Month: August 2024

Being Busy without Being Hurried

In Jordan Raynor’s book, Redeeming Your Time, he devoted one chapter on ‘Eliminate All Hurry’. He mentioned about Fred Roger as a busy man, but remarkably unhurried. I wonder how I could be like that too…

Being hurried is an inner condition of the soul. It means to be so preoccupied with myself and my life that I am unable to be fully present with God, with myself, and with other people. I am unable to occupy this present moment – Jordan Raynor

I find that I’m always in a hurry. Many days, I am rushing from one thing to the next. I realized that I am guilty of this inner condition of the soul that is too preoccupied with too many things most of the time. I find it a challenge to be fully present with God, even during my devotional time.

In Jesus lifetime, he was always busy with his work and always focused on His mission here on earth. However, He was never in a hurry. There is a story of Jesus entering Jerusalem one evening, but went to Bethany as it was late already. The next day, he overthrew the den of robbers in the Jerusalem temple. The fact was that He was there the night before and could have overthrew the robbers then, but did not. Jesus refused to be hurried. In other words – it can wait – there is no hurry, there is a time for everything.

This is something I really need to work on in my life – to stop being in a hurried state. To be busy without being hurry – to focus on the important things in my life and get rid of things that does not bring value to my life, as these are the things that are causing the rushing and hurrying in my life. Be more like Jesus! Trust that everything will work out perfectly in His timing.

Being Grateful with the Bronze Medal Mentality

Last week, I was listening to Mel Robbins’ podcast on the Olympics. One of the topic she touched on was the Bronze Medal Mentality. Based on studies, the bronze medalists were actually happier than the silver medalists. The reason is that the silver medalist would compare with the gold medalist – filled with regrets of all the what-ifs, as he/she had fallen short of obtaining the gold medal. This is especially acute if the difference between the gold and silver medal was by a few seconds or milliseconds!

The bronze medalist, on the other hand, is just thrilled to be on the podium, receiving a medal. Sometimes, this is a chance in a lifetime, for example, at the Olympic Games. Bringing back a medal for your country is such an honour. Standing there on the podium – that is truly a privilege, compared to those who did not make it to the podium.

The problem with most silver medalist is the comparison upwards with the gold medalist, and the subsequent regrets. That happens to most people – we compare our jobs or business, our cars or houses – and find that we fall short of other people who are better off than us, resulting in envy and jealousy. This is true even when we have so much in our lives already. This is most rampant in social media, where people show the highlights of their lives, e.g. their overseas vacation or grand birthday celebration, and we feel we are missing out on these things that we think we should have.

This Bronze Medal Mentality highlights the gratefulness I should have for the many blessings in my life, rather than comparing what others have that I don’t have. What I have IS more than enough. A medal signifies my achievement – how far I’ve come and how hard I’ve worked to get to where I am today. A bronze medal motivates me to reach for a higher level of achievement. There is more room for improvement and advancement. Always be grateful with what I have achieved and aim higher and bigger next time! I am reminding myself to celebrate all the small wins, yes, the bronze medals, and the major wins will come when I receive my gold medals in life!

From Coward to Mighty Warrior

Gideon is one of my favourite Bible story. He was chosen by God to save the Israelites from their enemies who oppressed them cruelly. Let me share the many insights from his story.

The Angel of the Lord visited Gideon while he was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. They were so afraid of their enemies that he had to resort to hiding in the winepress while threshing wheat.

Insight: Too often, we live cowardly out of fear. But God comes to us in our current situation, and seeks us out to do His Kingdom work.

The Angel greeted Gideon, calling him MIGHTY MAN OF VALOR. But Gideon was very doubtful as his clan was the weakest and he was the least in his family.

Insight: We sometimes feel unworthy. But God is able to see what we are capable of, and calls us by a new name, so that we have a new identity. Gideon became a Man of Valor, A Mighty Warrior!

Gideon asked for a sign that the Angel was from God.

Insight: We are always testing God for a sign, and God sometimes shows us.

Gideon built God’s altar and tore down Baal’s altar. He did it at night because

he was afraid of his family and the townspeople.

Insight: We have many forms of idols in our lives. God is calling us to get rid of our idols and live boldly in God’s light and truth.

Gideon got more than 30,000 men to fight, but God reduced it to 300 men.

Insight: We tend to rely on our power and ability to achieve our successes, that’s why God wants to show His might through achieving something impossible, yes, something that only God can do!

God asked Gideon to bring his servant to the enemy camp and they overheard the enemy’s dream and its interpretation.

Insight: God sends people to help us and sometimes journey with us. He is the source of our confident hope. He grant us courage and strength in the midst of our battles or trials.

Gideon led his people to defeat their enemies.

Insight: When God is with us – we can do great things – indeed, we can do impossible conquests through God’s almighty power.

I hope that you are as inspired as I am with Gideon’s story.

When Prayer is like Making A Stew

One of my favourite dish is good beef stew. The beef is tender and flavourful, tasty and nutritious. It takes quite a lot of ingredients, and perhaps a few hours to cook a really good stew.

Why I am talking about beef stew? Because it reminds me of PRAYER.

Prayer is like cooking a stew:

1) Select the ingredients – God chooses us and prepares the family and friends for us, in accordance to His plan

2) Wash the ingredients – God cleanses us from our sin

3) Prepare the ingredients – God prepares us in many ways, like “cut”, “shred”, “chop” or “slice” – those who has gone through tribulations would relate to these preparations

4) Follow the recipe steps to cook the ingredients – God shows us the steps to have a blessed life

5) Cover and simmer for a few hours – waiting on the Lord to work His miracles in our lives

Sometimes, we don’t follow the recipe or we leave out an ingredient or two, resulting in disaster. But our Master Chef God is always able to recover from our mistakes and make a delicious dish. Sometimes, He even create a brand new, even more delicious dish! There is nothing He can’t recover from. He is the God of Master Chef!

The most important part is the simmering, where the full flavour of the ingredients is extracted to give its wonderful taste and nutritious value. And that is why it is so important to wait on the Lord as He brings out our best qualities and bless us abundantly.

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us – Ephesians 3:20

When we become impatient and try to “shortcut” God, we ruin God’s wonderful plan for us. Do not be deceived when you see nothing happening during our “simmering”, for this is the time where the best work is being done by God as He grows our character and extract our full potential to do great works for His kingdom.

If you are in a season of waiting – like I am – trust that God is working in our lives in wondrous ways.

Taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!

  • Psalm 34:8