He who attempts to act and do things for others or for the world without deepening his own self-understanding, freedom, integrity and capacity to love, will not have anything to give others. He will communicate to them nothing but the contagion of his own obsessions, his aggressiveness, his ego-centered ambitions, his delusions about ends and means, his doctrinaire prejudices and ideas.

-Merton, T. Contemplation in a World of Action. Garden City, NY: Image Books, 1973, pp.178-179.

 The Church, the Body of Christ is sorely lacking disciples with spiritual depth.

If you are a Christian, I think one of the best advice that anyone can give you early in

your spiritual journey is:

Invest time on your inner self.  Reflect upon, explore and scrutinize every area of your inner being (that includes your thoughts, emotions, actions, speech and desires).  Allow the Light of God's truth (found in His Word and illumined by His Spirit) to shine upon the deepest recesses of your being so that all deception, ugliness, hypocrisy, self-centredness and pride will be flushed out and revealed for what they truly are. 

It is only then (when we acknowledge our utter depravity and our great need

for Him) that God's healing and restoration can begin.

The journey of the Christian is essentially a journey of the Renovation of the Soul, where our inner being is allowed to be transformed by God's grace & power as we make daily choices to surrender self to follow the ways of our Lord Jesus in obedience to the Father by the leading and empowerment  of the Holy Spirit.

Without the discipline of self-reflection and surrender to God, we cannot grow in spiritual depth.  

Sadly, such a discipline is sorely lacking within the Church.  Many Christians go through the daily motions of living, sometimes being busy with Christian activities, but failing to engage in spiritual reflection and application.  Hence, we miss out on the daily opportunities to allow God and His Word to do a deeper work in their lives.   Bible knowledge and our understanding of God (i.e. Theology) fails to be lived out.

Instead, the attention of many are to gain recognition and acceptance amongst their own and even within themselves.   Self satisfaction and actualisation becomes the pre-occupation of  self.  This potentially leads to busyness in Christian activity without the presence of a Christian Spirit or Spiritual Formation unto Christ-likeness.

Thomas Merton (in his quotation above) astutely points out that it is no wonder that those in Christendom without self-awareness (and consequently, God-awareness), engage in Christian activities with a texture that bears all the hallmarks of their depraved and carnal self.  There is no Christ to be seen. 

This is Christ-less ministry without the holiness or power of God.  It is man-made and as such worthless.  Personally, even as it saddens me to see the prevalence of this condition, I must confess that I stand guilty as charged as well. 

I must remind myself daily to invest in the renovation of my inner self as I lean upon His grace.  Otherwise, what is there for me to say or give to another person that will convey the glory and grace of my beloved Lord and Saviour?  May the Lord have mercy on us.

It's really encouraging to see more of our Oasis Youth starting or reviving their blogs! 

They've inspired me to revive my blog. (Who says the young cannot influence the old for good!)
 
It's really interesting to see how our blogs reflect so much of who we are as persons...our character,
our strengths, our struggles, our relationship with others and with God.
 
In a way, I suppose we write out of "who we are"... what comes out of us (our thoughts) is an outflow of who we are.
 
A spiritual truth that Jesus taught!
 
For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. (Matthew 12:24b)
 
Yet, who we we are as persons is meant to change over time. 
 
In fact, as Christians, one of our main purposes in life is to be transformed to be more like Jesus.
 
Transformation comes to those who seek transformation.
 
Even as I write on my blog for the world to see (my thoughts and what I stand for),  I want to follow in the
example of the writers of the Gospels. 
 
The Gospel writers did not write simply to attract attention to themselves: to show how "poor-thing" or how great they were.

As disciples who knew the Christ (God Incarnate) in His physical person or who knew the Apostles, they had much to brag about for sure!

 But their primary objective was to reveal Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the Word to others - through their journey with Him...

 They were not shy to write about their failings...how they were slow to understand..how they deserted Jesus.

 They were honest and willing to be vulnerable and transparent.  

 They were not in self-decption nor were they self-absorbed.  They did not write a lop-sided or misguided version of the truth.

 They did not exaggerate their joy or their pain.  They did not write to indirectly or directly blame, attack or put down others.

 They did not pass the buck to others.   They wrestled with what they needed to deal with (their own condition)....
and not what others needed to deal with.

 Yes, they suffered disappointment, despair and failure.  But ultimately, in their brokenness, they experienced the reality of Christ.

 They rejoiced in the midst of their difficult circumstances. But that's what the Christian faith is about, isn't it?

 The Gospels are the Word of God because God had inspired the Gospel writers.

 Through their writings (now we call the Bible), we can encounter the Risen Christ as we are touched by the Holy Spirit.

 What do people encounter when they read our blogs, I wonder?
 
My prayer is that what I write, with all my failings and imperfections, will eventually point others
to the reality of the Risen Jesus. 

 Other than this, I see no other reason to blog.     

Chat online and in real-time with friends and family! Windows Live Messenger

The difference between the Incarnational way and the Good Ideas way is that the former explores heart-felt human issues from the paradigm of compassion, commitment and sacrifice as exemplified by Christ whereas the latter explores ideas with the goal of altruism, self-satisfaction and recognition.

The former leads to a flow of God's illumination, grace and power through Christlike  servanthood lived out out through the mundane daily routines of life, hidden from man but in God's attentive presence.  The latter leads to a flow of man's creativity and resourcefulness played out in the intermittant and inconsistent performances of life's stage before fickle audiences, with no lasting impact.

One is about the Resurrection and the Life.  The other has already received it's reward  in full.

Good Friday and Easter may have just passed.  But I continue to hold on to the message of the Cross...

for the Cross reminds me of God's abundant grace for a sinner like me.

The Cross reminds me that amidst the meaningless pain and suffering in this world, God is not absent but profoundly present.  God does not view the pain and suffering as an impartial observer.  Rather, His presence is amongst and within the wounded.  His heart reverberates with the emotions behind every tear and trembling. 

He offers no intellectual, rationale or tactical answers to the immediate problem.  Rather, He offers Himself unreservedly and unconditionally, as enacted and evidenced through the Cross.