Kings

A post! Haha..

Really struggling to find time to blog these days.. and when I finally decided to blog, I am so tired that I can’t think of anything worth blogging..

I think I don’t strive very well under stress.. especially stressful when you are doing things for the first time.. one was organizing games for the BB/GB boys and girls.. second was doing the paeds debate.. well I guess the most stressful part for me was the week leading up to these two things, cos its like something is impending, but it has not yet arrived and you are not sure how it will turn out.. the two events went fine.. anyway when you are involved in it, things happen quickly and they are over in minutes.. and I guess the least stressful part is the aftermath.. haha duh.. Actually all my worries and stress were unfounded.. I know it at the back of my head. Yet I still feel stressed. At the end of the day, as long as you do fairly okay, people will still say that you did a fantastic job, especially in Christian settings where people are so accommodating and encouraging.. I think even if it was a disaster, people will still say you did a great job haha.. Anyway, it was a good experience for me preparing and participating in those two events. And valuable lessons learnt. Especially for the debate, I don’t think it was a waste of time. So yup thank God for them!

Maybe share something from today’s sermon which I think has valuable lessons for Christians and non-Christians alike. My church is currently doing a series on 1 Samuel. And today it was from 1 Samuel chapter 8. In short, the passage is about the Israelites at that time asking Samuel (a judge or God’s mouthpiece or spokesperson) to appoint a king over them, just like all other nations had. God’s response was that the Israelites had rejected Him as king and chosen to look for a human king. They had forgotten how He had brought them out of Egypt and had turned to other gods and forsaken Him. God then warned them how they will be enslaved under the reign of the human king and how he will demand their possessions, children, servants and flocks. Yet the Israelites were adamant in their demand for a human king. And God will grant their wish.

I think in many ways, we are just like the Israelites at that time. Sin has not changed in its nature through these couple of thousand of years. Man’s sin is still manifested in the same way in his rebellion against God and rejection of his rule.

For us Christians, we have full knowledge about God. We know that through believing in Jesus, we are saved and that our lives should be offered up totally to him, to serve him and honour him. We are to rejoice in knowing him and serving him. Yet many times, knowing about him rarely equates to knowing him. Even though we already have a great God that is almighty and governs over all areas of our lives, we continue to serve our tiny gods within everyone of us, be it relationships, money, career, entertainment or material things. We continue to ask God for a “king” in our lives. How nice it will be if you give me that wonderful job in that MNC? How nice it will be if I can get a raise next month? How nice it will be if I get together with so and so? And live happily ever after. So are we shifting our trust in God which He expects from all of us, to a misplaced trust in things of this world?

When I was a non-Christian, I really long for the things of this world. To do well in school, to get a good job, move up the social strata, earn my millions, marry a good wife, have nice kids, retire in some rustic countryside and die peacefully. To a certain extent, these “wants” are still there consciously or subconsciously. But if you think about it, it is a really futile existence building your lives around these things. Many of these things don’t last and many times, these things are not within our control. Not many people are born with good brains. Not many people have the luck to make it big in the business world. Relationships have always been fraught with problems. Of course, some have been able to achieve some of these things through sheer grit and hard work. But at the end of the day, is it worth spending your whole life chasing after these things? I don’t know. As sinful people, some of us will still claim that it is worthwhile aiming for these things in life. Especially if you don’t believe in a god. If this life is all there is, the be all and end all, then the only things that can keep us going will be all the things mentioned above. But if you believe in a god, God is saying here that He does not want us to be enslaved by all these things. To spend our entire lives chasing after things that are temporary and to the point of being their slaves, being slaves to work, being slaves to money and being slaves of this world. Instead what God offers is a life to serve him, to live under His reign, and be free from the shackles of this world. Freedom instead of slavery. Eternal life instead of death.

Perhaps what we all need are not the little kings we all yearn, but what we do need is God the king. What we do need is a new heart to serve God and God alone. What we do need is to repent of our sinful ways and to turn to God for forgiveness.