Opportunity and Change

I remember taking a sort of personality/trait test on facebook a few weeks ago. The result I got, as expected from the choice stereotypical outcomes, was “reliability”. I admit that I am at times proud, that, like Cebu Pacific, I am 95% on time. There was a time that my mom told me I should learn to say “no” to people’s requests for help. I was in fact, so proud of being a “helper” that I subconsciously avoided seeking help from other people.

I was reading a book by a John White earlier today, and it came to a point where he was discussing the apostle Paul’s weakness or “thorn in the flesh”. Th author said that it mattered not what the weakness was, but the fact that he had one is the root of the lesson. The apostle Paul boasts in his weakness (2 Corinthians 12:7), for in it he finds his strength, which comes from relying on God and realizing we are nothing apart from Him.

I had no Idea that the same lesson was already applying to me the moment I was reading it. I was reading the book some time between 9am-12nn. At that time, The SVCF (my organization in UP) tambayan was being cleaned up. Less than 24 hours ago, I told people that I will be participating in the said cleanup. It was not until after I planned to withdraw from an ATM near the tambayan that I realized I was supposed to be there.

After realizing my mistake (I hate being late, so you could only imagine my remorse for forgetting to even show up…), I quickly took a bath, prepared to leave, and biked to Vinzon’s hall, hoping I’d still be able to help out. Yet what met me there was a wet, clean, and empty tambayan. I texted some people, and they all replied the same thing - that it was OK, and that there were many people who helped out.

At that, God made me realize again that I was not indispensable, something that I was trying to turn into a sort of mantra, whenever  I feel like people’s demands are too much. Yes, I just missed another cleaning fellowship (haven’t been to one in years). I just let my “yes” be “no” by accident. God has just proven that no matter how close to perfection we are in certain aspects of our lives, He is the only true reliable God, in whom our hopes should rest. I may be like Cebu Pacific, 95% on time, but still 4% late and 1% absent, and 0% beyond the reach of God’s grace. And with that, I remembered another old post:

http://kairos-delta.blog.friendster.com/2007/10/dont-wanna-miss-athing/

As John white pointed out, to be “poor in spirit” is to know that we are nothing without Christ, and that is why we glory in our weaknesses.

baw

I was on my way to the Katipunan LRT station via a UP-Katipunan jeep the other day, when a group of seven students (most likely freshmen) rode the jeep. As there was nothing else to listen to aside from the rain and the traffic, my ears automatically tuned into the group’s conversations. I learned halfway through the trip that they were bound for Trinoma, yet were asking the jeepney driver to let them down at McDonald’s Katipunan.

There I was, contemplating if I was to spill the bad news that they were riding the wrong jeep, going in the opposite direction, and that they would have to take another two rides in the all-consuming rain to get to their destination (I think they were going to watch a movie, and some already had tickets). The lazy and shy introvert side got the best of me, as I shut up and watched them go down without even letting out a single word.

Twofold Reflection

I felt guilt afterwards, as I was reflecting. There I was, given a chance to help a group of strangers, yet for some reason, I did not want to become their bearer of “bad news”. Yet in so doing, I gave them a harder time. I wonder if any of them wondered why nobody told them they were lost…

As followers of Christ, we hold information that at times, may seem like bad news to most people (and that information, ironically, is called the gospel or “good news”). Perhaps we don’t want to see their reactions. They might respond in disbelief, insisting that they are going in the right direction, and curse you for meddling with their lives. They might, out of suspicion, consider you as a joker who thinks them gullible to believe such stories that seem better fitted in children’s fairytale books. Or they might just say thank you for telling them the truth… I think a one in three risk is good enough in the light of eternity.

Another unconnected reflection for today:

“The Irony: Good humanists work all their lives to improve the condition of the disadvantaged, but for what? To raise them to the level of the upper classes so that they too can experience boredom, alienation, and decadence?” –From Philip Yancey’s Soul Survior

I’m still a few hours away from finishing Philip Yancey’s Soul Survivor, a book that discusses the lives of thirteen unlikely people who have influenced his faith. One of those people Yancey discussed was the former surgeon general of the United States, Dr. C. Everett Koop, whom he likened to the prophet Daniel. The parallelism made me think, especially now that our church is having a series on the book of Daniel.

Let us first discuss the prophet Daniel. In essence, he was a foreigner that was trained to lead and hold a position of power and influence in a place with a culture and religion that was highly incompatible with and, immoral compared to, his beliefs. He studied, among other things, astrology and sorcery that we know would be condemned in the early churches of the New Testament. We could assume that the laws he implemented were more Babylonian, rather than Jewish in nature. Any fundamentalist could consider Daniel as someone who defiled himself, as someone who tolerated all the hateful (in the eyes of God) practices of the Babylonians, yet the scriptures clearly portray him as a role model for the youth (intelligent, good-looking, Godly). Not even once can we see Daniel lobbying laws that forbid or take away the Babylonians’ freedom to worship many gods, even when the king Nebuchadnezzar himself admitted how powerful the God of the Jews were.

Dr. Koop was a man of integrity who had welfare of America in mind. In the long run, his non-Christian critics learned to genuinely trust him as a sort of America’s family doctor, yet, at the same time, his Christian supporters rejected him, feeling betrayed at each “compromise” and “failure” he made. One such controversy was when “he declined to state that abortion procedures performed by qualified medical professionals posed a substantial health risk to the women whose pregnancies were being terminated, despite political pressure to endorse such a position.”

In the light of the upcoming elections, the current state of the local political landscape, and the Christians’ anticipation of “Christian” candidates, how should the potential voters act? Should we cast our votes on those who promise an agenda “righteous rule”? Or to those who would implement laws similar to the unwritten do’s and don’ts we have in most churches? Do we abstain if no morally suitable candidate is found? More importantly, what would our part be, after electing people into position?

For those who will be in position, the two great men stated above gives us good examples of what to look for:

• Unwavering moral integrity on what they believe in.
• The capacity to excellently do the tasks assigned to them.
• Compassion and concern for the people they serve
• Love for their God, and obedience to His commandments

For those believers who will put them into position, this, I think, is how we should be/act:

• Having a sense that the government is God’s tool for accomplishing His purposes, no matter how corrupt or nasty those in position are.
• Realizing that we as believers are not to impose whatever set of moral standards we have on the nation, but rather influence the nation through example and compassion, being the body of Christ to them.
• Obeying all known laws and submitting to authorities as long as these do not trudge on the Lordship of Christ.

As for SVCF’s outing with charm:

http://drunkenshrimp.multiply.com/journal/item/4/SVCFs_Pansol_Outing_With_Charm

Quote for today:

“In the absence of any other proof, the thumb alone would convince me of God’s existence” - Sir Isaac Newton