It's OK to want - It's what you want that matters

I need to qualify:

I don't usually post again so quickly but I felt a disquiet after my last post. The way I wrote, it was as if it is wrong to want more, to have more. Yes, it's challening to have the wealth of King Solomon but it's not necessarily wrong... after all, what we have all come from God.

I mentioned that our hearts are basically orientated to want more. It struck me this is fundamentally true. Our hearts are made to want more of God. Things go awry when what we want is not more of God but of the things in this world. (Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world., 1 John 2: 15 - 16, NIV, BibleGateway.com)

What we don't want to become:
To tell ourselves "It's wrong to want! It's wrong to want!" is not the right approach because we will become one of two types of people.

One, we become resentful of those who have more than us. My family and I were once in a situation where the new things we had, the clothes we wore, the choices we made were constantly judged to be extravagant. It was difficult, frustrating and stressful. If the intent was meant to drive us to a simpler life, it certainly didn't work.

Two, we become Christians who have a veneer of cheer all the time - you know, those who have one foot stuck in poop and look to heaven to thank God that their other foot is not in it. If we believe that we are made to want more of heaven and God, we will instead grieve that feet get stuck in poop on earth and look to heaven to thank God that there will not be poop in heaven (my theory on no poop in heaven is interesting discussion for another time... if you folks are interested in such things :).

It is when we allow ourselves to want more - more of heaven and God; and to recognise that we live in a broken, fallen world where there is injustice, tragedies and grievious events that we become real, authentic people. Men and women in the Bible grieved - King David in the Psalms, the whole book of Job, Lamentations, Jeremiah; Hannah (Prophet Samuel's mother) grieved at the injustice of her bareness; and of course, Jesus grieved. The grief and discontent with this present world should drive us to pursue God, to have a foretaste now of what it will be like in Heaven (All these people were still living by faith when they died. … admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. … they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. Hebrews 11: 13, 14, 16).

Jewels - we can't outshine God

Tiffany & Co. Rings

And for those of you who think that God is not aware of our desires for beautiful and precious things, this is how the Bible describes Heaven - 

"The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass." 

( Revelation 21: 18 - 21, NIV, BibleGateway.com). 

I do not mean any disrespect when I say that heaven seems very 'bling-bling'. Those Tiffany & Co. http://www.tiffany.com/International.aspx fans out there - you ain't seen nothing yet till you've seen Heaven's jewels.

Joni Eareckson Tada

A Real Story:
There is a lady whom I feel daily embodies how one can learn to grieve about one's condition on earth but live with a vibrant, contented spirit while waiting for the promises of heaven. 

"A diving accident in 1967 left Joni Eareckson Tada a quadriplegic in a wheelchair". That means she has not been able to use her 4 limbs for the last 5 decades. She, has learnt through God to overcome her 'handicap' to achieve great things. To find our more of Joni, go to this link http://joniearecksontadastory.com/ and her website: http://www.joniandfriends.org/

Excerpts:
I give you a short excerpt from the Joni Eareckson Tada Story website:

God used this injury to develop in me patience and endurance and tolerance and self-control and steadfastness and sensitivity and love and joy. Those things didn’t matter much when I was on my feet but, boy, they began to matter after I began living life in a wheelchair.

Also, I began to get a buoyant, lively hope of heavenly glories above. In other words this wheelchair help me see that the good things in this life aren’t the best things. There are better things yet to come. The good things in this life are only omens and foreshadowing of more glorious, grand, great things to burst on the scene when we walk into the other side of eternity. For one thing, the Bible assures us that we’re going to have new bodies. First Corinthians, chapter 15, read it sometime for some encouragement. We learn there that one day we will have new hands, new legs that will walk, new hearts, new minds.

I can’t wait for the day when I’m given my brand new glorified body. I’m going to stand up, stretch, dance, kick, do a aerobics, comb my own hair, blow my own nose, and what is so poignant is that I’ll finally be able to wipe my own tears, but I won’t need to, because the Bible tells us in the book of Revelation that God will personally wipe away every tear. There will be no more need to cry. How ironic that finally on the day when I have my hands so I can blow my own nose and wipe own tears I won’t have to. 

