'...ye are the temple of the living God, as God hath said, " I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be My people."
2 Corinthians 6:16
Ever felt like a chicken with many heads, but sadly saddled with only one pair of knobbly legs??
The past one week was the closest to my achieving empathy with this deranged creature, as I scurried in manifold directions, in hot pursuit of my many new and varied indulgences. For a pictorial representation of some of my fleeting interests, you can go to http://www.hieang.com.
'Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.'
Matthew 26:41
Art often imitates life, but for many often overexuberant collectors of valued junk, the beauty of men's creation is often a reflection of the inner soul of the artists. What you see is what you get might be for the uninitiated novice, but overtime, with some tuition fees, the aesthetic eyes in us gets refined, our mind begins to understand the inner intricacies of the materials used and the skills involved, and the same piece of art takes on a deeper and more meaningful dimension.
But art is just one facet of the often infathomable nature of men.
'All their works they do to be seen by men..'
Matthew 23:5
A little knowledge makes a dangerous expert out of all of us, but before I continue furthur into this deep and sinful morass of misrepresenting to the uninitiated, based upon my wading pool deep knowledge, it might be better to digress and share an observation of life.
This new Chinese Lunar New Year is supposedly the year of the Golden Pig(I thought it was a fire pig). In the Bible, the pig is not exactly a very esteemed animal, for it had the dishonour of having demons, who were driven out by Jesus Christ, from the body of a deranged man, into them, before plunging flock, stock and pork barrel into the plunging ravine.
On the contrary, for many Chinese, the pig symbolises prosperity and you can double that when it is a golden pig, for it occurs only once every 60 years.
Demand for gold has picked up tremendously in China this year, as various versions of ornamental golden piglets fly off the shelves of shops and in line with the spirit of giving and taking, more pregnant women in China this year are timing their delivery of the gift of life to coincide with the Golden Pig year.
Strange as it may seem, be it in jest or zest, many of us do ascribe the attributes of the particular zodiac animal to explaining the character of an individual we know.
My son is born in the year of the pig 12 years back, but I must have mistaken the brownish sheen of mud for gold. He is rumoured to be an earthern pig, but thankfully, not a cooked pig in an earthen pot. He eats well, delegates well and is indeed blessed.
I was born in the year of the ox, an iron ox and worst, sometime in the wee hours of the morning, no wonder my present employ has a bull for a logo, and I have to worked hard for my monies!!
'By nite on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth. I sought him but I found him not.....'
Song of Solomon 3:1
Enough of the bull, as the boorish would say, it is time to move on to the pertinent and relevant.
Where is God? And do I know Him? Can I understand Him and His ways??
The Song of Solomon talks about relationships between couples, but what about our relationship with God?
Is God a stranger with strange ways??
'And, Thou, Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands...'
Hebrews 1:10
As men continues to discover the wonders of nature and life in general. The orderly yet unfathomable solar system and beyond, there seems an unseen hand that have knitted things together, down to the smallest minute detail. Just as many believe in a Divine God, there are as many who choose to believe in their own understanding or some more easily digestable 'god or gods'
'My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him; For whom the Lord loveth He chastened, and scourgeth every son whom He received....'
Hebrews 12:5-6
I remember the first miles of my journey with the Lord, was often marked by spasms of trouble,uncertainty and doubt. The issues were certain, but the usual worldly ways of dealing with them was no longer acceptable, yet, God while never a fullblown stranger, His ways to deal with issues seem rather strange.
Letting go of what works for us in our secular past was pretty hard, but letting Him was even harder, for I know not Him well.
'..O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt..'
Matthew 26:39
'..O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.'
Matthew 26:42
With friends or even strangers we meet, our level of comfort improves as we attain certain levels of familiarity. We tend to use what we see, what we sense, what we hear and even how we feel(from the guts for the men, and woman's instinct for the fairer sex) and process all this data through our finite understanding to achieve a certain level of certainty.
With God, wisdom is given by Him, but the will to obey His will is our perogative. We can choose to obey or disobey.
Love might not solve all immediate issues nor achieve our man defined and desired conclusions, but it brings us to a deeper understanding of our God.
'Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares...'
Hebrews 13:1-2
'But to do good and to communicate forget not; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased..'
Hebrews 13:16
God for many of us remains an enigma. But it is us who are behaving strangely not the Lord.
God is always faithful, but man acts on the contrary.
God loves freely, man try to live for free.
God forgives, man rarely forgets a hurt
God seeks us, but we reek of the sinful world
God give us eternity, we seek the temporal
'Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God'
Ephesians 2:19
'For He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us...'
Ephesians 2:14
'But will God indeed dwell in the earth. Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this house that I have built?'
1 Kings 8:27
Do take time to ponder upon your relationship with God, for a strange but warmth feeling might just encompass your very being, a strangely old but long forgotten feeling of inner peace and joy, for God is love, and love knows no boundaries. Lets not continue to flounder in this God given life, but sin marred world, for God is not just our comfort, but our reassurance, our salvation, our Father.
'So the last shall be first, and the first last; for many be called, but few chosen.;
Matthew 20:16
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
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