Monday, December 20, 2010

Devotional 201210

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. It was wonderful to praise God with many of you in the Christmas worship at church. Loretta and I are truly blessed to serve on your behalf in mobilizing Chinese Churches worldwide for His Kingdom missions. It was great to be home with you in worship. The decoration of Christmas is the exercise that symbolizes the preparation for the second coming of Christ. And the corporate worship is a glimpse of what it is like to sing praises with the heavenly hosts in eternity. Christmas is a statement of love that God made for all of us. This statement is “He is willing to be on our side – Emmanuel – He enters into human history to stand on our side.” And it’s followed by a question, “Are we willing to be on His side?” David testified of what it was like if God were not on our side in Psalm 124…

If the LORD had not been on our side-- let Israel say-- if the LORD had not been on our side when men attacked us, when their anger flared against us, they would have swallowed us alive; the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, the raging waters would have swept us away. Praise be to the LORD, who has not let us be torn by their teeth. We have escaped like a bird out of the fowler's snare; the snare has been broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth (Psalm 124).

The proper work for the Christian is witness, not apology, and Psalm 124 is an excellent model. It does not argue Gods help; it does not explain God s help; it is a testimony of God’s help in the form of a song. The song is so vigorous, so confident, so bursting with what can only be called reality, that it fundamentally changes our approach and our questions. No longer does it seem of the highest priority to ask, “Why did this happen to me? Why do I feel left in the lurch?” Instead we ask, “How does it happen that there are people who sing with such confidence, ‘God is our help’?” The psalm is data that must be accounted for and the data are so solid, so vital, have so much more substance and are so much more interesting than the other things we hear through the day that it must be dealt with before we can go back to the whimpering complaints.

“If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, let Israel now say—if it had not be the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us; then over us would have gone the raging waters.” The witness is vivid and contagious. One person announces the theme, and everyone joins in. God’s help is not a private experience; it is a corporate reality—not an exception that occurs among isolated strangers, but the norm among the people of God.

Every day I put love on the line. There is nothing I am less good at than love. I am far better in competition than in love. I am far better at responding to my instincts and ambitions to get ahead and make my mark than I am at figuring out how to love another. I am schooled and trained in acquisitive skills, in getting my own way. And yet, I decide, every day, to set aside what I can do best and attempt what I do very clumsily—open myself to the frustrations and failures of loving, daring to believe that failing in love is better than succeeding in pride.

All that is hazardous work; I live on the edge of defeat all the time. I have never done any one of those things to my (or anyone else’s) satisfaction. I live in the dragon’s maw and at the flood’s edge

The psalm, though, is not about hazards but about help. The hazardous work of discipleship is not the subject of the psalm but only its setting. The subject is help: “Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as prey to their teeth! We have escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped! Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.” Hazards or no hazards, the fundamental reality we live with is “The LORD who was on our side … Our help is in the name of the LORD.”

Psalm 124 is an instance of a person who digs deeply into the trouble and finds there the presence of the God who is on our side…Faith develops out of the most difficult aspects of our existence, not the easiest. The person of faith is not a person who has been born, luckily, with a good digestion and sunny disposition. The assumption by outsiders that Christians are naïve or protected is the opposite of the truth: Christians know more about the deep struggles of life than others, more about the ugliness of sin.

A look into the heavens can bring a breathtaking sense of wonder and majesty, and, if a person is a believer, a feeling of praise to the God who made heaven and earth. The psalm looks the other direction. It looks into the troubles of history, the anxiety of personal conflict and emotional trauma. And it sees there the God who is on our side, God can help. The close look, the microscopic insight into the dragon’s terrors, the flood’s waters and the imprisoning trap, sees the action of God in deliverance.

We speak our words of praise in a world that is hellish; we sing our songs of victory in a world where things get messy; we live our joy among people who neither understand nor encourage us. But the content of our lives is God, not man.

The whole message of Christmas was a clear signal from above that God came to stand on our side. He came to rescue us from bondage of Satan and his evil snares. The snare or the net has been broken. Unfortunately, the birds did not fly away. They became too complacent inside the snare that they did not want to fly away. They remained captive not because they had no choice. Christ came to break the curse and loosen the bondage. Yet His people did not want to be delivered. They remain in the bondage of sins. Have mercy on us. From time to time, we dwell in Satan’s snare and we questioned why God did not do anything to save us from our trouble. When we look intensely (focus in meditation) on God, we will realize how fortunate and free we are to become the target of His love. Indeed, we exist for this very reason: to become the target of God’s love and to be channel of God’s love to others. Amen.

