Chores

A while ago, I read an article relate to those who work in the IT field.  Since most of our work are virtual (bits and bytes), there's a invigorating feeling when we perform physical work, like chores.  The rationale is we get to physically see and touch things we accomplished.

Perhaps this is why I enjoy chores.  Yes it is work as it is tiring.  I am not a clean freak.  My mother can attest to that.  I do enjoy doing the laundry and ironing.  Watching the transformation from a pile of clothes to neatly iron and lay out shirts and pants. 

Since I am married for a week and now after honeymoon and living together, I found myself doing more chores than I was living alone. 

To some, chores might seem an inefficient way to spend time.  There's so much more we can do.  To others, it is not a man's job.  I am wondering about the idea of chore, and work in general, and how we often groan at the thought of it.  

A few weeks ago, I came across a blog post on the Theology of Work.  

When it comes to mundane work, even the work we are passionate to do has a bit of mundane work, there are usually a few response:

• we should rush it and get it done so we can have more fun
• we avoid it all cost and let someone else suffer

I like how the author considers viewing work as an act of worship.  I rather if the work that lies before me, at my job and at home, especially the really 'boring' types, I treat it as an act of worship instead of frowning upon it.

May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us;

    establish the work of our hands for us—

    yes, establish the work of our hands (Psalm 90:17).

Brokeness Complete

Worship with this song during service...so good.

Unashamed - Starfield

I have not much

To offer You

Not near what You deserve

But still I come

Because Your cross

Has placed in me my worth

Oh, Christ my King

Of sympathy

Whose wounds secure my peace

Your grace extends

To call me friend

Your mercy sets me free

And I know I'm weak

I know I'm unworthy

To call upon Your name

But because of grace

Because of Your mercy

I stand here unashamed

I can't explain

This kind of love

I'm humbled and amazed

That You'd come down

From heavens heights

And greet me face to face

Here I am at Your feet

In my brokeness complete

On Christ the Rock I Stand

...all other grounds are sinking sand...

My hope is built on nothing less

Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.

I dare not trust the sweetest frame,

But wholly lean in Jesus’ Name.

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,

All other ground is sinking sand;

All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness seems to hide His face,

I rest on His unchanging grace.

In every high and stormy gale,

My anchor holds within the veil.

When my world falls apart and the light turns into dark.

When the clouds gather around and the storms overhwlem.

When my heart breaks in half and my strength cannot last.

When I lost in this land and i can't see Your plans.

I'll stand.

Praise His Name

At Praise and Worship on Wednesday, we sang this song....so good.




Praise His Name by Sheri Easter

When you're up against a wall
And your mountain seems so tall
And you realize that life's not always fair
You can run away and hide
Let the old man decide
Or you can change your curcumstances with a prayer


When everything falls apart
Praise his name
When you have a broken heart
Raise your hands and say
Lord, you're all I need
You're everything to me
And he'll take the pain away
When you feel you're all alone
Praise his name
And you feel all hope is gone
Raise your hands and say
Greater is he that is within me
And you can praise the hurt away
If you'll just praise his name


Ohhh,
You can overcome
By the blood of the lamb
And by the word of your testimony
You'll see the darkness go
As your faith begins to grow
You're not alone, so how can you be lonely


When everything falls apart
Praise his name
When you have a broken heart
Raise your hands and say
Lord, you're all I need
You're everything to me
And he'll take the pain away
When it seems you're all alone
Praise his name
And you feel you can’t go on
Raise your hands and say
Greater is he that is within me
And you can praise the hurt away
If you'll just praise his name

It is well with my soul...

It Is Well With My Soul

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.


Refrain:
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.


Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.


My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!


For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life,
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.


But Lord, 'tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul.


And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

Horatio Spafford

(Source: Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Is_Well_with_My_Soul)

Why Should I Worry or Fret? by William J. Gaither

I believe.

I believe.

I believe so why should I worry or fret?

He holds the future in the palm of His hand

And He has never failed me yet.

I know He is reigning and still has control.

So why should I worry or fret?

There are some people who live each day in fear

Of what tomorrow will bring;

But I'm trusting in One who is walking near,

I'm talking about the King of kings.

He told me He'd protect me and go with me each day

And, brother, I've no reason to doubt;

He's been so near me every step of the way

And He will surely lead His children out.

Revisiting Job: Worship

I pulled open Job on Sat night....

Job 1:20-21

At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said:

"Naked I came from my mother's womb,
and naked I will depart.
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
may the name of the LORD be praised."

