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read between the lines
be excellent to each other "the most excellent way is love."that's what the youth pastor said in his sermon the day after my last post. since the sad keanu meme's been going around lately, it made me think of what keanu's character's sidekick, bill said from bill and ted's excellent adventure: "be excellent to each other." if you combine the two, you get this (the christianised version according to matt the youth pastor). "be loving to each other." ahahaha. okay that was lame. on a more serious note, i kinda disagree with the phrase this week's pastor borrowed from john piper, that "god is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him". it's such a likeable phrase that initially when my cell group members had a round-the-table sharing, i said i felt i needed to realise the above (i was thinking of contentment vs. performance trap). but almost after i said that, i had my doubts. because i mean, with the superlatives it just sounds inaccurate. now, i think god is most glorified when we obey his commandments, not when we find ourselves happy in him. and by now i mean after a chasing-the-wind, all-too-familiar pursuit of pleasure here on earth. i think christian hedonism, or whatever way you choose to label it, is incorrect because it isn't the whole truth. i picked up and read harold j. sala's making your emotions work for you in the bookstore yesterday and i think i agree with what he said about pain -- that it is necessary, either to bring us to a closer union with god or to help us identify with our target audience of service. that god favours moulding of character more than our happiness (that's another borrowed phrase but i don't know where it originated from).
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