Where is God in our lives?

There are several points of thought today.

One, I worship led today for the first time in the past one year. I shall not say I enjoyed it (to qualify myself on this statement, I enjoy worship leading but that is certainly not the main reason why I do it) because it was not on familiar settings and I was not totally as ease like I used to. But I am blessed to be able to serve this way again. The exhortation that “to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away” (Mat 13:12, Mk 4:25, Lk 19:26) rings very loudly to me.

Two, today’s sermon was given by Rev Ong Hwai Teik on: Evergreen Titles. The Scripture text was taken from 1 Corinthians 4:1-5, focusing on the first 2 verses.

1 Corinthians 4:1-5
1 Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.

The thrust of the message is that we must live our lives and roles being the same person, the real person. And we are servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

He brought an interesting perspective to being stewards of the mysteries of God. He said that we often face people who try to talk us out of being mesmerized with the mysteries of God. In our apparently information-rich world, people tend to believe that we have come to a stage where there is very little that we don’t know. They entice us to see God now as a smaller God since we are information-rich enough to know more. But this isn’t how it work, is it? How ever much we think we know, we even touch eternity? How can we even think we know God, except what He has revealed to us?

I am not too sure if being “stewards of the mysteries of God” can be put in this way, since the mention of “mysteries of God” in Scriptures is concerning the kingdom of God, which God reveals to us in His wisdom and timing. It is our duty to be stewards of these mysteries, to be passed on so that more will know about this great and awesome God, in a more personal manner. But it is an intriguing perspective nonetheless, and timely as well.

Three, I brought Calvin to his friend’s birthday party, which was held in a mall. I left him there and went to a deli for pasta, scones and coffee. I know that is a lot of food but for the span of 3 hours I was there it is not too really that much. I used the time getting ready for the test questions on the Gospel of Mark, which I must complete within the week. I dropped into the bookstore before picking Calvin up. This MPH outlet in One Utama has a pretty good selection of books on Christianity and Theology. I picked up C.S. Lewis’ Essay Collection: Literature, Philosophy and Short Stories.


I have read bits here and there, and it promises to be a good read. There is this one page essay on how he started writing The Chronicles of Narnia series. According to him, it all started with a picture he had in his mind when he was a boy: a faun trekking on snow with an umbrella and parcels. That was it! He picked it up later in life and wrote the stories. I am never without amazement when I read Lewis.

Four, when I picked Calvin up from the party, I had the opportunity to catch up with some parents. We were exchanging notes about school and life as moms would have it. I commented that I had been out since morning and this other mom responded saying that she was so grateful that she attended church yesterday. She said that church services on Saturday is such a blessing to her because it certainly frees up her entire Sunday for her and she will have a whole day to carry out duties, errands and activities. If she attends church on Sundays, she continued, half the day will be taken up and she could not accomplish much with the time left. She will not be able to get to malls because traffic will bad and for one, she will not be able to do her grocery shopping at all. I do not know how to respond to her at that time, and since we are but acquaintances, I kept my opinions to myself. I find it such a sad thing that city-folk Christians are “worshipping” God as it suits them and as it conforms to their lifestyle. God is only relevant when one has nothing else to do. God is only relevant as and when their timetable permits Him to be. God is only relevant if there is time left. But God is certainly relevant when there are needs. I wonder about churches that hold services on Saturdays to replace Sunday services, I wonder about their theology of worship. Now on hindsight, I wish I had spoken up: we accommodate to God’s demand and commands; not God to ours! Who do we think we are?

pearlie