This is the passage right after the Lord let Satan to take away all Job's sons and daughters and his possessions...
Yesterday, I was sharing with a brother how Job worshiped the Lord at the lowest point of his life.   How often do I associate worship with cheerful, feel good.  Job worshiped and gave Praise to the Lord even at the worst of his life.

Better is One Day...

Matt Redman's Better is One Day is referring to Psalm 84...

Psalm 84

How lovely is your dwelling place,

O LORD Almighty!

My soul yearns, even faints,

for the courts of the LORD;

my heart and my flesh cry out

for the living God.

Even the sparrow has found a home,

and the swallow a nest for herself,

where she may have her young—

a place near your altar,

O LORD Almighty, my King and my God.

Blessed are those who dwell in your house;

they are ever praising you.

Selah

Blessed are those whose strength is in you,

who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.

As they pass through the Valley of Baca,

they make it a place of springs;

the autumn rains also cover it with pools.

They go from strength to strength,

till each appears before God in Zion.

Hear my prayer, O LORD God Almighty;

listen to me, O God of Jacob.

Selah

Look upon our shield, O God;

look with favor on your anointed one.

Better is one day in your courts

than a thousand elsewhere;

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God

than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

For the LORD God is a sun and shield;

the LORD bestows favor and honor;

no good thing does he withhold

from those whose walk is blameless.

O LORD Almighty,

blessed is the man who trusts in you.

....

Some thoughts.

I use to think that the Lord's court is referring to a physical place where I feel the Lord's presence. For me, it is most often riding my bike on the road or running along the trail. There are many moments I can recall during these trips where I can felt His presence so close.

Granted, the author of the Psalm is written at a time when they believe that the Lord dwells in the temple. Jesus came and He changed everything....

Jesus is called Immanuel in Matthew 1:23 which translates to God with us. In the Great Commission, Jesus wrapped it up with "surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:20)

In 1 Corinthians 3:6, Paul wrote:

Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?

...I gotta do more studying and see the context in each of these verses. Granted, it is an indication that God is not just in a physical building like the court or a temple. He is everywhere. Jesus promised that He will be with us. And the the Holy Spirit dwells in us..and we are the living temple!

Does this mean we can worship Him everywhere and anywhere!?!?!? :)

There is one line in the song that sings, 'it is better one day in Your court'.

Does it mean that once a person has the Holy Spirit dwells in him...the person is His court? Is it play on words "better to be one day in Your court..than thousands elsewhere"?

Indeed, to know You..or to be known by You is to be in Your court...and I will not long for anywhere else.

Facedown

I was listening to Matt Redman's song, Facedown, on my run this afternoon.

Lord, who is like You. The Mighty of Mighty. The King of kings and Lord of lords. Who can come to you without trembling.

My knees buckle. I dare not to look up in the sky. I can only look down at the ground. I am face down. My lips quivered. I am shattered. Your Glory shines too brightly for me. I am not worthy to stand before the Holy One. Who am I to be among Your presence. What have I done to deserve Your adoption.

May You forever be exalted. May we worship You facedown. May we feel Your Glory shine among all of us. May I continue to worship You with fear and trembling.

Who can be in His presence without in awe and without trembling...

Who can come before Him without facedown...

Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

Exodus 3:6

"Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."

Isaiah 6:5

Job...

Just finish reading the Book of Job....

...

not much to say...just in awe...

Job replied to the Lord in Job 42:1-6...

Then Job replied to the LORD :

2 "I know that you can do all things;

no plan of yours can be thwarted.

3 You asked, 'Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?'

Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,

things too wonderful for me to know.

4 "You said, 'Listen now, and I will speak;

I will question you,

and you shall answer me.'

5 My ears had heard of you

but now my eyes have seen you.

6 Therefore I despise myself

and repent in dust and ashes."

Nothing I can do but to bow down and worship....for I lack knowledge and speak on things which I do not know...

Blessed be Your Name

In the land that is plentiful

Where Your streams of abundance flow

Blessed be Your name

Blessed Be Your name

When I'm found in the desert place

Though I walk through the wilderness

Blessed Be Your name

Every blessing You pour out

I'll turn back to praise

When the darkness closes in, Lord

Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name

When the sun's shining down on me

When the world's 'all as it should be'

Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name

On the road marked with suffering

Though there's pain in the offering

Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out

I'll turn back to praise

When the darkness closes in, Lord

Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your glorious name

You give and take away

You give and take away

My heart will choose to say

Lord, blessed be Your name

Thank you Lord for those up and down in my life. It is those times when I remember that my Lord is the Lord that provides. As Abraham called the place in Genesis 22, the Lord Will Provide, when he was about to sacrifice Issac. Thank you.

