Junting's Learning Lesson
Hello OAK! Well, since nobody is blogging much, lets all take an effort to blog about our week shall we? Well, if we wait till sunday, we'd lose much experience throughout the week, so to remember and share to the cell group, lets blog it, so it'll be a memory!
Anyway,
What a bang! Today the day started with an insult that was said to me right to the face through an sms message. Yeah, i was thoroughly insulted and felt super pissed off, but yet again, kinda upset because i didn't expect that to come from that person that insulted me.
But, oh boy, i have to say it was a great learning lesson because i feel that insults are part and parcel of our lives, a learning journey.
I once heard a conversation between two people in the MRT,
MAN (A) : "i don't know why God created something known as an insult, it just pisses me off when im insulted"
MAN (B) : "Don't take it so seriously, i mean perhaps it is just the Devil's temptation, to make you angry, so that you'll sin"
Well, this flashback came to me while i was going through the mundane Wednesday routine. Obviously, since i was insulted in the morning, i didn't have a good day, so i tried to be sensitive towards God's prompting upon me. When i had this flashback, i took time off my recess to try to meditate upon what God is trying to tell me through this conversation. Then i realised, perhaps it isn't the Devil's temptation, or an insult to make us angry. But its God's prompting in an area in my life where he isn't please with. An area, that he felt he needed to prompt me so that i can change. And not only that, perhaps its a lesson where God wants me to strengthen in, so that I can become a better person and at the same time, become humble. Taking an insult, is like a humble pie. That was then i took and looked at another angle of the insult.
You see God said in the bible in Matthew 5:38 - 41
38"You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.'[g] 39But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.This verse doesn't literally mean that you should turn the other cheek and let the person hit. It never was like this. Taking into context of the events that happened to me today, it means this. If someone insults you, do not retaliate, do not argue back, but simply accept the insult. " Turn to him the other also " means, if he continues to insult you, allow him to, don't stop him because it is a learning lesson for you. An area where you can change, to be better, to meet up to God's standards. That passage reminds us the miles that we must go For God. Like the verse says, if he forces you to go one mile, go DOUBLE! God wants us to love those who are unlovable, so that the they won't be left out.
Like in Glenn's Sermon:
" It is easy to love the lovable, but what about the rest? "You see its crucial for us to pick up learning lessons, despite whether in insults, in fights, in arguments. Because each event is prompted by God upon us, for us to take something out of it.
Remember the phrase:
"Let your life speak so loud, that nobody can hear what you are saying"I learn this phrase in DG, where Ryan continually repeats it, but the importance in the quote is so significant, and to me, i'm trying to live like that too. Like a fundamental base in my life. You see, if a difficulty/insult comes your way, it can only mean 1 thing. That something is wrong, and that insult that came my way, was for me to get over it, to learn from it, so that i can learn to allow my life to speak louder, that nobody can what other people talking about me. Letting my life that God matured to be the judge.
Matthew 5:43-44
43"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor[h] and hate your enemy.' 44But I tell you: Love your enemies[i] and pray for those who persecute you
Then i pondered, what should i do now? That the person thought badly of me? Then i realise, there is nothing you can do except to try to love that person. If loving doesn't help, that surely praying for him/her will help. Pray for one day, that forgiveness will come, and that you'll be forgiven. Dwelling on your past will not help you, looking towards the future, changing your past into a better present, a better future, is what really life is about. If you want to become a better person, you first have to forgive your past, and be a new creation.
2 Corinthians 5:17
17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!I was a really really bad person last time, and i did so much foolish things. But, when i heard of the good news God provided me, that if anybody is in Christ, he is a new creation. I am willing to learn from my past, and look for a brighter future
Learning point:
See, its easy to be upset and emotional about insults. Nobody likes it, but not everybody will take a learning lesson out of it. And my encouragement to you is, whatever you face, however sad you are, always look to God. Seek a lesson out of it, that may mature you, and grow in you. For the Kingdom of Comfort will be with you forever and ever:)
What a day that the Lord has made, i'll rejoice and be glad in it(:
Junting
OAK!
Ryan
Joel Pang
Joycelyn
Joel Chua
Gabrielle Loo
Jun Ting
Kenneth
David Quah
Alex
Deborah
Homojelly