Loretta and I will be leaving for Hong Kong tomorrow night. I have the honor to officiate two weddings on Christmas day and New Year day. I may not have time to write journal for the rest of the year of 2010, I pray that you will draw near to God each day. Just as Apostle James said, “Come near to God and he will come near to you” (James 4:8). During this season of Christmas and new year, May God reminds all of us to be content in this precious gift in Christ Jesus, who was born to set us free. He was born to give us this assurance that God is always on our side…Have a blessed New Year to come.

With His love in our friendship,
Lawrence

Friday, December 17, 2010

Devotional 171210

Dear brothers and sisters,
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
May God grant you new strength and wisdom to face your challenges in the year to come. Emmanuel, God is with us. His very Presence indeed is our greatest gift of Christmas. Amen?

I cannot imagine how I could have accomplished so much in 2010 without the help of God and your prayer support. We had 4 GOI anniversary celebrations in USA (Houston, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco) and 2 in Canada (Vancouver and Toronto). God gave us an opportunity to share our vision with many of our supporters and make new friends who were interested to find out more about GOI. God also gave me opportunity to preach in 2 missionary retreats in Brazil and the Philippines.

I was so blessed to be invited to preach in many missions conferences and retreats throughout this year. One of the most unforgettable experiences was to preach in the Missions Conference of Grace Gospel Church in Manila, The Philippines (See picture I took in front of the church). This is a legendary missional church among Chinese churches worldwide. 45 years ago, they were one of the rare Chinese churches who supported of global missions. Their annual missions pledge amounts to over 75% of their church general fund. They supported missionaries all over the world, and looking for opportunities to give away the surplus to support more Kingdom work. What a generous Church! They even sent out their Senior Pastor to do missions work with full salary support. This is something I never heard of before. Praise the Lord!!!

Thanks for your prayer, I should be able to finish my dissertation on time for graduation in April. With this doctoral degree, I will be able to teach in seminary in order to mobilize seminarians for global missions.

Our family is doing well. Loretta and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary in November, Our daughter and son-in-law are growing in their passion for the Lord. Our son is studying at Bethel University in Tennessee after he finished his military service. He is very thankful for God’s provisions and guidance in his life.

We covet your prayers for us. My calendar for next year is already full. I expect another great year of serving God in different Continents to witness His wonderful work around the Globe.
May God bless and protect your family in the year to come!! Have a very happy New Year…

In Christ,
Lawrence

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Devotional 161210

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. Thanks for your prayer and support for my study. I have just submitted the first draft of my dissertation. It means that if nothing drastic happens, I will GRADUATE in April. I cannot believe I could have finished my Doctor of Missiology program this year. Praise the Lord!!! I really want you to share this joy with me. I will send out my newsletter tomorrow to give you a little bit more reflection on what God has done in me this year. I am sure you know about them if you have been visiting my blog frequently. Once again, thank you for your support – it really makes a difference to have intercessors prayed for me. I agree with the psalmist’s prayer that we should be approaching God with a servant’s attitude and expectation in pursuing different goals of our lives each day.

I look to you, heaven-dwelling God, look up to you for help. Like servants, alert to their master’s commands. Like a maiden attending her lady. We are watching and waiting, holding our breath, awaiting your word of mercy (Psalm 122:1-2 The Message).

Christian faith is not neurotic dependency but childlike trust. We do not have a God who forever indulges our whims but a God whom we trust with our destinies. The Christian is not a naïve, innocent infant who has no identity apart from a feeling of being comforted and protected and catered to but a person who has discovered an identity that is given by God which can be enjoyed best and fully in a voluntary trust in God. We do not cling to God desperately out of fear and the panic of insecurity; we come to him freely in faith and love.

A community of faith flourishes when we view each other with this expectancy, wondering what God will do today in this one, in that one. When we are in a community with those Christ loves and redeems, we are constantly finding out new things about them. “They are new persons each morning, endless in their possibilities. We explore the fascinating depths of their friendship, share the secrets of their quest. It is impossible to be bored in such a community, impossible to feel alienated among such people.

How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down upon the collar of his robes. It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore (Psalm 133).

God does not want us to go through our journey of life as a lone ranger. There is no island in the community of the cross. We may need our caves to recharge sometimes. But as soon as we are blessed by our Immanuel God in solitude, we are eager to share with others those blessings, and minister to one another with His love. We can preach about love all day. But unless we practice it in the community of faith, we have not really love yet. Love is risky but excited. Love is endless exploration about the unique creation of God in mankind. We are all created differently and beautifully. God expects His children to enjoy His beauty through our fellowship with one another. Give yourself to God and share with one another whatever blessings that He has bestowed upon you. If you are thankful for whatever you have in life, share with others in loving manner. By doing so, we can really experience what the psalmist said, and can rewrite our version of psalm 133 today.

