazing
Never changing
Always with me
Enthroned within my soul
Overflowing
My heart offers
The deepest of honour and worship
You’re amazing

When No Strength is Left to Journey On 当你走到无力

当你走到无力继续下去当你感到寂寞困恼空虚
只要相信神随时扶助你愿助你解开困惑抛开痛悲

当你跑到疲乏难再下去当你感到疑惑说我是谁
只要相信神完全明白你就让你伸手接受他深爱你

别害怕他知你难受担当软弱与困忧
不需再惧怕耶稣必拯救
愿你开口接受张开你手

别害怕他知你难受担当软弱与困忧
不需再惧怕耶稣必拯救
愿你一生快乐展翅高飞
一个全新的你

“雖然無花果樹不發旺、葡萄樹不結果、橄欖樹也不效力、田地不出¬糧食、圈中絕了羊、棚內也沒有牛．然而我要因耶和華歡欣、因救我¬的　神喜樂。主耶和華是我的力量．. ”
(哈巴谷書 3:17-19)

The Courage to Love 勇敢去爱

How can anyone love in the sight of extreme evil?
How can anyone be willing to associate in love in presence of all the ugliness and brokenness?

Everyone wants to associate themselves with the successful, and shun those who failed and condemned. Even the best of friends or the closest of family would opt for the ‘practical’ and ‘safe’ way out. Why risk all that he or she currently enjoys for the sake of a condemned? We run away when things begin to hurt.

The bible tells us,

“Jesus ate with the sinners”
“Jesus died as a substitute for the penalty of our sins”
“While we were unworthy, Jesus died for us”
“He loves us with an everlasting love”

God is Holy. He seats upon his throne as judge preserving justice. Damning the evil, rewarding the good. But God is not only Holy, He is love. He wants the sinner to be redeemed, restored, reunited with him. He cannot achieve both unless he himself becomes the substitution for our penalty. While man decides to shun the sinner, he embraced them with all the ugliness and brokenness. When man condemns the sinner, he opens up his arms in love.

Who has more to risk? Who has more to lose? God or man?
He not only forgave our penalties, God himself bore the strips. If He can love us with an everlasting love, if he can risk all his glory as God for love, why shouldn’t we have the courage to love the sinner, the failure, and the condemned?

山有多么高爱就能有多么深，
The depth of his love is as high as the mountains,

路有多么长爱就能到多么远，
His love will be my company, no matter the length of my journey.

春夏和秋冬坚持陪伴不放手，
He holds us through the seasons, never ever letting go.

让我们一起去爱像天父心。
Let us love together as God loves.

“勇敢去爱就有奇迹

There will be miracles when we have the courage to love.”

I Will Not Fly Alone

Recently I had felt life weighing upon me. Each day is filled with problems, challenges, roadblocks. Each turn is faced with new issues, new developments.

How can anyone face all these? How can anyone bear all these?!!

My above lamentation is generally frowned upon in society today – East and West. Any admission of lament is a equivalent to conceding defeat, an act of failure. Everyone wants to be a hero in his own terms. Everyone wants to say, “this success we have is because of ME”. It is clear that humans flock after successful people (just check out the sales of autobiographies of famous or important people – e.g. Barack Obama, Warren Buffet). And just as clearly, few (or maybe no one) wants to be associated with anyone who had conceded failure.

But really, is declaring our inability or our need for help something to be frowned upon? It struck me as not.

Over the years I had come face to face with some of life’s most difficult problems. Many of these are very tense and dramatic situations. These are the kind of problems that just explodes in my face. I had no direct influence and no control whatsoever. I have to admit that in face of these situations, I had raised laments like above.

Like many I asked God the rhetorical three-lettered question: “WHY?” But soon, like Job (see Book of Job in the Bible) I stopped asking and started praying and started waiting (patiently for the solution). I found out that storms will blow over, even the worse will past, the dark night will eventually break forth into daylight. But of journey through the dark nights, I concluded that most of life is beyond man’s control. For except for whatever I eat, drink, wear, and where I decide to go, most of life’s circumstances are dependent on the decisions of others – that I have absolutely no control over. One can argue that we can influence, manipulate or force a certain outcome, but really… how can we be sure? Each person can only be influenced as much as he wants to be influenced. One party may indeed decide against another’s influence.

So when I think upon these really difficult moments as the one I am in now, I realise that my only consolations are that my God is sovereign over all, and that He is a God that loves me with an eternal and everlasting love. These truths are the anchors through the storms of my life. These are the beacons as I meet and navigate through the most threatening turbulences.

心再坚强也不要独自飞翔、有你爱的地方就是天堂

Through it all, I have journeyed till this day. And regardless of what the world might say, I am convinced that in my life – I will not fly alone. I’d rather be labelled as a ‘failure’ in the eyes of the world than to face life’s snares without the cover of God’s love. Heaven is where his love resides. His love in me will be my heaven as I brace life’s toughest storms.