As they said in the show 'Babe' - " 'nuff said".

For Isaac Yap - enjoy!

The Trials of Having Much

What's wrong with more?
What would you say if I said that the lavish riches King Solomon received was the cross that he had to bear for his life? Frankly, when God pointed that out to me, my first thoughts were "If that's a cross, let me have it." God was trying to teach me something - to 'Have' is not always better than to 'Have Not'.


Josh Sundquist
A few months ago I posted a link to a YouTube Video on Facebook  of a guy called Josh Sundquist: Josh Sundquist - Student Demo - Inspirational Speech.


I like his videos because he is genuinely funny and his videos are clever. What struck me even more after watching several of his videos was that he had only ONE leg! He lost his left leg to cancer as a seven year old child and it was really sad (his tells his story drawing them on a sketchbook in the videos - it's really cool); but because he's sitting in front of his computer in many of his videos and because he has such a bright, upbeat spirit, I didn't realise that he had lost a leg.


I thought I would get a massive response on Facebook to his video but all I got was 2 Likes - 1. My ever loyal and supportive wife (so maybe that's not even counted) and 2. My ex-Sunday School Superintendent.


Our sick hearts
Why were there such few responses? I came to the conclusion that it's the same as when we tell our children or when we heard as children "You better eat up all your food because there are starving children in Africa!" When has that ever taught us to be more appreciative of our food and to lick our platters clean?


We have never responded to this type of message because our hearts are basically orientated to wanting more, not less. When others have less than us, we are relieved that we 'have'. It drives us to want more, to get as far away from the 'have not' state as possible; rather than be thankful to God for what we have been blessed with. What God to know from me was "Do you believe that what you have is exactly what you need? Do you trust me?"

My Electric Blue Picanto
Have I ever told you about my electric blue Picanto? After a few years of running around Singapore by bus and MRT; and when the COE was at an all time low, I decided to buy a second car for myself. The price and the cute factor of the Picanto made it an obvious choice for me.


I decided to up the cute factor even further with two furry friends on the dashboard - Totoro (M) and Mr Nosey. 


A few months back when my wife, Marie and I were at a petrol station. The female pump attendant asked Marie when we stepped out of the car if the two toys were hers. 'No! They're his', she said. The pump attendant was so tickled by this that she couldn't stop laughing...and laughing ...and laughing. Well so much for my fragile male ego ....

Most days I enjoy zipping around in this little blue car. But there are some days, usually on days that don't go so well, that I look to the right and wonder why I'm not driving a Maserati or a Ferrari or a Porsche. Why do I not look left at the people crammed onto a bus and be thankful for my much improved situation? It's the "I want more; not less" Syndrome.


King Solomon and King David - whose life would you choose?
So coming back to King Solomon. God had blessed him with wisdom and wealth beyond any other man in the world at that time. As it is recorded in the Bible: "King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth." 1 Kings 10:23. 


As compared to King David, Solomon did not have to hide in caves, roam the country with his band of men like bandits, be chased by men intent on killing him - as was King David's lot. Yet his comfortable life did not engender a thankful spirit and faithfulness to God. In fact, they pulled him further and further away - "King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.”...He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray." (1 Kings 11:1-3) (OK, so you may argue that it's his many wives that pulled him away, not his wealth but I seriously doubt he could have had so many wives without first have the money).


As Christians who profess to believe in and love God, would you choose David's difficult life or Solomon's comfortable one? Is it the pursuit of comforts in our lives that drive our choices or the state of our hearts before God that matters?


"As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been." (1 Kings 11: 4).

Would you not agree that treasures and riches were Solomon's cross to bear in his life? Something to think about.


PS - just some housekeeping. I have just activated the 'RSS' thing on this blog (whatever that is). But now I am able to see my blog on my own mobile and it looks quite good (if I may say so myself). Do if you're keen ... please go ahead.