Transformers

Are you familiar with the world of Transformers? It was very popular these last ten years. The movie version will be showing soon and it is now being promoted as the next blockbuster movie of 2007. Children are so impressed with this robotic world on TV where Autobots can transform into land vehicles while the Decepticons can transform into flying war machines. Another version of the show has the robots transforming into dinosaurs, bugs, and other different kinds of animals. But no matter how impressed we are with the creativity of the artists and producers behind this cartoon show, this kind of transformation is nothing compared to the kind of transformation we Christians experience with Christ.

What makes the Christian transformation so special is that we cannot do this on our own power. The Autobots at least knew they had to transform in order to survive. We did not even know we had to change in the first place. The whole process is in God’s hands, not ours. Think about it. Jesus had the chance to surround Himself with the best and the brightest the world has to offer. And yet He chose you and me. This is not only impressive, it is humbling. How then should we respond? With infinite gratitude and thankfulness that should be reflected in our daily lives.

When Jesus started His ministry, He could have chosen the most energetic, the most dedicated and those with the most teachable hearts. A quick peek into the hearts of all the people would have revealed those with natural gifts for preaching, teaching, evangelisms, missions and so on. And yet look at the men and women who surrounded Jesus in the New Testament. They lacked understanding. They kept missing the point. They were always failing. Even during Jesus’ trial and crucifixion, they left Him. (Hardly what we would expect in a ministry team.) And yet Jesus chose them. Why would Jesus choose these “failures”? Because He loved them and His love transformed these “failures” into people God used mightily. We too are being transformed – to be more Christ-like, not because of anything we did, but because He loves us. We are transformed by Love – the infinite love of Christ.

Another aspect of this transformation is that it is continuously ongoing as long as we live. This is good news! We just keep getting better and better. As long as we allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives, we can bear the real fruit of the Spirit and be real-life Transformers that God wants us to be.

Thermostat vs Thermometer

Do you know the difference between a thermostat & a thermometer? Both have something to do with temperature but they are fundamentally different. Inside the house, a thermostat is something we set that dictates the temperature in a room. (In this country, it is a part of the air conditioner that we fiddle with to make the room as cool as we want it to be.) A thermometer simply tells us what the room temperature is.

People are either thermostats or thermometers. Most people are simply thermometers. They tend to reflect the culture around them. They buy what other people buy, say things that others say, wear things that others wear, & value things that others value. There might be slight variations but most people do not set the ‘climate’ for the world they live in. They just mirror back that climate. Christians are called to be thermostats. We should be able to set the social climate in which we are placed. And how do we do this? By living according to the values & principles which our Maker, & Savior has set for us in the Bible. All people, including non-Christians respect other people who are values-driven & principle-centered. When they see authentic Christians who value God’s Word & live life God’s way, they will be influenced. Christians should be the pacesetters. We should influence rather than be influenced. We should be thermostats instead of thermometers.

Years ago, a boy grew up in a Jewish home, watching everything his father did. His father didn’t realize the influence that he had. They attended a synagogue until their family moved to another city & there was no synagogue nearby. The father decided to switch religious beliefs. It was only a way of meeting business contacts anyway. This father’s failure to live by values outside of his own benefit led his son to question morality, ethics & his faith. As the boy grew, he believed that religion was a “crutch” for the masses. He wrote that money was behind anything meaningful in the world. The boy’s name was Karl Marx & he led millions of people into a destructive belief that finally crumbled in the end.

As Christians, our ‘label’ can already influence others – our children, family, friends, co-workers & other people we come in contact with. We should allow God to set our thermostats – for the good of others & for the glory of God.



Adapted from : Habitudes. Dr. Tim Elmore © 2004 Campus Crusade Asia Limited. pp. 33-40

GIGO

Chances are, you or a family member own a computer. You use it in your home or in the office. It is hard to imagine living life without one these days. They are wonderful when they’ve been given the right “input” – information, data and programs stored inside the hard drive. You just store everything you need and call it up whenever you need it: phone numbers, email addresses, documents for school, business information etc. Your computer can give you access to the internet where you can retrieve information from anywhere in the world. It is all there at your fingertips.

Unfortunately, the computer can be your enemy. It depends on what you have done with it. When you try to locate a document you need, you won’t find it unless you stored it there. The internet, with all its valuable information can also be a disaster. Garbage can be found in it – like pornography or disturbed people in the chat rooms looking out for potential victims.

Our minds work like sophisticated computers. They are laptops with great memory. They are portable and you take them with you wherever you go. Along the way, you store information in them: people you meet, books you read, pictures you see. Good or bad.