With His love in process,
Lawrence

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Devotional 141210

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. I was sadden to hear the news of how the eldest son of Bernie Madoff committed suicide to prove his innocence from his father’s crime. This is indeed the generation curse that the Bible warned us about. There is always a consequence for one’s moral decision. In a self-centered culture that we are in, people don’t care about how others (including family members) may suffer from their fleshy desire being satisfied. I pray that Mark Madoff’s death will serve as a wakeup call for all of us who lived in a self-centered, quick-fixed, success oriented, immoral and temptation filled world. A little yielding to the flesh will invite a big curse of evil consequence. Have mercy on us O Lord! We need your strength and guidance to keep us holy each day.

There is a great market for religious experience in our world; there is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue, little inclination to sign up for the long apprenticeship in what earlier generations of Christians called holiness. Even though the world thought we are a fool to pursue holiness, and we ourselves thought we were not able to deal with temptation around us, let’s don’t give up abiding in His holiness, like the author of Hebrews said, “Do you see what all this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in” (Hebrews 12:1-2a).

People submerged in a culture swarming with lies and malice feel like they are drowning in it; they can trust nothing they hear, depend on no one they meet. Such dissatisfaction with the world as it is, is preparation for traveling in the way of Christian discipleship. The dissatisfaction, coupled with a longing for peace and truth, can set us on a pilgrim path of wholeness in God.

A person has to be thoroughly disgusted with the way things are find the motivation to set out on the Christian way. As long as we think that the next election might eliminate crime and establish justice or another scientific breakthrough might save the environment or another pay raise might push us over the edge of anxiety into a life of tranquility, we are not likely to risk the arduous uncertainties of the life of faith. A person has to get fed up with the ways of the world before he, before she, acquires an appetite for the world of grace.

When I was in trouble, I called to the Lord, and he answered me. Save me, Lord, from liars and deceivers. You liars, what will God do to you? How will he punish you? With a soldier's sharp arrows, with red-hot coals! Living among you is as bad as living in Meshech (in inner city of America?) or among the people of Kedar (of Corporate culture?). I have lived too long with people who hate peace! When I speak of peace, they are for war (Psalm 120). Psalm 120 is the song of such a person, sick with the lies and crippled with the hate, a person doubled up in pain over w going on in the world. But it is not a mere outcry, it is pain that penetrates through despair and stimulates a new beginning—a journey to God which becomes a life of peace.

We have nothing to boast about our own righteousness. We are chief of all sinners if it is not because of the mercy of Christ. It is God who came to rescue us from the consequence of our sinful nature. We struggle each day in walking on the righteous path of God. Our tongues are as evil and deceiving like anyone else. We lost control of our tongues and our flesh from time to time. If it was not the intervention of the Holy Spirit to empower us from within, in no way we can use our tongues and our body for His glory. His holiness is indeed what we desire and what we need each day. Amen?

With love in His holiness,
Lawrence

Monday, December 13, 2010

Devotional 131210

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. We practiced communion this morning by washing one another’s feet during our prayer meeting. It was not natural in the beginning. But when we started doing it pair by pair, we felt a strong sense of bonding and blessing in the process. Recognizing that it is easier to wash one another’s feet as a ritual than speaking words of love and communion in our daily lives, we learn to do what Jesus has done for us. Jesus said, “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” (John 13:17).

There is an enormous communications industry in the world that is stamping out words like buttons. Words are transmitted by email, television, radio, telegraph, satellite, cable, newspaper, magazine. But the words are not personal. Implicit in this enormous communications industry is an enormous lie: if we improve communications we will improve life. It has not happened and it will not happen. Often when we find out what a person “has to say,” we like him or her less. Not more. Better communication often worsens international relations. We know more about each other as nations and religions than we ever have before in history, and we seem to like each other less. Counselors know that when spouses learn to communicate more clearly, it leads to divorce as often as it does to reconciliation. Paul reminded Timothy, “Stay clear of pious talk that is only talk. Words are not mere words, you know. If they’re not backed by a godly life, they accumulate as poison in the soul” (2 Timothy 2:16-17). Do we use words to hurt or do we use words to edify one another? And more importantly, do we back our words with godly life or integrity? If not, our words are not only empty but poisonous and stumbling. Have mercy on us, O Lord, save and revive us from the world of impersonal communications!

