The Heart of Why We Do What We Do

I’ve always been a person that hasn’t really been open to try new things. My parents have always told me that if it wasn’t for them introducing all the foods that I eat right now, I would probably still be eating porridge and salt and pepper chicken. Really? I’m that stubborn and not open to trying new foods? I thought I was. But they are my parents. And they do know my earlier years better than I do know mine. But it’s not just food as well. I know this, that every time there is a new gadget that’s on the market, like an iPad, blu-Ray player, or even a 3D TV, I always question ‘why?’ And I still do. Not that I have anything against people buying these things, but I’ve always had the mentality that if you don’t really need it, then you don’t buy it. It all comes back to the same question; do I need this item that I really want, or is it because of pressure to keep up with the trends? Maybe it’s just my ignorance getting in the way, maybe I will get a blu-ray player, 3D TV, and an iPad and iPhone soon, and perhaps I may sign up to facebook in the near future. But I really need to think about things first, because when you part with a certain amount of money and above, you need to be absolutely certain if whether you’re buying because you know this will enhance your life in a certain way; or you’re buying it, then being consumed by it, and then when the next advancement comes down the line, you’d buy that too.

We need to get to the heart of why we do what we do. What is our motivation behind our purchases; because we do purchase a lot these days. Every time I go to a JB-HiFi store, a Big W or K-Mart, everyone is there. The words ‘economic downturn’ doesn’t seem to phase those die-hards who maybe don’t even seem to care that our economy is in one of the most serious spirals compared to that of the Great Depression. Possibly because our society has been in the mentality for so long that the more we have, the more we are happy. That’s why we consume so much. We were made for much more than what the blu-ray player can fill. We are consuming in today’s age, more than we have ever before. The entertainment industry has benefited immensely from this time in history, when people wouldn’t think twice to hand over a wad of cash to pay for something that may be sitting on the shelf in a year’s time in favour of ‘the next best thing’. Are we really thinking before we purchase our items? What is God saying about all of this?

We were not made to consume like it’s no tomorrow. Rather, we need to step back from it all. Is purchasing this thing or that going to really enhance my life? Or am I trying to rationalise that it will? Perhaps I may sound like I’m from the stone age and I may need to keep up with technology sooner or later, but are we as a society trying to seek fulfilment in the things that we know for sure are going to let us down? There is a verse in Matthew that has struck me lately; Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly. (Matthew 11:28-30). We need to come to Jesus for all that we need. The rest of these things are just things. Not to sound like I don’t value these technological advancements, I really do appreciate them. But I really need to understand that I don’t have to buy all these things. Even though I can, and I most probably will in the future, I don’t have to latch onto every new thing now. The issue is not necessarily the buying, it is the buying now! We are an instantaneous society. We want things now, and are ready to pay the cost, no matter what. Jesus is asking us to slow down, and reconsider everything, from our purchases, to our devotions, to our tv and movie watching, to our book reading, to our music listening. I’m just as much a culprit as everyone in society; looking at my music library right now, I have about 13,500 songs. And it’s gonna grow. But I need to ask the question, if all my consuming stopped, for whatever reason, will I still be content?

  

I am reluctant to buy new things, to try new things. But this is what I know. The Lord God came to shake things up. Jesus came to earth to shake our comfort zone, and He is indeed doing this today. If He is trying to shake up our spending habits and question why we buy the things that we do, then I need to be cool with that. We all need to realise that Jesus is our well, our source, and nothing else matters. Before I finish, let me pose a question. What things in our lives, spending-wise, that you need to think about, and ask the Lord to take control over? Are you like me, worried about anything that is new? Whatever we struggle with; God is stronger, strong enough to save us, again and again. Strong enough to hold us and say that everything is going to be good, that all our problems that we struggle with is nothing compared to what Jesus went through when He endured the cross. He went through the pain so that we didn’t have to. And with that, I’ll leave you with this; Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the centre of your life. (Philippians 4:6-7). 

Til next blog,

Jon.

In Spite of Everything, God Loved Us Anyway

I have said and advocated time and time again that modern day society obtains their information from the sources that the older generation may deem unacceptable. What was once seen as entertainment is now seen front and centre as the first form of information that is learnt by the X and Y and maybe even the Z generation. Lives are changed because of a song, a TV show, or a movie. Lives are turned around, and Jesus is speaking through the things that matter the most to the younger generation, through these forms of entertainment. And now as I look at the two most watched new television series of the 2011-12 American TV season, I start to wonder whether it is by coincidence or not that these shows are starting to be embraced by the American population, and in a wider scale, the world.

