Why everything matters

One of my favourite books in the Bible is definitely Ecclesiastes, and if you perform a search in my blog, I talk about and quote from it quite a lot. 

Today I felt I needed to read the book again, and so I started to re-read Philip Graham Ryken’s preaching commentary on Ecclesiastes. 

Ecclesiastes: Why Everything Matters

by Philip Graham Ryken

I remember reading the book in year 2012 and six years down the line, it’s time I read it again, and once more learn that whilst everything is meaningless, why and how everything matters. 

I did not blog about this book when I read it then but I did do a book review in 2015 on Thomas Nelson’s A Life Well Lived, A Study of the Book of Ecclesiastes. 

A Life Well Lived, A Study of the Book of Ecclesiastes

by Thomas Nelson

And now that I am reading my blogpost Enjoy Your Life! again, I think it’s time I re-read Nelson after I finish Ryken’s. 

pearlie

I'm worried

I have not felt worry for quite awhile but for some reasons, I am feeling it right now. 

I found these sayings helpful. I may not however hold some of the people here in high regard. But for the sake of what they said about worry, I found it helpful nonetheless. 

When you begin to worry, go find something to do. Get busy being a blessing to someone; do something fruitful. Talking about your problem or sitting alone, thinking about it, does no good; it serves only to make you miserable. Above all else, remember that worrying is totally useless. Worrying will not solve your problem. 

~ Joyce Meyer

Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy. 

~ Leo Buscaglia

In a storm of struggles, I have tried to control the elements, clasp the fist tight so as to protect self and happiness. But stress can be an addiction, and worry can be our lunge for control, and we forget the answer to this moment is always yes because of Christ. 

~ Ann Voskamp

If you don't know how to die, don't worry; Nature will tell you what to do on the spot, fully and adequately. She will do this job perfectly for you; don't bother your head about it. 

~ Michel de Montaigne

I believe God is managing affairs and that He doesn't need any advice from me. With God in charge, I believe everything will work out for the best in the end. So what is there to worry about. 

~ Henry Ford

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

~ Philippians 4:6-7 ESV

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life...But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Matthew 6:25a, 33-34 ESV

pearlie 

Be both weak and strong

A Place of Healing, Wrestling with the Mystery of Suffering, Pain and God's Sovereignty 

by Joni Eareckson Tada

I knew I was watching too much TV and so I told myself it's a no-TV day today. I did after all purchase two books this morning and thought it'd be good to spend the whole afternoon and evening reading. 

It was a good decision. 

I'm now halfway through Joni Eareckson Tada's A Place of Healing and she already moved me to tears in the first five pages, and more as I went along. She has so much insight in the presence and love of God through her suffering, especially now even more as her body suffers in unbearable pain. 

She made me think more deeply on familiar bible verses that I'm now seeing in different light. 

One that strikes me most is from 2 Cor 12:9-10, "I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me...For when I am weak, then I am strong."

We are usually ashamed and embarrassed about our weaknesses so much so that we rather hide and not talk about it. Here, Paul is not only telling us to talk about it but to boast about our weaknesses. 

To boast about something is to be proud of it, to gladly flaunt it. And the only way I think we can be proud about our weaknesses rest on the hope and suffering of Christ. 

With that, we become both weak and strong.

It is apparent what we need to do in church. We had our second CG session in church this afternoon discussing Timothy Keller's The Prodigal God. 

Someone shared about someone who stopped going to church because she felt so out of place in a church where everyone seemed to have such a good life, with successful jobs, with good and happy kids, whilst she is eking out a living and having challenges raising her own kids. 

We should learn to have the courage to talk about our weaknesses, especially in church, and to divert our focus to the reliance on God to sustain us. 

I really recommend you this book, if you are in suffering or if you caring for someone, especially now that the Kindle version is on sale. 

pearlie 

The Problem of Pain

I had wanted to blog about the sermon I heard yesterday but I was still mulling about it. It's on John 16:16-33, where Jesus was speaking to his twelve disciples before he prayed the pastoral prayer in chapter 17. 

The gist of the sermon was that the greatest of things come through pain and suffering. Jesus's usage of the childbirth metaphor (16:21) points exactly to the fact that we will suffer and there will be anguish and pain. There will groaning and moaning. This is all part and parcel of life. 

But there is a purpose to the pain. It is temporary though it might feel like eternity and we will feel that we are stuck. But when the baby is born, the anguish will be turned to joy, immense and lasting joy.

The basis of this joy is the very presence of the resurrected Jesus. The deep abiding assurance through his death and ressurrection. 

I love how the pastor put it but I was also wondering about pain. It is a necessity for us as his children, at least here on earth, that we suffer and bear the pain through him, so that we will be comforted through Christ, for he had suffered for us, for our comfort (2 Cor 1:3-5). It is through pain that we recognize who we are in Christ, sinners who need his redemption and salvation. 

But we don't look forward to pain. We want to avoid it. We prefer not to feel pain and suffering. We do not want to be stuck. And as much as we do expect life to be painful sometimes, we don't actively look for it, to flagellate ourselves with it. How then? Should we work hard to avoid it or should we welcome it gladly?

This reminded me of a book I read more than thirteen years ago - The Problem of Pain by CS Lewis. I thought it was a good time for me to reread it and I started looking for its e-version. I found it in The Complete CS Lewis Signature Classics. 

The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics

by C.S. Lewis

The collection holds seven of Lewis's classic: Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, Surprised by Joy, The Four Loves, The Problem of Pain, The Great Divorce and Miracles. (The three other volumes are not included namely A Grief Observed, God in the Dock and The Abolition Man.)

The beauty of it was that it costs only $18.50. Its digital list price was $66.57! I bought it in no time. 

And I've started reading The Problem of Pain. I felt like I'm meeting an old friend, I have not read his books in a long time. Lewis's writing is just amazing. He writes profoundly but yet his words and phrases flows along flawlessly. 

I am not sure if his book will answer my question about pain, but I'm nevertheless looking forward to relearning what I've read so long ago and so long forgotten.  

pearlie