The gift of words is for communion. We need to learn the nature of communion. This requires the risk of revelation—letting a piece of myself be exposed, this mystery of who I am. If I stand here mute, you have no idea what is going on with me. You can look at me. Measure me, weigh me, test me, but until I start to talk you do not know what is going on inside, who I really am. If you listen and I am telling the truth, something marvelous starts to take place—a new event. Something comes into being that was not there before. God does this for us. We learn to do it because God does it. New things happen then. Salvation comes into being; love comes into being. Communion. Words used this way do not define as much as deepen mystery—entering into the ambiguities, pushing past the safely known into the risky unknown. The Christian Eucharist uses words, the simplest of words, “this is my body, this is my blood, that plunge us into an act of revelation which staggers the imagination, which we never figure out, but we enter into. These words do not describe, they point, they reach, they embrace. Every time we go to the ill, the dying, the lonely, it becomes obvious alter a few moments that the only words that matter are words of communion. What is distressing is to find out how infrequently they are used. Sometimes we find we are the only ones who bother using words this way on these occasions. Not the least of the trials of the sick, the lonely and the dying is the endless stream of clichés and platitudes to which they have to listen. Doctors enter their rooms to communicate the diagnosis, family members to communicate their anxieties, friends to communicate the gossip of the day. Not all of them do this, of course, and not always, but the sad reality is that there is not a great deal of communion that goes on in these places with these ill and lonely and dying people, on street corners, in offices, in work places, in schools. That makes it urgent that the Christian becomes a specialist in words of communion.

We were conditioned not feeling comfortable to say words of genuine communion. We used a lot of Christian jargons or clichés that may not truly communicate what we really mean. We are too used to pseudo-community. We covered up our genuine self with a mask of religious devotee. We know that if we take off the mask, we need to brave the risk of being criticized and plead for help from a impersonal community. Both possibilities do not give us good feelings. Thus, we prefer to speak less or use clichés to cover up. And we know that if we continue to cover up, we will not grow and will feel more miserable in our walk with Christ. Many gave up but some persevered and developed communion with other genuine seekers of Truth and Body Life. It is not an easy task but a worthy one…exercise your words to edify and build communion.

With love from my inner being,
Lawrence

Friday, December 10, 2010

Devotional 101210

Dear brothers and sisters
Good morning. How blessed we are to be His children and enjoy His communion! Holy Spirit is always there to interact with us, but we are not available to listen. Indeed, it takes time to build relationship whether it is with God and with one another. When we are busy, relationship is usually the first thing we sacrifice. Jesus came to restore relationship – between men and God. We are rescued from the bondage of Satan and reconnect with God again. And God has provided us the avenue to strengthen this God-Men relationship - prayer.

[Jesus said,] “Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, seclude place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God and you will begin to sense his grace. The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They are full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need” (Matthew 6:6-8).

Beginners at prayer—children, new converts—find it easy. The capacity and impulse to pray both are embedded deep within us. We are made, after all, by God, for God. Why wouldn’t we pray? It is our native tongue, our first language. We find ourselves in terrible trouble and cry out for help to God. We discover ourselves immensely blessed and cry out our thanks to God. “Help!” and “Thanks!” are our basic prayers. Monosyllables. Simple.

God speaks to us, calls to us, has mercy on us, loves us, descends among us, enters us. And we answer, respond, accept, receive, praise. In a word, we pray. It’s that simple. What more is there?

But prayer doesn’t stay simply a wilderness of testing and begin to question the childlike simplicities with which we started out. We find ourselves immersed in a cynical generation that corrodes our early innocence with scorn and doubt. Along the way we pick up notions of prayer magic and begin working on slight of hand rituals and verbal incantations that will make life easier. It isn’t long before those early simplicities are all tangled up in knots of questions, doubts, and superstitions.

It happens to all of us. Everyone who prays ends up in some difficulty or other. We need help. We need a theologian. For those of us who pray and who mean to continue to pray, a theologian is our indispensable and best friend.

The reason that we who pray need a theologian at our side is that most of the difficulties of prayer are of our own making, the making of well-meaning friends, or the lies of the devil who always seems to be looking after our best self-interests. We get more interested in ourselves than in God. We get absorbed in what is or is not happening in us. We get bewildered by the huge discrepancies between our feelings and our intentions; we get unsettled by moralistic accusations that call into question our worthiness to even engage in prayer; we get attracted by advertisements of secrets that will give us access to a privileged, spiritual elite.

But prayer has primarily to do with God, not us. It includes us. Certainly everything about us down to the last detail. But God is primary. And the theologian’s task is to train our thinking, our imagination, our understanding to begin with God, not ourselves. This is not always reassuring, for we want someone to pay attention to us. But it is more important to pay attention to God. Prayer, which began simply enough by paying attention to God, can only recover that simplicity by re-attending to God. Prayer is the most personal thing that any of us do, the most human act in which we can engage. We are more ourselves, our true, image-of-God selves. When we pray than at any other time. This is the glory of prayer, but it is also the trouble with prayer, for these selves of ours have a way of getting more interested in themselves than in God.

