Beauty

Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. -John 15:4

2 days ago, I saw on TV that London is having an exhibition of almost all Da Vinci's paintings. Different country were sending in his works just so that all his works can be shown at the same time. There are so many fans of him and one of his fan looked so excited when being interviewed. From there, I found out that Da Vinci was an impatient man. Most of his works were unfinished but he was good at drawing woman, in detail of their expressions.

I guess the beauty behind all these, why do people admire Da Vinci and also many other painters weren't just about their arts, but is how all these brilliant minds can maneuver their hands to paint out such beautiful picture...how they turn a blank paper into something beautiful or more precisely, perhaps we envy of their ability to see something beautiful each time out of a blank paper.

There is a time where I once struggled on the word 'holy'. I always wonder what is this mean? What are the measurement or standard to define 'holy'? How shall we judge if a person is 'holy'? 'Holy' saints, why are they 'holy'?

I was lost. I didn't know how to live up to my Father's expectation. Not that I'm knowing that God doesn't expect out of us.

And so I trained myself. I woke up at 5 every morning to pray. I remained silent when people were arguing. I only listened to Christian music. I stopped watching any movie. I worked very hard on the study. I forced myself to bear with it when people tried to pick a fight. I prayed before I slept. I spent time on the Words.

I was actually satisfied with what I had done.

But deep down in myself, I know that I wasn't being me. I was forcing some behavioral change in myself in order to please God. Then I was tired, I collapsed only to find that this is just a temporal change.

There is a saying that goes, 'Beauty lies in the eyes of beholder.'

After reading the novel 'The Shack', I found an answer to my question.

God doesn't expect me. He knows me. He knows me well, that He doesn't have to expect me.

All of us is like the blank paper, where we see nothing outside but God sees a lot of beauty in us.

I agree to those who said God is the best painter. Because He sees us lovely and holy. Holy is not the requirement. It is already what He had seen in us.

I just have to be myself. Because I'm no more under the Law.

You may wonder, what if things fall apart?

I just need to have the trust in Him.

God doesn't want me to set up some hierarchy or pyramid and put Him on the top just like that.

He wants every piece of me, everyday.

I just hope I can see things like Him, not the outward appearance but the inner heart.

Our souls are like a garden, together with the Holy Spirit, we are working on the garden everyday.

I can't explain, I only know that it needs obedience, submission and most of all LOVE.

You will feel differently when you see the world with His gracious eyes:)

Words can never say the way He says my name
He calls me lovely
No one ever sees the way He looks at me
He sees me holy

-Sing My Love by Jesus Culture

P.s Romans 12 can be a good starting point.

Reality is ODD.

After all, real things are not simple. Reality is usually very odd. "It's not neat, not obvious, not what you expect...this is one of the reason why I believe Christianity. It is a religion you could not have guessed." -C.S LEWIS.

Last CF, our speaker Michael William talked about trinity. And he quoted Lewis just to tell us that reality is not simple, it cannot be made simple, one of the example is trinity. If we find trinity hard to understand, it doesn't mean it is not existing. And if we think we know God good enough, this is hilarious cuz a thing being created can never fully understand their Creator. No man can stand up and claim this is the God we believe in as described in his own human ways and thinks that they are right. Then, how shall we know who we believe in? Piece of cake. We look into the Bible. Because that's the Truth. But God is a lot more than that, He is too supreme and only those who seek Him with their hearts that God would reveal to them.

When I first heard this quote, I found it related to myself. I was so encouraged with this quote cuz when people were wondering why I failed my exam[even if myself], I couldn't find a word for it. But now this thing doesn't really bothering me anymore, cuz reality is odd, and I started to forgive those who misunderstand me cuz they didn't know the reality.

And through what I had experienced, I found that God taught me a very important lesson[of course, there are many lessons that come together during the time], He asked me not to judge. I felt sorry because sometimes I couldn't but to judge people. But now that I found everyone around could have been judging me for my failure without knowing the story behind or the reality, I know that I might be just one of them when I looked to another person's mistakes.

Another thing is, God is so superior, of course we admit that and we sing about that but when a situation came, do we usually stick back to what we believe? Whether good things or bad things happen, God is always in control. There's a funny quote on fb that says, God might have 3 kinds of answers to your prayer, 1. Yes. 2. Not Yet. 3. I have better in my mind.

So, whether it's sickness or failure or trauma or tragedy......or let us quote back from Paul...

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.- Romans 8

And bad things will happen to good people. So, reality is odd and it's not of what you can expect. You don't expect Christians to be rich, healthy and not dying. In fact, Christians have to die everyday, to their sins.

Same to the failure I once had. Friends are somehow sad for what had happened. But Praise the LORD that Father of all loving had turned evil into good.

This came to me when I reached here, And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.- Philippians 4:7

My testimony is much related to the Forgotten God. I'm waiting on Him to make me tell.