For the Love of God

There is this excellent Bible-reading and devotional going on at The Gospel Coalition for this year.

Was reading this today, and I was just thinking of how this can affect us today, possibly in the area of service. The passage being expounded on is Matthew 6.

The common link is striking: Jesus recognizes how easy it is for sinners to engage in worthy, philanthropic and even religious activities, less in order to do what is right than to be admired for doing what is right.

In each of these three traditional acts of piety, genuine Christian living is characterized by a simple yet profound desire to please God, and not by the ostentation that is in reality more interested in generating the impression among our peers that we are pleasing God.

Wow. How I fall short.

Give me grace to seek first Your kingdom and righteousness.

The link to the devotional by D.A. Carson: For the Love of God

Looking ahead to the new semester

Thank God for the holidays, and a good, long break.

I thank God also for the 2 modules I got in round 2A of bidding. There were so many clashes this semester, I had to keep thinking of backup plans. But I’m looking forward to the semester ahead. I hope that with the experience of 1 semester behind me, I will be more diligent in studies, so that I can commit my time to service and Christian growth.

Check out this video by CommonCraft. They make excellent videos which explain difficult and confusing concepts in such a simple yet comprehensive manner. The latest installment is Protecting Reputations Online.

Relief

In the end, I guess it was more of relief than anything else.

Even though my CAP isn’t comparable to that of many of my peers in Chem Engine, but I still thank God. They were better than what I expected.

Pray that God give me His grace to learn how to be a student for His glory.

Post Exams

The post exams have been a blast.

AnnTic was great, I definitely didn’t regret going.

Worked 2 days in Raffles Place and off to Youth Camp tomorrow.

=)

How Can I Keep From Singing

There is an endless song
Echoes in my soul
I hear the music ring

And though the storms may come
I am holding on
To the rock I cling

How can I keep from singing Your praise
How can I ever say enough
How amazing is Your love
How can I keep from shouting Your name
I know I am loved by the King
And it makes my heart want to sing

I will lift my eyes
In the darkest night
For I know my Savior lives

And I will walk with You
Knowing You’ll see me through
And sing the songs You give

How can I keep from singing your praise?
How can I ever say enough, how amazing is your love?
How can I keep from shouting your name?
I know i am loved by the king,
and it makes my heart want to sing

I can sing in the troubled times
Sing when I win
I can sing when I lose my step
And fall down again
I can sing ’cause You pick me up
Sing ’cause You’re there
I can sing ’cause You hear me, Lord
When I call to You in prayer
I can sing with my last breath
Sing for I know
That I’ll sing with the angels
And the saints around the throne

Lyrics and Music by Chris Tomlin

Exam ramblings

Some silly, some funny stuff I saw/heard during the past week of camping in school from 7am to 6pm. Some are downright stupid and dumb, like this one.

A quote from an article on Todayonline about the floods which happened in Bukit Timah last week.

Also left bemused was businessman Joseph Wong, who thought it would be a usual drive in his BMW. “This is like those news footage you see of floods in Manila or Jakarta,” said the 43-year-old. “This is a prime housing area. I don’t understand how the flooding could have happened.“

Seriously, is the guy just dumb or plain arrogant. So now what.

Even the weather has to recognise where the rich live?

Or is he trying to suggest it is okay for poorer estates such as Hougang to be flooded, while ‘prime’ housing estates such as Bukit Timah cannot be?

Ridiculous.

Moving on,

Macnus are selling t-shirts! I saw this really cool one which reads:

I think. Therefore I Mac.

=P

And Apple is having its once a year sales, on black Friday. Too bad we don’t have any such thing as black Friday in Singapore. It would be so fun to wait and save up for this day and then go out and buy buy buy.

2 papers on Wednesday.

We can do it! =)

Edit:
Apologies about my lame lament about how Singapore doesn’t have our own version of Black Friday. And a link to the article The Seduction of the World and the Jealousy of God addressing this exact day.

For those who are weary…

A marvelous quote, and God’s Word to encourage us to press on.

There is no pit so deep, but Christ is deeper still.
– Corrie Ten Boom

…That I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word…
Isaiah 50:4

Press on! Constantly trusting Him and drawing our strength from Him.

King of Kings, Majesty

King of Kings, Majesty,
God of heaven living in me.
Gentle Saviour, closest friend,
Strong Deliverer, beginning and end,
All within me falls at Your throne…

Your majesty I can but bow,
I lay my all before You now,
In royal robes I don’t deserve,
I live to serve your majesty.

Earth and heaven, worship you
Love eternal, faithful and true
Who bought the nations, ransomed souls
All within me cries out in praise

Lyrics and music by Jarrod Cooper.

Listen to this song here

Joy in the Journey

There is a joy in the journey
There’s a light we can love on the way
There is a wonder and wildness to life
And freedom for those who obey

And all those who seek it shall find it
A pardon for all who believe
Hope for the hopeless and sight for the blind

To all who’ve been born in the Spirit
And who share incarnation with Him
Who belong to eternity stranded in time
And weary of struggling with sin

Forget not the hope that’s before you
And never stop counting the cost
Remember the hopelessness when you were lost

There is a joy in the journey
There’s a light we can love on the way
There is a wonder and wildness to life
And freedom for those who obey

And freedom for those who obey…

Lyrics and music by Michael Card.
He is also the one who composed and sang songs such as El Shaddai and Love Crucified Arose. The link to his official website can be found below.

I guess especially poignant in the song is this phrase

Forget not the hope that’s before you
And never stop counting the cost
Remember the hopelessness when you were lost

Help us not to lose the joy in the journey, stop looking towards the end, but instead cherishing and savouring the moment You have blessed us with presently. Especially so when we get caught up in studying for the examinations…

On Prayer

Saw this quote from The Gospel Coalition website. It was originally in an article written by Kevin DeYoung, entitled Prayerlessness is Unbelief, and subsequently blogged by Mike Pholman.

If you know you are needy and believe that God helps the needy, you will pray. Conversely, if we seldom pray, the problem goes much deeper than a lack of organization and follow through. The heart that never talks to God is the heart that trusts in itself and not in the power of God.  Prayerlessness is unbelief.

Prayerfulness, on the other hand, is an evidence of humility and faith, which is why God loves it when we pray.

I need to pray (more). Depend on Him in all things and for all things.

The link to the original article: Prayerlessness is Unbelief