The more we pray, the more we are cleansed by the word of the Holy Spirit. God is at work. He always want to communicate His will to us, so that we know who He is and His plan for us. The more we pray, the more we know God better. And that’s why theology is a prayer language, provided that we understand prayer in according to what Christ defined – paying attention to God. When we are too busy to listen, we lost touch and we don’t know who God is to me…

With love in prayer,
Lawrence

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Devotional 091210

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. It is always a joy to think of you in my devotion. Yes, we may not see each other as often as we want. But every time I thought of the blessings to be in the family of God with you, I rejoice. It is such a wonderful gift to become one in Christ. We love because He first loved us. Amen?

This world is no friend to grace. Seeking for intimacy at any level- with God or with persons—is not a venture that gets the support of many people. Intimacy is not good for business. It is inefficient, it, it lacks “glamour.” If love of God can be reduced to a ritualized hour of worship, if love of another can be reduced to an act of sex, then routines are simple and the world can be run efficiently. But if we will not settle for the reduction of love to lust and of faith to ritual, and run through the streets asking for more, we will most certainly disturb the peace and be told to behave ourselves and go back to the homes and churches where we belong. If we refuse to join the cult of exhibitionists who do a soul striptease on cue, or the “flashers” who expose their psychic nudity as a diversion from long-term covenantal intimacy, we are dismissed as hopeless puritans. Intimacy is no easy achievement. There is pain—longing, disappointment, and hurt. But if the costs are considerable, the rewards are magnificent, for in relationship with another and with the God who loves us we complete the humanity for which we were created. We stutter and stumble, wander and digress, delay and procrastinate; but we do learn to love even as we are loved, steadily and eternally, in Jesus Christ.

Paul used very strong words to express his intimate relationship with the church in Rome. He said, “I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong-- that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith” (Romans 1:1l-l2 NIV). Eugene Peterson translated it as, “The longer this waiting goes on, the deeper the ache. I so want to be there to deliver God’s gift in person and watch you grow stronger right before my eyes! But don’t think I’m not expecting to get something out of this, too! You have as much to give me as I do to you.” And to the Philippians he even said, “God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:8). Or using the Message translation it reads, “He knows how much I love and miss you these days. Sometimes I think I feel as strongly about you as Christ does!” In Chinese culture, we seldom use strong affectionate words like Paul did, not even to our spouses. So when we deal with the intimate issue of love, we hardly go deep into our thought and meditation. We are afraid to get hurt or stumble others in relationship so we keep a distance. We are afraid to draw close or we don’t know how to draw close in case we are fooled by our own flesh. The affection that God created in us for one another is being blocked or subdue, even in our relation with our Creator Father. For this Satan rejoices. Indeed, we have a long way to go in realizing the love of Christ and to love one another with the affection of Christ.

I agree with Peterson that spiritual formation is the most intensely creative work. When you are being creative, you are not copying, you are not transposing something that works someplace else and making it work here. When you are being creative, most of what you do is wrong. The creative people I know throw away 90% of what they produce. If you have ever tried to write a poem or a song, you know that you do it wrong most of the time, and you work and work and work. Throwing lines away, filling your wastebasket . . . until finally you have got it. Most of what creative people do is wrong. But they don’t give up. Let’s don’t give up trying to find creative ways to express the affection of Christ to one another in a holy and edifying manner.

With the love He designs in us,
Lawrence

Dear brothers and sisters,

Good morning. It is always a joy to think of you in my devotion. Yes, we may not see each other as often as we want. But every time I thought of the blessings to be in the family of God with you, I rejoice. It is such a wonderful gift to become one in Christ. We love because He first loved us. Amen?



This world is no friend to grace. Seeking for intimacy at any level- with God or with persons—is not a venture that gets the support of many people. Intimacy is not good for business. It is inefficient, it, it lacks “glamour.” If love of God can be reduced to a ritualized hour of worship, if love of another can be reduced to an act of sex, then routines are simple and the world can be run efficiently. But if we will not settle for the reduction of love to lust and of faith to ritual, and run through the streets asking for more, we will most certainly disturb the peace and be told to behave ourselves and go back to the homes and churches where we belong. If we refuse to join the cult of exhibitionists who do a soul striptease on cue, or the “flashers” who expose their psychic nudity as a diversion from long-term covenantal intimacy, we are dismissed as hopeless puritans. Intimacy is no easy achievement. There is pain—longing, disappointment, and hurt. But if the costs are considerable, the rewards are magnificent, for in relationship with another and with the God who loves us we complete the humanity for which we were created. We stutter and stumble, wander and digress, delay and procrastinate; but we do learn to love even as we are loved, steadily and eternally, in Jesus Christ.



