It’s hard to believe the world is here just so I can party

“It’s hard to believe the world is here just so I can party, when a third of its people go to bed starving each night. It’s hard to believe the purpose of life is to feel good, when I see teenagers smashed on the freeway. If I try to escape toward hedonism, suffering and death lurk nearby, haunting me, reminding me, of how hollow life would be if this world were all I’d ever know.” - Phillip Yancey - Where is God when it hurts

Why Do I call You

Why do I call You "Lord, Lord but not do what You say?"

Terima kasih untuk sakit

Setelah membaca "Where is God when it hurts" oleh Phillip Yancey, saya mulai bisa mengucap syukur bagi setiap sakit yang kita alami, seringkali orang berpikir ketika sakit maka ada sesuatu yang Tuhan mau utarakan dalam hidup kita, ataupun ada satu kesalahan yang kita perbuat. Apakah benar demikian. Ternyata tidak selalu demikian. Tidak ada seorangpun yang akan luput dari murka Allah, seorangpun tidak, dan bukan berarti ketika kita tidak mengalami penderitaan, maka Allah di pihak kita, jika kita mengalami penderitaan maka Allah tidak ada di pihak kita.

Terima kasih, ketika kita mengalami sakit, entah sakit secara jasmani ataupun sakit secara batin, itulah tandanya kita masih hidup sebagai manusia. Mendengar bagaimana orang-orang penyakit kusta, mereka tidak bisa merasakan sakit sehingga tubuh mereka dapat terluka lebih mudah, karena tidak adanya sensor untuk merasakan sakit dan refleks untuk menghindar dari kesakitan yang mendadak ataupun kesakitan yang secara bertahap.

Saya teringat ketika Tuhan menyembuhkan orang penyakit kusta, mereka bersyukur karena mereka sembuh...namun kesembuhan mereka adalah karena mereka dapat kembali merasakan sakit di dalam tubuh mereka.

Terima kasih Tuhan buat sakit yang kami derita baik secara jasmani maupun batiniah.

Jesus is not a new butler

Millions of nominal Christians have never experienced a fundamental alteration of that foundation of happiness. Instead they have absorbed the notion that becoming Christian means turning to Jesus to get what you always wanted before you were born again. So, if you wanted wealth, you stop depending on yourself for it, and by prayer and faith and obedience you depend on Jesus for wealth. If you wanted to be healthy, you turn from mere human cures to Jesus as the source of your health. If you wanted to escape the pain of hell, you turn to Jesus for the escape. If you wanted to have a happy marriage, you come to Jesus for help. If you wanted peace of conscience and freedom from guilt feelings, you turn to Jesus for these things.
In other words, to become a Christian, in this way of seeing things, is to have all the same desires you had as an unregenerate person—only you get them from a new source, Jesus. And he feels so loving when you do. But there’s no change at the bottom of your heart and your cravings. No change in what makes you happy. There’s no change in the decisive foundation of your joy. You just shop at a new store. The dinner is still the same; you just have a new butler. The bags in the hotel room are still the same; you just have a new bellhop.

How much does God love this church ~ John Piper.

Rethinking Retirement

Finishing life to the glory of Christ means finishing life in a way that makes Christ look glorious. It means living and dying in a way that shows Christ to be the all-satisfying Treasure that he is. So it would include, for example, not living in ways that make this world look like your treasure. Which means that most of the suggestions that this world offers us for our retirement years are bad ideas. They call us to live in a way that would make this world look like our treasure. And when that happens, Jesus belittled.

John Piper - Rethinking Retirement Pg. 5