My friend Alwyn Lau REALLY has a unique style in crafting these meditations. He and I were the Lutherans involved in this Lent Meditation project(pdf) 🙂 Thanks Al, I hope more will be blessed by your writing and most of all your heart for Jesus!
1 Cor 1.22-25
“Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom…”
(1 Corinthians 1.22)
No space. No space for breathing, not much for silence, not at all for praying. And if Nike, Sony, Nokia and all the other buy Buy BUY giants have their way, there won’t be any space for free choice anymore i.e. we just gotta have it, right?
Maybe Lent is a good time to dedicate our spaces to God. The spaces in our wallets, the spaces at home, the space between our ears. Jews seek bracadabra miracles, which they think are acts of God. Greeks want smart-alec philosophers, whom they think embody wisdom. Modern Malaysians? Ah, we don’t want much. All we need is money, good looks, clothes, high grades and second-helpings of the expensive food on the table.
But it’s the same thing. In the end we want to feel more capable than our peers. We want to feel more. Lent could be God’s way of saying: It’s okay to have less. It’s alright to do less. It’s fine to be less in the eyes of other people.
Remember, WHO is the focus of our message? Some Rambo who can blow up Russian tanks single-handedly? Some young hotshot who can fly and turn his enemies into frogs? Some sexy lass who can kungfu-kick her way past a dozen nasty monsters? No, we preach about a man nailed naked to a piece of wood. Yeah, that’s it. Really awesome, huh? Oh, but it is. It is truly out of this world.
“…but we preach Christ crucified; a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called…Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1.23-25)
Listen to the story of Jesus. In His last few days, His last few hours. Turn off the mobile. Log-off. Give some space in your heart to listen and learn. All power and all wisdom were ‘crammed’ into this heart-breaking story. Let’s allow it to wash over us.
Action
1. Map out your daily routine. From the time you awake till the time you sleep. How can you create more space for God in your life?
2. Read 1Corinthians 1.22-25 and write down a) what immediately strikes you and b) two questions you want to ask God about the passage. Go online to see if the questions you asked have been answered already. Share this experience with someone close to you.
am glad to have been involved…thanks for the opportunity, 🙂