Person of Interest on CBS was just recently renewed for a second season. Almost 15 million people every week watch this action thriller about a team, consisting of an ex- U.S. Army Special Forces soldier and CIA field officer, John Reese; and an isolated, withdrawn, extremely private billionaire software genius, Harold Finch, and their partnership in solving crimes that are about to happen in the city of NYC. It is a show that is beautifully crafted by JJ Abrams, the man involved in such TV series like LOST, Alias and Fringe. What I can see in this show, and I’m sure what other people see as well, is a man who is on a quest to write the wrongs in the society that is as fractured and screwed up as he himself is. John Reese is a man who goes by no rules to find the ‘person of interest’ and if these people are perpetrators or victims, he acts in such a way that the act of violence being committed by them or to them is stopped. Watching the show has led me to believe that Reese is some sort of vigilante and, in his own way, is speaking up and helping people that cannot help themselves because of the circumstances surrounding their predicament. He goes out of his way to maintain the peace and quiet of the New York City streets, and with the help of Finch, brings hope to the situations that he is in.

Once Upon a Time, airing on ABC and most likely to be renewed for a second season too, is a spin on fairytales that we have never seen before. Centred on Emma Swan, a 28 year old bail bondsman, this television series has her drawn into a tale of excitement, adventure and intrigue when her son that she gave up for adoption ten years earlier comes by unannounced and claims that she is the daughter of the fairy tale characters Snow White and Prince Charming. She is then introduced to the small, secluded town of Storybrooke in Maine, where all the inhabitants, according to her son, Henry; are in fact fairy tale characters. They are all in a haze, banished to the real world because of a curse enacted by the Evil Queen against Emma’s parents and the whole of the fairytale kingdom. Emma is then told by her son that she is the only person to awaken the whole town from the curse; sort of like a Saviour of sorts. All the people in Storybrooke are lost, having no memory of who they were and who they are meant to be, lost in a droning mundane existence, with none of their ‘happy ending’ that was given to each of them in their previous life. And as the episodes continue into the season, each of the characters in Storybrooke is explored, as well as their fairytale counterparts, and how and why the curse was enacted in the first place is brought to the fore. This show; along with Person of Interest, have excited me the most this TV season, and I truly believe that one of the reasons why both of these series are popular, is because society is learning as well as being entertained. Jesus is speaking through these shows, and we can definitely learn about the qualities and nature of God if we just stop, stand back and ask the Lord to reveal what He wants to say.

Everyone is in search of something to fill the whole that they have. Everyone has something inside of them that yearns and tugs at their very being. We all that inkling feeling, of sadness, guilt, the fact that we cannot save ourselves from this thing called ‘sin’, that we cannot go through life alone. We are in search of someone that will save us, physically, and indeed spiritually. Society may even go so far as to yearn for someone like an ‘Emma Swan’ or a ‘John Reese’ to turn their life around, just like how they do it in the TV shows. They look at their own life, the mundane existence that they live from 9 to 5 each day, how they just wake up in the morning and perform the daily grind, day in and day out, you may be forgiven if they start to think that they may feel like one of the people that live in Storybrooke. They watch the show, and see how Emma comes to the town and things start changing, and how hope is provided to the lonely people in the town; and think, ‘Gee, really wonder if there is something that could happen, here in real life, that could save me from this thing called life! I know there’s something better out there, but if only someone can show me!’ Everyone is definitely searching for a Saviour. Partly a reason why these two shows are popular (everyone wants a John Reese or an Emma Swan to help them, kinda like how all the superhero films are blockbusters), partly because of the entertainment factor, these two shows are providing a sense of hope in situations where there is none. They are ever reminding society, even if they don’t realise it, that there is in fact a Saviour here to help, that Jesus did in fact come to Earth, sought after us and indeed freed us. We just need to peel back the layers and ask the question: why? Why are these particular shows the most popular shows of the season? Are there some themes, like hope, justice, love, messages that the Lord Jesus Christ is trying to impart to society through these shows? Once we realise that Jesus is speaking all the time, once we step back from all the clutter and look at the bigger picture, we may be able to hear clearly what Jesus has been speaking to us all along.

God came down and became our Saviour. He loved us when we didn’t love Him at all. He loved us, though we may feel like He is more distant than we can remember. Even while we were turned our backs, He still came and suffered, like a man, even to the point when He was nailed to a cross. And He did it for us! That is a thought to think about. Let it sink in. In spite of everything, God loved us anyway. He loves us the way we are, so we can just come to Him like that, but He loves us too much to let us stay that way. We must remember that Jesus has our best interests at heart. He is completely invested in how we live our lives. When we didn’t love Him, He loved us anyway. That’s how much He loves us. And with that, let us all embrace and welcome the fact that these shows are doing well. Jesus is speaking, and let us pray that the world will listen!

