Here I go. I'm expecting a lot from it. It promises to deliver. By God's grace it will be able to deliver more than promised. I want that A$189 ticket to count, and reap dividends not just on my life but also to those around me. That's the best way of making investments. 20 years down the road, will I look back and see i) people changed, their hearts surrendered to God, or ii) people still living the same way they are?

When we have the knowledge of something, do we share it or deliberately keep it to ourselves?

---- Away from 28th Jun '06 to 09th Jul 06 ------

"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known (1 Corinthians 13:11-12)."

Being mature is not about just acting mature. One can never act mature, because maturity is shown in a person's character through the decisions he/she makes, through the thought processes, and through his/her general behaviour. The way one talks, the way one carries oneself, etc. You can be the richest person in the world and yet lack maturity. You can be the most good-looking person in the world, yet lack maturity.

Paul in Corinthians is exhorting us to grow up, and "put childish ways" behind ourselves. Petulance, over-complaining, pettiness, frivolity --- all are just but concepts of immaturity. The way we react to circumstances in our lives --- from when we are toddlers and cry because someone snatches our toy, till when we start schooling and can't keep up with the pressures of CCAs, studies, and a possible boy/girlfriend, or when someone starts backstabbing you at work, or says nasty things about you when you're in church.

"From life's first cry, to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny (From the song "In Christ Alone")." How are we going to react to negative situations? By reacting negatively? It gets us nowhere. In the end when we die we will still be sore, we will still be bitter --- for what? Holding on to something that will hurt us when in fact the other person won't know that he/she hurt us. Would it be fair? In the end God may judge that person for the sin that he/she committed, and judge you for holding on to the sin of resentment and anger against that person.

Do not judge a book by its cover. On the surface a person can be mischievous and playful, as a personality trait. God created him/her to be like that. But when it comes to serious stuff, does the person give an insightful comment to intriguing questions, or a silly response, or has no idea what's going on? When his/her close friend meets with an accident, what does he/she do? When another friend is upset, what else does he/she do? All these determine your maturity level, not by how you speak or how you dress. Not even how much you serve God. Sometimes, it is a great job serving Him by doing nothing than by doing something which God doesn't want you to do.

God looks at the heart. All He asks is obedience, and reverent awe of Him. Of Him who created the heavens and the earth in 6 days, who made man in His own image, who built the stars and the skies up from nothing. He made them all, and there is in fact nothing that He cannot do --- except to sin of course, because He is perfect and sin is imperfect. A heart ready to follow Him --- that's true maturity.

Joel.

"Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold (Ephesians 4:26-27)."

"In your anger do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent (Psalms 4:4)."

The pervasiveness of Darwinian evolution has led many to believe that it is true, and adopt these principles as the basis of corporate operations. The concept of survival of the fittest, where the best-adapted survive, and the weak ones die out, can be seen in a myriad ways throughout the executive world. The boss or the CEO sets the productivity target and the sales profits to be met, in order to outdo the nearest competitor, and the onus of these targets falls onto the mid-level managers, from them downwards further to the individual salesmen and workers. Be they the ones marketing the goods or manufacturing it, ridiculously high targets to be achieved does seem ridiculous, but if they don't do it they will be left out in the cold without a job, so they have to make themselves do it. Which, in turn, leads to higher stress levels, as they try to churn out what is expected of them. It is during this crunch period that tempers flare, and Murphy's law applies, where "Everything that may go wrong will go wrong". For example, a colleague napping at his desk during lunch break when everyone is still busy replying emails or handling telephone calls. Or, the photocopier machine breaks down when zapping n important document, and when the repairman comes you scold him instead of thanking him for repairing it, rattling off a long discourse about missed deadlines and skipping lunches just to get things done, while he being a victim of 15 other companies that day is already hot-and-bothered under the collar.

As Paul mentions in Ephesians (quoted above), sin will give the devil a foothold in your life. As Jesus puts it aptly, "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brotherwill be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell. Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift (Matthew 5:21-24)." Being angry with a person is already tantamount to murder, as defined by Jesus. Acting out of spite and rage towards a person causes a worsening of the already-bad situation instead.

For example, A is angry with B because B naps during lunchtime instead of helping out with the rest of the team. And B gets angry with A for being angry with him because he has already done his part by procuring the most sales revenue for the month already and he feels he deserves a short break. As tempers flare up, nasty words will be exchanged, and cannot be taken back. Anger clouds our perspective of a person really badly indeed. The fact is, both are right. But reactions based on feelings never work out because in the end people will still be deadlocked, and the problem festers. It hurts productivity levels, too. In Romans it is written "for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)" and "the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23)." We deserve to die for our sins. Murder is sin, and sin is death.

So how can I, a sinful human, judge another sinful human for the things he has done to me? We are all imperfect beings making imperfect decisions, and these may hurt someone directly or indirectly, be it deliberately or not, vice-versa. The only one who makes perfect decisions is God, and therefore He is the one judging us because only He can adhere to His own perfect standards. We can't adhere to His and therefore are unable to judge anyone. The world's morals are all but a fraction of God's morals. True, people can hurt us, but the important thing is how we react to it. Do we, thinking that we've been hurt, parade it around in an effort to shame the other person or bottle it up only to explode when all the previous accumulated hurts are expelled at one shot? In any case, it is wrong. Forgive and forget, as it is commonly said. Why dwell upon it? It eats away at your soul, bringing upon more stress and symptoms like high-blood pressure and poor appetites and reduced sleep.

We ought to have more control upon ourselves. We shouldn't make judgments because we can't judge. We have 3 things in common with the party who hurt us, i) he/she is loved by God, ii) he/she is sinful, and iii) he/she will be judged by God on the day of judgment. As Isaiah writes, "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you(Isaiah 35:4)." Why be bothered about such inconsequential things then?

As Paul says, "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)." It is a temporary life on earth we live now, waiting for that eternal resting place with God which will be our home forever.

So what should we do then? Peter says, "For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love (2 Peter 1:5-7)." Paul adds, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law (Galatians 5:22-23)."

This will be our storing up of eternal treasure in heaven (Matthew 6:20). "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:21)." We have to remember that we're not living life on this earth forever, but in a world of perfection with God when we go to meet with Him in eternity.

Joel.

This is the age of forevers. Where advertisements prescribe anti-aging treatments, doctors proclaim fresh drugs to combat more diseases, and of course, slimming to battle the middle age flab gains. We want to be remembered for what we've done.

Yet the stark truth is this. Jesuss said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away (Matthew 24:35, Mark 13:31, Luke 21:33)." If even heaven and earth will pass away, then what we do will account for nothing. We can be the best world leaders, we can be the most prominent researchers, or the most fmaous rock stars on this planet. But what we do equates to nothing. Zero. Zilch. No-no.

What, in the end, is eternal?

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

It is the life after death that is truly considered eternal. Everlasting, for this will be the case that happens, forever after death. Truly forever. On the basis of one accepting the gospel of Christ into his heart, or rejecting it. This is the belief of Christianity. You could say that we are really narrow-minded. As Paul says, "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12-14)." Narrow-minded as we can be, our lives are set for a future with God. We know where we're going and we're unashamed about it. For what could be better than a free gift of life? It's free! And it lasts forever! When you've received it, the only time you lose it is when you choose not to want it anymore! Unless God changes His mind about you, but yet "God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill (Numbers 23:19)?"

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him (John 3:16-17)."

That, my friends, is the meaning of everlasting life.

Joel.