Paul used very strong words to express his intimate relationship with the church in Rome. He said, “I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong-- that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith” (Romans 1:1l-l2 NIV). Eugene Peterson translated it as, “The longer this waiting goes on, the deeper the ache. I so want to be there to deliver God’s gift in person and watch you grow stronger right before my eyes! But don’t think I’m not expecting to get something out of this, too! You have as much to give me as I do to you.” And to the Philippians he even said, “God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:8). Or using the Message translation it reads, “He knows how much I love and miss you these days. Sometimes I think I feel as strongly about you as Christ does!” In Chinese culture, we seldom use strong affectionate words like Paul did, not even to our spouses. So when we deal with the intimate issue of love, we hardly go deep into our thought and meditation. We are afraid to get hurt or stumble others in relationship so we keep a distance. We are afraid to draw close or we don’t know how to draw close in case we are fooled by our own flesh. The affection that God created in us for one another is being blocked or subdue, even in our relation with our Creator Father. For this Satan rejoices. Indeed, we have a long way to go in realizing the love of Christ and to love one another with the affection of Christ.



I agree with Peterson that spiritual formation is the most intensely creative work. When you are being creative, you are not copying, you are not transposing something that works someplace else and making it work here. When you are being creative, most of what you do is wrong. The creative people I know throw away 90% of what they produce. If you have ever tried to write a poem or a song, you know that you do it wrong most of the time, and you work and work and work. Throwing lines away, filling your wastebasket . . . until finally you have got it. Most of what creative people do is wrong. But they don’t give up. Let’s don’t give up trying to find creative ways to express the affection of Christ to one another in a holy and edifying manner.



With the love He designs in us,

Lawrence

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Devotional 081210

Dear brothers and sisters,

Good morning. Thank God for showers of blessings. The whole nature is nourished by this warm Winter’s rain. God is love. We can find His expressions of love to us in many different ways. Rain, sunshine, fresh air, nature, ability to work, ability to enjoy friendship, and ability to enter communion (interaction with different senses) with God are signs of His Abundant Love for us. He is a creative God. I thank Him for creating you to be such a lovely beautiful being in Christ.

This is a common experience in the Valley of Elah (1 Samuel 17:19-54) when an amateur ventures into a field dominated by professionals. All around us people who care about us are suddenly there helping—piling armor on us, dressing us up in equipment that is going to qualify us is for the task (even though it didn’t seem to be doing them much good).We get advice. We get instruction. We are sent off to a training workshop. We find ourselves with an armload of books. These people are truly concerned about us and we are touched by their concern, in awe of their knowledge and experience. We listen to them and do what they tell us. And then we find that we can hardly move.

It wasn’t easy to do what David did that day David loved King Saul. He admired King Saul. He served King Saul. King Saul was splendid and powerful. King Saul loved him and was doing his best to help him. But despite all that, David removed the helmet. Unbelted the sword and took off the armor. It couldn’t have been easy to do that, walking away from all that proffered expertise. But to have gone to meet Goliath wearing Saul’s armor would have been a disaster. It always is. David needed what was authentic to him.

What strikes me so forcibly in this picture is that David was both modest enough and bold enough to reject the suggestion that he do his work inauthentically (by using Saul’s armor); and he was be modest and bold enough to use only that which he had been trained to use in his years as shepherd (his sling and some stones). And he killed the giant.

David left: Saul’s armor behind and walked out into the Valley of Elah clean and spare, traveling light, delivered from an immense clutter, and kneeled at the brook.

David at that moment, kneeling at the brook, frames something that is absolutely essential for each of us. Are we going to live this life from our knees imaginatively and personally.’’ Or are we going to live it conventionally and second-hand? Are we going to live out of our God-created, Spirit-anointed, Jesus-saved being.’’ Or are we going today and defer to eunuch professionals? Are we going to be shaped by our fears of Goliath or by God? Are we going to live by our admiration of Saul or by God?

God created each one of us for a purpose and equipped us with gifts and talents from above. If we busy ourselves with a lot of information regarding how others deal with life, but spend no time to reflect on what God has already given us to deal with life, we will not be able to conquer giants in our lives. A lot of time, the greatest enemy is ourselves. Only if we can conquer ourselves, we can conquer other giants or whatever difficulties that come our way. Many people will give us advise as we encounter giant. They all meant good. They want to provide us with the best advise that worked for them before, and hope it works for us. But their suggestions usually not totally fit our situation. There is no “one size fits all” in ministry or in life encountering. That’s why we need to be reflective to our potentials, attentive to the word of God with the help of the Holy Spirit, and selective in our methodology catering to our strength and His principles. There is nothing wrong to listen to “professional” advise. But at the end of the day, we need to sort out some major decision in life through prayer and meditations – allow God to speak to us and we respond with obedient heart.

With love in Christ,
Lawrence

Monday, December 6, 2010

Devotional 061210

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. We are blessed with the visit of an out-of-town guest, who came to seek collaboration with our organization in mission fields. Through our sharing, it is amazing to see how God at work in different parts of the world, and how we can work together in expanding His Kingdom. There are many kingdom workers, quietly but diligently serve behind the scene in being light and salt of the world. Not many churches knew about their work, but they made tremendous impact in many people’s lives. Praise the Lord!!!