Before I finish, let me pose a question? Are there any ‘God-themes’ in your TV shows that you watch? What is God teaching you in what you watch, listen to or hear on the radio?

Til next time,

Jon.

We Raise Our White Flag!

Whenever you ask someone whether or not they have accomplished everything in their lives, rarely do you get an answer like ‘Well, now that I am a managing director of 10 stores, all I want to be right now is the CEO of this company that I have poured into these last 20 years! Then and only then I will know that I have accomplished all that I have set out to do!’. Ridiculous, right? No one in their right mind should say that. They shouldn’t place work so high on their agenda. Not that work is not important, there are so many parables about those who do not work, and about how ‘if you don’t work, you don’t eat’, and how in the Bible, “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat." (2 Thessalonians 3:10). But rather, when it all comes down to it, I know what everyone will probably say, or, I know what I’ll say. I know I haven’t accomplished everything that I want to do in life, because there is so much to do. I haven’t been to the places that I want to visit. I just went to Hamburg, Germany and London, England, not that long ago, and if I can plan right now for my next trip, it’ll probably be somewhere in North America, somewhere like Toronto, Los Angeles, San Francisco, or maybe even the Big Apple itself. Having said that, I know that this thing inside of us, this yearning of exploration, discovery and the worldly notion of ‘finding yourself’, is getting more and more ‘important’, ‘popular’ and even ‘encouraged’, and even I can realise that yes, work is work, and work pays the bills, and work can even get promotions, and you can even become everything that you thought that you ever wanted to be, but if that happens, and you are not happy, then, you need to start and rethink some things.

I know that work is not everything in life. Going on holidays has kept it all in perspective, that there is a world to explore, and there are things, apart from work, that everyone should think about. Personally, I know that I haven’t kept in contact that much with my high school friends and acquaintances (aside from a few close friends). I haven’t thought about whether I’ll like to branch out in cooking a different cuisine, whether I want to learn a new language, or whether I can even stop everything, seek the Lord, and just grow deeper in relationships with Him. I could also take up a sport (possibly cricket), maybe even read a few books, or one day actually be at a Passion Conference, live. Like I said in a previous blog, everyone has dreams. And everyone wants to see their dreams turn into reality. And everyone should expect their dreams, especially if they’re given by God; to become reality. If we do not dream, and hope and long for a better day, if we do not wish for ourselves to break out of the mould that is holding us back and accomplishing everything that the Lord has in store for us to do, then we will become stagnant. Definitely not in our faith, but we’ll become stagnant in where we would love to be, in a year, 2 years, 3, 5, 10 years time; and whatever the Lord has planned for us will be just seen as another problem that we will have to overcome, rather than knowing that with God, we are overcomers.

I know that sometimes I could feel like that. That my dreams aren’t turning into reality. Has everyone has heard of the mid-life crisis? There’s a book by Erwin McManus, ‘Wide Awake’; that really hits these dreams stuff on the head. Here’s a quote that I think we all should ponder: Have you ever had one of those conversations with someone? Or have you had one of those conversations in your own mind? No matter what kind of training you pursued, there’s another dream that keeps haunting you. If your career path doesn’t seem to match your heart’s longing, it may be you have a skill that doesn’t match your passion. You were good at something, so it seemed obvious that is what you should do. Or maybe it was a choice between career and family- and you always put others above yourself. You have no regrets, but you do have unfulfilled dreams. You can’t escape that there are hopes and passions inside you, waiting to come alive. You know there is so much more you have to offer, though you don’t say it out loud. You’ve carried these dreams in your heart for too long, it’s now time- way past time- to do something about them. Life is not a stationary experience. Your dreams are not a portrait fixed in time but a story still being written. Even if all your dreams have come true, there’s never a time to stop dreaming. When you stop dreaming, you stop living.

