20180528- The Love of $

1 Tim 6 :10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through many sorrows"

A Birkin bag that cost more than USD28,000 - a collector's investment bag! Something that I only learnt recently over the 1MDB scandal! Just a bag!

This guru Guar Gopal Das once said : It is amazing how $ is known as so many ways!

• It is called DONATION when given to charity
• A TITHE/ OFFERING when given to a church
• A FEE when one pays to a school
• A DOWRY in a marriage
• A ALIMONY in a divorce
• A DEBT when owed to someone
• A TAX when paid to the government
• A FINE when crosses the law
• A PENSION when one receives after retirement
• A SALARY/ WAGE from an employer for work done
• An ALLOWANCE for a child from the parents
• A LOAN when taken from a bank
• A RANSOM when paying to kidnappers
• A BRIBE in exchange of special favours

There is nothing wrong with money itself.  Money itself is NEVER the root of all evils.  Money is the currency of exchange of goods and services.  Barter trade had evolved through the use of currency.  However, it is the LOVE of money that is the root of all evils.

The question we asked ourselves is this "Do we possess money or does the money possesses us?"

Do we covet after them?

Or do we learn to be content once we have food and clothing?

What is the value of money to the following:-

• A new born baby ? It means nothing to the crying babe
• A 2 year old toddler ? It perhaps may seem like a scape piece of paper
• A teenager ? It begins to provide some revelation of its use
• A working adult ? The realisation of its usefulness for the material pursuit of life
• A past 50 year old? The sudden calculation of its long term value and retirement planning of funds
• A sick person ? The importance of it to fund medical needs but not a guarantee of good health in return
• A nonagenarian (past 80,90s)? A sudden awakening on the fact that we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out (1 Tim 6:7)

So like what Shakespeare once wrote " The world is a stage ..." From the babe to the aged, the meaning of value of money comes a full circle.  Nothingness.

Reflections

In fact there are many things in life that money cannot or may not buy.

• It cannot buy good health. But may only perhaps sustain or prolong life for a while.  Better medical treatment and the ability to buy better food and vitamins!

• It cannot buy us the Holy Spirit. (Rem the story of Simon in Acts 8:19 where he offered the disciples money for the exchange of the power of the Holy Spirit in the laying of hands)

• It cannot buy us the eternal life (The Rich young man parable in Mat19:16-22.  Selling away the great possessions of his wealthy life to give to the poor was too much to swallow for the rich young man)

• Finally , money may not necessary buy happiness.Some people give much to charity or to the poor, but yet do it with a grudging heart. Some did it out of guilt, not out of love.

Happiness and joy have subtle differences in meaning.

Happiness is external dependent - which can be fulfilled by money possessions

But - Joy is an internal expression - never dependent on the money sufficiency.

So at the end of the day, our joy comes from knowing in the person of Jesus Christ.  He is all sufficient one.  He is the owner of all that we have.  The debate of so called offering or tithing the so called 10% is not the issue when we understand who we are and what we have on this earth.  We are merely stewards of Him. It is not about the percentage we give, but rather whether we give with a cheerful or grudging heart.  

The principle of giving - is universal.  The Lord simply does not want us to be covetous in our money management.  Freely received - freely give. Being selfish vs being generous. Being good or bad stewards of His endowment. 

Never let the money possess us.  Greed - Coveting.  It is a pitfall than we should avoid falling into!  Err not. Be sorrowful not! Rem 1 Tim 6:10

Finally, godliness with contentment is great gain. KNOW HIM? or NO HIM?

Short Egyptian 1 min film that won an award at Luxor Film Festival .  The film maker is only 20 years old.  Greed can swallow us it the theme.

20180509 :ANTICIPATION -HOPE : Bul-Green Cheeked Conure & Rainbows!

April 2018 : Capture of this awesome Mother Bul and her birdlings at sister's tree in YCK.

Rom12:12 Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer

Background:

Recently, the Lord once again revealed His wonderful creations through the feathery birds and the 7 coloured rainbows in this season.

In a short span of 10 days, perhaps from 21/4 till 2/5, Mother Bul's feeding of her young was caught on video.  Then came a lost Green cheeked conure which flew into my brother's house.(we named her Rainbow due to her colourful underside)  And the capturing of real rainbows on 28/4 by my niece and some friends.  The finale big double one captured by me on 2/5/18!

Feathery Rainbow Reflections..............

Perhaps been feeling a little blue. (having seen friends punctured with the 'work' of the Lord?, others jaded with 'ministry' of the lord ? the various 'happenings' politically and geographically around the globe?) Well, it was blue for a moment as God sent Bul to cheer me up. A cute conure called green cheeked with bust clothed in rainbow colours to make me laugh. And His constant gifts of moments of joy of beholding the awesome covenantal rainbows - a reminder of His great love for mankind.

Generally, I am more of a positive upbeat kind of person.  Loves good laughs.  But once in a while, do still get some blues.  Human as anybody.

On 2/5/18, at about 6:30pm, I popped my head out of the window to try to secure a rainbow sighting. But I couldn't catch one.  That anticipation or hope did not disappoint after all.  Because shortly half hour later, while i was relaxing in the recliner chair with the mobile massager after my salmon dinner, lo and behold I caught a direct glimpse of the rainbow glow right in front of me.  Massage was my love but yet i had to press the stop button to run out to catch the moment of thrill of joy of beholding a rainbow instead.

Afterall, massages can be done anytime. But rainbows are fleeting paintings of the sky.

My Reflections over Rom 12:12

1.Rejoicing in Hope

This is certainly true. Like my curious anticipation on that unique 2nd day of May 2018.  One can imagine my glee in rejoicing! Thanks perhaps to my guardian angel who painted it for me.  Hope is one of the 3 key components in 1 Cor13:13.  Hope is sandwiched between Faith and Love.  It is the buffer for those who are feeling the blues in a season. And like Rainbow the green-cheeked conure - it literally brought thrills of joy too to the family.  Welcoming a new member to the family!

2. Patient in Tribulation

This is also true.  Patience means more than simply holding on and enduring until the end.  Many a times we are impatient people.  Oswald Chambers" A saint's life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer.  God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, but our Lord continues to stretch and strain, and every once in a while the saint says ' I can't take anymore' yet God pays no attention.  He goes on stretching until His purpose is in sight and then he lets the arrow fly.  Entrust yourself to God's hands. Maintain your intimate relationship with Jesus Christ through the perseverance of faith."  Hope is the sandwich buffer in 1 Cor 13:13.  Now remember the first layer of the sandwich - FAITH. As Oswald said " Faith is not some weak and pitiful emotion, but is strong and vigorous confidence built on the fact that God is holy love.  And even though you cannot see Him right now and cannot understand what He is doing, you KNOW HIM" 

3. Continuing instant in Prayer

This is an interesting choice.  According to Oswald " Faith is the supreme effort of our life - throwing yourself with abandon and total confidence in God.  God ventured in His all in Jesus Christ to save us, and now He wants us to venture all our all with total abandoned confidence in Him.  There are areas in our lives where faith has not worked in us as yet.  Places still untouched by the life of God."  So we are reminded of our very base of the sandwich.  That bottom last layer of sandwich - Love.  1 Cor 13:13 There are three things that remain - faith, hope and love - and the greatest of these is love.
God send His Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins.  But Jesus as He left this earthly world some 2018 years ago had given to us His Holy Spirit to guide us.  That instantaneous call of our hearts in prayer - be it in praise or adoration or for help in times of need, is always available to us now. Ps 71:14 But I will hope continually and yet will praise you more and more.

What a beautiful name it is the name of Jesus