Day 8- Planned for God's pleasure

1. Anything you do that brings pleasure to God is an act of worship.
2. When we worship, our goal is to bring pleasure to God, not ourselves.
3. God's heart is not touched by tradition in worship, but by passion and commitment.
4. How is it possible to do everything for the glory of God? By doing everything as if you were doing it for Jesus and by carrying on a continual conversation with him while you do it.
5. Work becomes worship when you dedicate it to God and perform it with an awareness of his presence.

- taken from Rick Warren's The Purpose-Driven Life.

This chapter has changed my concept of worship. I have to confess that previously whenever I led any praise and worship session in my church's Chinese Charismatic Group, I took it as an opportunity to perform. I'm sorry, Lord! Please forgive me.

Day 7- The reason for everything

1. God's glory is the expression of his goodness and all his other intrinsic, eternal qualities.
2. When anything in creation fulfills its purpose, it brings glory to God.
3. We bring God glory by worshipping him. Worship is a lifestyle of enjoying God, loving him, and giving ourselves to be used for his purposes.
4. We bring God glory by loving other believers.
5. We bring God glory by becoming like Christ.
6. We bring God glory by serving others with our gifts.
7. We bring God glory by telling others about him.
8. Living the rest of your life for the glory of God will require a change in your priorities, your schedule, your relationships, and everything else.
9. God will give you what you need if you will just make the choice to live for him.
   

- taken from Rick Warren's The Purpose-Driven Life.

After reading and experiencing so much, I suddenly question myself, "How exactly should I live for Christ?" Any comments?

Congratulations, 4/4!

I really felt delightfully surprised when my colleague told me that everyone in 4/4 has passed their GCE 'N' Level English examination. All my deserving pupils managed to score their well-deserved grade and kudos to those four pupils who scored distinction in this national exam (Natasha, Fazlun, Bernard and Imran)!

I think all the credit and glory should go to God and the pupils themselves who chose to put in their ultra-best effort during the examinations, though at the very last minute!

For those of you who are moving up to secondary five, please continue to work very hard for your GCE 'O' Level examinations next year. Please do not be arrogant or satisfied with your performance. Be prepared for serious studies right from the FIRST day of 2008 as you will have a lot more to catch up with the syllabus. You cannot afford to slack anymore!

I would also like to take this opportunity to wish all those pupils who are taking further studies in other tertiary institutions all the best in their future endeavours. :>

Day 6- Life is a temporary assignment

C) Life on earth is a TEMPORARY ASSIGNMENT:

1. Your identity is in eternity, and your homeland is heaven. When you grasp this truth, you will stop worrying about "having it all" on earth.


2. Don't indulge [to allow oneself to follow one's will; treat oneself] your ego [the opinion of yourself and your own importance] at the expense [cost] of your soul.


3. Those in frequent contact with the things of the world should make good use of them without becoming attached [obsessed; dependent] to them, for this world and all it contains will pass away.


4. In order to keep us from becoming too attached to earth, God allows us to feel a significant amount of discontent and dissatisfaction in life. We're not completely happy here because we're not supposed to be!

- taken from Rick Warren's The Purpose-Driven Life.

Qn: How should the fact that life on earth is just a temporary assignment change the way I am living right now?

I should learn to let go of my personal desires, feelings and ego. I should imitate St. Paul to live for Christ. (For what is life? To me, it is Christ. Phil 1.21) In other words, I should let nothing to compromise [to risk harming sth important; jeopardize] my role as an ambassador [representative] of Christ.

Day 5- Seeing life from God's view

(The italicised points are taken from Rick Warren's The Purpose-Driven Life.)

A) Life on earth is a TEST:-
1. God continually tests people’s character, faith, obedience, love, integrity, and loyalty.
2. Character is both developed and revealed by tests.
3. You will be tested by major changes, delayed promises, impossible problems, unanswered prayers, undeserved criticism, and even senseless tragedies.
4. A very important test is how you act when you can’t feel God’s presence in your life.
5. The Bible says, “God keeps his promise, and he will not allow you to be tested beyond your power to remain firm; at the time you are put to the test, he will give you the strength to endure it, and so provide you with a way out.”

Initially, I questioned since God will always make sure that we can pass the tests of life by his grace, then why should He bother to test us? From a teacher’s point of view, I saw no meaning in testing someone if you ultimately would provide clues that lead to the solution. Then, I got my answer in one of the entries in Living Faith. The reason is God wants to educate us. He wants us to learn in the turmoil [state of great commotion, confusion or disturbance] of our struggles, yet God joins us in our trials, lovingly, tenderly, offering strength and encouragement. God teaches us that we are not alone. Indeed, as described in my entry entitled “Mum’s covenant with God” and in other earlier entries, we had and are still experiencing God’s immense and immeasurable love for us.

B) Life on earth is a TRUST:-
1. Our time on earth and our energy, intelligence, opportunities, relationships, and resources are all gifts from God that he has entrusted to our care and management.
2. At the end of your life on earth, you will be evaluated and rewarded according to how well you handled what God entrusted to you.
3. The more God gives you, the more responsible he expects you to be.

One of the greatest matters God has entrusted to me is my current batch of 3NA pupils. I feel so blessed to have the privilege of teaching them English for four years, following them up from secondary one to secondary four. This cohort of pupils is a lavish [generous] gift to me from God. However, this implies that God expects me to become a more responsible, dedicated and most importantly, righteous teacher for my beloved pupils. I will do my utmost to accomplish this mission.