Frightening, right? If you stop dreaming, you stop living? Is that really true? I mean you live, right; from day to day, doing the mundane 9-5 jobs that you were doing yesterday and the day before, and possibly even today and tomorrow; but what else would you want to do? What dreams have been dormant in your heart, just waiting to come out? Everyone can be alive, but not everyone fully lives. I’ve realised that. Not everyone fully uses the potential that has been given to us, by the God of the universe. And that’s sad. Everyone wants to feel that they are worth something, that what they bring to the table is not just another serve of mediocrity; that their contribution is worth more than anyone could know if they weren’t even there in the first place. Work isn’t everything, and what keeps us grounded is the Lord’s promises that what He has spoken into your life, whether by words of affirmation, encouragement and hope by people around you, or by just listening to songs, or hearing phrases that just speak to you. The Lord does keep His promises, and what He wants for you will work out in the end. We just need to realise the yearning and longings that are deep within us. We need to know whether our dreams are God’s dreams for us or whether it’s just our hopes and wishful thinking. For if we are not in alignment with God’s vision and direction, then we are just toiling with human strength, and we will ultimately fail in our attempts to change our reality.

Before I finish this post, what dreams have you had in the past that you have thought about giving up on? Rest assured, the Lord always keeps His promises, and is always with us. We just need to surrender, all to Him. We need to say that we are laying everything, and this really means everything; at the foot of the cross, to say ‘we raise the white flag’. The white flag, normally a term of surrender and defeat, should be acknowledged in this way; we are surrendering everything that we are to the Lord, that we raise the white flag high for the world to see, proclaiming that we are not surrendering in defeat, but we acknowledge that we can’t but He can. I’ve raised the white flag. Will you?

Til next post,

Jon

Dreams: The Tool that God Uses for His Renown and Glory

It is only until you actually go and experience what the majority of Africa experiences every day; that you would finally understand and realise that society in the OECD nations, both America and Australia included; have it really good. And I mean really good. I myself haven’t been, but I know that before my life ends, I would probably go, and then, my understanding will definitely improve. But as far as I know, just looking at the situation at hand, life in the ‘West’ is truly ‘paradise’. We have a home, a place to always go back to if things get tough. We have a bed to sleep in, food to eat, even a TV and computer, fridge and oven, maybe even a gaming console, a DVD/Blu-Ray player, or even surround sound. We even have the luxury to go and have an education, decide our own path for our future. I know these above sentences sound cliché, but lately I have been realising that for a fair amount of my life, I’ve been taking the things that I’ve lived with for most of my life for granted. Like the food, and the choice of reading material, the films and TV that is at the access of our fingertips. Not to mention the internet. We have access to all the information that we can grab our hands upon.

Just recently during the 1^st half of February, the local church that my family goes to participated in Saturate 2012, where over the course of 21 days, we were to fast from something, something that is inside our comfort zone. The purpose of this period was for us to draw closer to the Lord and grow deeper in the relationship we have with Him. Now in the middle of March, Saturate has made me realise that what we have is the Lord’s already, and that we need to be thankful for what we have. I know that I’ve posed this question in an earlier blog post, but, this is really important. The way that the internet has progressed, I really need to ask myself- if the internet was gone, and I mean gone; would I survive. Truthfully; I don’t think that I would. I mean I could, I know that, but…Why? Why am I like this? Has entertainment grabbed a hold of our generation like nothing ever has? We need to snap out of this dependence on things of this world and realise that there is so much injustice in the world and also in the world that we have an influence in. If the Lord wants to shake things up, to grab the attention of myself but also the world around us, and if it’s done by social media and the internet, or if it is done by tearing the internet down, then we need to be cool with it. Jesus did come to shake the world and to turn society on its head. He is not stopping even now, and we need to be ready to hear when the Lord speaks.

Everyone dreams of something that they would love to do, either now or in the years to come. Everyone has one, whether we all realise it or not. It was birthed from before God breathed life into us. And it’ll still be there until we realise what it is that the Lord has placed on our heart for us to accomplish in this world that we live in. Once we realise our passion, let it not define our purpose and when we live to make the Lord famous, our itching will stop and what we have, the material and technological things that are holding us back, won’t anymore and our dreams, the dreams that the Lord planted inside of our being, will see the light of day.

There has been a lyric that has stood out for me recently, relating to our dreams and what happens when what we envisage to be reality isn’t: Sometimes I just wish we could say all the things that are easy to hear, ignore the injustice we see and explain every unanswered prayer. But I’d rather speak honestly and wear a tattered heart on my sleeve, cause in the middle of my broken dreams; redemption is here (from Sanctus Real’s song ‘The Redeemer’). Powerful isn’t it? Doesn’t everyone wish that we can hide from all the disparity that is within this world? Just wish that it could just go away? So that things can be back to what the Lord truly wanted, so that we can go back to ‘Eden’? But we all know as well that we can’t go back. Not until the Lord returns. We can’t ignore what is going around us, and we can’t explain the things that are unexplainable. But that doesn’t mean that the Lord doesn’t know what He is doing when He proclaims that ‘Behold, I am making all things new’ (Revelation 21:5), because that is what He is doing. It may be more painful than we can ever imagine, but nevertheless, it will be necessary in comparison to what glory is before us when Jesus comes again. We must speak honestly, talk to our friends and family; let others know what is in our hearts. Our hopes, dreams, even frustrations about this world and the world to come. We shouldn’t lose hope that our dreams won’t turn out.

