"Do what thou wilt" ?

A line in the last part of the Hell’s Bells series really frightened me: “Do what thou wilt”. It is supposedly the primary law of Satan. As far as I’m concerned, I’m guilty of acting for my own pleasure most times, if not every time, and to think that I’m a Christian?!?

In contrast, Christ gave us the greatest commandment, which is to love God with all our mind, strength, and heart. The second commandment is to love our neighbours. I was not asked to love myself which is: “Do what thou wilt”. Loving myself would be sinning, cuz sin originates from loving yourself. Think about it, all pride, greed, malice, lust, anger, gluttony, and evil thoughts comes from loving ourselves.

Now the core of being a Christian would mean to love God first, others second, and ourselves last. It would take superhuman strength to achieve that feat, that’s why we have to empowerment of the Holy Spirit to guide us.

So… will “Do what thou wilt” still reign in you???

COPA IBA food fest!

I admit – it’s been a while since I showed my face at Youth. I will make no excuses suffice to say that things will (prayerfully) return to normal after September 29 ;)

Because of this, I made sure that I was at the COPA IBA reunion dinner last week at Cheng-Yi’s place. Oh sure, the food had something to do with it but, most important of all, I wanted to see my boys and girls who, in the months of my absence, seem to be fast becoming young men and women! Slow down! Get shorter! Where did you learn how to dress like that! Why is everyone taller than me???

Who's the OWL? No prizes for guessing!

Johnson, Kuang Ern and some guy in a pink shirt

ANYWAY, I was waiting in church in case any lost souls came by so by the time I got back to Cheng’s place, it was all brightly-lit and overflowing with people and delicious smells from the grilling lamb. It was festive, so warm and I promised myself that I need to start being around more often.

We started off by celebrating the birthday of Chin Wuen who is currently in college. He’s been a part of the Youth since he was in secondary school and because he stays on campus, he hasn’t been around as often. So it was really good to see him again and sing Happy Birthday to him.

Chin Wuen doing justice to the candle

Look at all the pretty M&Ms!

Take a look at the cake (upside down, thanks to our photographer :P)! His mom made it. Certain people could hardly keep their itchy fingers from plucking one (or more!) tempting M&Ms from the cake. I think it was a brownie. A BIG brownie. The only kind of brownie there should be…

Then, the moment we’ve all been waiting for: DINNER! Check out the spread. ::DIES:: Apple salad, kindly tossed by Ashley and aunty Katrina; aunty Liew’s delicious, creamy mash potato baked with a cheese crust; crispy lemon chicken, stroganoff and pasta kindly contributed by honorary TTDIGC YF chef uncle Chiong Shen and aunty Wai Mun; and last but certainly, certainly not least, tender lamb marinated by Xin-Yi and Cheng and grilled to perfection by the willing, ever-helpful hands of uncle Chee Kong.

Imported COPA IBA guys and girls: see if you can name all of them...More imported COPA IBA dudes... and Ms Wong

OK fine I admit I had three helpings but the last was just pasta sauce.. and salad. That’s healthy! Oh wait – you mean the lamb counts? But how could I resist as Xin Yi whisked in bearing a styrofoam plate of the coveted lamb chops! My willpower was overcome eventhough I had already eaten enough to last me the whole of next week so I proceeded to carve everything up nicely – to share! – and downed a few choice pieces of meat. Ahh – the perfect end.

It was really good seeing everyone chatting and talking. My radar even picked up some very suspicious behaviour going on behind my back, literally, but I will not say further in case I incur the wrath of Certain Individuals.

Well – it was a good night. We should have COPA IBA more often if it means having lamb chops after to celebrate!

Here's to COPA IBA 2008! Finals, guys? :D

Guilt & Sins..

Have you ever done something wrong and later felt bad about it? That is guilt. We feel guilty over the wrongs in our life almost daily, that’s because God gave us a conscience. Conscience is something which enables us to tell the difference between right and wrong. And we won’t feel right until we’ve covered it up. That’s the same with our search for an eternal being. Most religions emphasizes on doing good to cover up for all our wrongs, the more good you do, the more points you get in order to enter heaven. On the other hand, guilt remains forever on our stained sheet of life. like an ugly black blot of ink. No matter how much good you’ve done, the blot of ink remains. Sometimes we can escape getting caught, but we can never escape the guilt of sin. It is built into the fabric of life. It is guilt that makes us run when no one is chasing us.

We long to be free. We want to be free from oppression. We want to be free from ill health. Basically we just want to be free ourselves from guilt of sin. However, only the blood of Christ has true cleansing power. When we receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, believing that He died to pay the penalty for ours sins, then we are truly free. The feeling is like a big burden has been lifted from our shoulders. The bent shall finally walk straight. Christ has removed the blot of ink forever. 1 John 1:19 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”. The psalmist can never adequately give thanks to God who has removed his transgressions.

Another trouble many people have is that after they’ve confessed their sins, they don’t feel forgiven. They look to their feelings for assurance that God has forgiven them. What they must understand is that the assurance of forgiveness doesn’t come from feelings but from the Word of God. Feelings are always deceptive; God’s word is true. When we confess our sins, we can know that we have been forgiven, whether we feel it or not. Now that’s the power of His cleansing blood. It’s our choice to take or reject it.

What’s yours???

MisSinG u..

Hey YFers,

Where are you guys on Saturday evenings???
Do come for captainball at 4.30pm cuz' we miss you!!!
It doesn't matter if your fingers are as buttery as mine (?), as long as you can run and jump we want you there at Zaaba Park.
Games are times where we bond with our fellow brothers and sisters, we laugh and joke a lot, tease the skin out of everyone, monkey here and there...
Basically we just have good fellowship. If you are dying to come but don't have transport, just let us know.
So, cya!

Life's musings...

I wake up everyday to my same routine, except weekends. Have you ever thought of your very existence here on this tiny planet? Maybe you’ve thought about your future in the next few years, which university to go to, what ambition to pursue. After your education, you’d probably end up with someone and have kids, then what? You’d start the torturous climb up the social and working ladder. After you’ve gained quite a reputation for yourself, you start to think, what does all this amount to? My fame, riches, etc. Will it all matter on my death bed?

What does it mean when we read in Gen 1:26 that God made man in His image, after His likeness? Man was not made in the likeness of any creature, but in the likeness of his creator. But it is the soul of man, that does especially bear God's image. Man is one rung higher then all other creations for we have a soul, and with that soul, we commune with God. God created in us a void that only Him, and Him only has that capacity to fill that void. No other creation can take His place. Man has a tendency for spiritual matters; we see that all around us: religions, superstitions, horoscopes, etc. We feel an emptiness in us that only God can fill, which is the reason why we have a longing for Him. But of course we can never reach God on our own, which is why Jesus Christ is the one and ONLY way to The Father.

If that is not my purpose for living, I would not have a soul. And if I do not have a soul, I’d be yet another creature roaming the face of earth.