God-anointed, David entered the world of work. He worked as a shepherd before he was anointed, work that provided background and metaphor for so much of the Gospel. But now David’s work was clearly seen as God-assigned, God-defined. All David’s work now was king-work. I want to use the word king-work to represent all true work. I am using this word in order to call attention to the essential dignity of work as such, that our work is of a kind with God’s work. All real work, genuine work, is subsumed under king-work. I am using the word here to distinguish true work from false work, spurious work, “work” that destroys or deceives. Just because energy is employed for a purpose does not qualify an action as work.

Work derives from and represents the sovereign God who expresses his sovereignty as a worker: king-work. Sovereigns work to bring order out of chaos; guard and fight for the sanctity of things and people; deliver victims from injustice and misfortune and wretchedness; grant pardon to the condemned and damned; heal sickness; by their very presence bring dignity and honor to people and land. God’s sovereignty is not abstract—it is a working sovereignty and is expressed in work. All of our work is intended as an extension of and participation in that sovereignty.

“What do we do then to get in on God’s works?” Jesus said, “Throw your lot in with the One that God has sent. That kind of a commitment gets you in on God’s works” (John 6:28-29).

Why do we always want to know early on in our acquaintance with someone what their work is? “What do you do?” is virtually always among the repertoire of getting-acquainted questions. And the reason is this: occupation, career, job can do two things—usually both at the same time: work can reveal something essential about us- express our values, articulate our morals, act out our convictions of what it means to be a human being, created in the image of God. Or work can conceal our real identity. It can be used as a front to advertise something that we want people to see in us or believe about us, by which in fact we have never bothered to become within ourselves. For most of us, the two vocational things are mixed: revealing/expressing, and concealing/diverting. As we get to know someone we want to know if their job is a role to hide in or behind, or if it is an honest expression of character. The Bible says, “The diligent find freedom in their work; the lazy are oppressed by work” (Proverbs 12:24).

Peterson’s mediation on work provides us a new horizon and deeper meaning about our career or job we do every day. We don’t just find work to occupy our time and put food on the table. We work because our Heavenly Father works. Jesus described His Father as a farmer who constantly work in His vineyard to prune the leaves and branches that do not bear fruits. He wants all His children to bear fruits while we are put on earth for a period of time, so that this world can be a better place and many will be rescued from the evil turmoil and injustice. Only when we realize our work is part of His work, will we find new meaning to work each day.

Enjoy your work in His love,
Lawrence

Friday, December 3, 2010

Devotional 031210

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. Thank God for another day of opportunity to be in Hi service. Every day is a new challenge in applying God’s words in our lives. Every day is a new lesson of faith. Every day is a new scenario to experience God in an intimate manner. God is a “make-over” artist. He is constantly breaking down our old rugged house and building a new godly dwelling. Allow Him to do the good work that He has started in you until He brings to completion in the days of Christ.

Is highly significant and not sufficiently remarked that this David story, the story that provides more plot and detail, more characters and landscape than any other in scripture to show us how to live entirely before and in response to God, features an ordinary person. David was, in our dismissive and condescending terminology, “just” a lay person. His father omitted to present him to Samuel—it probably didn’t even occur to him. To his brothers he was a nonentity. Worse, as we learn from examining his genealogy family tree, he had bad blood in his family tree, hated and despised Moabite blood.

The choice of David, the runt and the shepherd, to be the anointed, to be a sign and representative of God’s working presence in human life and history, is surely intended to convey a sense of inclusion to all ordinary men and women, the plain folk, the undistinguished in the eyes of their neighbors, those lacking social status and peer recognition. Which is to say, the overwhelming majority of all who have lived on this old planet earth. Election into God’s purposes is not by popular vote. Election into God’s purposes is not based on proven ability or potential promise.. . .

So it is of considerable moment to realize that the centerfold account in scripture of a human being living by faith comes in the shape of a lay person. David was not ordained to the priesthood. He was not called, as we say, “to the ministry.” He was “just” a lay person, haqqaton. But there is not a hint in the narrative that his status is evidence of inadequacy. This is humanity burgeoning and vital. Bold and extravagant, skillful and inventive in love and prayer and work.

Work is our Spirit-anointed participation in God’s work. When Jesus stood up in the Nazareth synagogue to announce that he was going to work and how he was going to go about it, he said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me…” (Luke 4:18).

In our biblical texts anointing means being given a job by God. It means employment. We are, in effect, told that there is a job to be done and that we are assigned to do it, and that we can do it. Anointing connects our work with God’s work. Anointing is the sacramental connection linking God’s work with our work. God is a worker, a maker. God does things. He is, of course; but he also acts. And it is in His acts that we know who He is. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12).

