mid-autumn gospel rally
I decided, i shall upload my sermon notes for today's mid-autumn gospel rally :)
14/09 - Rev Caleb Soo: 完全的爱
Everyone wants completeness, wholeness, and perfection.
Studies, work, relationships, family, money, etc. even love.
but many people dont realize many things.
many people take love and use it as an opportunity to raise themselves above others, tearing others down to build yourself up. neither is it changing others and asking them to change. many people ask others to change their ways, their habits and their attitudes. but often times they forget that they themselves have a thorn in their eye.
but it is not "i change you: or "you change me" it is allowing the spirit to change you.
to change another it has to come from within, a love that is so strong that can create change even without asking. when there is a love so strong that comes from within, the other party would change not because you asked but because he/she can feel your care and love and respond to the change. (meaning the change is a good and calculated and for the better kind of change)
a lot of times we all TRY very hard to love each other. in mushi's words: 辛苦的爱对方
so the love becomes very painful. because when we try to love each other in a "let me change you" way, it becomes very difficult, because you are not letting go of the person to look at the thorn in your own eye.
we must all learn a "letting go" kind of love.
by letting the person go, that is maturing.
by changing YOURSELF, thats growing.
so as long as you change yourself, that is growth. and through your growth the others around you will grow as well. this kind of love- changing yourself and fixing yourself; this is a love only received through God's love.
simply put, in order to love someone else, the love must come from within right? and if we keep trying with our own might to love, its like trying to take candy out of an empty jar in the end. but with God, he keeps filling our jars with many candys. so in that way, we dont get tired. but thats besides the point. the point is: that God's love is a love without expectations, but acceptance.
if you cant love yourself (the way God loves you), you cant love anyone else properly.
love needs to be LEARNT. love is a verb. love needs to be molded; put through the fire, put through the rain, put through a car crash, even go on life support. in essence love is nothing without a little boom.
love needs to be learnt. not only to love the flaws but also to love the beauty. what is love? is it by our speech and actions? No.
thats a "self-seeking" love. if you seek others to say things and do things for you to express their love, isnt that the same as asking someone to say wonderful things about you non stop? this self-seeking love, seeks fulfillment in oneself. this is somewhat like a self-fish kind of love.
like roses, if a man loves a rose he will learn to love the thorns instead of cutting them away. he will learn to see the beauty in them and the usefullness of the. in the same way, you have your own thorns, we all do. we must first learn to love our own thorns before we love anything or anybody else. love your thorns first.
love is also the will to give. love needs to go though the bad and come out strong. when Jesus died on the corss, he GAVE his life for us. before he died he said: "father forgive them" why did he say that?
"for they do not know what they have done"- because we don't know how great the sins we are doing, because we dont know how bad it is, because we dont see God's picture and we try to take control of our lives. this is an acepting and giving love.
God loves us. accepts us- sinners; all unconditionally.
what then is unconditionally?
nowadays we have been disillusioned by fairytales and tv shows.
the world has given us a special meaning to 白马王子.
so we keep looking for that stereotypical prince charming we dream about. but over time this disillusion will come to reality and there will be the death of our dream. so thats where people give up, they divorce and thats why divorce rates are going higher and higher up. a real marriage isnt this way. in a real marriage, you will learn and disover new things everyday.
like how in the beginning of any relationship, when it's still the dating and chasing game. everyone remembers everything. the anniversaries, the promises the words and looks exchanged. but once they get married, they forget and get comfortable and they start finding reasons to be angry with each other. for the broken promises the fact that no special looks are exchanged, or that old issues come resurface.
But God's love teaches us otherwise. His love teaches us to forgive and let go and to embrace each other. to say: "you know what i did was wrong but yet you still love me"
so through acceptance we grow more and more and mature more and more. love needs to be molded, to go through hardships.
the biggest way to grow? communication. it is through communication we find the discovery in marraiges. things i never used to know when we were dating. things i find harder to love about. communication in a relationship is a form of knowing one another more and discovering more of each other. communication serves as avenues to learn to love each other.
communication gives rise to more understanding and more understanding gives rise to more tolerance and acceptance. hence growth spiritually, emotionally and more importantly together, in a relationship.
in the end. love is a type of life. the further we are away from God the harder it is for us to taste God's love. its like knowing His love i experience it, thats why i know what love is. so love needs experience. i need God's love and forgiveness and mercy so that i will know how to show that to others around me. especially to someone God will prepare for me.
using God's love to fuel your love for others, especially YOURSELF. with a love that loved the man with leprosy, the woman who had many husbands or the blind man or the love that loved the people who nailed him to the cross. when we can learn to love ourselves the way Jesus loves us we will truly be free.
Free to appreciate the small things in our lives. and to know that there is nothing greater, no issue bigger than to love and forgive and to accept each other. we will know how to be joyful not happy and things of the earth wont matter much anymore. because we are satisfied and filled with God's love. fullfillment in God's love!!!
sometimes we really just need to learn how to come to God and ask him to forgive us, forgive our actions, forgive our shame, forgive our guilt. and ask him to enter our hearts all over again. and ask Him to steer our path in lives.
Lord i need you, oh i need you. take away the things that make me satisfied. i only want to be satified with your love. and your love alone. only then can i truly be free :) <3 font="">