Day 4- Made to last forever

1. The closer you live to God, the smaller everything else appears.
2. When you live in light of eternity, your values change. You place a higher premium on relationships and character instead of fame or wealth or achievements or even fun.
3. Death is not your termination, but your transition into eternity, so there are eternal consequences to everything you do on earth.

- taken from Rick Warren's "The Purpose-Driven Life".

I should live each day to the fullest and should stop sleeping away all my holidays.

Day 3- What drives your life?

1. We are products of our past, but we don't have to be prisoners of it. God specialises in giving people a fresh start.


2. Those who have hurt you in the past cannot continue to hurt you now unless you hold on to the pain through resentment (anger; bitterness). For your own sake, learn from it, and then let... it... go...


3. Fear is a self-imposed prison that will keep you from becoming what God intends for you to be. You must move against it with the weapons of faith and love.


4. Possessions only provide temporary happiness.


5. Being controlled by the opinions of others is a guaranteed way to miss God's purposes for your life.


6. When life has meaning, you can bear almost anything; without it, nothing is bearable.


7. You need hope to cope. Hope comes from having a purpose.


8. Knowing your purpose SIMPLIFIES your life. It defines what you do and what you don't do. You simply ask, "Does this activity help me fulfill one of God's purposes for my life?"


9. People who don't know their purpose try to do too much - and that causes stress, fatigue, and conflict.


10. Without a clear purpose, you will keep changing directions.


11. You weren't put on earth to be remembered. You were put here to prepare for eternity.

- taken from Rick Warren's "The Purpose-Driven Life".

After reading, I find that my life is primarily driven by fear and the need for approval. In my attempts to establish "better" rapport with my pupils, I sometimes did certain things to please them. Perhaps, this may be attributed to my fear for pupils regarding me as their enemies. In the end, the greater congeniality (amiability; friendliness) between my pupils and me did not always help to build a more conducive classroom environment. It actually sometimes led to pupils undermining (challenging) my authority in the classroom, even when I was delivering the lessons. This is one of my greatest regrets in my teaching career although I often take pride in myself for being trusted by quite a number of pupils.

As a result of this weakness, I often wonder whether God's mission for me is to be a teacher. At my most disheartened (discouraged) moments, I often imagined myself being a counsellor, or a professor who does more academic research than teaching, or a teacher specialised in teaching children with special needs, or even a youth social worker. I keep thinking of changing my occupation ,but I still dare not venture out as before any changes could take place, I would need to invest more time and money to take up relevant studies. Hence, I ardently (passionately; enthusiastically) pray that the Lord will reveal his plan for me soon through the Holy Spirit.

Mum's Covenant with God

There were a few days which had been an agony [anguish; misery] for my mum and me. My mum had experienced hurt, hypocrisy, jealousy, despise, neglect, pettiness, false accusation and even almost landed up in a conflict due to some provocative acts of one of the parishioners there. In short, she was utterly disappointed with the church community there. She wanted to leave the church but was in great distress because she finds herself enjoying what she is doing in two of the church ministries: St. Vincent de Paul and the Chinese Charismatic Group. It was a painful struggle for her.

I had tried to dissuade [discourage; deter] her from leaving the church and had repeatedly asked her to ignore those irritating people, but she would think that I advised her to stay on because I want to remain in the Chinese Charismatic Group and in the catechism ministry. (Honestly speaking, I am really sick of the instability due to “migrating” from church to church, which my mother and I had experienced a few years ago.) Thus, whatever I said was pointless to her. Totally at my wits’ end, I saw her tears during her prayers. It was truly tormenting [perturbing; upsetting] for both my mum and me.

Fortunately, as each day passed, my mum was slowly recovering from the emotional struggle. Somehow, the Lord always strengthened her during her sleep as she always woke up, feeling less depressed. The Lord also fortified [strengthened] her through a myriad [numerous] of miraculous ways, such as through the psalms I randomly read in the Bible, the Chinese hymns I was downloading from the Internet and the Chinese Christian songs I played in my CD player. (I dare say that these were all so coincidental [totally unplanned]. Nothing was deliberately pre-arranged.) Whenever my mum received God’s healing through these mediums, she would always be touched to tears. She then began to recall her promise she made to God: to always follow our Lord Jesus Christ and serve him. Finally, she advised herself that as she wanted to stay faithful to the covenant [agreement] she made to God, she would stay on in the church, despite the existing imperfections. I immediately thanked and praised God our Father and the Lord for giving my mother the strength to endure all these tribulations [ordeals; misfortune].

That was not the end of this testimony. As my mother was getting ready to go to church on Wednesday, I picked up the book “The Purpose-Driven Life”, which I have been reading recently. Again, I just randomly opened the book and saw this page that highlights the message: “We must passionately love the church in spite of its imperfections.” Then, I learnt that “longing for the ideal while criticizing the real is evidence of immaturity. On the other hand, settling for the real without striving for the ideal is complacency [self-contentment; pride]. Maturity is living with the tension [pressure].” I realized that it is very naïve to expect the church to be a perfect place as it is made up of real sinners, including ourselves. I quickly shared this knowledge with my mother and we were both pleased that we have made the right decision with God’s grace. What I had read from that book served as a form of positive reinforcement and explanation from God. Thanks be to God.