Who we really are ...
Who we really are ...
JH preached at the youth service today and it was such a great message of reminder of who we are as masterpieces of God.
He began by sharing about his life and family - something which I believed a great number of us do not know although we knew him for many years. To a lot of us, we see JH as someone who is so comical and quick-witted, and indeed he is. However, JH shared that one of the reasons for his wits and comic talent came partly as a security he found in the midst of the painful situations he went through in his earlier childhood days. It was a front he tried to put up to hide the pains, which slowly grew into something somewhat natural.
What JH has shared about his life led him to share the most important aspects that I hope everyone can get to hear and read (summary, and a little of my own thoughts and addition):-
- God wants to give us LIFE, an abundant one, and each one given only a chance to live
- Yet, we chose to live our lives by listening to LIfE (ie. LIE) that the devil plant into our lives and began to be deceived by him constantly and doubting God's goodness and His plans for us
- Furthermore, we allowed the lIFe (ie. "IFs" and "IF only") in life to plagued us with constant fear instead of confidence. We live in fear, we live with regrets - something which God do not intend at all!
- Then, to protect ourselves, we allow lIfe (ie the big I) to take center-stage at all times, pushing away people, trampling others under our feet, mocking and insulting others to make ourselves feel good.
The reason we allow all these to come into our lives and sometime cloud out God's voice is because we do not, or have not, really known who we really are. We see ourselves in the light of what and who the world tells us we are (ie. media, people, advertisements, etc) ... we based our successes in life on the temporal achievements and glories we can gain ... we look to people around us to affirm us and tell us who we are and hence feel rejected, unworthy and unloved when they fail us. Yet all we need is to look to God, who is our Potter, who are crafting each one of us into masterpieces, unique and special. Of course there are problems and difficulties in life, but when we allow God's Word, His voice of love, His assurance of acceptance to flow in us and overwhelm us, then we can look all these in the face boldly and yet still stand firm, living the real abundant live which Jesus came to give to us.
JH preached at the youth service today and it was such a great message of reminder of who we are as masterpieces of God.
He began by sharing about his life and family - something which I believed a great number of us do not know although we knew him for many years. To a lot of us, we see JH as someone who is so comical and quick-witted, and indeed he is. However, JH shared that one of the reasons for his wits and comic talent came partly as a security he found in the midst of the painful situations he went through in his earlier childhood days. It was a front he tried to put up to hide the pains, which slowly grew into something somewhat natural.
What JH has shared about his life led him to share the most important aspects that I hope everyone can get to hear and read (summary, and a little of my own thoughts and addition):-
- God wants to give us LIFE, an abundant one, and each one given only a chance to live
- Yet, we chose to live our lives by listening to LIfE (ie. LIE) that the devil plant into our lives and began to be deceived by him constantly and doubting God's goodness and His plans for us
- Furthermore, we allowed the lIFe (ie. "IFs" and "IF only") in life to plagued us with constant fear instead of confidence. We live in fear, we live with regrets - something which God do not intend at all!
- Then, to protect ourselves, we allow lIfe (ie the big I) to take center-stage at all times, pushing away people, trampling others under our feet, mocking and insulting others to make ourselves feel good.
The reason we allow all these to come into our lives and sometime cloud out God's voice is because we do not, or have not, really known who we really are. We see ourselves in the light of what and who the world tells us we are (ie. media, people, advertisements, etc) ... we based our successes in life on the temporal achievements and glories we can gain ... we look to people around us to affirm us and tell us who we are and hence feel rejected, unworthy and unloved when they fail us. Yet all we need is to look to God, who is our Potter, who are crafting each one of us into masterpieces, unique and special. Of course there are problems and difficulties in life, but when we allow God's Word, His voice of love, His assurance of acceptance to flow in us and overwhelm us, then we can look all these in the face boldly and yet still stand firm, living the real abundant live which Jesus came to give to us.
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