Because as the song says, in the middle of everything that has occurred in my life and that will occur, with everything that is not right, God is restoring the broken and lifting up the weary. Redemption is coming, and we need to be ready for the Lord to shake the things that we are the most comfortable inside; disturb us in any way the He wants so that we can truly understand what He is doing both now and in the years to come. God is making all things new, and regardless of whether technology will be part of the future or not shouldn’t matter. What matters is our relationship with God. And beyond that, the Lord will ultimately use our dreams as tools to further His kingdom and His renown over the earth. We mustn’t give up on what we want to do in our lives. God will use it in ways that we may not expect.

Until next post.

Jon.

Songs Speak to Generations- What Would Songs Speak For You?

Songs speak millions to people. They have to. In this digital age, the songs, the music, the TV shows, and the movies shape the way this society behaves, its values, beliefs and hopes, dreams and darkest secrets. These mediums can speak volumes to people that a lecturer standing at the front of the lecture hall cannot. Not to take anything away from professors and teachers; these days information is spread like a wild virus. And the internet is a tool for that. And right now, students and young people around the world will leave that era of ‘freedom’, ‘university life’ with one thing in mind. Not necessarily how this lecturer impacted so much on their life. Yes, that can happen. But what I truly believe, is that people will leave that stage of their life, thinking; ‘This song, or this show, or this movie, impacted me so much, that I could realise that there’s more to life than just living this mundane 9-5 day in a day out life, that there was something more that I could do, to impact today’s generation and the next generation to come!’

Songs are a gateway into something out of this world. Songs can speak about anything. They can become the ultimate moment in someone’s life where they can help in the darkest moment where not even their parents can. A lot of pressure on the song, then- but on a serious note; I truly believe that music can and will change lives. Many people can testify to this, that writing a song gives you permission to talk about anything, and any topic is almost expected. Sometimes songs talk about superficial things like boys, girls, relationships, sex, drugs and rock’n’roll. But what makes songs all the more special are the other side of them, the side that doesn’t talk about the ‘normal’ topics, but the ones that no society talks about- hope, life, death, relationships with each other and with the maker of the universe, the hope that we have in Christ, and the hope that we know, that the Lord God will have the ultimate plan for our lives, that we are not alone in the pit of our despair, that God will hold us together and that we are not alone in this world. These topics, speak to the listener. Much deeper than a droning lecture, sometimes these 3 or 4 minute tunes can change a life, and the realisation can occur that no matter what, we are loved by our family, our friends, and because of this, we can come to the Father, just as we are. This realisation can turn a person, one step away from spiralling destruction, towards hope and light. Songs have the power to restore, build up, encourage, and to give people hope in the hopeless of situations.

Sometimes we can fall into a certain trap that all Christians fall into. We begin to read Christian books, watch Christian films, listen to Christian music, but before you know it, we're more interested in the person, than the God behind the person. You listen to a certain artist, because you like the band, you like their music, rather than the God behind them. You buy their CD's, because of the reputation of the artist, rather than the songs that they sing and who it's sung about. You listen specifically to Louie Giglio DVD's because 'It's Louie Giglio', but don't buy John Piper DVD's, because it's not Louie; even if the message is said better, or if that's what you needed to hear, yet bypassed because of your tastes. We compartmentalise and categorise, and only read certain books, watch certain movies, hear certain songs, because, sadly, of the person rather than the God. I know that that is what some people do, and when they look at themselves, and when they comment and counteract and say ‘But I don’t do that!’; think again. I know I’m susceptible to fall into that trap of glorifying the artist, rather than the God who inspired them- who doesn’t? We’re all human. But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be able to strive to be like Christ.

Songs, are great, and they are a great source of strength and hope when things are going tough, but we must always look back to Christ. We must always draw from The Well, rather than a well. A song can change a generation. But a song with a meaning behind it, a cause that is much bigger than ourselves, bigger than time and space, that is all about eternity, can rock the world to its core, and can affect the mindset of those who sing it. When we join and realise the power of God-shaping songs, nothing is impossible. If God is for us, then who can be against us? When all is said and done, the one goal that we have is to praise the God who laid down His life for us. And I know that for as long as I live, my heart will sing, ‘how great is our God’! Will yours?