Sunday, April 09, 2006

Amazing Grace.

[ personal ramblings ]








A very simple week i had. :)







But still .... many interesting things happen along the week.









... like the speech gave by Prem in office on Friday. It's out of the blue. real surprising. I'm not sure what he's thinking at that point. But i admire his guts.









And yea! There are new teammates in my team. Ahoy! welcome aboard soldier :)










Sad things happened too. A buddy of mine in camp went off to another military confinement quarters for 5 days. I just hope he'll be better after he returns.










I've also re-signed up for my A-levels examination. It's official. I haven't hit my books yet. the thought of hitting back the same books is dreadful .. But I know this year will definitely be better than last year. It will definitely be.










Hmm i just wanna share and pen down my thoughts about what i heard from a CD the Prem had loan me to hear. It's by Ps Joseph Prince from New Creations Church. I've heard quite a little from my friends about the 'cheap grace' doctrine taught by this church. And i never really knew such churches exist in Singapore until Pastor Kong had preached about it during our church-wide Bible study about 2 years back. Antinomionism. The theological doctrine that by faith and God's grace a Christian is freed from all laws (including the moral standards of the culture).



I feel very disturbed when i listen to the CD. sigh i don't wish to do some biblical debate here. I just want to share how i feel about what i've heard. That is - God's grace shouldn't be mis-used to vainly. The very idea that we could receive what we don't deserve to have is already just so amazing. Imagine just the thought of someone betraying you. Saying and doing something against you. It leaves you burning with anger. Hurt. Disappointment. You can only see a torn picture presented to you. A broken string. He/she doesn't deserve anything good from you. But yet you forgive him/her.



You say, "i know you did that to me. I felt it. And i am willing to let it go. I am willing to start everything afresh. Just the way it all started. Just stop hurting me like this again. I promise to make this relationship even better than before. To care for you when no one else does. To love you as deeply as i know. Just come back to me and receive this love... "



That is grace i know. That is what i received as a Christian. Telling me to hurt him more? That he will continue to forgive me forever and ever and that i can just plunge the knife of hurt into his heart again and again.... That is crazy. It's what Pastor Ulf Ekmam calls crazy-grace.



I know i am inperfect. Even till now as i type ... i've known of so many sins i've still commited as a Christian. And there are countless times that i have been so upset over myself. But, i always felt the love of God in my life. It says that he loves me for who i am. When i am down.. i can really feel his arms around me. When i have no friends or family to turn to.. he's there to listen. Even though i can not give him a pure complete love .. he still loves me completely. But he did not say i can continue doing what the way i like to do. Because He knows what's best for me. He loves me too much for me to stay the way i am. So as i walk on and depend on him... he slowly changed me. This is my personal testimony. :) I am now a completely different me. Not a perfect one but a better one. I never felt more free than before.



So for the love he has given me, I am ever willing to stand up against any false rumours about my God and Father in heaven. Because it's amazing when i walk with him. It makes me feel i'm an amazing man myself too. Not because of who I am but b'cos of who He is. I have an amazing friend. and an amazing God.





"Amazing Grace,
how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see..."





Cheers.

3 comments:

stormchaser said...

About the love of God in your post, it brings to mind what i learnt in bible study: How much I love God - it increases with the revelation of how much I've been forgiven.

That's the amazing grace of God which brings about conversion from the old to the new. Its the grace that tastes sweeter than honey and brings you to your knees in tears, because you know that everything that you've done wrong has ben washed away forever. Praise the Lord for the amazing grace!

As for the cheap grace theory, just offering a verse here:

Well then, since God's grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! Don't you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.

Rom 6:15-16, NLT

"s0n|c'C@libr3,, said...

amen to that.



ahh was trying to find this verse. :)



"How much I love God - it increases with the revelation of how much I've been forgiven. "

which BS lesson is that? i wanna see too! :)

Anonymous said...

Just outta curiosity, what's the title of the CD on Joseph Prince you listening to?

And by that verse in Rom 6:15-16, what is the law you think Paul is refering to?