That is why we as Christians should be disciplined about what we invest in our minds & hearts. We do not feed on garbage. Remember GIGO – Garbage In, Garbage Out. We should work hard avoiding the wrong materials, so that what comes out – is right. We should work hard at investing the right materials (e.g. great speakers, encouraging music) inside. (Hint: the best material is obviously the Bible!) As humans, we naturally act on the stuff that fills our minds. We become preoccupied with thoughts & eventually we want to act on those thoughts. That is why so many rapes happen after men watched pornography night after night. And it explains the more violent tendencies of our children today – they are more exposed to violent scenes on TV. The Indiana University School of Medicine has studied how the images we see impact our brains. They found out that normal adolescents who had higher level of exposure to violence in the media had reduced levels of cognitive function. In other words, the more violence they saw, the less thinking, learning, reasoning & emotional stamina they have. The garbage they fed into their minds has affected what’s coming out. Their little laptop computer inside has stored the wrong information.

Be careful what you store inside your mind & heart. Remember: Garbage In, Garbage Out

Adapted from : Habitudes. Dr. Tim Elmore. © 2004 Campus Crusade Asia Limited. pp63-70

Trustworthy Answers

Franz Kafka, the brilliant German novelist, once described a fictional bombed-out city of rubble where death & ruin were everywhere… people crushed under debris, where they lay dying in agony. In the middle of this total holocaust, one solitary figure sits in a bathroom. Kafka calls him the defiant fisherman. He sits on a toilet seat with a fishing line dangling in the bathtub. There is no water in the tub, & obviously no fish, but the defiant fisherman keeps on fishing anyhow. That, said Kafka, is what man’s search for truth is like: a futile quest for something that isn’t really there. It is a worthless pursuit for meaning, while the whole world is dying all around us.

It was a hopeless picture, but that is exactly what it’s like to look for truth apart from the Bible. Man cannot find truth by himself. He is spiritually dead & unresponsive to God (Ephesians 2:1-2).

The last fifty years have produced an information explosion unparalleled in human history. Any information you want is available with one click of a button. Yet with all we have learned & with all the volumes that have been written, including all difficult subjects ranging from microbiology to astronomy; modern knowledge has been unable to shed any new light on the most basic questions facing the human race – on life, death, God, man, sin, heaven, hell, love, joy & peace. This is exactly the situation the Bible ascribes to mankind in the end times: “always learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7).

The problem is that spiritual answers cannot be deduced by human reason alone (1 Corinthians 2:14). It’s not that spiritual truth is irrational or illogical, but human wisdom is defective because it is tainted by man’s sinfulness and unable to perceive the things of God.

That is why the Bible is so important. It gives us the answers we can’t find on our own. It is God’s Word to mankind. The Bible gives us trustworthy answers from an unchanging God. If you are looking for the transformation of your soul; if you are in need of true wisdom and real joy; if you long for eternal life, the only place you’ll ever find it is in the pages of God’s Word, the Bible.

The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul.
The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple.
Psalms 19:7


adapted from : Trustworthy Answers in Untrusting Times by John MacArthur. © 2006

A Model of Truth

Remember Peter? The apostle who boasted that he will never deny the Lord (Matt 26:33-35) & then denied Christ 3 times? He slept when he should have prayed (Matt 26:40). He denied when he should have defended (Matt 26:69-74). He ran when he should have stayed. We remember Peter as the one who denied Christ, as the one who turned & fled. But do we remember Peter as the one who wept bitterly (Matt 26:75)? Who returned & confessed?

Think about it. How did the New Testament writers know of his sin? Who told them of his betrayal? And more importantly, how did they know the details? Who told them of the girl at the gate & the soldiers starting the fire? How did Matthew know it was Peter’s accent that made him a suspect? How did Luke learn of the stare of Jesus? Who told all four writers of the crowing rooster & the flowing tears?

The Holy Spirit? That is for sure. Each four gospel writers learned about all these from divine inspiration. It is also highly probable that at least 1 writer learned of the betrayal by an honest confession. After the rooster crowed, Peter was struck hard in his heart, he wept, and it was not just plain crying, it was in bitter anguish. He probably went back to the room where Jesus had broken the bread & shared the wine, (or wherever the disciples would be hiding) & shared with them his experience the previous hours & got “these things off his chest.” He repented. He returned. He told the truth. And soon enough, he was able to be one of the top apostles.

The same thing happens in our walk with God. Unconfessed sin leads to a state of disagreement with God. You may be God’s child but you don’t want to talk to Him sincerely. He still loves you, but until you admit you have sinned, there will always be a barrier between the two of you. Unconfessed sin hinders joy. Confessed sin releases it. Confession does not create a relationship with God, it simply nourishes it. Admission of sins does not alter our position before God, but it does enhance our peace with God.

The Lord’s Prayer includes “Forgive us our sins…” because it is an integral part in our walk with God. We will never experience the real joy that is in the Lord until we honestly pray in our hearts “Father, forgive me” just like Peter did.