Sunday, April 11, 2010

A thought on Easter

All Glory, Laud and Honour is one of my favourite Easter hymns. It's one of the many hymns that evokes in me a passionate and personal reflection on what the Lord has done for me on that special day. -but I must confess that this Easter, I feel void and indifferent towards the cross. The fact that a second Adam, Christ, came to die for me did not impact me that much at all. Strange.

My mind wandered during the sermon. Why was I so dispassionate about my belief; worse still, on such a sacred and holy day?!!

Was it because I lack the touch of the Holy Spirit, working in my life? I have always long for the ecstasy my friends of the high church regularly convey. They always portray a God so close, so visible and real. Me? Sometimes I find it so hard to even open my mouth during worship.

I rule out that there must be more to what God has to say or do in my life. It does not mean that someone who is in-tuned with his feelings shows a good indication that his life is right with the Lord and that he understands what the Good Book has said or is saying.

I am convinced that this lack of enthusiasm for my faith is due to my indiscipline attitude to go back to the Word. Paul's word in the gospel is a very good indication on where I think; no, I should; be heading

1Corinthians 15:2 -By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

I have often discounted the Bible for all it has to say. I am a person who always go back to the Bible ONLY for self-help. I search for words of inspiration and words of comfort when I fear, cry or anger; and cry, fear, and anger I do a lot. The Hymnal has always been the ONLY book closest to my heart, that it has always and ONLY shaped my depictions of Christ and His character.

I guess, it is time to pick the Bible up and read it for all the right reasons. If the Hymnal itself is such a good book for personal reflection, imagine what it would be most wonderful to know from the Bible of His love, so free and sure.

So, i guess the call for me this Easter, is to understand and appreciate what the Lord has done for me. -and the only way to do so is to go back to the source of our faith, the Bible!

I look at the candles' flickering flame. How I wish my candle will burn brighter than before if only I could understand, more than to see and feel, my Christ, on Easter, had done for me.

-Yung Xiang-

5 comments:

  1. does enthusiam for our faith HAVE to be an emotional thing? i believe that our enthusiam (faith wise) is conveyed in our actions, not our feelings. as in, our decision on how to live. our commitment to Him and to living the way He lived.

    i feel that for us who have been to church for a LOOONG time, it often seems to be that we search for the emotional attachment to our faith. we measure our 'success' as a christian in how much we FEEL the song or the message or the scripture etc. like, oh i FELT so close to God during worship, i must be walking right with Him... kinda thing.

    i cannot discount that there are people who are on fire for Him. passionate. they really FEEL it. but i also do not think this should be taken as the model of christian-dom or wtv. to each God has given and shaped their own personality, way of thinking and such. and i believe that the Holy Spirit works through who we are. so don't feel like the lack of emotion is some great failing. i'm the same way! =)i'm not an emotional based person, but more a head person. my faith and trust in God is more an understanding and decisions then an emotional thing. haha. the only emotion involved seems to be a love for God and a commitment to Him.

    just my personal thoughts on your sharing... not sure if they even make sense.....=)

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  2. No. No. It's alright.They are your personal thoughts. I think it's nice to have someone resonate your thoughts and at the same time add in some of their own personal ones.

    Oh,that's an interesting question you had raised regarding exodus,unfortunately I do not have an answer 8that's why I decline to provide an answer*.I have yet to consult someone for answers. Hopefully, someone will rise up to answer the question. So, until then, keep guessing, keep pondering? *bleaks and hahas*

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  3. Well, I agree that God treats us all differently. Emphasis must be made on the fact that He still does treat us fairly.

    An example would be this:

    A father has three unique children (as they should be) and surely he would relate to the three in very different ways. Perhaps for one of them, he needs to leave points and thoughts to ponder. To another, he needs to spend more time compared to the rest. Perhaps for yet another one, it is about human touch and encouragement. The method of his approach for another child (say, child 2) may not necessarily be well accepted by yet another one (child 3), simply because they are different and relate to him in different ways.

    Think of God as that Father of this huge family. The approximately 6.7billion people who live in this world. Surely he would relate to each one of them all the more differently, but equally/fairly. And it is fine! Indeed, that is what is truly perfect.

    However, it would be prudent here to state that human fathers in their weakness are often unable to be impartial and a hundred percent fair, yet they remain, in my limited opinion, the closest analogy one can give.

    As much as I agree with Oon-Hui (as the previous paragraphs have made very clear), I do believe that the absence (note: absence) of emotions in regard to God would be a great point of caution. As much as we don't need to feel all emotional and hyped up so much so that we cannot contain from breaking into exaltation and praise, the lack of emotion and thus, enthusiasm, is indeed a grave threat.

    Face it, we are emotional beings. Thus, I say, emotions must never be taken out of the equation. What we believe to a certain extent will influence how we feel. If we feel nothing, what do we actually believe?

    Besides, love is not mere emotion. Emotion will not pull you through the day. It will not prevent you from looking back while ploughing. It will not protect you from falling. Commitment and full surrender are neither emotion nor belief. They are the synergy of both, and more. I personally cannot find words to describe them - not at this juncture. But why should I? Living it is a challenge enough already. Honestly.

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  4. ...i think..><

    enthusiasm for our faith should not be based SOLELY on feelings only. However, it should not be omitted as well. After all, we are supposed to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength kan? Doesn't that mean every aspect of our being?

    I agree with Oon that too often we base our faith on our feelings. I too am guilty of this. But the danger of this is that we seek out the feelings of erm..elation? instead of really seeking God. That was my mistake a few years ago, when i realised that i was constantly attending this camp not to seek God, but to experience...er...the feeling? Ok, I wouldn't say that seeking God wasn't in the equation but it wasn't the highest priority. That was one of the reasons why i decided to opt out of that camp and go for dna...to reorganize things..(this..is going badly, huh)

    But feelings are important. They shouldn't become the sole expression of our faith though. So enthusiasm for our faith should be balanced, based on our distinct personalities and also the Word of God, having both sound and substance (is there such a thing?.

    Am i making sense?? >< Sheesh.

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  5. There are times when I cry while singing Christian songs, hymns or no. But there are also times when I don't. Regardless, I think that more importantly, we need to really mean what we sing; to ponder on the words as we sing them and truly understand what it is that we are telling God. Songs of worship are in essence prayers put to words for us by others that resonate deep within our souls. In other words, we make that song our own prayer to God, and as such it should be no less fervent then our own worded prayers, but that does not necessarily mean that strong emotions have to be involved. We are all created different, and we all have our own ways of worshipping Him.

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