Thursday, April 20, 2006
Sitting down and staring at the screen of my laptop certainly sparked forth several thoughts. Having just visited Raymond's blog (My primary aka SA's 1st 3 mths OG mate), countless questions came bombarding into my mind.One particular interesting comment that he made was that life is rotten, even with us Christians around it does not make any difference. Despite being a Christian himself, such a harsh comment certainly comes by more than a reason.I've extracted part of his blog entry (and I hope that he will not mind):The world is rotten; very rotten. With Christians around, it doesn't make much difference. Seeing people in church insulting one another; being sacarstic...
You see, how many of us are actually the people whom he have mentioned? Our second commandment as given by Jesus while He was on earth is to one another like we love ourselves. And by Raymond's entry, the question pondering in my mind is: do people like to insult themselves so much so they start to apply this insulting habit of theirs on others? If that is people's way of showing love to themselves, then that would be just the manner they are going to treat others.But of course, if the habit of criticising the acts of oneself is not present in one's life, I see no reason for this particular being to start criticizing the people around him/her. In short, this person is no different from a hypocrite. And I strongly believe that such a behaviour arises due to a dearth of a particular substance in a person's life; (in my opinion, it is) love.We must always remember to treat people only the way we want others to treat us. Would it not be unreasonable for an evil or self-centered or stingy being to expect great gifts and treatments permanently from the people around him/her?But nonetheless, I still believe that the love of God is able to change such a person for the better. Let's just say that if I have come across someone like I have mentioned above, I might just befriend with this person and keep him/her in prayers. A person's physical features (eyes, nose etc) cannot be changed, but his/her heart can be changed! That is why the world says that the only constant is change. This change is not confined in the realm of the economical or political situations of every country, but it also applies to the people alive on this earth!And so, I believe that there is no heart that is so 'strong' which will not be melted by the love of God as demostrated by His children; us.For me, I have been changed so much because of the love God and His children has poured unto me when I first went to church.I do not deny that I used to be a self centered and evil person. Living in such a competitive country, I believe that most of the kids would just act the way I used to... Recalling my Sec. 2 year, I kept all the notes I had and kept asking around for more summary notes from my friends.So when my classmates got to know that I had cogent points to support several questions as asked in Literature, they asked me the notes in return. Worrying that they might score better than me, I rejected their offers and told them that what the teacher provided in class was already sufficient. Such a selfish act of certainly terrible.That was then the streaming year for secondary school students. The only matter bothering in my mind at that time was how I should continue to keep my notes away from my classmates so that I could ace among them. I did rather well for the first half year in Sec. 2, but my performance dropped for no particular reason during the end of year examinations. Despite feeling disaapointed, I had somehow attained the top 3 position in class then.Feeling satisfied, I told myself that I want to work even harder the moment I promote to Sec 3 back then. But then more doubts surrounded me when the thought of me being in the class of the top 3s in other express classes came to me. Inside me, I thought that it might have been impossible to continue to excel with so many bright students. And how I should protect my own notes so that they will not steal my stuff from me...That was the me then.However, things took a new turn unexpectedly when I attended a Christmas celebration at CHC with my band seniors in Dec 2002, just the month before my Sec 3 life started.Over there, I accepted God and wanted to know Him more because He was able to provide me with the unending love that many people have been searching for in their hearts. Slowly, I learnt to share things, not only in my family but in school too. The Bible states that we should love people like the way we love ourselves. So the self loving me, started to apply this.I started by helping anyone in my class who needed help in their studies. I also shared with them the personal notes that I made during my revision then. And slowly, I find myself learning more than I could have imagined. And as I helped, I continued to pray to God for wisdom and understanding. And when the year ends, I remembered myself getting a fifth place in the whole express cohort with 6As out of 7 subjects. That was also the most glorious period of my school life.If God can change me, and use me so mightily, I see no reason why God cannot do the same for you too! All these are gifts and promises God has promised in the Bible, but there is just ONE condition; you have to accept God into your life. And that was what I did in the first place! Have you?
-my kind of life-