Our Father in heaven is a working god. He never slumber and laid around doing nothing. Our God is always at work in His universe and in our midst. But He is not a workaholic – find his identity and self-worth from his work. He rests in His own Sabbath. He continues to guide His children and work in His church. We may not be aware of His work among us when we are too pre-occupied by our own busyness. He works and He wants to work alongside with us. The Holy Spirit came when Jesus went to the Father. He dwells within and among us, so that we can even do greater things through His Spirit. Dear Holy Spirit, use us to achieve your plan today!

In His loving presence,
Lawrence

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Devotional 021210

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. Hope you enjoy a refreshing cool morning. I was packed with meetings and a lot of implementation to catch up, when my boss returned from vacation yesterday. But I was glad that many over-due issues were being taken care of. Thank God for another day of enjoying His presence at work and in my study – writing my dissertation. While I was driving to work this morning, I cracked up in laughter over the “stress” I gave myself. Nobody forced me to study and finish my dissertation before this year. It was all the “pressure” I gave myself. I laughed at my own “foolishness” and gladly surrender this writing project back to God…knowing that He holds me accountable to be a faithful steward of the time and resource He bestowed upon me. But He also expects me to enjoy this journey of stewardship.

I appreciated Eugene Peterson’s reminder about our wrong attitude toward God’s Word. To him, exegesis is the farthest thing from pedantry; exegesis is an act of love. It is loving the one enough who speaks the words to want to get the words right. It is respecting the words enough to use every means we have to get the words right. Exegesis is loving God enough to stop and listen carefully to what he says. God has pro- vided us with these scriptures that present us with his Word. Loving God means loving both what God speaks to us and the way God speaks to us. It follows that we bring the leisure and attentiveness of lovers to this text—cherishing every comma and semicolon, relishing the oddness of this preposition, delighting in the surprising placement of this noun. Lovers don’t take a quick look, get a “message” or a “meaning” and then run off and gossip with their friends about how they feel. Lovers savor the words, relishing every nuance of what is said and written.

Face it, reality as God reveals it to us by his Word in J Jesus, is strange and unexpected and disappointing. This is not the kind of world we would have created if we had been given the assignment; this is not the kind of salvation we would have arranged if we had been on the committee; this is not the system of rewards and punishments we would have legislated if we had had the vote. I love the audacious quip of Teresa of Avila when she was energetically engaged in reforming the Carmelite monasteries, traveling all over? Spain by oxcart on bad roads, and one day was thrown from the oxcart into a muddy stream. She shook her fist at God, “God, if this is the way you treat your friends, no wonder you don’t have many.’

No, the Reality that God reveals to us in his Word is very different, quite other—Other!—than anything we could ever have dreamed or thought up. And thank goodness. For if we keep at this long enough, prayer by prayer, we find ourselves living in a reality that is far, far larger, far lovelier, far better. But it takes considerable getting used to. Prayer is the process of getting used to it—going from the small to the large, from control to mystery, from self to soul—to God. And God doesn’t only reveal it to us by his Word so that we can know about it; he wants us engaged in it, participating in It.

So let the reader beware. Don’t just understand it; don’t just admire it; don’t just think it’s a wonderful thing; pray what you read, work yourself into active participation in what God reveals in the Word. God invites, yes, commands us to bring our words to this Word. He doesn’t expect us to take this new reality lying down. We better not take it lying down, for this word of God intends to get us on our feet, walking, running, singing...just as the psalmist said, “I hold fast to your statutes (Word), O LORD; do not let me be put to shame. I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free” (Psalm 119:31-32).

Indeed, how often I read the Bible for just leisure or inspiration. I forgot the Bible is the Word from the Lover of my soul. The God who cares so much about me more than I care for my own. Every word counts because it was spoken from a Lover. Yes, we may have difficulty to understand the meaning of it at time. That’s why Jesus prepared a special tutor for us – the Holy Spirit. He is not an agent from God like an angel but God Himself. He is the one who revealed His own will to us through the Bible. He knows what the Bible means because He is the author of the Word. A lot of time, we failed to wait, ask and listen to what the Holy Spirit had to say to us. We were too haste in reading and assuming we understood. Moreover, the Word is meant for us to live with but not to play with. We spent time arguing over which exegesis is more correct than obeying the Word in our lives – it may be our way to justify our failure in applying God’s Word, because we are not sure which interpretation is correct! Have mercy on us O Lord. Help us to treasure your word, spend time to study your word, seek your intervention to teach us your word, and most important of all, obey your word – the Bible is truly the precious gift from our heavenly Lover.

Abide with you in His love,
Lawrence