jonah - in the shelter house of God

jonah - in the shelter house of God

a man of big ego
in the stomach of a big fish
in the midst of a big ocean

brought to the lowest point of earth and of his life
trapped into a time and space

still oblivious

Dali

"Lawless"-ness vs. "Sinless"-ness

What does the Cross accomplish?

theology of glory and theology of cross

A theology of glory works like that. It operates on the assumption that what we need is optimistic encouragement, some flattery, some positive thinking, some support to build our self-esteem. Theologically speaking it operates on the assumption that we are not seriously addicted to sin, and that our improvement is both necessary and possible. We need a little boost in our desire to do good works.

Gerhard Forde, On Being a Theologian of the Cross p.16

My (self) Identity has become my Idol

At a recent teaching, when the preacher was explaining the meaning of Idoltary - anything we want badly, our over-arching desire, our "god".

Sure, I have idols like money, career... but a more subtle one was revealed to me when I was thinking about the matter4 what my over-arching desire and the word popped out was "self-identity".
I was able to recognize it immediately.

My pursue for Awareness (or Spiritual Awareness)
Has it subtly become a pursue ahead of God?
Though it started sincerely as a pursue of God, but has it become a pursue of its own?

I think it has. How insidious is our heart!

Morality

Morality may be a hard concept to grasp, but we acquire it fast. A preschooler will learn that it's not all right to eat in the classroom, because the teacher says it's not. If the rule is lifted and eating is approved, the child will happily comply. But if the same teacher says it is also OK to push another student off a chair, the child hesitates. "He'll respond, "No, the teacher shouldn't say that."

In both cases, somebody taught the child a rule, but the rule against pushing has a stickiness about it, one that resists coming unstuck even if someone in authority countenances it. That's the difference between a matter of morality and one of mere social convention and somewhat the kids feel it innately.

Where do these intuitions come from?

But of course, moral judgement is pretty consistent from person to person. Moral behaviour, however is scattered all over the chart. The rules we know, even the ones we intuitively feel, are by no means the rules we always follow.

And why are we so inconsistent about following where they lead us?

Morality, trying to achieve goodness through our behaviours, has somewhat failed in everyone of us.

(Time Magazine, 03 Dec 2007)

Law and Wretchedness

24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
25 Thanks be to God— through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Before I can utter "Thanks be to God" in verse 25, I have to recognise the Law and my Wretchedness under the Law.
If I have never seen my utter wretchedness with the law, what thanks am I giving?

7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, Do not covet.

Do I hate the law? No!

12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.

The Law makes me really my wretchness and thankful for the Cross.

Sermon 27.07.2008: The CROSS - the cure for sin (our sin)

The meaning of the Cross, the Crucification has always been hard for me to grasp. Despite acknowldging Christ died on the Cross for me, the reason for the death and the significance of the death is beyond me.
Sin - for me (I assume for many of us) may be a bit hard to understand.... Did OK at school, law abidding citizen, work hard to earn a living, treated friends and parents reasonably well, serve in church...
So to see myself as a sinful person... hmmmm..... I may not be the perfect person, but to reckon myself as sinful person...to reckon my shortcoming as sins (rather as imperfections).....hmmmmm


What the Gospel is - The CROSS. The CROSS - the cure for sin (our sin)

The type of cure administered (sleepover, aspirin, antibiotic, chemo, surgery) depends on the type of illness.
The cure of sin (our sin) administered by God is the death of His son on the Cross

Have it occured to me the dosage administered by God for my sin?
In view of the “dosage” God administered, do I see sin as God see it?
Do I hate sin as God hates sin?

It is said “The CROSS is the most dramatic act of the wrath, the judgement and the love of God. We will not appreciate the cure unless we understand how sick we are. We will not appreciate the Cross unless we see how ugly (our) sin is.”