Let us not our souls to one another

Yesterday during worship, we sing Give Us Clean Hands by Chris Tomlin.

Here is part of the lyric:

We bow our hearts

We bend our knees

Oh Spirit come make us humble

We turn our eyes

From evil things

Oh Lord we cast down our idols

Oh give us clean hands

and give us pure hearts

Let us not lift our souls to another

Oh God let this be

a generation that seeks

that seeks Your face, Oh God of Jacob

In Old Testaments, the idols were asherah poles and objects that man created to worship other gods.

I was listening to Beyonce's Single Ladies on the drive back home yesterday. There was one part of the song that caught my attention:

Your love is what I prefer, what I deserve

Is a man that makes me, then takes me

And delivers me to a destiny, to infinity and beyond

Pull me into your arms

Say I’m the one you WANT

If you don’t, you’ll be alone

And like a ghost I’ll be gone

..to a destiny, to infinity and beyond...from a Christian perspective, only God can do that. Not very tough to connect the dots, in a sense, the role of God is being replace by a man.

From my previous post, I quoted from Tim Keller's The Counterfeit gods that our heart is an idol generating machine. Looking at the modern culture where God is not place in the center, there is a need to place the vacuum role of God with other objects (or in this case, person).

Perhaps we should replace let us not lift our souls to another to let us not lift our souls to one another.

Hollow Worship

Today's sermon gripped me to the point where I couldn't sing the response song.

I felt hollow. I felt fake and I felt superficial. Words coming out of my mouth seemed meaningless. I was giving God lip-service.

The pastor preached on worship and brought out a passage from Isaiah 1:11-19

¹¹ "The multitude of your sacrifices—
what are they to me?" says the LORD.
"I have more than enough of burnt offerings,
of rams and the fat of fattened animals;
I have no pleasure
in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.

¹² When you come to appear before me,
who has asked this of you,
this trampling of my courts?

¹³ Stop bringing meaningless offerings!
Your incense is detestable to me.
New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—
I cannot bear your evil assemblies.

¹⁴ Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts
my soul hates.
They have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.

¹⁵ When you spread out your hands in prayer,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even if you offer many prayers,
I will not listen.
Your hands are full of blood;

¹⁶ wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds
out of my sight!
Stop doing wrong,

¹⁷ learn to do right!
Seek justice,
encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow.

¹⁸ "Come now, let us reason together,"
says the LORD.
"Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool.

¹⁹ If you are willing and obedient,
you will eat the best from the land;

----
I am captured by verse 13 and verse 17. In verse 13, the Lord is accusing the people of meaningless offerings. In verse 17, the Lord declared what's proper worship.


And the Lord speaked clearly. Here's how you should worship..

• learn to do right
• seek justice
• encourage the oppressed
• defend the cause of the fatherless
• plead the case of the widow

I was sitting there and wondering...when was the last time I did any of these? When my heart was gripped by these issues?

And my heart is heavy. Heavy in God speaking clear and yet my heart is not in the right place.

I do not know how else to describe it.

 I went to the prayer room and reflected on the sermon.

Does it really matter? I am not talking about just doing more or else. I am just wondering where my heart is at.

Next week, there will be another sermon. Another Sun Service. Then another one after that. There is a fellowship week in and week out. There is prayer meeting week in and week out.  My role as a Christian. Punch in and punch out.

I am just wondering...am I worshiping God as God directed? Or am I simply putting God in a box where I only 'worship' him to fit my own lifestyle? If I am too busy, I will ignore the issue.  What about the weak? Well, they are important but I am too busy doing my own thing, living my own life and pursuit my own happiness. The poor is an important issue as long as it doesn't cross into my life. They are out there. Not here.

I was listening to Boundless Podcast yesterday and someone said: "when Jesus say to help the orphans and the widows I really think He means to help the orphans and the widows"

...and so I am sad.

Christianity becomes a convenience faith. And the songs that I wish to sing are hollow. God sees right through it. Nothing but cheap words to try and uncover a deceitful heart.

And the saddest part of it...there is part of me that enjoyed this superficial worship. It just blends right in the crowd.

Sometimes I think what Jesus does is great. I love it. I love how He comes for the poor and help the weak. Though I only love Him for what He does. And I do not want to follow nor imitate. I just want to see.....

there is nothing I can do but repent...