The Light Of The World

Following my previous post, I just wanted to talk a little bit about this passage (Matt 5:13-16). I would have found the verse myself, but it was late and I just wanted to jot down my thoughts quickly, so thanks to Richard for telling me what the reference is for my previous post!

I know some people would interprete the verse to say that we as Christians must be responsible for our behaviour or be a stumbling block to others or worse, risk losing our salvation if we don't exhibit characters that shine for God. What I find with a lot Christians is that the emphasis on striving for holiness and what's right is heavier than the emphasis on why we became Christians in the first place.

Granted there are a lot of reasons why different people call themselves Christians. Some think because they are born in a Christian family, they are Christians. Others think because the country they live in has a Christian heritage, that makes them a Christian. And some others think because they are living a Christian lifestyle (going to church, praying, doing good works) they are a Christian. To me, a Christian is one who seeks to know the Lord in an intimate way. One who strives to have a genuine authentic relationship with the Lord. One that bears his soul to the Lord. And through that relationship, a transformation takes place and a person is changed inside out, not outside in. To me, The Light Of The World shines from within and throughout. As Nicky Gumble (Alpha Speaker) said something to this effect, "going to church doesn't make you a christian, just as going to McDonald's doesn't make one a hamburger". The Light of the World shines because he or she has met with God and has experienced the overwhelming grace of God.

Sometimes that transformation takes a long time for some because of the harsh background that they come from. That transformation is corelated with how easily that person can come into a genuine authentic relationship with God. We live in such a broken world, that type of relationship does not come naturally for most people. It takes healing and inner change and growth for an individual to come to that place of relationship.

So to me, that Light is not about works or doing good but it's about the conditions of our souls/hearts. To me, the salt in the verse (Matt 5:13) is the passion in our hearts for that restoration of a beautiful relationship with God. A soul without that passion or fire is as good as dead. The good works is an end result of that intimate relationship with God that others cannot help but see because light cannot be hidden no matter how you try.

We are a moral agent because we have the law of God written in our hearts (Romans 2:14-16)) and both Christians and Non-Christians have that, but doing right and being good in itself doesn't necessarily restore our relationship with our Father in Heaven and neither does it free us from the bondages of sin.

There's no denying that we are a moral agent, we are created by God in His image and God is a moral agent, but does that mean that we should not integrate psychology which has its origins in humanistic views in our spiritual pursuits? This will have to be my next serious post...

"We Are A Moral Agent" - So What Does That Mean?

The surmon on Sunday was given by an elder and he spoke on "If a salt has lost it's saltiness, what good is it? Might as well throw it away" (Mum2One's paraphrased version of Matthew chapter 5, verse... can't remember). Our senior pastors are away for a few weeks. It was the first week I sat down and listened to almost the whole surmon without getting interrupted since I become a mum! Sometimes I think, it doesn't make any difference, because I get more frustrated by the sweeping statements and ignorance of the preacher.

I think the surmon was supposed to get everyone to return to their conscience and to start being accountable for our actions. It's supposed to make us get back on holiness and on the things of God. Sadly, for me, it came across as being critical of Psychology with sweeping accusations of what Psychology does and he seemed to have lost sight that whilst God has the highest standard when it comes to morality, NONE of us are spared of the ugliness of sin. That sinful nature shows up in our behaviour and character and our thoughts. Now, if we dismiss psychology, which is the study of the mind, or the soul (for those of us who believe in souls and that the soul and the mind are intertwined) then we dismiss the fall of Man, we do not understand human nature, and we are not able to accept who we really are, our curse and the process of sanctification.

Sure, conversion is instantaneously but sanctification is a lifelong process. If we interprete that verse according to how moral we are, then I think lots of us will be in the rubbish bin, discarded and unuseable. But if sanctification is a lifelong process, then surely some of us are more salty than others depending on how long we've started that process. I guess if I have to interprete that verse according to how it was preached today, I would say that even the most reduced salt agent cannot be discarded because he/she still bears some, even if very little, saltiness.

I find myself disagreeing with a many preachings. It's not that I don't agree that we should reflect on our 'lack-of's', strive for godliness and Christlike characters but more so with their lack of cohesiveness in their argument with reality and relevance. I'm learning not to react too much after hearing preachings like that but I need to blog this out so it's out of my system.

I hope I'm making sense because it's past midnight. I'm probably suffering from incohesiveness myself!!!

My Creative Side

Today I decided to spend some time beautifying myself. I took out all my nail care product and gave myself a manicure. I'm so glad I did because I had so much fun and rediscovered the reason to why I did a nail technology course. I kind of lost interest in the nail care side of things since my son was born. My nail care prior to today only involved clipping all my nails short every couple of weeks. No filing, hand massage, soaking in softener, pushing back and trimming the cuticles, buffing and putting on nail polish. Doing the works was very relaxing.

I must be coping better with motherhood now because last week, I suddenly got this urge to do a bit of decoration around the house. I've been wanting to make my son's room a bit more colourful and turn it into a room he can play as well as sleep in but the motivation to getting round to it was a bit lacking. And I finally got sick of having work papers mingling amongst my personal paperwork and decided to turn the guest room into my office.

I went down to the one and only furniture store in town and paid through the nose for an office chair with arm support and I also bought a rug (kid's size only because I wanted to be able to move it easily to still clean the floor without more work) in this sudden burst of change. It was only later that I thought perhaps I should have done the shopping online to save a bit but then I would have had to wait at least 2 weeks before I got what I wanted right away. All enthusiasm would have probably simmered by then! So much for retail therapy online! I must say, this is a real bummer about living here.

Anyway, I thought I show/share what I've done! I was going to critique on the surmon today about being a moral agent but just had to get this out of my system first before I went on to something more serious... hehehe.