Tuesday, July 04, 2006
MY EXAMS ARE OVER HAHAHA
yay !!! lalala.. but I din really feel like it'v over.. ahha maybe cos one reason is tat I have alreadi been feeling lik exams are over ANYWAYS... hahah.. math exam today was pretty easy.. I really thank God for guiding me tru.. it's like I cld answer MOST of the quesitons ahha SHOULD be abler to pass.. ahha yupup.. then after tat had lunch with the CF ppl and before I knew it, I was in church toking to my youth pastor abt my life n stuff.. really helpful..
I think one thing that struck me today was todays devotions for the 40 day fast...
Vanity fairLooking good is big business in Singapore.
The cosmetics and toiletries market here was worth over US$350 million in 2002! Not surprising really, when you consider the bewildering variety of beauty products that are available. Even the guys are going for facials nowadays. As someone's screensaver slogan put it: Looking good is a fulltime job.
Physical appearance aside, we're also obsessed with our reputation — how others view us and what they say about us. So we are careful to say the right things and be seen with the right people.That's the
Idolatry of Image — the vain obsession with ourselves, our reputation, our standing before men.
The god of image demands a lot from its devotees.The quest to be popular and well regarded is an one.There will always be someone new to impress. You will
have to try harder to outshine another person. Looking
good truly becomes a fulltime job.
Before long, honesty and integrity go out the window. To sound clever, you may sometimes have to plagarise, and steal someone else's ideas, to look cool, you will have to stop associating with certain types of people, like the poor, the uneducated, the uncouth pre-believer.
Jesus vehemently condemned the hypocrisy of the Pharisees during His time. He saw right through their PR attempts, and into their deceptive hearts. How would Jesus evaluate our dealings before men? How would He describe the motives and intentions that lie beneath our public words and actions?
Examine your heart. Go deep. Have you been seduced by the god of image? Are you obsessed with how others perceive you? Have you been pretending to be smarter or more spiritual than you really are? Do you fish for compliments? Are you easily upset when others misinterpret or misunderstand you? This is a very private, personal issue. God knows. You know. Humbly seek God in honest confession and repentance.
Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them 'Rabbi.' Matthew 23:1-7
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. Matthew 23:25-28
10:08 PM
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